VETERAN politician Vause Raw has died in Durban after a long illness. He would have turned 80 this year. Raw rose to prominence in the now-defunct United Party (UP) as the party’s fortunes waned after it was voted out of office in a landslide defeat by the National Party in 1948. He later became a founder, the chairman and then national leader of the New Republic Party (NRP), formed in 1977 after the break-up of the UP, which started splintering after 1959 when MPs, including veteran anti-apartheid fighter Helen Suzman, left to form a series of parties that eventually became the Democratic Party. His funeral service will be held in Durban North on Friday.