Prof Stephen de la Harpe, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Law, North-West University passed away on thursday, 18 February 2021. He has been in the ICU for the last six weeks.
The Faculty wants to convey its sincerest condolences to his wife, Hanri, their daughters, Kara, Shani, Lana and Janke, friends and colleagues. We want to thank them for sharing their husband and father with the Faculty these past few years.
He was always calm, happy and content with a deep love for his wife and children. He always had a kind word for everyone he met. Inherent he was a true lawyer and always challenged us and the students to think deeper, to come up with solutions rather than merely stating a problem.
He started his career as a state attorney from 1983 to 1985 and became a member of the Pretoria Bar in 1986. He and his family decided to leave the hectic city life and bought a farm in the Vredefort Dome where his true heart lied. He was appointed in 2000 first as a senior lecturer and later as full professor in the Faculty of Law, North-West University. His love has always been the Law of Contract and he also taught in the LLM Programme Import and Export Law. He became Director: Postgraduate Studies and he and Prof Gerrit Pienaar personally visited several universities in SADC to convince students to come and study at the NWU – expanding the post-graduate programmes over the borders of South Africa.
He became Executive Dean of the Faculty of Law in April 2018, having the difficult task to become the first dean of the amalgamated Faculty of Law at the NWU. He did so not because he wanted to lead but because the Faculty was important to him and he wanted to see it flourishes. He really spent all his energy on this task. He never said no and was always available to any of the colleagues or students, day or night. He made sure he spent time at all three campuses and to listen to any concerns that colleagues may raise. Stephen was also known as an academic and published several articles and contributed to books on various topics of law. Numerous students completed their studies under his guidance. He will be sorely missed but we also find peace in knowing that his pain and suffering is no more.