Patrick van Rensburg (3 December 1931 − 23 May 2017) was a

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 ...

n-born anti-apartheid activist and educator. In the 1960s he founded

Swaneng Hill School Swaneng Hill School was the first of three secondary schools that were founded by the late Patrick van Rensburg in Serowe, Botswana. The other two being Shashe and Madiba schools. The groundwork for Swaneng was laid in 1962, shortly after Van R ...

Serowe Serowe (population approximately 60,000) is an urban village in Botswana's Central District. A trade and commercial centre, it is Botswana's third largest village. Serowe has played an important role in Botswana's history, as capital for the Bama ...

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

, and the nationwide Brigades Movement in that country. In the 1980s he founded the ''

Mmegi ''Mmegi'' is an English-language national newspaper in Botswana, with occasional articles or comments in Setswana. Established in 1984, it is now published daily online and weekly on print format by Dikgang Publishing House in the capital, Gabor ...

'' national newspaper and the Foundation for Education with Production, which promoted his ideas in South Africa, Botswana, and

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

. In 1981, he was awarded the

Right Livelihood Award The Right Livelihood Award is an international award to "honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today." The prize was established in 1980 by German-Swedish philanthropist Jakob v ...

"for developing replicable educational models for the third world majority".

Life

Van Rensburg was born in

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

. His parents separated when he was young, and he was raised by his

Afrikaner Afrikaners () are a South African ethnic group descended from Free Burghers, predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: ...

grandmother and her French

Mauritian Mauritians (singular Mauritian; french: Mauricien; Creole: ''Morisien'') are nationals or natives of the Republic of Mauritius and their descendants. Mauritius is a multi-ethnic society, with notable groups of people of South Asian (notably I ...

husband. The family spoke English at home and were

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

: a big difference from the traditional Afrikaner upbringing. Van Rensburg attended

St. Henry's Marist Brothers' College St. Henry's Marist College, formerly known as St Henry's Marist Brothers' College is a co-educational private school with a Catholic foundation in Glenwood, KwaZulu-Natal, Glenwood, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. History Saint Marcellin Ch ...

and Glenwood High School. He had three children: sons Mothusi van Rensburg and Thomas van Rensburg and daughter Joanna Forbes.

Diplomatic and political activities

Van Rensburg was South African Vice-

Consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...

in the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

(now

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

) from February 1956 till May 1957, when he resigned as a protest against South Africa's

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

policies of racial discrimination. He joined the

Liberal Party of South Africa The Liberal Party of South Africa was a South African political party from 1953 to 1968. Founding The party was founded on 9 May 1953 at a meeting of the South African Liberal Association in Cape Town. Essentially it grew out of a belief that ...

, becoming the party's organising secretary for the

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

province in September 1958. In 1959 he moved to the UK, where he almost immediately began helping organise the 1960 campaign to boycott South African goods in the UK and

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Other organisers and supporters of the campaign included

Julius Nyerere Julius Kambarage Nyerere (; 13 April 1922 – 14 October 1999) was a Tanzanian anti-colonial activist, politician, and political theorist. He governed Tanganyika as prime minister from 1961 to 1962 and then as president from 1962 to 1964, aft ...

Trevor Huddleston Ernest Urban Trevor Huddleston (15 June 191320 April 1998) was an English Anglican bishop. He was the Bishop of Stepney in London before becoming the second Archbishop of the Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean. He was best known for h ...

Canon John Collins Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western can ...

and

Tennyson Makiwane Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...

. The Boycott Movement soon grew into the British

Anti-Apartheid Movement The Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM), was a British organisation that was at the centre of the international movement opposing the South African apartheid system and supporting South Africa's non-White population who were persecuted by the policie ...

. Van Rensburg was vilified by Afrikaners for his part in the campaign, and when he returned to South Africa in 1960, his passport was confiscated and he fled over the border to

Swaziland Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

Botswana

In 1962 he moved to Bechuanaland (now Botswana), where he undertook many educational and social initiatives. In the 1980s he founded the Foundation for Education with Production. Van Rensburg is the founder of

newspaper, Botswana’s leading private newspaper. The newspaper began as a

’s newsletter called “Mmegi wa Dikgang” in Serowe. Towards the end of his life he was one of Botswana's elder statesmen, having written a regular column for years for ''Mmegi'', the independent daily newspaper. Van Rensburg died on 23 May 2017 in

Works

* ''Guilty Land''. London:

Penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

, 1962. ISBN B0000CL9AT * ''Report from Swaneng Hill''. Uppsala: Dag Hammarskjold Foundation, 1974. * ''The Serowe brigades: Alternative education in Botswana''.

Macmillan MacMillan, Macmillan, McMillen or McMillan may refer to: People * McMillan (surname) * Clan MacMillan, a Highland Scottish clan * Harold Macmillan, British statesman and politician * James MacMillan, Scottish composer * William Duncan MacMillan ...

for the Bernard van Leer Foundation, 1978. * With Andrew Boyd. ''Atlas of African Affairs''. London: Methuen, 1962. . * Van Rensburg, P. (1971). A new approach to rural development. ''Botswana Notes & Records'', ''3''(1), 201-215. * Van Rensburg, P. (1980). Another look at the Serowe Brigades. ''Prospects'', ''10''(4), 379-391. * Van Rensburg, P. (1978). Education and production as a lever for another development. ''Development dialogue'', ''2'', 81-88. Van Rensburg has written a number of titles for the

Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation The Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, ( sv, Stiftelsen Dag Hammarskjölds Minnesfond) is a non-profit foundation based in Uppsala, Sweden, that aims to strengthen policy on international cooperation, development and peacebuilding through its various ...

Awards

* 1981

, with

Bill Mollison Bruce Charles "Bill" Mollison (4 May 1928 – 24 September 2016) was an Australian researcher, author, scientist, teacher and biologist. In 1981, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award "for developing and promoting the theory and practice o ...

and Mike Cooley

References

"Patrick van Rensburg in Botswana"
''Contact'' Vol 5, No 13, 28 June 1962. Retrieved 19 April 2006.

Biography of Patrick van Rensburg. Retrieved 19 April 2006.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Rensburg, Patrick 1931 births 2017 deaths Afrikaner Roman Catholics Roman Catholic anti-apartheid activists People from Durban Botswana educators Botswana male writers Botswana politicians Afrikaner people South African people of Dutch descent South African diplomats South African exiles South African expatriates in the United Kingdom South African Roman Catholics Anti-apartheid activists Botswana non-fiction writers Botswana journalists Male journalists