12/06/2025
A TRIBUTE TO THE LATE DWIGHT TRIEGAARDT
Compiled by C H Morden (from inputs by Dr. André Muller and the late Dr. Dwight Triegaardt)
Dwight Triegaardt, born on 7 March 1945, who died on 02 June 2025 was the second eldest of six sons. His father, Robert James Triegaardt (Oom Bob), a respected teacher and community leader in Benoni and later Reiger Park, was born in Kimberley, and his mother, Maria Catherine Rita (née Brown), was born in Windsorton. His mother supported his father in many ways which contributed to him being able to participate in community affairs, being successful as a community leader and in education. She assisted him with his garden and his music and was the backbone of their family.
Dwight matriculated from William Hills High School in 1961. Two of his fellow matriculants were Wing Him Sam and Radakrishnan Vythilingam. All three of them were accepted into medicine at Wits University. The other two completed their medical studies, but Dwight was forced to leave the University of Witwatersrand in September 1962 – during his first year of medicine - probably due to the close association he had with his uncle, RGB Triegaardt (Uncle Dick), who was banned under the Suppression of Communism Act. Eighteen months later, after an ultimatum from his father, he reluctantly decided to go to the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in March 1964, two months after the start of the academic year, to do a degree in science.
Less than a year after the completion of his degree at UWC in 1973, and a brief stint at a company in Boksburg, Dwight fled South Africa via Botswana, to go into exile. In Canada he enrolled at York University, Toronto, for his honours degree in chemistry.
Here he married Jean, whom he met at UWC and whose family emigrated from Kimberley to Canada a few years earlier. They later moved to the USA where he was accepted into the master’s programme in chemistry and later completed his PhD in chemistry at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, USA. His research promoter was the well-known Prof Arthur C Wahl, one of the discoverers of the element plutonium.
His wife Jean’s father John Kester was a former president (1948–1967) of the SA Coloured Rugby Board (known as SARU from 1962). He emigrated to Canada to escape the wrath of the Special Branch (Police).
Dwight returned to South Africa in 1983 to visit his mother, who was diagnosed with colon cancer. Upon arrival at Jan Smuts airport (today: OR Tambo) he received a ‘warm welcome’ from the Security Police who interrogated him about his relationship with the Black Consciousness Movement, and with Jakes Gerwel and Johnny Issel in particular.
He decided to move back to South Africa and took up a post as Head of the School of Applied Sciences at the Peninsula Technikon in Bellville; Franklin Sonn was the rector at the time. Jean and his daughter subsequently joined him in Cape Town. Jean took up a teaching post in the Department of Social Work at UCT. Later, she completed her PhD in social work from St Louis University.
They have two daughters, Allison and Melanie, and a granddaughter, Maya.
Dwight was an outstanding academic, political activist and mentor. Dr. André Muller – a friend of mine - recalls how Dwight assisted him to pursue his post graduate studies in chemistry in Canada in 1984 and 1985. Upon his return to South Africa Dwight appointed André as a lecturer in the Department of Chemistry at the Peninsula Technikon. To top it all, André fell in love with, and married Dwight’s secretary. André refers to Dwight’s compassion and infectious smile, but that he at the same time was a stern, serious and strict leader. He describes Dwight as his ‘scientific father’. André later completed his medicine degree.
In his contribution to the book Reiger Park Home to Many / ‘n Tuiste, Dwight recalled growing up in the Old Location (also referred as Parktown) in Benoni. Then there was a ‘newer’ section to the location, called Actonville. In the Old Location Coloured people occupied the first four streets, Indians were to the north and Black inhabitants lived in the rest of the location. During his childhood years the only shop in Actonville was owned by a Greek trader, but in the Old Location a butchery was owned and run by Mr John de Jager (Oom Doonie) and a dry-cleaners, Pixie Dry Cleaners, was owned by Mr P Magerman (Oom Piet). Many smaller shops in the Old Location were owned and run by Indians. During his primary school-days the principal was Mr Dick Bartiss, who later relocated to the United Kingdom. He was replaced by Mr Clarence September. Dwight wrote:
“I enjoyed growing up in Benoni, as life was beautiful then. At William Hills High School I played soccer, cricket and tennis. I played cricket for the high school. A number of parents would take their children to the Wanderers Cricket Ground whenever an overseas team would tour South Africa. No people of colour could play for the country. We would take the train to Ellis Park Station, and from there the Alexander Township bus to William Nicol Street and from there walk to the stadium. My brothers could not understand how I could do this for five consecutive days.” Dwight bemoaned the fact that Apartheid and the Group Areas Act in particular robbed South Africa of many talented educators. Most of his former teachers at William Hills High School left South Africa during the 1960s and 1970s for overseas universities or schools in countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK. One such individual was his former high school principal, Mr George Carr.
“Teachers at William Hills prided themselves in being the most politically conscious and progressive staff of any school in the Transvaal.”
We are grateful for and appreciate your many contributions Dwight, rest in peace.
(Pictures: 1. Triegaardt Family - 2. A young Dwight - 3. Dwight and Johnny Issel (UWC graduation 1973 - Johnny also attended Oosrand Secondary for a period as learner) - 4. Dr Dwight Triegaardt and Dr Andre Muller at Sol Plaatje University - 5. Dwight and Doreen Solomons at Reiger Park book launch - 6. Dwight and Jean with Joseph and Rose September)
