Stefanus Johannes "Fanus" Schoeman (born 29 June 1945) is a South African politician and diplomat who represented the

National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...

(NP) in

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

until 1999. Formerly the leader of the NP in

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

, he became a diplomat after leaving Parliament.

Life and career

Schoeman was born on 29 June 1945 and completed a bachelor's degree at the

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria (, ) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and ''de facto'' capital of South Africa. The university was established in 1908 as the Pretoria campus of the Johan ...

. He represented the NP in the

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

government, most proximately as Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development during the

democratic transition A democratic transition describes a phase in a country's political system as a result of an ongoing change from an authoritarian regime to a Democracy, democratic one. The process is known as democratisation, political changes moving in a democrat ...

of the early 1990s. In South Africa's first post-apartheid elections in 1994, Schoeman was elected to an NP seat in the new

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

. During the legislative term that followed, he served as executive director of the NP and later as spokesperson to former President

F. W. de Klerk Frederik Willem de Klerk ( , ; 18 March 1936 – 11 November 2021) was a South African politician who served as the seventh and final state president of South Africa from 1989 to 1994 and as Deputy President of South Africa, deputy president a ...

. He was also the chair of the NP's regional branch in Pretoria; in 1997, de Klerk supported his bid to succeed

Roelf Meyer Roelof Petrus Meyer GCOB (born 16 July 1947) is a South African politician and businessman. A Member of Parliament between 1979 and 1997, he was the chief negotiator for the National Party government during the negotiations to end apartheid ...

as the NP's provincial leader in

Gauteng Gauteng ( , ; Sotho-Tswana languages, Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; or ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts f ...

, but he was narrowly defeated by

Sam de Beer Samuel Johannes de Beer (born 19 August 1944) is a South African politician and former Christian minister who served in Parliament from 1974 to 2001, excepting a brief hiatus from 1998 to 1999. He subsequently joined the Gauteng Provincial Leg ...

. Schoeman left the National Assembly after the 1999 general election and subsequently served in ambassadorial posts in Singapore, from 2000 to 2004, and in South Korea, until 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schoeman, Fanus Living people 1945 births University of Pretoria alumni National Party (South Africa) politicians Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1994–1999 High commissioners of South Africa to Singapore Ambassadors of South Africa to South Korea