Abe Williams was the last apartheid-era Minister of Sport from 1993 to 1994 and then was the first post-apartheid Minister of Welfare and Population Development from 1994 to 1996.
11 Facts About Abe Williams
1.
2.
Latterly a member of the National Party and New National Party, Abe Williams served in the National Assembly until August 2000, when he was convicted of fraud and incarcerated.
3.
Abe Williams served one year of a three-year prison sentence before receiving parole in September 2001.
4.
In May 1993, Abe Williams told the Washington Post, "I think Coloureds have great respect for [Nelson] Mandela, but we fear the ANC".
5.
Later the same day, Abe Williams tendered his resignation from the cabinet, though he emphasised that his resignation was not an admission of guilt.
6.
Abe Williams remained an ordinary Member of Parliament and was re-elected to a second term in his seat in the 1999 general election, serving the Western Cape constituency.
7.
In June 1999, shortly after the second democratic elections, Abe Williams was charged with several counts of fraud and corruption.
8.
Abe Williams was charged with theft, in connection with political donations that he had accepted for his community work on the Cape West Coast but had allegedly used for private purposes instead.
9.
Abe Williams was handed a suspended sentence for the theft convictions but was sentenced to three years in prison on the fraud charges.
10.
Abe Williams's appeals were unsuccessful, and his prison sentence began in early September 2000.
11.
Abe Williams served just over a year in Pollsmoor Prison before he was paroled in September 2001.