Josephus Jacobus de Jager (December 9, 1912 – July 7, 2000) known as Jip de Jager, was a South African politician. He served as mayor of

Bellville, Western Cape Bellville is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is situated adjacent to the Koelberg Mountains and also the University of Western Cape where it has its own campus. Established It was founded as "12 Mile Post" (Afrikaa ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

from 1973–1975 and from 1978–1979. Outside of politics, de Jager was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

teacher in town and an advocate for bilingual education.

Early life

Jip de Jager was born on December 9, 1912 in

Kareedouw Kareedouw or Kareedowns is a town in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the administrative centre for the Kou-Kamma Local Municipality, Kou-Kamma Municipality in the Sarah Baartman District Municipality, Sarah Baartman District of ...

, Eastern Cape

, the son of Daniel Theodorus de Jager, a local businessman, and Martha Jacomina Gerber. He had two brothers Daniel Theodorus (b.1924) and Philip Alexander Johannes (b.1917). de Jager completed his undergraduate education at Stellenbosch University in 1934, where he obtained his Bachelor's and Master's Degree in German. He later received a Bachelor's Degree and a Doctorate in Education in 1954 from the

University of South Africa The University of South Africa (UNISA), known colloquially as Unisa, is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges and affiliates, U ...

and

Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education The Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education (abbreviated as PU for CHE) was a South African university located in Potchefstroom. Instruction was mainly in Afrikaans. In 2004, the university was merged with other institutions to c ...

Work life

Education field

He taught as a teacher in Kroonstad and

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

appointed him as a lecturer. The University of the Western Cape, gave him a professorship in education. He retired in this position in 1975. He was the Cape Province chairman of the South Africa Society for the promotion of Education.

Time as Mayor

Jip de Jager was elected Mayor of

from 1973 to 1975 and again from 1978 to 1979. During his time as Mayor, de Jager established a district head office for the Police, enlarged the Magisterial district to 6000

hectares The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ab ...

, created a tax authority within Bellville and attracted state owned enterprises like Eskom and the

Council for Scientific and Industrial Research The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is South Africa's central and premier scientific research and development organisation. It was established by an act of parliament in 1945 and is situated on its own campus in the cit ...

to the area. This caused Bellville to be declared a city on 7 September 1979. On that date Gene Louw handed him the papers to confirm Bellville's city status. In between his terms as Mayor, Jip de Jager served on the Cape Provincial Council, which covered local administration of Western Cape province.

German education advocacy

In 1918 universities in South Africa started to cater for German as subject. Only a few high schools offer the subject as a third language. He researched the subject by first looking critically at the syllabus in 1946 and then drew up a study guide for the subject in 1954. In 1960 most big Afrikaans speaking high schools had German as a subject.

Books published

He was the author of multiple books, primarily on German language education in South African schools: In 1946 he published:” 'n Kritiese ondersoek na die leerplanne en leerboeke vir Duits op die Suid-Afrikaanse skole” (Translated it means: A critical research into the study guides and syllabus of German in South African Schools) In 1954 he published: “Die Leerboek vir Duits as derde taal aan die Suid-Afrikaanse hoërskool “. (Translated it means: The study guide for German as a third language for South African High Schools)

Personal life

He was married to Helena Claudina Nel (b. 8 April 1912, d. 17 June 2002)

Legacy

Jip de Jager Avenue in

is named after him.GPS:Latitude : -33.8724279, Longitude:18.617011700000034

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jager, Jip de Stellenbosch University alumni University of the Western Cape faculty University of South Africa alumni 2000 deaths 1912 births