| Intro | South African politician |
| Was | Politician |
| From | South Africa |
| Type | Politics |
| Gender | male |
| Birth |
21 September 1921 |
| Death |
21 March 2001, Durban |
Vause Raw, DMS (21 September 1921 – 21 March 2001) was a liberal opposition South African politician of the apartheid era. He was a prominent member of the United Party from the 1940s to the late 1970s.
Early life
Born in Durban, Natal in 1921, he matriculated from Pretoria Boys High and attended the University of the Witwatersrand and the Johannesburg Teachers’ Training College before enlisting with the South African forces in May 1940, doing military service in central Africa, Egypt and Europe, and was mentioned in despatches.
Between 1946 and 1950 he joined his father in a farming and trading venture in the Cullinan area, north of Pretoria, served as secretary to the Pretoria District Farmers’ Union and was appointed a director of the Waterberg Farmers’ Co-operative. In 1954 he became sales manager of a textile knitting mill and from 1956 to 1981 ran his own textile and clothing machinery agency.
Politics
He served as vice chairman of the United Party’s Pretoria District and was elected to the divisional committee in 1948. He served on the committee until 1950 and in 1951 was appointed Natal secretary of the party. He became a senator for Natal in 1955 and won the Durban Point parliamentary seat for the party in 1958. He became the party’s official spokesperson on defence and transport. After the United Party disbanded in 1977, he was elected leader of its successor, the New Republic Party, continuing in that capacity until 1984. He served for many years in the whites-only parliament as the MP for Durban’s Point constituency. In 1985 he was awarded the Decoration for Meritorious Services – the first serving opposition MP to receive it. He retired from Parliament just before the 1987 general election.
Death
He died on the 21st of March, 2001 after a long illness. Twice married, he was the father of seven children.