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 It is the product of almost two decades of research and includes analyses, chronologies, historical documents, and interviews from the apartheid and post-apartheid eras.

Hendrickse, Helenard Joe (Allan)

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Hendrickse grew up in an area that was racially integrated. He became politically aware while in high school, under the influence of the Non-European Unity movement. Hendrickse was active in the founding of the first black high school in Uitenhage.

He was a founding member of the Labour Party (LP) which was formed in 1969, and he served as its first national chairman. In 1975 he was elected to the Coloured Representative Council executive. In 1976 he was detained, and then released under certain conditions. In 1978 he became a member of the interim committee formed to create Saba. In 1978 he was appointed leader of the Labour Party.

In August 1984 Hendrickse became Member of Parliament for Swartkops. In September 1984 he was included in the South African cabinet, as he was appointed chairman of the Ministers' Council of the House of Representatives. Tension mounted between Hendrickse and Botha, and various clashes ensued between the two over the years, resulting in Hendrickse resigning from the cabinet.

In 1988 he was the centre of a blaze of publicity when he broke the law by taking a symbolic dip on a 'whites-only' beach.

A general election was held in 1989 as a result of the LP continually blocking constitutional amendments requested by the NP. Hendrickse retained his seat. In 1992 Jac Rabie replaced Hendrickse in his position as chairman of the Ministers Council in the House of Representatives. In September 1992 he participated in the signing of the National Peace Accord. He also participated in CODESA in 1992 on behalf of the LP.

Sources: Shelagh Gastrow, 1995. Who's who in South African Politics, Number 4. Johannesburg: Ravan Press.

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

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