Daniel Pieter Antonie "Danie" Schutte was born on 13 June 1947 and is a South African politician and lawyer who was the last Minister of Home Affairs of the apartheid era from 1993 to 1994.
14 Facts About Danie Schutte
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Danie Schutte represented the National Party both in the apartheid-era House of Assembly and in the post-apartheid National Assembly.
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Danie Schutte played a significant role in the negotiations to end apartheid.
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Danie Schutte was born on 13 June 1947 in Pretoria in the former Transvaal.
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Danie Schutte attended Stellenbosch University, where he was a member of the executive committee of the Afrikaanse Studentebond.
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Danie Schutte served on-and-off in Parliament from then onwards, serving two non-consecutive terms as representative for Pietermaritzburg North.
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In that capacity, Danie Schutte was centrally involved in planning the historic 1994 general election, South Africa's first to be held under universal suffrage.
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Danie Schutte helped negotiate the agreement that secured the participation of the Inkatha Freedom Party in the election.
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Danie Schutte represented the party in the Portfolio Committee on Justice, which during this period held prominent debates about the controversial Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
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In October 1999, Danie Schutte announced that he intended to resign from politics to work in farming full-time.
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Danie Schutte left his parliamentary seat on 31 January 2000, ceding his seat to Adriaan Blaas.
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However, in June 2002, Danie Schutte returned to the public eye when he was elected as co-leader of Nasionale Aksie, a new political party he had founded with Cassie Aucamp.
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Danie Schutte said that he had chosen to return to politics because he believed that South Africa "needed a new clean party".
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Danie Schutte is married to Alphia, who was a local politician in Pietermaritzburg, and has four children.