Willem Petrus "Willie" Esterhuyse, OLS (born 19 August 1936) is an emeritus professor of philosophy and business ethics at the

University of Stellenbosch Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant ...

, a columnist and critic of the system of

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 ...

Early life

Willem Petrus Esterhuyse was born in 1936 in Laingsburg,

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope ( af, Provinsie Kaap die Goeie Hoop), commonly referred to as the Cape Province ( af, Kaapprovinsie) and colloquially as The Cape ( af, Die Kaap), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequen ...

Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa ( nl, Unie van Zuid-Afrika; af, Unie van Suid-Afrika; ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the Cape, Natal, Tran ...

(now

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

). He married Annemarie Esterhuyse, née Barnard, a lecturer in mathematics at the University of Stellenbosch. They have two daughters and four sons.

Academic career

Esterhuyse studied from 1958 to 1964 at the

, gaining his doctorate. He was from 1965 to 1967 a senior lecturer at University College 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 ...

. Then he was until 1974 a senior lecturer in Philosophy at the

Rand Afrikaans University The Rand Afrikaans University (RAU) was a prominent South African institution of higher education and research that served the greater Johannesburg area and surroundings from 1967 to 2004. It has since merged with the Technikon Witwatersrand ...

(RAU). In 1974, he was appointed Professor of Philosophy at the University of Stellenbosch. He has also been associated with the Graduate School of Business of the Stellenbosch University as well as

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

- UCT where he taught business ethics.

Journalism career

Esterhuyse was also a longtime columnist for the financial magazine, F & T Weekly,

Die Burger ''Die Burger'' (English: The Citizen) is a daily Afrikaans-language newspaper, published by Naspers. By 2008, it had a circulation of 91,665 in the Western and Eastern Cape Provinces of South Africa. Along with ''Beeld'' and ''Volksblad'', it is ...

Beeld ''Beeld'' (freely translated as ''Picture'' or ''Image'') is an Afrikaans-language daily newspaper that was launched on 16 September 1974. ''Beeld'' is distributed in four provinces of South Africa: Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and North West, ...

and Die Volksblad on ethical and socio-political issues. He has many articles written about South African politics and was a critic of apartheid.

Business background

He served as a director of various institutions e.g. presently * Barinor Holdings Ltd (chairperson) * Sanlam Demutualisation Trust (trustee) * Thabo Mbeki Foundation (TMF) (trustee) and previously: * Murray & Roberts * Metropolitan Holdings * Medi-Clinic * Plexus * Stellenbosch Vineyards Esterhuyse was portrayed by

William Hurt William McChord Hurt (March 20, 1950 – March 13, 2022) was an American actor. Known for his performances on stage and screen, he received various awards including an Academy Award, BAFTA Award and Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor. H ...

in the 2009 film

Endgame Endgame, Endgames, End Game, End Games, or similar variations may refer to: Film * ''The End of the Game'' (1919 film) * ''The End of the Game'' (1975 film), short documentary U.S. film * ''Endgame'' (1983 film), 1983 Italian post-apocalyptic f ...

Awards

His awards includes the Stals Prize for Philosophy by the Academy of Arts and Science in 1984. In 2003, the University of Stellenbosch awarded him an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

. He was awarded the

Order of Luthuli The Order of Luthuli is a South African honour. It was instituted on 30 November 2003, and is granted by the president of South Africa, for contributions to South Africa in the following fields: (i) the struggle for democracy, (ii) building democ ...

in Silver by the President of South Africa. Other awards are: * Sunday Times Prestige Prize for Political Literature (1981) * Visiting Professor of the Year, UCT Graduate School of Business (1997) * NP van Wyk Louw Medal, SA Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (1999) * Leon Fox Community Relations Award * Institute for Personnel Management, Presidential Award (1999) * Professor of the Year (2000-2001), University of Nijenrode, The Netherlands (2001) * Medal of Honour, Former Student Council Chairpersons, Stellenbosch University (2002)

Bibliography

* FW Nietzsche: Philosopher with a Hammer (1975) * Farewell of Apartheid (1979) * NP van Wyk Louw's Proceedings of God (1979) * The Man and His Sexual Morals (1980) * Apartheid Must Die (1981) * The Path of Reform (1982) * Karl Marx: Philosopher of the Revolution (1984) * Advocate for Hope (about Dr. Anton Rupert) (1986) * Modern Political Ideologies (co-author) (1987) * Grace unparalleled (1988) * Brothers out of earshot (1989) * The Myth Makers (1990) (in collaboration with Pierre du Toit) * The ANC (Associate Editor) (1991) * Business Ethics in Practice (1991) * Intellectually in context: essays Hennie Rossouw (co-writer) * Thabo Mbeki: Africa - The Time has Come (associate editor) (1998) * Thabo Mbeki: Africa: Define Yourself (associate editor) (2002) * Anton Rupert: A biography (in collaboration with Ebbe Dommisse) (2005) * God en die gode van Egipte. In die voetspore van die onsienlike ... (2009) * Die God van Genesis ... drama in die amfiteater van die Oneindige (2010) * Eindstryd – Geheime gesprekke en die einde van Apartheid // Endgame - Secret Talks and the End of Apartheid (2012) * God and the gods of Egypt (2009) * Die Tronkgesprekke - Nelson Mandela en Kobie Coetsee se voorpuntdiplomasie (in collaboration with Gerhard van Niekerk)

References

Notes

"Willie Esterhuyse ." Stellenbosch Writers. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Apr. 2011. {{DEFAULTSORT:Esterhuyse, Willie 1936 births Living people Afrikaner anti-apartheid activists Afrikaner people Academic staff of Stellenbosch University South African non-fiction writers South African philosophers Members of the Order of Luthuli