Andries Petrus Treurnicht (19 February 1921 – 22 April 1993) was a South African politician, Minister of Education during the Soweto Riots and for a short time leader of the National Party in

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

. In 1982 he founded and led the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

whose successes among the white electorate made him

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

in 1987, a position he retained until his death.

Early life

Treurnicht was born in

Piketberg Piketberg (also sometimes spelt Piquetberg in the past) is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa, located about 80 km east of Saldanha Bay. The original spelling of the name was "Piquetberg". The town is in the foothills of the Piketberg mounta ...

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope ( af, Provinsie Kaap die Goeie Hoop), commonly referred to as the Cape Province ( af, Kaapprovinsie) and colloquially as The Cape ( af, Die Kaap), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequen ...

, and began his working life as a journalist, being editor of ''Die Kerkbode'' and ''Hoofstad''. He was a keen sportsman, excelling on the rugby field, playing provincial rugby against the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

in 1949. After obtaining his MA in

Theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

at the

University of Stellenbosch Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant ...

, he completed a Doctorate in Political Philosophy at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

. He subsequently entered the

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

(NG Kerk), serving various congregations as minister for fourteen years. He was elected Deputy Chairman of the Cape Synod and later of the General Synod. He combined

Afrikaner nationalism Afrikaner nationalism ( af, Afrikanernasionalisme) is a nationalistic political ideology which created by Afrikaners residing in Southern Africa during the Victorian era. The ideology was developed in response to the significant events in Afrik ...

with

neo-Calvinism Neo-Calvinism, a form of Dutch Calvinism, is a theological movement initiated by the theologian and former Dutch prime minister Abraham Kuyper. James Bratt has identified a number of different types of Dutch Calvinism: The Seceders, split into t ...

and strongly supported the continuation of

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 ...

.Obituary: Andries Treurnicht
in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 27 April 1993

National Party career

Entering politics in 1970, as a member of the National Party, in 1971 Treurnicht was elected as a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for Waterberg. Appointed as Deputy Minister of Education in 1976, his instruction to implement the policy that black students should be taught half in English, half in Afrikaans triggered the Soweto Riots. In 1978, he was chosen, over the heads of 12 ministers, as Leader of the National Party in the

, and, in 1979, he became Minister of State for Administration and of Statistics. He was chairman of the Afrikaner Broederbond (AB) from 1972 -1974. He had to leave the AB in 1983, as the newly formed Conservative Party members were not welcome in it.

Conservative Party career

On 20 March 1982, he and 22 other MPs quit the National Party to form the

to oppose P.W. Botha and the National Party's limited reforms to

. The CP's English language programme booklets from 1987 to 1989 stated that the party was established "to continue the policy of self-determination after the Pgovernment had exchanged self-determination" (something the CP described as an "infallible policy"), for power-sharing. In 1987, the Conservative Party became the official opposition in the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible governme ...

, winning 550,000 votes, displacing the liberal

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 it ...

. Donald Simpson, writing in the South African newspaper, ''

The Star ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'', went as far as to predict that the National Party would lose the next election and that the Conservative Party would become the new government of South Africa. In June 1989, accompanied by

Clive Derby-Lewis Clive John Derby-Lewis (22 January 1936 – 3 November 2016) was a South African politician, who was involved first in the National Party and then, while serving as a member of parliament, in the Conservative Party. In 1993 he was convicted ...

, Carl Werth, and several other Conservative Party officials, Treurnicht made an official visit to London and some other European capitals. The far-right

Western Goals Institute Western Goals Institute (WGI) was a Far-right politics, far-right pressure group and think-tank in Britain, formed in 1989 from Western Goals UK, which was founded in 1985 as an offshoot of the U.S. Western Goals Foundation.''Labour Research'', N ...

organized his London visit, and the

Conservative Monday Club The Conservative Monday Club (usually known as the Monday Club) is a British political pressure group, aligned with the Conservative Party, though no longer endorsed by it. It also has links to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Ulster Unioni ...

held a dinner in his honour, at which at least one British

MP, Tim Janman, was present. Already nicknamed "Doctor No", in 1992, he led the opposition campaign during the

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

called by F.W. de Klerk to gain white approval for negotiations to end

. This campaign marked the peak of Conservative support in South Africa, gaining just under one million votes, but the "No" vote was defeated 2 to 1 by white voters. Treurnicht was the author of no fewer than sixteen books, many in the cultural field. He died on 22 April 1993, in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, during a heart operation. His death came shortly after the Conservative Party suffered a major blow with the arrest of senior member

for his role in the

assassination of Chris Hani Chris Hani, General-Secretary of the South African Communist Party (SACP), was assassinated by right-wing extremist Janusz Waluś on 10 April 1993. The assassination, later tied to members within the Conservative Party, occurred outside Hani's ...

. His former deputy minister,

Ferdinand Hartzenberg Ferdinand Hartzenberg (8 January 1936 – 12 March 2021) was a South African politician and the second and last leader of the Conservative Party in South Africa between 1993 and its merger with the Freedom Front in 2004. He obtained a DSc (Agri ...

, became the last leader of the Conservative Party.

Private life

Treurnicht married Engela Dreyer on 18 January 1949, and they had four daughters.

References

External links

1991 interview with the Los Angeles Times
{{DEFAULTSORT:Treurnicht, Andries 1921 births 1993 deaths People from Bergrivier Local Municipality Afrikaner people South African people of Dutch descent Members of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) National Party (South Africa) politicians Conservative Party (South Africa) politicians Members of the House of Assembly (South Africa) Stellenbosch University alumni University of Cape Town alumni