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THE F W DE KLERK FOUNDATION BOARD AWARDS THE 2012 F W DE KLERK GOODWILL AWARD TO
PIETER-DIRK UYS
– FW de Klerk Foundation, Centre for Constitutional Rights, 16 December 2011
The F W de Klerk Foundation Board has decided to award the 2012 F W de Klerk Goodwill
Award to Pieter-Dirk Uys for his exemplary contribution to the promotion of goodwill
in South Africa.
The Board chose Pieter-Dirk Uys for the award because of his life-long career of
making South Africans laugh at the absurdities of racism and his exemplary work in
alerting South Africans — and particularly schoolchildren — to the threat of HIV/AIDS.
Pieter-Dirk Uys’s humour has helped generations of South Africans to see themselves,
their prejudices and the complexities of South Africa in perspective. The Board believes
that laughing at oneself, at one’s leaders, and at one’s pomposities does more to
break down prejudice than any number of political sermons, lectures or editorials.
The Board also believes that Pieter-Dirk Uys’s enormous contribution to HIV/AIDS
education deserves wider recognition. In the course of his campaign against HIV/AIDS,
he has warned more than 1,5 million school children, prisoners and inmates of reformatories
of the deadly threat of AIDS.
The Award was established by the Board In October 2010 to honour the person — or
organisation — who, in its opinion, has made an exemplary contribution to the promotion
of goodwill between South Africans. The Award is announced annually on The Day of
Reconciliation and will be presented to Pieter-Dirk Uys at the Foundation’s annual
Gala Dinner on 2 February 2012.
Dr Danny Jordaan was the first recipient of the Award in February this year for the
enormous contribution that the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup made to the promotion of
goodwill and national unity.
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