About this site

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 It is the product of almost two decades of research and includes analyses, chronologies, historical documents, and interviews from the apartheid and post-apartheid eras.

Wessels, Leon

1946 -

Wessels attended the SA Police College, Potchefstroom University and RAU and was admitted to the Johannesburg Bar in 1973. He was President of the Afrikaner Studentebond from 1971 to 1973.

In 1977 Wessels became NP MP for Krugersdorp and in 1988 he was appointed Deputy Minister of Law & Order. This was followed by appointments as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1989, Minister of Planning, Provincial Affairs & National Housing in 1991 and, finally, as Minister of Local Government, National Housing and Manpower in 1992.

He was a member of the National Party negotiating team at CODESA and Deputy Chairman of the Constituent Assembly from 1994 to1996. In 1996 he left politics and became a commissioner on the Human Rights Commission.

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.