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Ex-Nat minister diesDate Posted: Thursday 01-May-2008By Anna Louw
Jac Rabie, a former National Party cabinet minister and Reiger Park community leader, has died in hospital, 17 months after his wife was viciously assaulted and strangled in a robbery at their home.
The 69-year-old Rabie died in Sunward Park Hospital's intensive care unit in Boksburg on Tuesday night.
His son Brian on Wednesday said his father never recovered from the death of his stepmother, Sandra, 47, on December 14 2006.
| His son Brian said his father never recovered from the death of his stepmother |
Her 16-year-old son was among three suspects arrested on charges of murder and robbery, the latter of which was believed to be the motive for the attack at their Windmill Park, Boksburg, home.
The teenager, who was 15 at the time, was put in a place of safety at Rabie's request. As the boy's guardian, Rabie told the Boksburg magistrate's court at the time he was not in a position to care for the youngster because of the violent nature of the alleged crime he had helped to commit.
Brian said his father had been hospitalised several times after suffering a mental and physical breakdown after the house robbery, in which he was severely assaulted.
Sandra, Rabie's second wife, died of her injuries, which included a broken neck, when she was attacked on returning home after visiting a friend.
At the time, police said a large sum of money was kept in a safe at the Rabie home, but that Sandra had paid bills with the cash the day before the attack.
| The case has been dragging on for more than a year and was due to resume in April |
The case has been dragging on for more than a year and was due to resume in April, but was postponed yet again due to Rabie's illness and the fact that he was the state's prime witness.
Rabie was born in Middelburg, where his father was a court interpreter and his mother a domestic worker.
When the family were evicted from their farm home under the Group Areas Act, they moved to Pretoria.
Rabie began his political career in 1969 as a member of the Federal Coloured People's Party. He resigned as a teacher and became a full-time organiser for the FCPP.
He was elected to serve on the Coloured Representative Council (CRC) for Reiger Park, where he used to live.
Rabie resigned from the FCPP in 1975 and remained on the CRC as an independent until he joined the Labour Party in 1978 and later the NP.
He also served as minister of population development, before retiring from politics in 1994.
He is survived by his sons Raymond, Kenneth and Brian, and several grandchildren.
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