Allan Boesak

Reverend Allan Boesak (23 February 1945 - ) is a South African Dutch Reformed Church cleric and was a politician and anti-apartheid activist. He was sentenced to prison for fraud in 1999 but was re-instated as a cleric in late 2004.

Cleric and activist

Boesak was elected as president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches in 1982, a position he held until 1991.

He rose to prominence during the 1980s as an outspoken critic and opponent of the National Party's policies and played a major anti-apartheid activist role role as a patron of the United Democratic Front from 1983 to 1991.

In 1991, Boesak was elected as chairman of the Western Cape region of the African National Congress (ANC).

Boesak resigned from the Dutch Reformed Church in 1990 after details of an extra-marital affair with television presenter Elna Botha emerged; they later married.

Controversies

In the late 1990s Boesak, at the time still chairman of the Western Cape branch of the ANC, was accused of misappropriating R 250,000 of funds received from the Danish investment group Danchurch Aid, the Coca Cola Foundation and the singer Paul Simon. Meant for development projects of Boesak's Foundation for Peace and Justice within the province, the funds were apparently transferred to a private trust fund by Boesak. After police investigations, Boesak was charged with and found guilty of fraud. He was jailed in 2000 but was released in 2001, having served just over one year of his three year sentence.

Although Boesak applied for a presidential pardon from Thabo Mbeki after his realease it was not granted, as the government felt that he had not admitted that he had comitted an offense. However, on 15 January 2005, it was announced that he had received a presidential pardon and that his criminal record would be expunged.