Career
He was elected on a Labour Party ticket to the coloureds-only House of Representatives in the Tricameral Parliament in 1984. He defected to the National Party by 1994, and was appointed the Western Cape leader of the renamed New National Party by 1998, when he became premier of the province after Hernus Kriel stepped down. The NNP formed a coalition with the smaller Democratic Party, with Morkel remaining as premier.
In 2000, plans began to prepare an amalgamation of the two parties under the name Democratic Alliance.
Morkel was deeply critical of this decision and attempted to turn the majority of the NNP against lieutenant When this failed, he was forced to resign as premier.
Joining the District Attorney, Morkel was then elected as mayor of Cape Town. He remained in office for less than a year, when the District Attorney was ousted from power by an African National Congress-NNP coalition following the floor crossing period in October 2002.
Morkel continued for a while as Western Cape provincial leader of the District Attorney, but eventually stepped down due to his links to fraudster Jurgen Harksen.
Morkel has three sons: Garth, Kent and Craig. They are also politicians.