Frederik van Zyl Slabbert was born on 2 March 1940 in Pretoria Petrus Johannes Slabbert to and Barbara Zacharia Hagen.

Slabbert attended the Marabastad Farm School, then Eertsegoud Primary, and the Pietersburg Primary School, finally matriculating from the Pietersburg Afrikaans Hoërskool School in 1958. He was head boy and captain of the first rugby and cricket teams.

In 1959, Slabbert began studying for a B.A. Classics degree at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) with the aim of becoming a Dutch Reformed Church Minister. He transferred to the University of Stellenbosch in his second year where he studied Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Sociology.

He completed his M.A. degree in Sociology with distinction at Stellenbosch University in 1964, after giving up his theological studies. He was awarded a Doctorate in Philosophy in 1967 by the University of Stellenbosch. He was the first resident head of Majuba men's residence at Stellenbosch. In 1973, Slabbert was appointed a professor of Sociology at Wits.

Through his work in sociology and his contact with Black people through his studies and the church, and students, Slabbert developed an interest in politics. His studies led him to reject separate development and he stood for the Students Representative Council, a position he lost because his politics were considered too liberal. This did not deter him and he held discussions, seminars and lectures on politics, and even tried to start a student newspaper with an editorial approach opposite to that of the government.

He joined the Progressive Party and in 1974, Slabbert accepted a nomination to stand for Rondebosch in the general election. He did not expect to win the seat, but triumphed over the National Party (NP) representative by 1 600 votes. He continued to hold the seat for the Progressive Federal party (PFP) in 1977 and 1981.

Slabbert played an important role in the development of the PFP's ideology and was chairman of its Constitutional Committee, which drafted the party's policy accepted in 1978. In 1979, he became leader of the PFP and the parliamentary opposition, a position he held until 1986. He was also invited to become the Dean of the University of Cape Town.

He met with the Inkatha Freedom Party leader, Mangosuthu Buthelezi and launched the National Convention Movement in an unsuccessful attempt to pressure the government to negotiate with all political groups.

Slabbert resigned from his position as parliamentarian, in 1986, because he felt that Parliament was becoming an irrelevant institution in the context of South Africa's political problems. He felt that negotiation between the different race groups was far more preferable than conflict. In 1987 he re-entered politics and initiated contact with the ANC-in-exile, which resulted in the Dakar conference between the liberation movement and a group of mainly Afrikaner politicians, academics and businessmen. The conference was organised by IDASA, the Institute for a Democratic South Africa, of which he became director of policy and planning in July 1986..

He was conferred with honorary doctorates from Simon Fraser University in Canada and the Universities of Kwazulu-Natal and the Free State.  He received both the Abe Bailey Travel Scholarship and the American Cultural Exchange Scholarship. He was a visiting scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in November 1982. Heco-founded Khula, a black investment trust in 1990. 

In 2002 then-president Thabo Mbeki appointed him to head a team investigating a new electoral system for South Africa. Its recommendation, a more accountable mix of constituency-based and proportional representation, was quietly shelved by the government.

Van Zyl Slabbert was installed as Stellenbosch University's new Chancellor on 12 May 2008.

Frederik van Zyl Slabbert, passed away on 14 May 2010.

Sources:
Who is Who
Mail and Guardian
News24
SA History

Page Last Updated 25 May 2010