Piet Koornhof

Pieter Gerhardus Jacobus Koornhof (born  August 2, 1925 in Leeudoornstad , Transvaal Province , †  November 12, 2007 in Stellenbosch ) was a South African politician and diplomat during the apartheid period . From 1972 to 1984 he was Minister for various business areas in the governments of Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd and Pieter Willem Botha and from 1986 to 1991 South Africa's Ambassador to the USA . After serving in the National Party (NP) during his active political career , he joined the African National Congress in 2001 .

Life

Piet Koornhof was born in Leeudoornstad in 1925 and studied theology at Stellenbosch University . He later went to the University of Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship , where he received his PhD in social anthropology . In 1951 he married Lulu Steyn, with whom he had been friends since they were at school and who later had two sons. After his return to South Africa in 1953 he became a research assistant to Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd , who was Minister for Native Affairs at the time and Prime Minister of the country from 1958 to 1966 . From 1962 to 1972 Piet Koornhof was Secretary General of the Afrikaner Broederbond .

In 1964 he was elected a member of the South African parliament for the National Party . In 1968 he took over the position of Deputy Minister for Bantu Administration, Development and Popular Education under Prime Minister Balthazar Johannes Vorster in the government . In 1972 he became Minister of Energy, and a year later his portfolio was expanded to include sports and recreation, mountain affairs and immigration. From 1978 to 1984 he was Minister for Cooperation and Development in the government of Pieter Willem Botha . Two years after retiring from politics, he became ambassador to the United States in 1986 . He held this position until 1991.

Piet Koornhof hit the headlines in 1993 when he left his longtime wife at the age of 67 due to a relationship with a 23-year-old woman with whom he later also had two children. Twelve years later he returned to his wife, who had always refused a divorce . In his testimony to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1997 and in other public statements, he acknowledged his personal responsibility within the framework of the apartheid system. Together with his eldest son, Gerhard Koornhof, he moved from the NP to the United Democratic Movement in 1998 , and in November 2001 both finally joined the African National Congress. His son later became a member of the South African Parliament for the ANC.

Piet Koornhof died in Stellenbosch in 2007 as a result of several strokes .

Web links

• Apartheid-era minister Piet Koornhof dead at 82 . In: Mail & Guardian online . Obituary dated November 13, 2007
• Piet Koornhof . In: Telegraph.co.uk. The Daily Telegraph . Obituary dated November 20, 2007

literature

• Chris Barron: Piet Koornhof: Defender of nonsensical apartheid. In: The Times . Obituary dated November 18, 2007