The HNP celebrated the birthday of late Mr. Willem Marais on 10 August 2017. Mr. Marais would have been 89 years old yesterday.
In the tribute, the HNP’s secretary, Mr. Louis van der Schyff, said that Mr. Willie Marais was born on 10 August 1928 at Ariamsvlei in South West Africa. He became the third leader of the HNP when he succeeded Mr. Jaap Marais as a leader in 2000.
“Willem Marais was a particular person. This gentle man was a giant in the business world, but as an HNP leader succeeded his predecessor with dignity.
As LV from the Wonderboom constituency, he worked with Dr. Albert Hertzog and Messrs. Jaap Marais and Louis Stofberg against the policy change of the NP under which Mr. John Vorster rebelled. When it became apparent in 1969 that the NP was under pressure and embarked on a new political route, the HNP was founded on 25 October 1969. These four members of parliament played the leading role.
“Economic freedom … give our people the honor of standing in the gallery of peoples … proud and strong with the right to be ourselves and to rule ourselves in our country, our homeland, which the Lord our God has given us ” said Mr. Marais at the HNP Congress in 2002.
He further said, “To gain economic freedom, the Afrikaner must be free of debt – pay his debts. Debt causes harm to one’s mind. It breaks its resistance and makes it gradually ripe for subordination.”
“Independence is a cornerstone of economic freedom – remember the old saying: labor nobility!”
“The Afrikaner people, even in his early years of age, had the ability to adapt to the demands of the struggle and convert his defeat to victory.”
Mr. Marais was also known as the founder of the Omnia fertilizer company.
Read the original article in Afrikaans on Die Vryburger
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