Zacharias Johannes "Zach" de Beer (born

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 ...

, South Africa, 11 October 1928 – 27 May 1999) was a liberal

Afrikaner Afrikaners () are a South African ethnic group descended from Free Burghers, predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: ...

South African politician and businessman. He was the last leader of 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 ...

and then the co-leader of the new liberal

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

. Educated at Bishop's

Diocesan College The Diocesan College (commonly known as Bishops) is a private, English medium, boarding and day high school for boys situated in the suburb of Rondebosch in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The school was established on ...

in Rondebosch, He completed an

MBChB Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United King ...

degree 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 ...

in 1951. There he was elected president of the Students Representative Council.

Political career

De Beer was born in Woodstock, Cape Town, the son of Jean Isobel (MacRae) and Zacharias Johannes de Beer. He was first elected to 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 ...

in 1953 as an MP for the opposition United Party. He was 24 years old at the time, and was the youngest MP ever elected to the parliament. On the party's left wing, he and fellow MPs including

Helen Suzman Helen Suzman, OMSG, DBE (née Gavronsky; 7 November 1917 – 1 January 2009) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician. She represented a series of liberal and centre-left opposition parties during her 36-year tenure in th ...

Colin Eglin Colin Wells Eglin (14 April 1925 – 29 November 2013) was a South African politician best known for having served as national leader of the opposition from 1977–79 and 1986–87. He represented Sea Point in the South African Parliament from 19 ...

Ray Swart Ray Albert Francis Swart (28 February 1928 - 14 January 2020) was a white liberal South African politician who spent his life in opposition to the apartheid policies of the government . He was educated in Durban at Glenwood High School and th ...

Harry Lawrence Harry Gordon Lawrence (1901–1973) was a South African politician. Harry Lawrence was on the liberal wing of the United Party. He was the most senior of the MPs who broke away and founded the Progressive Party in 1959. Lawrence served as a ...

and Dr

Jan Steytler Johannes "Jan" van Aswegen Steytler (October 26, 1910 – after 1977) was a liberal South African politician and the first leader of the Progressive Party (PP). He was born in Burgersdorp, in the then Cape Province now Eastern Cape Province. Ba ...

resigned from the party after its national congress voted against returning any further land to the black majority for their occupation and use. He and the other liberal MPs formed the new

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), Italy ...

in 1959. Like all the Progressive MPs except Helen Suzman, De Beer lost his seat in the 1961 general election. He joined an advertising agency before moving on to work for the

Anglo American PLC Anglo American plc is a British listed multinational mining company with headquarters in London, England. It is the world's largest producer of platinum, with around 40% of world output, as well as being a major producer of diamonds, copper, n ...

De Beers De Beers Group is an international corporation that specializes in diamond mining, diamond exploitation, diamond retail, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. The company is active in open-pit, large-scale alluvial and c ...

diamond mining conglomerate. In the 1977 general election, he was returned to

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 ...

as an MP for what had become the Progressive Federal Party which had been formed that year through a merger of the Progressive Party and various other liberal groups of MPs. He became the PFP's leader in August 1988 and, with

Denis Worrall Denis John Worrall (born 29 May 1935 in Benoni, Transvaal, Union of South Africa)Who's Who in Southern Africa ...

and

Wynand Malan Wynand Malan (born 25 May 1943) is a liberal Afrikaner South African politician. A lawyer, Malan entered politics in the 1977 South African election when he was elected to the South Africa's all white parliament as the National Party MP for ...

was a co-leader of the new Democratic Party when it formed in 1989. Following the DP's defeat in the first post-apartheid election of 1994, De Beer resigned as party leader. He was appointed South African ambassador to

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...

. De Beer was for many years a director of Anglo American PLC/De Beers. He died of a stroke at his home in Clifton, Cape Town, in 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:de Beer, Zach 1928 births 1999 deaths Afrikaner anti-apartheid activists Ambassadors of South Africa to the Netherlands White South African anti-apartheid activists Democratic Party (South Africa) politicians Members of the House of Assembly (South Africa) Politicians from Cape Town Progressive Federal Party politicians United Party (South Africa) politicians University of Cape Town alumni