 On 23 November 1983 he was appointed as the Minister of Education and Training in P. W. Botha's cabinet, being succeeded the following year by Frederik Willem de Klerk.Here he encountered school boycotts in Atteridgeville, Pretoria, where he personally negotiated with the student leaders to deal to their problems.In an effort to ease tensions after the death of a student during police action, he consulted with Bishop Desmond Tutu, but by May 1984, six Atteridgeville and Saulsville schools closed.