Dr. Bennie Albert Khoapa of Khoapa, South Africa, passed away on May 5, 2024, two weeks after his 87th birthday.
Academic, administrator, author, humanitarian, and key role player in the development, growth and sustainability of the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa, Bennie Khoapa was born in Matatiele in 1937, one of eleven children of Chief Albert C. Khoapa and Lintletse Rachel (Mohase) who proceeded him.
Among his survivors is Mojabeng (Wellington) Kamala of Bowling Green.
He attended Eagle’s Peak boarding school in Lesotho, studied at Adams College, KwaZulu Natal and later graduated from the Jan Hofmeyer School of Social Work. He was the personnel social worker for the South African Rubber Manufacturing Company. He later became National Secretary in 1965 of the South African Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), Durban, South Africa. Through the YMCA, he encountered and became National Adviser to the South African Students’ Organization (SASO) and the Black People’s Convention, and in particular an adviser and friend to the late Steve Biko.
Bennie Khoapa established the Black Community Programmes (BCP) in 1972, with Biko as youth organizer; while he was also a Director of SPROCAS (Study Project On Christianity in an apartheid Society).
On October 15, 1973 he was banned and placed under house arrest, from where he continued to work for the BCP until Black Wednesday 1977, when the organization was itself banned.
He earned a B.A degree in Sociology and Criminology from the University of South Africa. On the expiry of his banning order, Bennie Khoapa left for Lesotho with his family and later settled inthe United States. He earned a MSc in Social Administration and a Doctorate in Social Welfare from Case Western Reserve University, (Cleveland, OH). He taught at Grand Valley State University, MI for eight years.
He returned to South Africa in 1991, becoming the Academic Registrar of the University of Fort Har. , and then Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Student Affairs.
Dr. Khoapa then became Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Student Affairsat Technikon Natal; a position that led to him becoming the firstBlack Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the institution. He oversaw its merger into the Durban University of Technology (DUT), where he served as Pro-Vice Chancellor from 1996- 2003.
Thereafter, he served in several capacities to improve the quality of higher education in South Africa, serving as a Ministerially-appointed assessor on issues facing the University of Limpopo.
Dr. Bennie Khoapa is the author of numerous presentations and publications in international and domestic forums, including the United Nations, the World University Service, UNISA, and the African American Institute.
A former member and board member of numerous international and South African organizations including Lawyers for Human Rights and a Chairman and Patron of UMTAPO and the South African Association for Literacy and Adult Education, he founded the Mazisi Kunene Foundation in KwaZulu Natal.
Bennie Khoapa served the Steve Biko Foundation as an active Trustee for 17 years, taking part in the shift of the legacy of Biko from the margins of history to the fore of public memory, and overseeing a wide range of development programming including the building and opening in 2012 of the Steve Biko Centre – a National Legacy Project – now home to some of the deepest archives on Black Consciousness and whose operations have helped some 640 000 direct beneficiaries.
His image is displayed at both the Steve Biko Center and the Apartheid Museum in Gauteng, South Africa.
For the last years, he was the Trustee and Chairman of both the Khoapa Land and the A.C. Community Trusts.
Bennie Khoapa is survived by his wife of 62 years Olga, daughters Monono Negash (Chicago, IL), Mojabeng (Wellington) Kamala (Bowling Green, OH), Lintletse Khoapa (Gauteng, South Africa), son Ntsu-Sechaba Khoapa (Gauteng, South Africa), grandchildren, Kweyamba Kamala (Bowling Green, OH), Wobit Teshome (S. Korea), Seium (Michelle) Teshome (Grand Rapids, MI), Bahru Teshome (Grand Rapids, MI), Neema Kamala (Brooklyn, NY), Nthabiseng Kamala (Brooklyn, NY) and great-granddaughter Sage Teshome (Grand Rapids, MI), brothers Chief Taleja, Lesaona, Lisenyeho, Noel and sister Puleng (Khoapa, South Africa).
Private services will be held at Khoapa, South Africa.
