Pieter G. J. “Piet” Koornhof

Piet Koornhof was born in Leeudoringstad on 2 August 1925. He studied theology at Stellenbosch and went to Oxford as a Rhodes scholar, earning a doctorate in social anthropology with research on Black urbanisation. He then entered National Party politics, becoming a deputy minister in 1968 and holding portfolios that included mines, immigration, education, and sport during the 1970s. ^{2, 6, 3}

As minister of cooperation and development from 1978 to 1984, Koornhof was responsible for forced removals and pass laws. He subsequently chaired the President’s Council before being appointed ambassador to the United States. President Ronald Reagan received his credentials on 11 May 1987. He remained in Washington into the period of F. W. de Klerk’s government and the opening of negotiations over South Africa’s political future, retiring from the posting in 1991. ^{3, 1, 4}

In May 1997, Koornhof personally delivered an amnesty application to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Cape Town. He told the South African Press Association that he had participated in a system that caused damage and human rights abuses, and described the application as a gesture of remorse and reconciliation. He later joined the African National Congress in 2001. Koornhof died in Stellenbosch in November 2007; his son Johan confirmed his death and recalled the contradictions between his father’s desire for change and his service within apartheid. ^{3, 6}