WESTVILLE residents from the last half of the 20th century, will remember Johnny Coetzee, Westville’s longest serving town clerk.
Johnny died on December 3 last year while in hospital. He had been unwell but his death, at the 95 of a heart attack was not expected by his family, many of whom live in North America.
The family is planning a private memorial service for later this year when the various children and grandchildren are next together in Durban.
“Johnny was a legend in his lifetime,” said Nicky Armstrong, an ex-mayor of Westville. “He was a highly respected town clerk and a brilliant advocate for good, honest and orderly local government.”
“In my 24 years on the Westville Council, and especially the years I was deputy mayor and mayor, Johnny was my source of good sound advice which I valued greatly,” said Armstrong describing how Johnny, who served from the 1950s till his retirement, went on to serve in the Westville council until its dissolution in 1995.
“He knew the Local Government Ordiance (LGO) and at any time could quote the relevant section of the LGO applicable to the discussion around the committee table,” said Armstrong.
Johnny, who served the mostly English speaking community of Westville during his tenure, was born an Afrikaans boy from a small farm in Piet Retief.
He learned to speak isiZulu before he mastered his mother tongue growing up on his father’s farm. In addition to Afrikaans, his home language, he also mastered English and some German at school.
Alberton
Although he was academically bright, he wasn’t able to attend university for financial reasons, so after high school he decided to go into public service and took a position in the municipality at Alberton as a clerk.
During his time in Alberton he married his wife Marge and together they raised a family comprising a son and daughter, Willem and Durinda.
During the year his daughter was born, 1954, Johnny applied for the job of town treasurer in Westville, having improved his post school qualifications as he rose up the ranks in his municipal employment in Alberton. He completed courses and qualified as a financial manager.
Move to Westville
On being appointed to the position in Westville, he and Marge moved their young family to the leafy suburb which he grew to love.
“When I was growing up I initially thought my Dad owned Westville, only to realise much later that Westville owned him,” said his son, Willem.
In his work in the Westville municipality, Johnny was involved with Westville and the Highway area throughout its formative years and was a part of the exponential growth of the area in the three decades leading up to the nineties.
He always described Westville as being considered, “the place to live” in those times evidenced by how many of the most influential people of Durban society chose to live there.
Johnny was in his earlier years an active member of Westville Tennis Club and then migrated to the Westville Bowling Club.
It was as a result of his great love of sport that he was very involved in the development of both the Westville public swimming pool and the Westville Country Club where he became an honorary life member.
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