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Evita's State of the Nation Address
Press Conference
Launch of Party
Pictures
Manifesto
Evita Bezuidenhout CV
The Way Forward
Evita
Bezuidenhout on Parliament steps
Links
www.pdu.co.za
www.evita.co.za
www.thedarlingtrust.org
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Evita Bezuidenhout CV
Evita Bezuidenhout, still regarded as the most famous white
woman in South
Africa, was born Evangelie Poggenpoel of humble Boer origins in the dusty
Orange Free State town of Bethlehem on 28th September 1935. Illegitimate,
imaginative, pretty and ambitious, she dreamt of Hollywood fame and
fortune, tasting stardom in such 50s Afrikaner film classics as 'Boggel en die
Akkedis' (Hunchback and the Lizard), 'Meisie van my Drome' (Girl of my Dreams)
and
'Duiwelsvallei' (Devil's Valley). She married into the political Bezuidenhout
Dynasty and became the demure wife of NP Member of Parliament Dr J.J. De
V. Bezuidenhout and the proud mother of de Kock, Izan and Billie-Jeanne.
Power became her addiction. She wielded it in the boardroom, the kitchen
and round the dinnertable, becoming confidante to the flawed gods on the Boer
Olympus and so shaping the course of history with her close and often
unbeliveable relationships with the grim-faced leaders of the day: Dr H.
F.Verwoerd, B. J. Vorster, P.W. Botha and F.W. de Klerk. Hand in hand with
the glamourous Evita of Pretoria was the Tallyrand of Africa, Pik Botha, her
ageing Romeo and constant friend, while watching her from afar as she watched
him, Nelson R. Mandela, alive today thanks to her timely interventions.
Her ten years as the South African Ambassador in the Independent black
Homeland Republic of Bapetikosweti left an indelible mark on the blueprint
of
change, and today her recipe for bobotie is internationally regarded as the
basis
for reconciliation. 'Sit down, eat and talk' has been her slogan and
troublespots in the world owe their future to her kitchen skills. As the former
barefoot-meisie from Bethlehem majestically sailed into the stormy seas of
her marriage and maturity, dazzling friend and foe alike with her Calvinist
authority and dreaded lack of irony, like any other educated brainwashed
white South African, she constantly passed by the terrible aftermath of the
apartheid system she helped to spawn, and having seen, looked away at her
smiling
reflection in the family silver.
Evita Bezuidenhout was presented with the Living Legacy Award 2000 in San
Diego 2001. This same award had in the past been given to legends that included
Hillary Roddam Clinton, Bette Davis, Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher.
Today she shares her time between the family home in Laagerfontein where
her husband Oom Hasie lives, and the West Coast village of Darling where her
mother Ouma Ossewania Kakebenia Poggenpoel resides. Now in her 70's, this
glamorous eternal flame of boere chutzpah holds court at the former Darling
Station,
now famous as 'Evita se Perron', where she entertains and dazzles a visiting
world in awe, while also bravely following in the slipstream of the ruling ANCs
internal upheavals to make sure that the new President is being well
looked after. As one of the few Afrikaner icons who did not lose their heads on
thetumbrils of democracy, Gogo Evita is grandmother to her three black
treasures: Winnie-Jeanne, Nelson-Ignatius and La Toya-Ossewania. She embraced
the new
democracy with an alarming passion, underlining her commitment to a
non-racial future by her support that cuts across party lines.
Evita's optimism is simple: 'You don't need a crystal ball to see where
we are going. The future of South Africa is certain; it is just the past that is
unpredictable.' She has recently launched her own political party EVITA'S
PEOPLE'S PARTY in preparation for the upcoming 2009 General Election with
the focus on voter education and a heels-on/gloves-off
mission to keep a smile on the faces of voters.
Evita's
Grandchildren |
