Mr Marthinus Christoffel Johannes van Schalkwyk

Prior to his appointment as minister of tourism in May 2009, Marthinus Christoffel Johannes van Schalkwyk served five years as minister of tourism and environmental affairs. He was premier of the province of the Western Cape between 2002 and 2004, when the New National Party of which he was president merged with the ANC. Active in student politics at Rand Afrikaans University (RAU), Van Schalkwyk was a founding member and chairman of the Afrikaans youth organisation, Jeugkrag. He was a member of the National Party until 1997. Van Schalkwyk holds a B Proc, a BA Honours in political science and an MA in political science from RAU, where he lectured before joining the staff of the University of Stellenbosch.