Skip to main content
Menu
♥ Donate
eventREF E-0129917Verified

Event record

Dr Piet Koornhof, one of the most controversial figures in South African history, dies

Dr Piet Koornhof, one of the most controversial figures in South African history, dies

Date
12 Nov 2007
Updated
30 Sep 2019
Dr Piet Koornhof, one of the most controversial figures in South African history, dies

Dr Piet Koornhof, one of the most controversial figures from South Africa's apartheid era, died in a Stellenbosch frail care centre at the age of 82, following a stroke. Early in his life, as a Rhodes scholar at Oxford, Koornhof wrote a doctoral thesis that fully accepted the inevitability of black urbanisation. Koornhof was born in Leeudoringstad, in what is currently North West Province, on August 2, 1925. In 2001, Koornhof surprised many of his comrades when he joined the ANC, serving as Member of Parliament.  His eldest son, Dr Gerhard Koornhof, also joined the ANC in 2003.

Search events by date

What happened on your birthday?
View more events from this day

How we know this

  1. 01The Telegraph, "Piet Koornhof",From: The Telegraph,[Online], Available at: www.telegraph.co.uk,[Accessed : 12 November 2013]
  2. 02Mail & Guardian, (2007), ‘Piet Koornhof, a man of contradictions’, 15 November, [online], available at www.mg.co.za (Accessed: 01 October 2012)

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2019, May 2). Dr Piet Koornhof, one of the most controversial figures in South African history, dies. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0129917

South African History Online (2019) 'Dr Piet Koornhof, one of the most controversial figures in South African history, dies', South African History Online, 2 May. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0129917 (Accessed: 5 September 2026).

South African History Online, Dr Piet Koornhof, one of the most controversial figures in South African history, dies [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0129917, (accessed 5 September 2026).

"Dr Piet Koornhof, one of the most controversial figures in South African history, dies." South African History Online, 2 May 2019, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0129917. Accessed 5 Sept. 2026.

South African History Online. "Dr Piet Koornhof, one of the most controversial figures in South African history, dies." South African History Online. May 2, 2019. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0129917.

Further reading

Oyster Bay Place

Oyster Bay

Oyster Bay or “Oesterbaai” in Afrikaans, is a small coastal hamlet and resort located about 22.5 kilometres (14.
Popular Content

SAHO is free because readers fund it. Donate →

Contribute to this record0 comments

Comments are reader contributions. They are not part of the archival record.