Tertius Delport

Jacobus Tertius Delport (16 October 1939 – 21 November 2023) was a South African academic, lawyer, and politician.

Delport was elected a member of Parliament for the National Party in 1987. In 1990, he joined the government as Deputy Minister of Provincial Affairs and Constitutional Development before he was appointed Minister of Local Government in 1992. Delport was the government's chief spokesperson during the CODESA. In the 1994 elections, he was elected to the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature where he was afterwards appointed to serve as the member of the Executive Council for Agriculture and Transport from 1994 through 1997. Delport defected to the Democratic Party in 1998 and was elected back to Parliament in 1999. He was a founding member of the Democratic Party's successor party, the Democratic Alliance, in 2000. Delport retired from politics in 2009.

Early life and education Delport was born into an Afrikaner family on 16 October 1939 in Humansdorp in the Union of South Africa's Cape Province. He would go on to study at Stellenbosch University for a Bachelor of Arts and then a Bachelor of Laws. While at university, he resided in the university's Dagbreek Men's residence, of which he served as primarius. He was chairperson of the university's Student Representative Council (SRC), chairperson of the Intervarsity Committee, and chairperson of the Choir Festival Committee. He earned full university colours. Delport was involved in a controversy that brought CODESA to a deadlock later on. While a speaking at a DP by-election campaign meeting in May 1998, Delport said that the National Party had failed as an opposition party to the ruling African National Congress. During the following year's election, Delport was elected to the National Assembly of South Africa for the DP.

In February 2009, Delport called for the reinstatement of suspended National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli. Delport did not stand for re-election to the National Assembly at that year's general election and retired from politics.

Personal life and death Delport was married to Ansie and they had three children together.