Colin Eglin, who has died aged 88, was one of the leading progressive voices in the South African struggle against apartheid. His was also a somewhat abrasive voice, and in consequence of both this and his tendency towards woodenness on a platform, Eglin paid a price. Twice he was deposed from the leadership of the Progressive party, but he persevered through its several changes of name until its merger in 2000 with the fragmenting New National party to become the Democratic Alliance, and continued to serve in the South African National Assembly until retirement in 2004.
Eglin entered parliament in 1958 as a member of the anti-apartheid but conservative United party. However, he quit the next year with a small breakaway group of MPs to form the Progressive party. They were all wiped out in the 1961 elections, with the exception of Helen Suzman who, for the next 13 years, was the South African parliament's lone liberal voice. She relied heavily on Eglin, whom she described as "a rock". Later, she shared a parliamentary bench with him, claiming that she used to cower when Eglin was speaking to avoid being struck by his large, flailing "paws".
In 1971 Eglin took over the leadership from Jan Steytler and in 1974 the party won six seats. By 1977 it was able to win 17 seats, making Eglin the official opposition leader as head of what was now the Progressive Federal party. However, two years later its chief sponsor, the Anglo American Corporation, in a move described by Suzman as "nonsense", pushed Eglin out and replaced him as leader with the more glamorous Frederik Van Zyl Slabbert – the long-running myth in South African politics being that only an Afrikaner could lead English-speakers to electoral success.
Eglin thought the manner of Slabbert's imposition "brutal", but the two men maintained what Eglin called a "civilised" relationship. Slabbert earlier had praised Eglin as "tough, principled and a brilliant negotiator". Eglin did not think Slabbert had the staying power, and in 1986 Slabbert confirmed this judgment when he walked out of parliament, saying he could see no immediate light on the horizon.
Eglin, restored to the leadership (and thus again leader of the opposition), drove the cause of progressivism with raw force, but the next year he stepped aside for another Anglo American nominee, Zach de Beer. Eglin and De Beer had been close friends for many years, and they remained so until De Beer's death in 1999. Suzman's assessment was that "Zach was clever, but Colin was sounder".
In the 1989 elections, the Democratic party (as it was by then known) won 33 seats – white South Africans were in reformist mood – and the next year President FW de Klerk unbanned all black political parties, clearing the way for the accession to office of the African National Congress. The 1994 elections brought the ANC to power with just under two-thirds of the vote, but the Democratic party collapsed, polling only 1.7% of the total. Once again, the plight had been demonstrated of a mainly white liberal party caught between a rock (the ANC) and a hard place (conservative white people).
With the forceful Tony Leon as leader of the Democratic party, progressivism went into a higher gear, eventually forging diverse groups outside the ANC into the Democratic Alliance. The contradiction in Eglin's character was that, in spite of his short fuse, he was the consummate negotiator. His leadership of the Democratic party's team in the constitutional negotiations that helped to prepare South Africa for a peaceful exchange of power was quite remarkable.
Colin was born in Sea Point, a suburb of Cape Town. His father, Carl, died when Colin was eight, and Colin was sent by his mother, Elsie, to her sister's farm outside Hobhouse in the Orange Free State. "I found myself the only rooinek [red neck, or English-speaker] in the village school." The early 1930s were turbulent years in Afrikaner politics, with depression stalking the country and the second world war looming.
Eglin was exceptionally bright, matriculating from De Villiers Graaff high school in Villiersdorp at 14. By 1943, he was old enough to enlist, serving in North Africa and then in Italy, taking part in the battle of Monte Sole, south of Florence. He retained an affection for Italy and friends there for the rest of his life. Returning to Cape Town, he qualified as a quantity surveyor, holding a partnership in the firm of Bernard James almost to the end of his life.
Eglin had a sharp tongue and bit off many heads, even those of close friends. His long-time colleague Suzman admitted that his manner "put off a lot of people". Yet we all came back to "the Egg", not only because he was a role model for progressives, or because of his intelligence and measured political judgment, but because he was a decent, very warm-hearted man, whom we held in great affection.
His first wife, Joyce, whom he married in 1949, died of cancer in 1997. He is survived by their three daughters and by his second wife, Raili, whom he married in 2000.
