P. K. van der Byl
Pieter Kenyon Fleming-Voltelyn van der Byl GLM ID (11 November 1923 – 15 November 1999) was a Rhodesian politician who served as his country's Foreign Minister from 1974 to 1979 as a member of the Rhodesian Front (RF). A close associate of Prime Minister Ian Smith, Van der Byl opposed attempts to compromise with the British government and domestic black nationalist opposition on the issue of majority rule throughout most of his time in government. However, in the late 1970s he supported the moves which led to majority rule and internationally recognised independence for Zimbabwe.
P. K. van der Byl
Office abolished
15 November 1999 (aged 76)
Caledon, South Africa
Princess Charlotte of Liechtenstein
- Pieter van der Byl
- Joyce Clare Fleming
Van der Byl was born and raised in Cape Town, the son of the South African politician P V van der Byl, and served in the Middle East and Europe during the Second World War. After a high-flying international education, he moved to the self-governing British colony of Southern Rhodesia in 1950 to manage family farms. He went into politics in the early 1960s through his involvement with farming trade bodies, and became a government minister responsible for propaganda. One of the leading agitators for Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965, Van der Byl was afterwards responsible for introducing press censorship. He was unsuccessful in his attempt to persuade international opinion to recognise Rhodesia, but was popular among members of his own party.
Promoted to the cabinet in 1968, Van der Byl became a spokesman for the Rhodesian government and crafted a public image as a die-hard supporter of continued white minority rule. In 1974 he was made Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defence at a time when Rhodesia's only remaining ally, South Africa, was supplying military aid. His extreme views and brusque manner made him a surprising choice for a diplomat (a November 1976 profile in The Times described him as "a man calculated to give offence"[1]). After offending the South African government, Van der Byl was removed from the Defence Ministry.
In the late 1970s Van der Byl was willing to endorse the Smith government's negotiations with moderate black nationalist leaders and rejected attempts by international missions to broker an agreement. He served in the short-lived government of Zimbabwe Rhodesia in 1979, following the Internal Settlement. After the country's reconstitution as Zimbabwe in 1980, Van der Byl remained in politics and close to Ian Smith; he loudly attacked former RF colleagues who had gone over to support Robert Mugabe. He retired to South Africa after the Mugabe government abolished the parliamentary seats reserved for whites in 1987, and died in 1999 at the age of 76.
Political career[edit]
Ministerial office[edit]
In 1963, Winston Field appointed Van der Byl as a junior government whip,[13] and on 16 March 1964 he was made Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Justice with responsibility for the Information Service.[15] Although the Van der Byl family were identified as strongly liberal in South African politics, he became identified with the right wing of the party and helped to depose Field from the premiership in early April 1964, when Field failed to persuade the British government to grant Southern Rhodesia its independence. The new Prime Minister, Ian Smith, appointed him Deputy Minister for Information.[15] At this time, Van der Byl's chief adviser was a South African called Ivor Benson, who also served as press censor.[16] Benson believed that an international communist conspiracy was plotting to overthrow white rule in Rhodesia.[17]
Speaking in the Legislative Assembly on 12 August 1964 he attacked proposals for greater independence for broadcasters by referring to what he perceived to be the social effect in Britain:
Marriage, issue and retirement[edit]
On 31 August 1979 at Schloss Waldstein in Deutschfeistritz, Austria, Van der Byl married Princess Charlotte Maria Benedikte Eleonore Adelheid of Liechtenstein. She was thirty years his junior, the daughter of Prince Heinrich of Liechtenstein and granddaughter of Karl I, the last emperor of Austria. The couple had three sons: Pieter Vincenz, Valerian, and Casimir.[85]
In 1983 Van der Byl had inherited from his mother a property described as "the magnificent estate .. near Caledon in the Western Cape," and following the end of his political career had no need to keep a home in Zimbabwe, so he quit the place. He left as a rich man, with an attractive young wife, and enjoyed his retirement. He frequently visited London, where he was a good friend of Viscount Cranborne, who put him up for membership of the Turf Club.[86] Both were members of White's Club and were often seen there when Van der Byl was in town.[87]
Four days after his 76th birthday, Van der Byl died at Fairfield, in Caledon, Western Cape. In his obituary,[3] Dan van der Vat wrote "The arrival of majority rule in South Africa made no difference, and he died a very wealthy man."[88]
