Gerrit van Rensburg

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Gerrit van Rensburg (Hendrik Gerhardus van Rensburg) was a South African farmer and politician born on 26 May 1948 and who died on 11 January 2021. He started his political career with the New National Party and was elected to the Western Cape Provincial Parliament in 1999. Premier Gerald Morkel appointed him Western Cape Minister for Agriculture, a role he held until December 2001.

In 2003 he switched to the Democratic Alliance. After the DA won the Western Cape in 2009, he served again as Western Cape Minister for Agriculture until retiring from politics in 2014.

Van Rensburg studied agriculture at Stellenbosch University and worked as a farmer in Mossel Bay. He was active in agricultural groups, serving as secretary of the Agricultural Societies and Unions for 15 years, and held leadership roles in the Western Cape Agriculture Executive for 13 years, including three years as vice-chairman and three years as president. He received an honorary presidency from Agri Western Cape in 2005.

He died of cancer at age 72. The then Western Cape Minister of Agriculture, Ivan Meyer, paid tribute to him.