This Day in History: November 12, 2007
Additional Date: November 12, 2007
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.