Poet laureate of Afrikaans, Breyten Breytenbach dies

Source: ©Algoa FM Algoa FM ©Euzebiusz Niemec /AFP Breyten Breytenbach has passed away

His passing, in Paris, France, where he lived with his wife was announced by his daughter, who says, “"An immense artist and activist against apartheid, he fought until the end for a better world”.

Breytenbach was a painter and poet as well as an anti-apartheid activist.

In the 1970s, as an activist he was imprisoned for nine years. He left the country when he was released in 1982. He lived in Paris, France became a naturalised citizen of France and married a French woman of Vietnamese ancestry, a marriage forbidden then in South Africa.

In France, he was bestowed the title of Knight of the Legion of Honour and was named Commander of Arts and Letters.

His daughter says of his creative spirit,” “His words, his paintings, his imagination, his resilience will continue to guide us.”

For many Afrikaners he was the greatest Afrikaans poet of his generation as one of the Sestigers. Later in the 80s, he inspired a new generation of Afrikaners, the so-called ‘verligte’ Afrikaners.

Koos Kombuis told News24, "He was a massive influence in my life.”

He returned to South Africa to visit after 1994 on many occasions. In his later years, he condemned corruption in government and what he saw as the unfair treatment of Afrikaans.

He was born in Bonnievale in the Cape and studied at Michaelis School of Fine Art in Cape Town.

His first collection of poetry is Die ysterkoei moet sweet (The Iron Cow Must Sweat).

He is considered a major figure in world literature, winning many major international prizes.