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Frederik Van Zyl Slabbert
Frederik van Zyl Slabbert (2 March 1940 – 14 May 2010) was a South African political analyst, businessman and politician. He is best known for having been the leader of the official opposition – the Progressive Federal Party (PFP) – in the House of Assembly from 1979 to 1986. Early life, education and academic career Born in Pretoria to an Afrikaner family, Slabbert grew up in Pietersburg (now Polokwane) in northern Transvaal (now the Limpopo Province of South Africa). He matriculated from the Pietersburg Afrikaans High School in 1958. After graduating from high school Van Zyl Slabbert studied theology at the University of Stellenbosch for 18 months before deciding that sociology was his calling. He completed a BA Honours at the university, and a doctorate in 1967. After completing his studies he worked as a sociology lecturer at Stellenbosch University, Rhodes University and the University of Cape Town. In 1973, he was appointed head of the sociology department of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Progressive Federal Party
The Progressive Federal Party (PFP) ( af, Progressiewe Federale Party) was a South African political party formed in 1977 through merger of the Progressive and Reform parties, eventually changing its name to the Progressive Federal Party. For its duration was the main parliamentary opposition to apartheid, instead advocating power-sharing in South Africa through a federal constitution. From the 1977 election until 1987 it was the official opposition of the country. Its first leader was Colin Eglin, who was succeeded by Frederik van Zyl Slabbert and then Zach de Beer. Another prominent member was Harry Schwarz who had led the Reform Party and was the chairman of the Federal Executive (1976–79), finance spokesman (1975–91) and defence spokesman (1975–84). He was regarded as the PFP's greatest parliamentary performer. Its best known parliamentarian was however Helen Suzman, who was for many years the only member of the whites-only House of Assembly to speak out unequivocally ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was characterised by an authoritarian political culture based on ''baasskap'' (boss-hood or boss-ship), which ensured that South Africa was dominated politically, socially, and economically by the nation's minority white population. According to this system of social stratification, white citizens had the highest status, followed by Indians and Coloureds, then black Africans. The economic legacy and social effects of apartheid continue to the present day. Broadly speaking, apartheid was delineated into ''petty apartheid'', which entailed the segregation of public facilities and social events, and ''grand apartheid'', which dictated housing and employment opportunities by race. The first apartheid law was the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large national audience. Daily broadsheet editions are printed for D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. The ''Post'' was founded in 1877. In its early years, it went through several owners and struggled both financially and editorially. Financier Eugene Meyer purchased it out of bankruptcy in 1933 and revived its health and reputation, work continued by his successors Katharine and Phil Graham (Meyer's daughter and son-in-law), who bought out several rival publications. The ''Post'' 1971 printing of the Pentagon Papers helped spur opposition to the Vietnam War. Subsequently, in the best-known episode in the newspaper's history, reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein led the American press's investigation into what became known as the Watergate scandal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
IDASA
The Institute for Democratic Alternatives in South Africa (IDASA) later known as the Institute for Democracy in South Africa was a South African-based think-tank organisation that was formed in 1986 by Frederik van Zyl Slabbert and Alex Boraine. Its initial focus from 1987 was creating an environment for white South Africans to talk to the banned liberation movement in-exile, the African National Congress (ANC) prior to its unbanning in 1990 by the President F. W. de Klerk. After the South African election in 1994, its focus was on ensuing the establishment of democratic institutions in the country, political transparency and good governance. Caught up in a funding crisis after the 2008 global financial crisis, closed in 2013. It is best known for the Dakar Conference (also known as the Dakar Dialogue or the Dakar Initiative), a historic conference between members of IDASA and the ANC. It was held in Dakar, Senegal, between 9 and 12 July 1987. The conference discussed topics such ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alex Boraine
Alexander Lionel Boraine (10 January 1931 – 5 December 2018) was a South African politician, minister, and anti-apartheid activist. Early life Alex Boraine was born in Cape Town and grew up in a poor white housing estate. He would leave high school in Standard 8, two years before Matriculation in South Africa, matric and started working as a ledger clerk. He hadn't told his parents about his decision. As a member of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, Methodist Church, he became a lay preacher in 1950. Education and early career At 23, he studied at Rhodes University in South Africa where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theology and Biblical Studies in 1956. Having been ordained as a Methodist minister in 1956 and his first position was in Pondoland East. After being sponsored by rich Methodists, Boraine attended Mansfield College at Oxford University in England and obtained a Master of Arts in 1962. A further scholarship saw him attend Drew University in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Parliamentary Union
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU; french: Union Interparlementaire, UIP) is an international organization of national parliaments. Its primary purpose is to promote democratic governance, accountability, and cooperation among its members; other initiatives include advancing gender parity among legislatures, empowering youth participation in politics, and sustainable development. The organization was established in 1889 as the Inter-Parliamentary Congress. Its founders were statesmen Frédéric Passy of France and William Randal Cremer of the United Kingdom, who sought to create the first permanent forum for political multilateral negotiations. Initially, IPU membership was reserved for individual parliamentarians, but has since transformed to include the legislatures of sovereign states. As of 2020, the national parliaments of 179 countries are members of the IPU, while 13 regional parliamentary assemblies are associate members. The IPU facilitates the development of internati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reform Party (South Africa)
The Reform Party ( af, Reformiste Party) was an anti-apartheid political party that existed for just five months in 1975 and is one of the predecessor parties to the Democratic Alliance. The Reform Party was created on 11 February by a group of four Members of Parliament (MPs) who left the United Party under the guidance of the leader of the United Party in the Transvaal, Harry Schwarz, who became the party's leader. Schwarz and others were staunchly opposed to apartheid and called for a much more rigorous opposition to the National Party. They said that they no longer felt the UP was "the vehicle in which we can travel the path of verligtheid". The party had four MPs, two senators, ten members of the Transvaal Provincial Council, 14 out of the 36 Johannesburg City Councillors and four Randburg City Councillors. This made it the official opposition in the Transvaal Provincial Council. Formation There was much division in the United party, between liberals and conservatives i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Schwarz
Harry Heinz Schwarz (13 May 1924 – 5 February 2010) was a South African lawyer, statesman and long-time political opposition leader against apartheid in South Africa, who eventually served as the South African Ambassador to the United States during the country's transition to majority rule. Schwarz rose from the childhood poverty he experienced as a German-Jewish refugee to become a lawyer and a member of the Transvaal Provincial Council, where from 1963 to 1974, he was Leader of the Opposition. In the 1964 Rivonia Trial he was a defence lawyer. Advocating a more aggressive political opposition to the National Party's racial policies in the 1960s and 1970s, as Leader of the United Party in Transvaal and leader of the liberal "Young Turks", he clashed with the United Party establishment. He pioneered the call in white politics for a negotiated end to apartheid and in 1974 signed the Mahlabatini Declaration of Faith with Mangosuthu Buthelezi for a non-racial democratic societ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1981 South African General Election
General elections were held in South Africa on 29 April 1981. The National Party, under the leadership of P. W. Botha since 1978, lost some support, but achieved another landslide victory, winning 131 of 165 directly elected seats in the House of Assembly.SOUTH AFRICA Date of Elections: 29 April 1981 Meanwhile, the – led since 1979 by [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1977 South African General Election
General elections were held in South Africa on 30 November 1977. The National Party, led by John Vorster won a landslide victory in the House of Assembly. The newly formed Progressive Federal Party, led by Colin Eglin became the official opposition. The New Republic Party, successor to the United Party, won only 10 seats, all but one of them in Natal Province. Once again, the Herstigte Nasionale Party failed to win any seats. In the 1977 elections, the National Party received its best-ever result with support of 65% of the vote and (after a by-election) 135 seats in parliament out of 165. Vorster, however resigned as Prime Minister for alleged health reasons on 28 September 1978. Background On 11 February 1975 four liberal MPs led by Harry Schwarz broke away from the United Party and created the Reform Party (South Africa), Reform Party. The party merged with the Progressive Party (South Africa), Progressive Party on 25 July 1975 to form the Progressive Reform Party (South ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United Party (South Africa)
The United Party was a political party in South Africa. It was the country's ruling political party between 1934 and 1948. Formation The United Party was formed by a merger of most of Prime Minister Barry Hertzog's National Party with the rival South African Party of Jan Smuts, plus the remnants of the Unionist Party. Its full name was the United National South African Party, Rosenthal, Eric, 1978. ''Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa''. Cape Town and Johannesburg: Juta and Company Limited. but it was generally called the "United Party". The party drew support from several different parts of South African society, including English-speakers, Afrikaners and Coloureds. Hertzog led the party until 1939. In that year, Hertzog refused to commit South Africa to Britain's war effort against Nazi Germany. Many Afrikaners who had fought in the Second Boer War were still alive, and British war crimes during that conflict were still fresh in their memory. Hertzog felt that siding wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rondebosch
Rondebosch is one of the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. It is primarily a residential suburb, with shopping and business districts as well as the main campus of the University of Cape Town. History Four years after the first Dutch settlement at the Cape in 1652, the first experimental crops were grown along the banks of the Liesbeek River (at that stage called the Amstel or Versse Rivier). In October 1656, Jan van Riebeeck visited Rondeboschyn, whose name derived from a contraction of Ronde Doorn Bossien, meaning a circular grove of thorn trees. In 1657, the first group of Dutch East India Company employees gained "free burgher" (free citizen) status and were granted land along the river in the area now known as Rondebosch. Geography Rondebosch lies between the slopes of Devil's Peak in the west and the M5 freeway in the east; it is one of the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, which lie along the eastern slope of the Table Mountain massif. The suburb's western bord ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
