‘Gentle gentleman’ Bert van Hees dies

RENOWNED South African journalist Bert van Hees, who specialised in reporting on court proceedings for more than four decades, died on Tuesday night. He was 72.

Van Hees had been battling lung cancer that had spread to the ribs and spine.

At the time of his death, Van Hees was freelancing for the African News Agency (ANA), diligently reporting from the courtrooms of Cape Town’s northern suburbs, with the Commercial Crimes Court in Bellville a particular fount of great, and often wonderfully quirky, news stories.

ANA editor-in-chief, Lindiz van Zilla, said Van Hees represented all that was professional, was courteous and was simply a wonderful man.

“A gentle gentleman,” is how Van Zilla described him.

Despite his deteriorating condition, he refused to buckle and insisted on carrying on his reporting duties as best he could, arguing that to remove him from his beloved court beat would hasten his demise.

ANA courts editor Catherine Rice said Van Hees would be remembered in court corridors as an impeccably dressed gentleman, always wearing a suit and tie, and with a smile on his face.

“A gentle and kind soul, he was well known to prosecutors and court officials. He had a nose for quirky stories and loved to have a good chuckle at some of the accused’s versions of the truth,” said Rice.

“He will be missed by young reporters, whom he was happy to mentor.”

In his own words, he started his court reporting career in 1972, with the Windhoek Advertiser in Namibia, at the time under the editorship of the late JM Smith.

Van Hees said the happiest years of his working life were the two-year stint with a law firm, his seven years with Argus Action, his subsequent weekly Weekend Argus columns about the small claims courts, followed by his small claims website, www. smallclaimssa.co.za and, more recently, his years working for ANA.

Van Hees leaves his wife, and two children, Michael and Tamryn. – ANA