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This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. It is the product of almost two decades of research and includes analyses, chronologies, historical documents, and interviews from the apartheid and post-apartheid eras.

Kriel, Hernus

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Born in 1941 in Kakamas, Northern Cape. Kriel graduated from the University of Stellenbosch with BA and LLB degrees. He became a lawyer and practised law until 1981 when he left the Bar after his election to the executive committee of the Cape Provincial Council.

He was the only National Party (NP) candidate to be elected to a provincial premiership in the immediate post-apartheid period. He became the first premier of the Western Cape after the democratic election of 1994.

Prior to the transition he held a number of cabinet positions, including the crucial Law and Order portfolio from 1991 – 1994.

Sources: Shelagh Gastrow, 1990. Who's who in South African Politics, Number 3. Johannesburg: Ravan Press.

Peter Joyce, A Concise Dictionary of South African Biography (1999) Cape Town. Francolin

This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. Return to theThis resource is hosted by the site.