Treurnicht, Andries Petrus (1921-1993)

South African Conservative Party politician. A former minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, he was elected to the South African parliament as a National Party member in 1971 but left it in 1982 to form a new right-wing Conservative Party, opposed to any dilution of the apartheid system.

His party, which sought the establishment of an independent Boer republic, gained ground in the 1987 and 1989 elections but dropped back in 1992. Towards the end of his life Treurnicht softened the party's approach and participated in multiparty constitutional talks.

Born at Piketberg, Treurnicht was a student at Stellenbosch and Cape Town universities, acquiring a doctorate in political philosophy. He was a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church 1946-60, later becoming the editor of its influential journal Die Kerkbode. In this capacity he came to the attention of prime minister Hendrik Verwoerd, who was seeking some philosophical justification for the policy of apartheid. Treurnicht provided this and, having sampled the fringe of politics, decided to commit himself wholeheartedly, and was elected MP for Waterbury in 1971.

He occupied a number of governmental posts, including education and training 1976-78, plural relations and development 1978-79, public works, statistics, and tourism 1979-80, and state administration and statistics 1980-82. He broke away from the National Party when it accepted a proposal to create a tricameral parliament in which whites, coloureds, and Indians would be represented in separate chambers.