Anti-apartheid activist, priest, orator. In 1982 Boesak persuaded members of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches to declare apartheid a heresy and to suspend membership of the white South African churches; he served as president of the alliance from 1982 to 1991. In 1983 he helped form the United Democratic Front (UDF) and was arrested a number of times for his opposition to apartheid. In the 1990s he was convicted of theft and fraud, and served one year of a three-year sentence before receiving a presidential pardon by President Thabo Mbeki.