Tributes to ‘faithful trooper’ Colin Eglin
TRIBUTES have poured in for Colin Eglin, one of the longestserving members of parliament, who died in Cape Town on Friday after a stay in hospital with cardiac problems. He was 88. He leaves behind his wife, Raillie, and three daughters.
Eglin was a founding member of the Progressive Party and later the Progressive Federal Party, both liberal parties that opposed apartheid.
He was elected to the first of two stints in parliament, from 1958 to 1961, as a United Party and Progressive Party MP. His second stint, from 1974 until his retirement in 2004, was as a member of the Democratic Alliance.
In total, he spent more than 50 years in active politics, all of them as a member of opposition parties.
On April 27, Eglin was awarded the Order of the Baobab by President Jacob Zuma for his role in South Africa’s progress to democracy.
DA leader Helen Zille described him as “a remarkable South African of great international stature. His contribution to the defeat of apartheid and a peaceful transition to democracy was profound.”
While at the helm of the Progressive Party and later the Progressive Federal Party, Eglin worked closely with Helen Suzman.
Francis Antonie, director of the Helen Suzman Foundation, said the country’s victory over apartheid was in “no small consequence because of his hard work over all those years”. “He was a faithful trooper,” Antonie said. “He had an incredible love for this country and a love for all its people. In all his political activities, he sought to achieve the common good. He really was a great man.”
Eglin served with the South African 6th Division in Italy during World War 2.
His funeral arrangements have not been finalised.