Gordon Richard Oliver (born 25 May 1939) is a minister emeritus of the Unitarian Church 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 ...

, a former politician and

Mayor of Cape Town The Mayor of Cape Town is the head of the local government of Cape Town, South Africa; currently that government takes the form of the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality. In the past, the position of Mayor has varied between that of an ...

, South Africa.

Biography

Oliver was born in

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein, ( ; , "fountain of flowers") also known as Bloem, is one of South Africa's three capital cities and the capital of the Free State province. It serves as the country's judicial capital, along with legislative capital Cape To ...

and raised in

Gardens A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

, Cape Town. He attended a Catholic boarding school and after school started a job as a clerk for

Old Mutual Old Mutual Limited is a pan-African investment, savings, insurance, and banking group. It is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, the Namibian Stock Exchange and the Botswana Stock Exchange. It was founded ...

in Pinelands. He had a number of jobs in human resources and started managing an environmental education

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

. From a young age, he worked as a volunteer for the

Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to: Active parties * Progressive Party, Brazil * Progressive Party (Chile) * Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus * Dominica Progressive Party * Progressive Party (Iceland) * Progressive Party (Sardinia), Ita ...

and later the

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 ...

. Oliver became a part time city councillor in the Cape Town municipality during 1976 and was elected deputy mayor in 1987. At the time, the mayor and deputy mayor offices were ceremonial, with no executive powers and both offices were only for a two-year period. Oliver became mayor on 8 September 1989. Five days after his inauguration as mayor, Oliver along with religious leaders such as Desmond Tutu,

Frank Chikane Frank Chikane (born 3 January 1951 in Bushbuckridge, Transvaal) is a South African civil servant, writer and cleric. He is a member of the African National Congress and moderator of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs for th ...

Farid Esack Farid Esack (born 1955 in Wynberg, Cape Town) is a South African Muslim scholar, writer, and political activist known for his opposition to apartheid, his appointment by Nelson Mandela as a gender equity commissioner, and his work for inter-r ...

and

Allan Boesak Allan Aubrey Boesak (born 23 February 1946) is a South African Dutch Reformed Church cleric and politician and anti-apartheid activist. He was sentenced to prison for fraud in 1999 but was subsequently granted an official pardon and reinstated ...

, led a peace march in Cape Town in defiance of the State of Emergency which banned political protests and apartheid laws which enforced racial segregation. That protest march was the first of the two major highlights of Oliver’s mayoral term. The second was welcoming Nelson Mandela to the

Cape Town City Hall Cape Town City Hall is a large Edwardian building in Cape Town city centre which was built in 1905. It is located on the Grand Parade to the west of the Castle and is built from honey-coloured oolitic limestone imported from Bath in England. ...

to address the South African nation and the world on 11 February 1990, the day of his release from prison. After completing his two years as mayor, Oliver worked as head of Cape Town Tourism (Captour) for about eight years. He left Captour in 1998 and was offered a position to organise an international conference for the Parliament of World Religions, which took place in 1999. When the Cape Town's Unitarian minister died in 1997, Oliver became the congregation's unofficial minister as a volunteer, and in 2000 the church hired him as minister in training. He studied in England and at the

University of South Africa The University of South Africa (UNISA), known colloquially as Unisa, is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges and affiliates, U ...

and was officially recognized as a minister in 2002 by the British General Assembly. He worked in the Cape Town ministry until 2008 and also obtained a master's degree in religious studies.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oliver, Gordon Living people 1939 births Mayors of Cape Town