Denis Worrall
{{Short description|South African diplomat (1935–2023)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix =
|name = Denis John Worrall
|native_name =
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|office = Co-leader of the Democratic Party
|term_start = 1989
|term_end = 1990
|alongside = Wynand Malan
Zach de Beer
|birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1935|5|29}}
|birth_place = Benoni, Transvaal, Union of South Africa
|death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2023|5|18|1935|5|29}}
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|citizenship = South African citizenship
|nationality = South African
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|alma_mater = University of Cape Town
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Denis John Worrall (29 May 1935 – 18 May 2023) was a South African academic, businessman, politician and diplomat.
Life and career
Denis John Worrall was born in Benoni, Transvaal, Union of South Africa on 29 May 1935.[http://www.whoswhosa.co.za/denis-worrall-3496 Who's Who in Southern Africa], Retrieved 4 April 2012 He was appointed a Senator for the Cape Province in 1974, representing the segregationist National Party. He was subsequently elected to the House of Assembly as National Party MP for Cape Town Gardens. He was chairman of the Constitutional Committee of the President's Council until 1982,[http://www.nelsonmandela.org/omalley/index.php/site/q/03lv02424/04lv02426/05lv02702.htm Worrall, Denis John] - The O'Malley Archives and was Ambassador to Australia from 1982 to 1984, and then Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1984 to 1987.[http://www.swissinvestforum.ch/content/eng/program/dworrall.html Swiss Invest Forum] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070704124011/http://www.swissinvestforum.ch/content/eng/program/dworrall.html |date=4 July 2007 }}, biography of Denis Worrall, Retrieved 6 January 2008
As a member of the NP's relatively moderate faction, Worrall objected to the shift from reform to security after 1985. He resigned his post in order to return to South Africa and enter politics again, standing as an independent against the senior government minister Chris Heunis in the Helderberg constituency in the 1987 election, but lost by 39 votes. Worrall then formed the conservative but anti-apartheid Independent Party with Wynand Malan in 1988. He subsequently became one of the three co-leaders of the Democratic Party, and won the Berea constituency for the DP in the 1989 election.
Worrall taught at universities in South Africa (University of Natal and University of the Witwatersrand), Nigeria, and the United States and edited the first general textbook on the South African government and politics.
Worrall was the Vice Chairman of the International Bank of Southern Africa, chairman of the Australian mining company Crown Diamonds N.L., director of several other companies and a consultant to the World Bank and several multinational corporations.
In 2015, Worrall founded The Cape Messenger, an online daily newspaper with a focus on business and politics in South Africa.{{Cite web |url=http://themediaonline.co.za/2015/04/media-job-blood-letting/ |title=Media job blood-letting |website=themediaonline.co.za |date=7 April 2015 |language=en-US |access-date=2018-08-03}}
Denis Worrall died on 18 May 2023, at the age of 87.{{cite news |title=Denis Worrall, the NP's charismatic 'great white hope' of SA politics |url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times-daily/opinion-and-analysis/2023-05-22-obituary-denis-worrall-the-nps-charismatic-great-white-hope-of-sa-politics/ |access-date=27 October 2023 |publisher=Times Live |date=22 May 2023}}{{cite news |last1=de Klerk |first1=Nielen |title=Tributes pour in for former politician Denis Worrall |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/community-newspaper/tygerburger/tributes-pour-in-for-former-politician-denis-worrall-20230524 |access-date=27 October 2023 |publisher=News 24 |date=24 May 2023}}
References
{{Liberalism in South Africa}}
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Category:People from Benoni, South Africa
Category:Ambassadors of South Africa to Australia
Category:Independent Party (South Africa) politicians
Category:Democratic Party (South Africa) politicians
Category:Ambassadors of South Africa to the United Kingdom
Category:University of Cape Town alumni