Isak Fritz was born into a large family in the Karoo town of Calvinia in the Northern Cape in 1965. He became actively involved in politics around the time of South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy and, in 1995, was first elected to serve as chairperson of the local DA branch.
Isak has a doctorate in Counselling and a diploma in Advanced Governance and Public Leadership.
After taking a brief break from politics to focus on business interests, which included a non-governmental organisation offering training to counsellors, he re-joined the political arena in 2011.
Isak was elected as a member of the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature in 2014 and again in 2019. In this capacity, he served as constituency head for various parts of the province as well as the DA’s spokesperson for Health and Social Development. He also served as caucus chairperson and as chief whip of the Official Opposition during this time. Isak was first elected as provincial chairperson of the DA in December 2020 and re-elected unopposed to this position in June 2023.
As a public representative, he is specifically interested in the psychosocial welfare of communities and finding lasting solutions to social ills like substance abuse, gender-based violence and teenage pregnancy.
Outside of politics, Isak’s main interests are his family and his church, where he serves as an elder.