Hans Diergaardt’s biography, net worth, fact, career, awards and life story

Intro Namibian chief
From

Namibia
Gender male
Birth 16 September 1927
Death 13 February 1998
(aged 70 years)

Johannes Gerard Adolph Diergaardt, more commonly known as Hans Diergaardt (16 September 1927 – 13 February 1998) was a Namibian politician active for nearly a decade after Namibia gained independence. Prior to that, he was elected as the fifth Kaptein of the then-autonomous Baster community at Rehoboth, succeeding Dr. Ben Africa in 1979 after winning a court challenge to the disputed election of 1976.
Both before and after independence, Diergaardt founded several local political parties, among them the Federal Convention of Namibia. He represented this party as a member of the Constituent Assembly of Namibia, convened to draft the constitution for the new nation of Namibia.
Diergaardt is known for his criticism of black-majority rule in the early years of independent Namibia. Believing that minority group rights were not sufficiently protected, he led a legal suit to establish autonomy for Rehoboth Gebied, the historic district of Baster settlement, which had a kind of autonomy under German colonial and South African rule. The nation’s Supreme Court ruled that Rehoboth had no special status in the newly independent Namibia. Before his death, Diergaardt filed an official complaint in 1998 with the United Nations Human Rights Committee, which ruled in 2000. It declined to rule on one issue, but concluded that Namibia was exercising linguistic discrimination against the Afrikaans-speaking Basters.

Early life and political activities

Diergaardt was born into a Baster family in Rehoboth, then part of South-West Africa, on 16 September 1927. He became a professional car mechanic but also worked as a farmer, businessman, and politician throughout his life.

In 1947 Diergaardt started his political career by joining the Rehoboth Burgervereniging (English: Rehoboth Citizen Association). He later founded the Rehoboth Tax Payers Association (1959), the Rehoboth Volksparty (English: Rehoboth Peoples’ Party, 1968), and the Rehoboth Liberation Party (1975). This was during the period following World War I when South African administered the territory, although the United Nations General Assembly had retracted its mandate in 1966. After that, SWAPO initiated an independence movement in 1966, conducting a guerrilla war against South Africa.

Diergaardt was elected as a member of the Rehoboth Advisory Council in 1959. After SWAPO began organizing an independence movement, Diergaardt served as Chairman of the National Convention in 1969. He participated in talks at the Turnhalle Conference (1975–1977) in opposition to Kaptein Ben Africa, who officially led the Baster delegation at the conference.

Ascension to Kaptein

In 1976 South Africa granted the Basters a form of autonomy for the area around Rehoboth under the Self-Government Act, No. 56, in an effort to hold their loyalty. As part of its implementation of a Baster Homeland, South Africa supported an election for the Kaptein (Tribal chief) of Rehoboth. Incumbent Dr. Ben Africa won narrowly, and Diergaardt came second. Diergaardt challenged the election results in court; when he won in 1979, he was confirmed as the fifth Baster Kaptein in history.

He served as leader of the Baster Homeland (or bantustan) from 1979 until independence in 1990. Believing that alliances with native tribes was important, Diergaardt promoted new housing for the Nama people and was the first local authority in Namibia to desegregate the school system. He also tried to build alliances at the national level to enable the Basters to have a voice in their future, but the major effort there was on ridding the country of South Africa control.

Diergaardt represented the Rehoboth Free Democratic Party (RFP) and had a seat in the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGNU). This was directly linked to the South African apartheid state, which allowed it to operate some governmental powers from June 1985 to February 1989. Diergaardt was the second chairman of the TGNU.

Prior to Namibian gaining independence, Diergaardt was elected to the Constituent Assembly of Namibia, which wrote the country’s constitution. After independence, in 1990 Diergaardt threatened armed secession from Namibia if the government tried to redistribute the land of Rehoboth (as had been discussed prior to independence.) He believed that minority group rights were not sufficiently protected under the Namibian Constitution. He mounted a court challenge seeking to establish autonomy for the Basters based on their prior history in the country; the Supreme Court ruled they had no special status.

Before his death, Diergaardt filed an official complaint on behalf of the Basters with the United Nations Human Rights Committee. In Diergaardt v. Namibia (2000), the committee found evidence of linguistic discrimination against the Basters by the Namibian government, which refused to use the Afrikaans language in dealing with this community.

Diergaardt died from a heart attack in Rehoboth on 13 February 1998.

You May Also Like

Steve Oedekerk’s net worth, biography, fact, career, awards and life story

Steve Oedekerk net worth: Steve Oedekerk is an American comedian, director, producer, actor, editor, and screenwriter who has a net worth of $5 million. Steve Oedekerk was born in Los Angeles, California in November 1961. During his career he has created many television specials for networks such as ABC, NBC, FOX, and UPN. Oedekerk became friends with actor and comedian Jim Carrey while writing for the TV series In Living Color from 1992 to 1993. As an actor Oedekerk first starred in the movie Smart Alex in 1987. From 2007 to 2009 he did voice work for the television series Back at the Barnyard. Oedekerk wrote and directed the movie Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls in 1995. He wrote, directed, produced, and did voice work for the movie Kung Pow: Enter the Fist in 2002. Oedekerk wrote and/or produced for the films Patch Adams, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Juwanna Mann, Bruce Almighty, The Nutty Professor, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, Barnyard, Evan Almighty, and Cowboys & Aliens. He has also worked on the TV series Planet Sheet, Back at the Barnyard, and The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. Oedekerk won a Daytime Emmy Award in 2009 for Back at the Barnyard. He was nominated for an Academy Award in 2002 for Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.
Read More

Wally Szczerbiak’s net worth, biography, fact, career, awards and life story

Wally Szczerbiak net worth and salary: Wally Szczerbiak is a retired professional basketball player who has a net worth of $35 million. Wally Szczerbiak stands 6 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 244 pounds. He was born in Madrid, Spain on March 5, 1977 while his father, Walter, was playing for Real Madrid. He spent much of his childhood in Europe during his father’s professional basketball career. When his father retired, the family moved back to Long Island, New York where Wally attended high school in a hamlet on Long Island called Cold Spring Harbor. In college, Wally Szczerbiak played for Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. While there, he majored in marketing and graduated from the Richard T Farmer School of Business. He was named a first team All-American, and second team All-American in 1998-99. During that same year he was named MAC Player of the Year. In 1999, Wally Szczerbiak was drafted sixth overall. His best year as a pro was in 2002 when he was a coaches’ selection to the Western Conference All-Start Team. He had a rough couple of seasons from ’04-05, but in the ’05-06 season, the former All-Star returned to the starting role. In January of 2006, Szczerbiak was traded to the Boston Celtics. During the 2006 offseason he underwent knee surgery to fix a knee that had been injured for several months. In the ’06-07 season, Wally Szczerbiak played well early on, including a 35-point performance against the Charlotte Bobcats early in the season. Unfortunately, he was soon plagued by several injuries to both ankles that greatly affected his performance; he ultimately he decided to have surgery on both of his ankles. In June of 2007, the Celtics traded him to the Seattle SuperSonics. Then, in February of 2008, Szczerbiak was traded again from the SuperSonics to the Cleveland Cavaliers. He played in 25 regular season games with the Cavaliers, and during the playoffs took over as a starter playing at the #2 spot. Wally helped the Cavaliers get past the first-round of the 2008 NBA Playoffs and averaged 10.8 points a game. During the offseason, Szczerbiak’s contract ran up and was not renewed by the Cavaliers, making him a free agent. On November 5, 2009 Szczerbiak revealed that he had a third surgery performed on his left knee three weeks earlier, and as a result his career could be coming to an end. A week later, he reportedly rejected a contract offer from the Denver Nuggets, opting instead to continue to rehabilitate from the knee surgery. Wally Szczerbiak and his wife Shannon have 3 children, two girls and a boy. After his playing career, he became a basketball analyst for CBS College Sports. He then joined the MSG Network to cover the New York Knicks as a contributor to the post-game show.
Read More