/ 9 March 2001

Renowned peacemaker dies

Ampie Muller

HW van der Merwe died after a long and fierce battle with cancer on the farm Grootkloof, in Bonnievale, which he and his wife Elsbeth Woody built after his retirement as director of the Centre for Intergroup Studies at the University of Cape Town (currently known as the Centre for Conflict Resolution).

Van der Merwe was, however, not a retiring man. In 1999 he received a lifetime award from the United States organisation Search for Common Ground. In the same year he was given a very short time to live.

Undaunted, he started writing his autobiography, which was launched last November. At the beginning of this year he was still able to travel to Australia to deliver the annual Backhouse lecture. This was typical of his dogged determination and strong moral principles.

Van der Merwe had the ability to engage anybody or any group from the farthest right wing to the most extreme left. In 1971 he brought together the leaders of South Africa’s student groups. He also organised a meeting between Nelson Mandela of the African National Congress and Carel Boshoff of the Afrikaner Vryheidsstigting.

He pioneered the study of and training in conflict resolution and with his emphasis on peaceful opposition to injustices united a large number of people.

Van der Merwe was the driving force in establishing a facility for training in negotiation skills in Soweto in 1984 and assisted in bringing South African practitioners together in one association, the South African Association for Conflict Intervention.

Professor Ampie Muller is a senior consultant to the Centre for Intergroup Studies, Cape Town