Colin Eglin

Colin Wells Eglin ( born April 14, 1925 in Cape Town, † November 29, 2013 ) was a South African politician. He was 1977-1979 and 1986-1987 Leader of the Opposition in the South African National Assembly.

Life

Eglin moved to his father's death nine years after Hobhouse in the Orange Free State, where he lived with his aunt and was in school the only English speaking. At 14, he earned his degree at the De Villiers Graaff High School in Villiersdorp in Cape Town. In 1949 he began studying for a Bachelor of Science at the University of Cape Town ( UCT ). 1943 Eglin interrupted his studies and took to the Union Defence Force in the Second World War. At first he was instructor of the air defense unit in Cape Town; then he worked in a similar position in Egypt and Italy. After his demobilization he remained in Italy and studied for nine months archeology and urban planning. In 1946 he finished his studies at UCT with a Bachelor of Science degree in Quantity Surveying (about: " Bauberechnung ").

In 1951 he was selected for the United Party (UP) as a member of the Council in the Pinelands area. 1954 to 1958 he was also responsible for the UP in the Provincial of the Cape Province. 1958 Eglin was elected as UP, MP for the Cape Peninsula in the National Assembly. He was a founding member in 1959 of the Progressive Party (PP). In 1961 he was a member of the Molteno Commission, working out a draft constitution, which provided extensive rights for all South Africans and is considered a model of the constitutions of the 1990s. He lost in the 1961 elections his seat in the National Assembly. He founded Synthesis, a nonpartisan policy research and discussion forum beyond the then common " racial barriers ".

In February 1971, Eglin Chairman of the PP, in April 1974, he was again elected to the National Assembly. In July 1975 they chose Eglin Chairman of the PP 's successor party, Progressive Reform Party, in 1977, he became chairman of the Progressive Federal Party as now (PFP ) operating under the name Party. At the same time he was leader of the opposition in the National Assembly. In 1979, he was replaced by Frederik van Zyl Slabbert and acted until 1986 as Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs. According to van Zyl Slabberts resignation Eglin was party chairman from 1986 to 1988 again, until the election defeat of the PFP 1987, opposition leader. His successor as chairman was Zach de Beer. Eglin retained its mandate, as the PFP in 1989 merged into the Democratic Party and then in 2000 in the Democratic Alliance. In 2004 he retired from Parliament. He was elected in the same year by the Leadership Magazine for South African " Parliamentarians of the century". Nelson Mandela called him "one of the architects of our democracy."

Eglin died 88 years old in November 2013 of a heart ailment. He was married and the father of three children.

Honors

• 2004: Parliament Arian of the Century
• 2012: Prize for Freedom of the Liberal International
• 2013: Order of the Baobab in Silver for his fight against apartheid

Works

• Crossing the Borders of Power. Autobiography. Jonathan Ball, Johannesburg 2007, ISBN 978-1868422531.