Theo Gerdener

Theo Gerdner
Theo Gerdner
Minister of the Internal Affairs
	In office; 1970 – 1972
Prime Minister	John Vorster
Preceded by	Marais Viljoen
Succeeded by	Connie Mulder
Leader of National Party in Natal
	In office; 1970 – 1972
Personal details
Born	March 19, 1916; Cape Town, Cape Province, Union of South Africa
Died	November 21, 2013 (aged 97); Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
Party	National Party (before 1973)
Other political; affiliations	Democratic Party (1973–1977); New Republic Party (1977)
Children	3

Theodor Johannes Adolph Gerdener (19 March 1916 – 21 November 2013) was a South African politician, journalist, and author.

Born in Cape Town, Gerdener served as an interior minister for the National Party, but resigned from the National Party in 1972 as a result of the racial policies of the Vorster government. He founded the Democratic Party in 1973 and chaired it until 1977 when the Democratic Party and the United Party led by Sir De Villiers Graaff merged to form the New Republic Party.

He was Administrator of the Natal Province between November 1961 and August 1970. Before entering politics, Gerdener founded Die Nataller, the first Afrikaans newspaper in Natal.^[1]^[2]

Gerdener died on 21 November 2013, aged 97, in Pretoria.^[1]

References

1 2 3 4 Rademeyer, Alet (22 November 2013). "Gerdener 'rolmodel van hoe mens moet leef'" [Gerdener 'role model of how one should live'] (in Afrikaans). Die Burger. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
↑ Froneman, Johannes (18 June 2024). "Waarom ons 'n traan stort oor koerante" [Why we shed a tear over newspapers] (in Afrikaans). Maroela Media. Archived from the original on 19 June 2024. Retrieved 12 August 2026.

This article about a KwaZulu-Natal politician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information.

[rolmodel-1] 1 2 3 4 Rademeyer, Alet (22 November 2013). "Gerdener 'rolmodel van hoe mens moet leef'" [Gerdener 'role model of how one should live'] (in Afrikaans). Die Burger. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2013.

[n_traan_stort-2] Froneman, Johannes (18 June 2024). "Waarom ons 'n traan stort oor koerante" [Why we shed a tear over newspapers] (in Afrikaans). Maroela Media. Archived from the original on 19 June 2024. Retrieved 12 August 2026.

[1]

[2]

v t e Home affairs ministers of South Africa
Pre-Apartheid (1910–1948)	Smuts Fischer Smuts Watt Duncan Malan Hofmeyr Stuttaford Lawrence Clarkson Lawrence
Apartheid-era (1948–1994)	Dönges Naudé J. de Klerk Le Roux Muller Viljoen Gerdener Mulder Schlebusch Heunis F. W. de Klerk Botha Louw Pienaar Schutte
Post-Apartheid (1994–present)	Buthelezi Mapisa-Nqakula Dlamini-Zuma Pandor Gigaba Mkhize Dlodlo Gigaba Cwele Motsoaledi Schreiber

Theo Gerdner


Minister of the Internal Affairs
In office 1970 (1970) – 1972 (1972)
Prime Minister	John Vorster
Preceded by	Marais Viljoen
Succeeded by	Connie Mulder
Leader of National Party in Natal
In office 1970 (1970) – 1972 (1972)

Personal details
Born	(1916-03-19)March 19, 1916 Cape Town, Cape Province, Union of South Africa
Died	November 21, 2013(2013-11-21) (aged 97) Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
Party	National Party (before 1973)
Other political affiliations	Democratic Party (1973–1977)^[1] New Republic Party (1977)^[1]
Children	3