Hendrik Schmidt is a South African politician, a Member of

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

with the Democratic Alliance, and the Shadow Deputy Minister of Mining.

Background

Schmidt was born in Klerksdorp, South Africa in 1963. He attended schools in Durban, Welkom and Virginia.

Education

He holds several law degrees, including a B. Iuri., an LLB from

Unisa The University of South Australia (UniSA) is a public research university in the Australian state of South Australia. It is a founding member of the Australian Technology Network of universities, and is the largest university in South Australi ...

, an LLM from

Rand Afrikaans University The Rand Afrikaans University (RAU) was a prominent South African institution of higher education and research that served the greater Johannesburg area and surroundings from 1967 to 2004. It has since merged with the Technikon Witwatersrand ...

University of Johannesburg The University of Johannesburg (UJ) is a public university located in Johannesburg, South Africa. The University of Johannesburg came into existence on 1 January 2005 as the result of a merger between the Rand Afrikaans University (RAU), the Te ...

and a Masters in Philosophy. He has worked for the Department of Justice in the district and regional court as a Public Prosecutor and then as a State Advocate and Senior State Advocate. From 1994 to 1999, he was an advocate for the Witwatersrand Local Division and has been a member of the Society of Advocates of South Africa since 1994.

Political life

Schmidt began his political career as a councillor in the Northern Metropolitan Council and went on to become an MP in 1999. He held the position of Democratic Alliance spokesperson on Minerals and Energy from 2004 to 2009, and was instrumental in pursuing and exposing the truth surrounding the Oilgate scandal, involving the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...

and Petro-SA. On his re-election to Parliament in 2009, he was appointed as the Shadow Minister of Mining. As a fierce opponent of nationalization of the mining industry in South Africa, he has released many statements to validate his skepticism of the

ANC The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election installe ...

’s ability to do this while turning a profit. His current constituency is Randwest, which includes

Randfontein Randfontein is a gold mining town in the West Rand, Gauteng, South Africa, west of Johannesburg. With the Witwatersrand gold rush in full swing, mining financier JB Robinson bought the farm Randfontein and, in 1889, floated the Randfontein Est ...

and

Westonaria Westonaria is a town in the west of Gauteng province of South Africa. It is situated in the Rand West City Local Municipality, part of the West Rand District Municipality. During the apartheid era, Africans lived outside town in Bekkersdal, Gaute ...

. It is a community affected by mining activities and, as spokesperson on Mining, Hendrik has provided much assistance with respect to the Mega tailings facilities to be established by Harmony and Mintails in the two different areas.

Quote

Quote: "Expenditure in individual human capital and community development is an investment and not a cost."

References

Offices held

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, Hendrik Living people Democratic Alliance (South Africa) politicians Members of the National Assembly of South Africa Year of birth missing (living people)