Piet Koornhof
| Piet Koornhof | |
|---|---|
| 12th South Africa Ambassador to United States | |
|
In office 1987–1991 |
|
| President | Frederik Willem de Klerk |
| Preceded by | Johannes Beukes |
| Succeeded by | Harry Schwarz |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 2 August 1925 |
| Died | 12 November 2007 (aged 82) |
Pieter G. J. Koornhof (2 August 1925 – 12 November 2007) was a South African politician. As an apartheid-era National Party cabinet minister, he held various portfolios in the cabinets of B.J. Vorster and P.W. Botha, and was later appointed ambassador to the United States. After the end of apartheid, he joined the African National Congress in 2001.
Piet Koornhof was born on 2 August 1925 in Leeudoringstad in the Western Transvaal. He studied theology at the University of Stellenbosch, and completed his studies at Oxford after being awarded a Rhodes Scholarship. His doctoral dissertation focussed on the "inevitable urbanisation" of black people in Africa.
After returning to South Africa, he joined the National Party in 1956. He became a researcher for Hendrik Verwoerd, the Prime Minister of South Africa, and was appointed director of the Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniginge, an institute for the advancement of Afrikaner culture. In 1962, he became secretary of the Afrikaner Broederbond and in 1964 was elected Member of Parliament for Primrose.
In 1968, he became Deputy Minister of Bantu Affairs and Bantu Education in the government of B.J. Vorster. In 1972, he became Minister of Energy and in 1973 combined this post with that of Minister of Sports. In this position, he announced the creation of separate sports teams for different races.
As Minister of Energy from 1972 to 1976, and especially as Minister of Cooperation and Development between 1978 and 1984, Koornhof was involved in the implementation of apartheid laws by the forced removal of thousands of blacks from residential areas declared as white.
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