Afrikaans Actor Ben Dekker Dies at 86 in Port St. Johns Hospital
- Ben Dekker, the beloved Afrikaans actor best known for his role as desert wanderer Gaitsigubib, passed away at age 86
- The multi-talented artist appeared in more than 80 films and lived in a self-built hut on a beach near Port St. Johns
- Fellow actor Anton Dekker described Ben as a 'gentle giant' with ice-blue eyes who rejected material wealth entirely
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South Africa has lost one of its most singular creative spirits. Benito Adolfo Dekker, widely known as Ben Dekker, died on Monday evening at the Isilimela Hospital in Port St. Johns. He was 86 years old.
Dekker was far more than just an actor. Over the course of his life, he carved out a reputation as a painter, sculptor, poet, writer, conservationist and existentialist philosopher. To many, though, he was most recognisable as the desert wanderer Gaitsigubib, a role that became one of his most enduring contributions to Afrikaans screen culture.
A life lived outside convention
Anton Dekker, an Afrikaans actor, voice artist and distant relative of Ben, remembered him as someone who refused to conform.
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"He was the last of the ultimate hippies. He had ice-blue eyes that could look straight through you and was a gentle giant. Standing two metres tall, he was a giant of a man."
Anton added that Ben died without a cent to his name, a reflection not of misfortune but of a deliberate choice to reject materialism entirely. For years, Ben made his home in a self-built hut on a beach near Port St. Johns in the Eastern Cape. His dying wish, according to Anton, was to be cremated and have his ashes scattered on that same stretch of shore.
He had also lived in Cape Town for a period, earning well as a sculptor and channelling much of that income towards caring for street children in the city.
A career spanning decades
Ben's path was shaped early by a love of the outdoors and ideas. He began working for the Department of Forestry at just 17, later studying at the Saasveld Forestry College before being posted to the Tsitsikamma forests, where he trained as a surveyor and worked on the rehabilitation of driftsand areas.
By 1962, he had enrolled at Rhodes University to study philosophy and fine arts, later continuing at the University of Cape Town. His acting career spanned more than 80 films, and he was among the first performers to take the stage at the Space Theatre, founded in Cape Town in 1972 as a bold cultural platform that openly challenged the apartheid regime's restrictions. Anton described him as a storyteller of rare calibre.
"He was eccentric and an incredible storyteller. He could entertain you for hours. He was tremendously intelligent, and people often underestimated that intelligence," he said.
Longtime friend and writer Carole Hopkins, who lived with Ben on Dunkerly Street in Cape Town for more than two years, also recalled walking the entire coastline between Port Saint Johns and Port Edward alongside him, a three-day journey on foot. She wrote:
"What wonderful memories I have. It makes me sad to know he is no longer with us. We spent so many wonderful times together at the hut on the small island of Oudeskip. Rest in peace, my friend."
Mom dies in hospital
A Stellenbosch mother died in hospital just days after a crash on Helshoogte Pass claimed the life of her six-year-old son.
St. Idas Primary School confirmed the mother's death and said staff were still processing the loss of the young boy when the news came.
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