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51-665: Frederik van Zyl Slabbert , a member of the opposition resigned from the Progressive Federal Party and the South African parliament in January 1986, describing it as irrelevant and that he would explore other avenues of negotiations between white and black South African's. Dr. Alex Boraine would also leave with him. Van Zyl Slabbert and Boraine would the establish The Institute for Democratic Alternatives in South Africa (IDASA),

102-458: A pacemaker inserted. He resigned from the post for health reasons in September 2009. In early May 2010, Slabbert was discharged from hospital after receiving treatment for a liver related illness. He died at home on 14 May 2010. Slabbert was survived by his wife Jane and two children from his first marriage—Tania and Riko. He reportedly was bitter because he gave his whole life to the struggle of

153-514: A black investment trust — in 1990. Slabbert was appointed as chairman of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) listed Adcorp Holdings in 1998 and also sat on the boards of several other JSE-listed companies such as Wooltru, Investec, Caxton and Radiospoor. Slabbert was appointed as the 13th chancellor of Stellenbosch University on 1 August 2008, but he suffered a heart attack at the end of the same year, an event that led to him having

204-629: A fair trial; No one shall be condemned by the order of any Government official; The courts shall be representative of all the people; Imprisonment shall be only for serious crimes against the people, and shall aim at re-education, not vengeance; The police force and army shall be open to all on an equal basis and shall be the helpers and protectors of the people; All laws which discriminate on grounds of race, colour or belief shall be repealed. The law shall guarantee to all their right to speak, to organise, to meet together, to publish, to preach, to worship and to educate their children; The privacy of

255-554: A group of South Africans who were going to have a meeting with the ANC. The IDASA delegation personally invited by Slabbert consisted of 61 delegates with at least half consisting of Afrikaner academics, teachers, journalists, artists, directors, writers and professionals and the group had Afrikaans speaking Coloureds, ten English-speaking businessmen and academics and three German academics working on South Africa. The South African delegation attended in their private capacity and did not represent

306-609: A leading role in initiating dialogue between white South Africans and the African National Congress (ANC). His efforts led to the Dakar Conference of 1987, which took place between the anti-apartheid movement and leading (mainly Afrikaner ) politicians, academics and businessmen in Senegal . This conference represented the first step towards dismantling apartheid and informed subsequent negotiations ( CODESA ) which changed

357-517: A non-partisan organization that aimed to promote inclusive democracy in South Africa by talking to people of all races within and outside the country. Slabbert, in communication with Thabo Mbeki , member of the ANC National Executive, discussed the change in attitude amongst some of the Afrikaner elite towards Afrikaner Nationalism and Apartheid . Out of these discussions and meetings, an idea

408-572: A punishable crime; All apartheid laws and practices shall be set aside. The national wealth of our country, the heritage of all South Africans, shall be restored to the people; The mineral wealth beneath the soil, the banks and monopoly industry shall be transferred to the ownership of the people as a whole; All other industry and trade shall be controlled to assist the well-being of the people; All people shall have equal rights to trade where they choose, to manufacture and to enter all trades, crafts and professions. Restrictions of land ownership on

459-533: A racial basis shall be ended, and all the land redivided amongst those who work it, to banish famine and land hunger; The state shall help the peasants with implements, seed, tractors and dams to save the soil and assist the tillers; Freedom of movement shall be guaranteed to all who work on the land; All shall have the right to occupy land wherever they choose; People shall not be robbed of their cattle, and forced labour and farm prisons shall be abolished. No one shall be imprisoned, deported or restricted without

510-486: Is based on the will of all the people; that our people have been robbed of their birthright to land, liberty and peace by a form of government founded on injustice and inequality; that our country will never be prosperous or free until all our people live in brotherhood, enjoying equal rights and opportunities; that only a democratic state, based on the will of all the people, can secure to all their birthright without distinction of colour, race, sex or belief; And therefore, we,

561-488: The 1981 elections , increasing its representation in the House of Assembly from 17 to 26 seats. In 1986, Slabbert resigned from his position as leader of the opposition because he felt that Parliament was becoming an irrelevant institution in the context of South Africa's political problems. Prior to his resignation, he published a book entitled The Last White Parliament in which he explained his actions, and his predictions for

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612-716: The African National Congress (ANC) and its allies: the South African Indian Congress , the South African Congress of Democrats and the Coloured People's Congress . It is characterised by its opening demand, "The People Shall Govern!" After about a decade of multi-faceted resistance to white minority rule, and in the wake of the Defiance Campaign of 1952, the work to create the Freedom Charter

663-454: The University of Stellenbosch for 18 months before deciding that sociology was his calling. He completed a BA Honours at the university, and a doctorate in 1967. After completing his studies he worked as a sociology lecturer at Stellenbosch University, Rhodes University and the University of Cape Town . In 1973, he was appointed head of the sociology department of the University of

714-592: The ANC and felt betrayed when Thabo Mbeki didn't appoint him as a Minister. Many public figures in South Africa paid tribute to Slabbert for the role he played in ending apartheid. In 2004, Slabbert was voted 82nd in the Top 100 Great South Africans . Freedom Charter The Freedom Charter was the statement of core principles of the South African Congress Alliance , which consisted of

765-467: The ANC members outlined why they had begun an armed struggle when all other peaceful strategies to bring about racial policy change in South Africa had failed and that attacks on soft targets was not a policy and that control over its armed cadres in the country was not always possible. It was clear to the delegates during the discussions that the ANC was prepared to negotiate with the government but that certain preconditions would have to be met which included

816-491: The Charter had been read in full. The crowd had shouted its approval of each section with cries of "Africa!" and " Mayibuye !" Nelson Mandela escaped the police by disguising himself as a milkman , as his movements and interactions were restricted by banning orders at the time. The document signified a major break with the past traditions of the struggle; this was no longer a civil rights movement seeking to be accommodated in

867-465: The Congress was denounced as treason, the South African government banned the ANC and arrested 156 activists, including Mandela, who were put on trial in the 1956 Treason Trial , in which all were acquitted. The Charter continued to circulate in the revolutionary underground and inspired a new generation of young militants in the 1980s. When the ANC finally came to power after democratic elections in 1994,

918-563: The PP and its later incarnations as a liberal movement which advocated the creation of a non-racial democracy in South Africa . A respect for individual liberty became a cornerstone of the PP because of the work of Slabbert and others. In 1979, he became leader of the Progressive Federal Party (PFP), a grouping formed after the PP merged with various other liberal elements, most notably Harry Schwarz 's Reform Party . The PFP fared well in

969-499: The Witwatersrand . During his academic studies, Slabbert developed an active interest in politics, which led him to reject apartheid and to stand for a seat on Stellenbosch University's Students' Representative Council. He lost the election as he was considered to be too liberal . In the 1974 general election , Slabbert stood for election as a Progressive Party (PP) candidate for the constituency of Rondebosch . Although he

1020-676: The administration of the country; The rights of the people shall be the same, regardless of race, colour or sex; All bodies of minority rule, advisory boards, councils and authorities shall be replaced by democratic organs of self-government. There shall be equal status in the bodies of state, in the courts and in the schools for all national groups and races; All people shall have equal right to use their own languages, and to develop their own folk culture and customs; All national groups shall be protected by law against insults to their race and national pride; The preaching and practice of national, race or colour discrimination and contempt shall be

1071-586: The airport by a hundred demonstrators from the Afrikaner Resistance Movement ( Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging ) led by Eugene Terre Blanche . Posters would accuse the delegates of being traitors, communists and terrorists. No news conference was held by the delegates, having been banned by the police and they were escorted via a back entrance from Jan Smuts International Airport . Frederick Van Zyl Slabbert and Dr. Alex Boraine would return to South Africa on 31 July. The ruling National Party condemned

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1122-632: The airport by the Senegalese Head of Protocol in the VIP lounge and then escorted by motorcycle riders to their hotel where the conference would take place and were met there by the ANC delegation. During the conference, the delegates would attend receptions at Presidential Palace and the Minister of Educations residence. The conference began on 9 July and would end on 12 July. The conference was opened by President Abdou Diouf and attended by his cabinet and members of

1173-409: The basis of merit; Adult illiteracy shall be ended by a mass state education plan; Teachers shall have all the rights of other citizens; The colour bar in cultural life, in sport and in education shall be abolished. All people shall have the right to live where they choose, to be decently housed, and to bring up their families in comfort and security; Unused housing space to be made available to

1224-610: The city should be the location of the conference. One third of the conference's cost was financed by the German Friedrich Naumann Foundation and further support was provided by George Soros , who however he was skeptical that the conference would achieve anything for South Africa. Breytenbach then approached Danielle Mitterrand , the French president's wife who headed the France-Libertés Foundation and who

1275-523: The course of South Africa's history. In 2002, Slabbert was appointed by the then Minister of Home Affairs, with the approval of Cabinet, as the chair of the Electoral Task Team. The team had the responsibility of coming up with a new Electoral Act for South Africa. The task team completed its work by early 2003, and presented a report to Cabinet, including draft legislation, recommending a closed-list, mixed member proportional electoral system. However,

1326-463: The diplomatic community and then an address was given by Danielle Mitterrand. The delegates would then return to their hotel and the conference venue. Four major topics had been agreed upon and the delegates had submitted the papers prior to conference and had been viewed by the ANC and they would respond to them after their presentation. The four major topics included, strategies for bringing fundamental change in South Africa, national unity, structures of

1377-589: The discussion concerning a Bill of Rights said it did not have a problem with it but would not guarantee privileges in such a bill. It expressed a reassurance that the Afrikaans language would be safeguarded as well as its cultural identity and that all people's cultural heritages should be protected. Concerning the future South African economy the ANC's policies were still governed by the Freedom Charter and that some form of nationalization would be required to redress

1428-423: The economic and wealth imbalances and that any nationalization would not occur instantly and consultation would take place between business and the future government. Health housing and education were key areas that the ANC would be readdressing. At the conclusion of the conference, a declaration was released by the participants stating that a negotiated settlement in South Africa was preferred and that main obstacle

1479-687: The end, the conference had broken the ice and would make it acceptable for an Afrikaner government to negotiate in the future with the ANC as well as the ANC to understand the Afrikaner. Further meetings were held when South African businessmen met with the ANC, Stellenbosch University students would meet in Lusaka and IDASA would organize further meetings in Germany, United States, France, Zambia and Zimbabwe . Frederik van Zyl Slabbert Frederik van Zyl Slabbert GCOB (2 March 1940 – 14 May 2010)

1530-516: The equal rights, opportunities and status of all; The people of the protectorates-Basutoland, Bechuanaland and Swaziland-shall be free to decide for themselves their own future; The right of all the peoples of Africa to independence and self-government shall be recognized and shall be the basis of close co-operation. Let all who love their people and their country now say, as we say here: 'THESE FREEDOMS WE WILL FIGHT FOR, SIDE BY SIDE, THROUGHOUT OUR LIVES, UNTIL WE HAVE WON OUR LIBERTY.' Adopted at

1581-576: The existing structures of society, but called for a fundamental restructuring of all aspects of South African society. The document is notable for its demand for and commitment to a non-racial South Africa, and this has remained the platform of the ANC. As a result, ANC members who held pro-African views left the ANC after it adopted the charter, forming the Pan Africanist Congress . The charter also calls for democracy and human rights , land reform , labour rights , and nationalisation . After

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1632-575: The final document by ANC leaders including Z.K. Mathews , Lionel "Rusty" Bernstein , Ethel Drus, Ruth First and Alan Lipman (whose wife, Beata Lipman, hand-wrote the original Charter). The Charter was officially adopted on Sunday 26 June 1955 at a gathering of about 3,000 people, known as the Congress of the People in Kliptown , Soweto . The meeting was broken up by police on the second day, although by then

1683-810: The future of South Africa . Following his resignation, Slabbert and Alex Boraine , a fellow PFP MP, formed the liberal think tank IDASA (Institute for Democracy in Africa) with funding from, among others, the Ford Foundation , the United States Agency for International Development and the National Endowment for Democracy . Critics from the left charged that it "pushed an essentially neoliberal agenda" focussing on limited forms of representative democracy in which economic questions were not subject to democratic control. As head of IDASA, Slabbert played

1734-427: The government and the future of the economy in a free South Africa. Informal topics were also discussed and included the armed struggle, violence, negotiations, political pluralism , a Bill of Rights , future of Afrikaans and its culture, a future economy, distributive justice and other topics. The delegates in their presentation expressed their concern about violence in South Africa and its impact on civilians while

1785-427: The house from police raids shall be protected by law; All shall be free to travel without restriction from countryside to town, from province to province, and from South Africa abroad; Pass Laws, permits and all other laws restricting these freedoms shall be abolished. All who work shall be free to form trade unions, to elect their officers and to make wage agreements with their employers; The state shall recognise

1836-456: The new Constitution of South Africa included many of the demands of the Freedom Charter. It addressed directly nearly all of the demands for equality of race and language. The original document is housed at Liliesleaf Farm , now a museum. We, the People of South Africa, declare for all our country and the world to know: that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it

1887-523: The organisations they worked for. The seventeen ANC delegates would be led by Thabo Mbeki in his capacity of ANC Director of Information and four other members of the ANCs National Executive Committee while the other twelve were made up of ANC members based in Zambia , Scandinavia , UK, Ireland, United States and West Africa. The IDASA delegation flew into Dakar from London and were met at

1938-543: The orphans, the disabled and the sick shall be cared for by the state; Rest, leisure and recreation shall be the right of all; Fenced locations and ghettoes shall be abolished, and laws which break up families shall be repealed. South Africa shall be a fully independent state, which respects the rights and sovereignty of all nations; South Africa shall strive to maintain world peace and the settlement of all international disputes by negotiation-not war; Peace and friendship amongst all our people shall be secured by upholding

1989-417: The people of South Africa, black and white together - equals, countrymen and brothers - adopt this Freedom Charter. And we pledge ourselves to strive together, sparing neither strength nor courage, until the democratic changes here set out have been won. Every man and woman shall have the right to vote for and to stand as a candidate for all bodies which make laws; All people shall be entitled to take part in

2040-413: The people; Rent and prices shall be lowered, food plentiful and no one shall go hungry; A preventive health scheme shall be run by the state; Free medical care and hospitalisation shall be provided for all, with special care for mothers and young children; Slums shall be demolished, and new suburbs built where all have transport, roads, lighting, playing fields, creches and social centres; The aged,

2091-499: The release of political prisoners and the unbanning of banned organisation's in the country. With regards to pluralism, the ANC expressed a commitment of political pluralism in a new South African political system and that racism and fascism would be outlawed in the political system. It expressed a belief that the groups committed to the ending of Apartheid would in a new South Africa political system would split into its own organizations expressing their own ideas and beliefs. The ANC in

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2142-464: The right and duty of all to work, and to draw full unemployment benefits; Men and women of all races shall receive equal pay for equal work; There shall be a forty-hour working week, a national minimum wage, paid annual leave, and sick leave for all workers, and maternity leave on full pay for all working mothers; Miners, domestic workers, farm workers and civil servants shall have the same rights as all others who work; Child labour, compound labour,

2193-405: The talk, worried about the legitimacy the conference gave to the ANC and the government controlled South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and Afrikaner newspapers were critical. English newspapers were said to be critical and lukewarm to the conference. Government officials would express their opinion privately that they thought the conference would hinder the government's own initiates. In

2244-523: The team's recommendations were never implemented. From the 1990s until his death, Slabbert was a successful entrepreneur and businessperson. Slabbert also worked as regional facilitator for the George Soros -backed funding organisation, the Open Society Initiative of Southern Africa , which identifies and invests in worthy projects in nine African countries. In addition, he co-founded Khula —

2295-630: The tot system and contract labour shall be abolished. The government shall discover, develop and encourage national talent for the enhancement of our cultural life; All the cultural treasures of mankind shall be open to all, by free exchange of books, ideas and contact with other lands; The aim of education shall be to teach the youth to love their people and their culture, to honour human brotherhood, liberty and peace; Education shall be free, compulsory, universal and equal for all children; Higher education and technical training shall be opened to all by means of state allowances and scholarships awarded on

2346-663: Was a South African political analyst, businessman and politician. He is best known for having been the leader of the official opposition – the Progressive Federal Party (PFP) – in the House of Assembly from 1979 to 1986. Born in Pretoria to an Afrikaner family, Slabbert grew up in Pietersburg (now Polokwane) in northern Transvaal (now the Limpopo Province of South Africa). He matriculated from Pietersburg's Afrikaans High School in 1958. After graduating, he studied theology at

2397-451: Was generated for a possible meeting between them and the ANC. This would be a change from the opposition White liberals attempting to force political change from within the parliamentary system, to the Afrikaner elite taking direct action in shaping the future direction of South Africa. Later in 1986, Slabbert and Breyten Breytenbach met on Gorée Island of Dakar in Senegal and decided that

2448-531: Was in part a response to an increasingly repressive government which was bent on stamping out extra-parliamentary dissent. In 1955, the ANC sent out 50,000 volunteers into townships and the countryside to collect "freedom demands" from the people of South Africa. This system was designed to give all South Africans equal rights. Demands such as "Land to be given to all landless people", "Living wages and shorter hours of work", "Free and compulsory education, irrespective of colour, race or nationality" were synthesised into

2499-469: Was not expected to win the seat, he beat the United Party (UP) candidate by 1,600 votes. Slabbert defended and retained this seat in the parliamentary elections of 1977 and 1981 . Slabbert rose through the ranks of the PP and came to play an important role in the development of the party's ideology, particularly as the chairman of its Constitutional Committee. Using his influence, he helped to position

2550-697: Was the South African government's unwillingness to negotiate, and the delegates concern about the level of uncontrolled violence in the country. A ferry trip was then organized to the Gorée Island and they visited the Maison des Esclaves and its museum in remembrance to the Dutch slave trade in West Africa. At the end of the conference, the two groups left Senegal on a visit to Burkina Faso and Ghana . Forty South African delegates would return on 21 July 1987 and were met at

2601-505: Was well acquainted with Abdou Diouf , the Senegalese President, and asked her to intercede with him to allow the South African delegates to enter Senegal and ensure the security of the conference. The African Jurists' Association would also play a role in the conference's organisation. By 3 June 1987, more than a month before the start date, the South African press had caught wind of the proposed conference and published stories about

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