Testimony to a great South African son

“Speaker, that honourable member should rather stay quiet, since he is only illustrating that he is the unfortunate victim of his own incompetence.” This is one of my first personal memories, as parliamentary reporter, of the quick, razor-sharp intellect of Frederick van Zyl Slabbert as leader of the opposition in the South African parliament of mid-1975. Many more memories would follow over the years.

When Van Zyl Slabbert, often referred to as "Van", passed away last week, South Africa lost not only one of its brightest minds and a hero in his own right along his chosen path in the development of our country as a truly free nation, but it also left many of those who have only had occasional interaction with him with a feeling of personal loss.

Telling about the nature and stature of the man is that one of the first comments you would hear from even those who were the furthest removed from him in terms of political - or for that matter, any other - conviction would always be filled with immense respect: respect for his intellect, respect for his integrity in all he dealt with and respect for his ability to always maintain the highest standards of personal conduct, whatever the circumstances.

He was also a multi-talented man who could easily have become a rugby hero, if he had chosen to follow that path. He once told me how, during his days as student at Stellenbosch University, the legendary Dr Danie Craven had told him that if he really wanted to excel in our national sport, he must be willing to die for “the game”. Van Zyl Slabbert chose to set his priorities differently.

As a young member of the parliamentary press gallery and a novice chess player, I once had the privilege to play the game against him as member of the parliamentary chess club. In less than half an hour, it was clear that I was not posing any real challenge to him.

A decade later, he would leave me with another sharp memory when on the first day that I attended a parliamentary no confidence debate as a member in 1986, he announced on the floor of the house that he had lost faith in the relevance of participating in the formal structures of the apartheid state.

When, a few years earlier, he had advised a fellow member across the floor of the house not to expose his “incompetence”, it was while addressing one of those silly and hurtful consequences of the apartheid system – a huge controversy had developed in a platteland town because a private ballet school had admitted a young coloured girl to its classes.

By 1986, he had lost faith in the ability to influence, from the opposition benches in parliament, the actions of the state. This he told me some years later when, following a visit to Mozambique, he could not convince key members of the Cabinet of the time that the security forces were involved in dirty tricks in that country.

History has proven him correct in the subsequent route he chose at the time. The contribution that Van Zyl Slabbert made in building the bridges which would help bring the country to the historic settlement before the 1994 elections is immeasurable.

In the late 1990s, I again had the privilege of close co-operation with him in a business deal, putting together a consortium to tender for a substantial contract with a government institution.

The first rule that he insisted on was that it should be based on the principle of no success, no pay. His main function was to find suitable black partners for the deal. When his first choice did not live up to expectations and simply wanted to contribute his name without any practical effort, Van did not hesitate to replace him with someone else who was willing to make a real effort.

When he left parliament in 1986, there were also personal circumstances that played a role in his decision, but as he did until his very final days, Van succeeded in keeping what should remain private, private.

Frederick Van Zyl Slabbert will live on in the minds and souls of myself and many others. He will also forever live on honourably in the pages of our country's history. We, as individuals and South Africa as a whole, have been blessed to have been touched by him and by the way in which he lived his life.

Piet Coetzer