Johannes "Johnny" Schippers (29 June 1943 – 31 January 2009) was a South African politician from the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

. A former teacher, he served in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

from 2000 to 2004 and from 2005 to 2009. He was a member of the New National Party (NNP) until September 2005, when he

crossed the floor Crossed may refer to: * ''Crossed'' (comics), a 2008 comic book series by Garth Ennis * ''Crossed'' (novel), a 2010 young adult novel by Ally Condie * "Crossed" (''The Walking Dead''), an episode of the television series ''The Walking Dead'' S ...

to 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 ...

(ANC).

Early life

Schippers was born on 29 June 1943 in

Tulbagh Tulbagh, named after Dutch Cape Colony Governor Ryk Tulbagh, is a town located in the "Land van Waveren" mountain basin (also known as the Tulbagh basin), in the Winelands of the Western Cape, South Africa. The basin is fringed on three sides ...

in the former

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 ...

. He held a BA from 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 a

BEd A bed is an item of furniture that is used as a place to sleep, rest, and relax. Most modern beds consist of a soft, cushioned mattress on a bed frame. The mattress rests either on a solid base, often wood slats, or a sprung base. Many beds ...

from the

University of the Western Cape The University of the Western Cape (UWC) is a public research university in Bellville, near Cape Town, South Africa. The university was established in 1959 by the South African government as a university for Coloured people only. Other un ...

, and he was a teacher and school principal by profession. He represented the National Party, the NNP's forerunner, as a local councillor in Tulbagh from 1995 to 1999.

Legislative career: 2000–2009

In the 1999 general election, Schippers stood for the NNP as a candidate for election to the National Assembly's Western Cape caucus, but he was not initially elected. Instead, he joined the assembly on 14 August 2000, replacing

Abe Williams Abraham Williams (born 12 December 1940) is a retired South African politician from the Western Cape. He was the last apartheid-era Minister of Sport from 1993 to 1994 and then was the first post-apartheid Minister of Welfare and Population ...

. He served as the NNP's spokesman on safety and security during the legislative term that followed. Schippers was not immediately re-elected in the 2004 general election and again joined the legislature during the legislative term, replacing

Cecil Herandien Cecil Bernard Herandien (born 8 March 1951) is a retired South African politician who represented the New National Party (NNP) in the National Assembly from 2001 to 2005. Before that, he served in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament, where ...

on 26 August 2005. By then, NNP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk had announced the NNP's intention to disband. The week after being sworn in, during the floor-crossing window, Schippers followed van Schalkwyk and most of the NNP's other representatives in resigning from the NNP and joining the governing ANC. He served the rest of the term under the ANC banner.

Personal life

Schippers was married. He died on 31 January 2009 in a car accident while travelling home to Tulbagh from the ANC's regional constituency office in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Englan ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schippers, Johnny 21st-century South African politicians 20th-century South African politicians Members of the National Assembly of South Africa African National Congress politicians National Party (South Africa) politicians University of South Africa alumni University of the Western Cape alumni People from Tulbagh Politicians from the Western Cape 1943 births 2009 deaths