Background
Pieter was born on August 2, 1925, son of a church minister, at Leedoomstad, 130 miles south-west of Johannesburg.
Pieter was born on August 2, 1925, son of a church minister, at Leedoomstad, 130 miles south-west of Johannesburg.
Educated at the Central Secondary School and the Paul Roos Gymnasium, Stellenbosch. He graduated Bachelor of Arts at Stellenbosch University and went to England to take his Doctorate of Philosophy at Oxford University.
He made his mark in 1953 as a research officer in Bantu affairs on the staff of the late Dr Hendrik Verwoerd who became Prime Minister five years later. Transferred to the Nationalist Party as an organiser, he was appointed Deputy Secretary of the Transvaal branch in 1958. Four years later he became Director of Information and Culture for the Federation of Afrikaans Culture Organisations.
He entered Parliament as MP for Primrose in 1964. He became liaison officer for immigrants and two years later was appointed Managing Director of the National Veld Trust of South Africa. He maintained his academic links as council member of the Rand Afrikaans University and the Marais Viljoen Technical College and as faculty member of the South African Academy for Science and Art.
In 1968 he was appointed Deputy Minister of Bantu Administration and Bantu Education. One of his last acts before promotion to the cabinet was to try to pacify labour relations in Southwest Africa after the upheaval of strikes in December 1971.
Piet Koornhof was married to Johanna Louisa Koornhof. They had two children: Gerhard, Johan.