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Prof Sampie's bursary legacy
Author: Development & Alumni / Ontwikkeling & Alumni
Published: 08/08/2018

As a much-loved and legendary lecturer at Stellenbosch University (SU), Prof Sampie Terreblanche has shaped many young minds to become thought leaders, and now, thanks to the Sampie Terreblanche Bursary Fund, this late veteran political economist and academic will continue to inspire students.​

The Sampie Terreblanche Bursary Fund has recently been established after ‘Prof Sampie’, as he was known, left R250 000 for bursaries in his will. These bursaries will initially be available to disadvantaged and deserving postgraduate students in Economics who have passed undergraduate subjects such as Political Science, Philosophy and History.

His children also undertook to contribute to the bursary fund.

“Our dad’s lifelong commitment to the academic world remains an inspiration to us. Therefore, his children would like to add to this fund in the coming years so as to fulfil his wish of reducing unequal access to postgraduate studies,” said his daughter, Christelle Terreblanche.

Prof Terreblanche passed away in February this year at the age of 84. His academic career at SU spanned half of the 90-year existence of its Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) Faculty and when he retired in 2011, Prof Sampie concluded an uninterrupted career of 54 years as lecturer in Economics. Many prominent economists have attributed their success to this innovative thinker and well-loved professor.

Prof Sampie also became known for his participation in party politics and served on various national bodies, which allowed him to be involved in policy-making. Following his resignation from the then National Party in 1987, he became one of the party’s fiercest critics. Prof Sampie was a founder member of the then Democratic Party and the first economic adviser to the party, but decided to retire from party politics a year later. He was the author of various books, including A History of Inequality in South Africa, 1652–2002, chapters in books, as well as articles in newspapers and scientific journals.

Prof Terreblanche received many accolades for his lifelong contribution to Economics as a field of study, as well as for the leading role he played in a deepened understanding of the political economy and of South Africa’s economic history.

In 2015, Prof Terreblanche received an honorary degree from SU for his outstanding contribution as a profound analyst of Western socio-economic systems, emphasising social improvement for all in many directional publications, his fearless advocacy for an end to apartheid and inequality in South Africa, and his indelible impact on many economics students as an inspirational lecturer.