Marthinus van Schalkwyk

Early life and career

Van Schalkwyk matriculated from Pietersburg High School in 1977. He was a national serviceman in the South African Defence Force (SADF) from 1978 to 1979 and would later attend the Rand Afrikaans University where he earned a Masters of Arts in Political Science and a B Proc. (a junior legal degree). As a prominent student leader of whites in the 1980s, he was a founding member and chairman of "Jeugkrag" - Youth Power - an organisation purportedly opposed to the Afrikaner establishment, but which was secretly funded by military intelligence. According to a top secret document supplied to Wikileaks, Van Schalkwyk "confirmed that he was an agent for the Intelligence Services". Later, he would lecture Political Science at Rand Afrikaans University (RAU) and University of Stellenbosch.

Political career

His political career began during the late apartheid years at the Rand Afrikaans University as chairman of the Student Representative Council (SRC), the Afrikaanse Studentebond (ASB), and later of the Ruiterwag, the youth wing of the Broederbond.

Van Schalkwyk was the leader of the New National Party from its inception on 8 September 1997 until its dissolution on 9 April 2005. He also served as Premier of the Western Cape and Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of South Africa.

Informally, he was referred to by detractors as kortbroek (lit. "short pants"), a name he earned because of his boyish appearance and lack of political experience when compared to his predecessor, F.W. de Klerk. A significant part of the white Afrikaner population views him as a weak politician who destroyed the old National Party in order to rescue his own political skin by marrying the NNP with its old opposition, the ruling ANC. He was however one of the few National Party politicians who remained active in politics after the decline of the National Party.

In August 2004 it was announced that Van Schalkwyk would become a member of the ANC, and that the NNP would be disbanded in 2005 or 2006 at the latest. This decision was finalized on 9 April 2005, when the party's federal committee overwhelmingly endorsed its regional committees' recommendation to disband the party as soon as municipal election results were finalised.

Environmental Affairs and Tourism work

On 29 April 2004 Van Schalkwyk was appointed by President Thabo Mbeki as Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism for South Africa. He held the position until May 2009, when a new Ministry of Water and Environmental Affairs was created and he became Minister of Tourism.

Van Schalkwyk became President of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) in June 2008, when South Africa assumed the presidency of AMCEN at the beginning of its 12th Session.

In March 2010, he was nominated by South African President Jacob Zuma to succeed Yvo de Boer as the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The vote did not go his way and on May 17, 2010 de Boer was succeeded by Costa Rican diplomat Christiana Figueres who had been involved with the Center for Sustainable Development in the Americas since the early 1990s.

In its annual review of ministerial performance for 2013 the Mail and Guardian honoured his significant contributions as Tourism Minister with a C grade, concluding that "With inadequate political credentials, Marthinus van Schalkwyk has justified his stay in Cabinet long after the demise of his New National Party by actually doing his work. Tourism figures have improved year by year and his department has consistently tried to innovate to attract more visitors ... Van Schalkwyk may not return after elections, but under him tourism has grown into a long-pants department."

Van Schalkwyk is currently serving as South Africa's ambassador to Greece.

Personal life

Van Schalkwyk is married to Suzette Minama Labuschagne and has a son, Christiaan, and a daughter, Maryke.