A TRIBUTE TO THE LATE FREDERIK VAN ZYL SLABBERT BY MR JH VAN DER MERWE, MP, INKATHA FREEDOM PARTY CHIEF WHIP Cape Town, May 14 2010

It was with great sadness that I have learned that my dear friend Frederik Van Zyl Slabbert passed away earlier today.

I served many years in Parliament with Frederik Van Zyl Slabbert. He was a Parliamentarian par excellence and I remember how once, in a mere three minute speech, he practically annihilated PW Botha. He feared no one and was prepared to go to prison for his views.

His contributions to achieving a democratic society were not only fearlessly fought in Parliament. When he realised that the struggle for democracy was in fact outside Parliament, he did not hesitate for a moment, but resigned from Parliament and founded Idasa as an instrument to continue the struggle.

Van Zyl Slabbert led the Dakar group in defiance of PW Botha's warnings.

What amazed me about Van Zyl Slabbert was the depth of his political knowledge and his wisdom. He knew and understood the policies of each political party better than they did themselves. On one occasion, at a Seminar in Colonial Williamsburg in the USA, I represented the Conservative Party and was confronted with questions I could not answer. I asked to be excused for a few minutes and went to van Van Zyl Slabbert and asked him how I, as a Conservative MP should answer. He immediately gave me the right answers because he fully understood the views and beliefs of the Conservatives. And for that matter, each and every political party. He was in fact a mobile political library.

When the late Dr Treurnicht's daughter approached Van Zyl Slabbert for assistance to move to the USA to marry a black man, Van Zyl Slabbert did not use that information against Treurnicht. At that stage, it was unthinkable for a white Conservative to marry a black man. News of Treurnicht's daughter marrying a black man would have led to the end of Treurnicht's political career. Van Zyl Slabbert confidentially told me the story but it never made the headlines. What an honourable man!

His part in the struggle for Afrikaans at Stellenbosch was indeed an eye opener. Where were the Verkramptes?  The old Conservatives of which I was a member? Nowhere. The fight for Afrikaans was led by the "liberal jingoes" such as Van Zyl Slabbert, Hermann Giliomee and Breyten Breytenbach. 

I have lost a dear friend, one whom I could phone, as I have often done, to ask for guidance and wisdom in trying to better understand the intricacies of our hugely diverse society.

I also never once saw him angry.

Mooi loop, Van Zyl. Koos gaan jou mis.

Statement issued by Koos van der Merwe, MP, Inkatha Freedom Party chief whip, May 14 2010

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