Izak David du Plessis, who published under the name I. D. du Plessis (25 June 1900, in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...

– 11 December 1981 in Cape Town), was an

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

-language writer. A successful writer in many genres, he is included among the

Dertigers The Dertigers, or "writers of the thirties," are a group of Afrikaans-language South African poets who achieved new heights of eloquence in the young language's early decades of the 20th century. The Dertigers arose after the Tweede Asem ("Second ...

Biography

Du Plessis was born on 25 June 1900 at Philipstown and received his education at Steynsburg, Petrusville and later at the

Wynberg Boys' High School Wynberg Boys' High School is a State school, public English language, English medium boys high school situated in the suburb of Wynberg, Cape Town, Wynberg of Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Founded in 1841, it is one of ...

in Cape Town. After his studies at the University of Cape Town, he was for a time a teacher in Worcester, a journalist in the editorial board of ''

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 ...

'' and ''

Die Huisgenoot ''Huisgenoot'' (Afrikaans for ''Housemate'') is a weekly South African Afrikaans-language general-interest family magazine. It has the highest circulation figures of any South African magazine and is followed by sister magazine '' YOU'', its En ...

'' and then lecturer at the Cape Technical College. It was in these years that his interest arose in the social life and cultural products of the Malays. In 1932, he accepted an appointment as a lecturer at the University of Cape Town and in 1935 he was promoted with a thesis on the contribution of the Cape Malay to South African anthem. In the thirties he travelled much abroad, including Europe, East and South America. In 1948, he became head of the Institute of Malay Studies at the Cape Town University and from 1953 to 1963 he served as commissioner and later secretary and adviser for Coloured Affairs, a position that enabled him to advocate a particular vision for people the state labelled as

Cape Malay Cape Malays (, in Arabic Afrikaans, Arabic script) also known as Cape Muslims or Malays, are a Muslim community or ethnic group in South Africa. They are the descendants of enslaved and free Muslims from different parts of the world, specifi ...

. Du Plessis was instrumental in ensuring that the

Bo-Kaap The Bo-Kaap (lit. "above the Cape" in Afrikaans) is an area of Cape Town, South Africa formerly known as the Malay Quarter. It is a former racially segregated area, situated on the slopes of Signal Hill above the city centre and is a historical ...

remained a Cape Malay area, during Apartheid (which also resulted in the non-Malay residents being formally removed from the area in terms of the

Group Areas Act Group Areas Act was the title of three acts of the Parliament of South Africa enacted under the apartheid government of South Africa. The acts assigned racial groups to different residential and business sections in urban areas in a syste ...

). He also advocated for the establishment of the University of the Western Cape for so-called Coloured students, and he was the first Chancellor. In 1937 his anthologies ''Vreemde Liefde'' (Strange Love) en ''Ballades'' (Ballads) received the

Hertzog Prize The Hertzog Prize (or Hertzogprys) is an annual award given to Afrikaans writers by the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (South African Academy for the Sciences and Art), formerly the South African Academy for Language, Literature ...

for poetry, while in 1962 he received the Scheepers award for Youth literature. From the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

, he received an honorary degree. On 11 December 1981, he died in Cape Town.

Publications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:du Plessis, I. D. 1900 births 1981 deaths Afrikaans-language poets South African male poets Afrikaner people Hertzog Prize winners for poetry South African LGBTQ poets 20th-century South African poets Alumni of Wynberg Boys' High School Afrikaans-language writers 20th-century South African male writers 20th-century South African LGBTQ people