Constand Viljoen
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Constand Laubscher Viljoen (born October 28, 1933 near Standerton , † April 3, 2020 in Ohrigstad , Limpopo ) was a South African general and politician. From 1994 to 2001 he was party leader of the right-wing Vryheid Front , which sought a people's state for the Boers .
Childhood and parental home
Constand Viljoen was born in 1933 on a farm near Standerton together with his twin brother Abraham to Geesie and Andries Viljoen. His parents supported the politics of Jan Smuts and his South African Party (later the United Party ). Constand's father distanced himself from political events in the South African Union when Smuts met the Boer nationalists under the leadership of Barry Hertzog . His mother supported Smuts politics for life. Constand Viljoen grew up in an environment of moderate political attitudes.
Military career
In 1952 he joined the Union Defense Force , later the South African Defense Force (SADF). Viljoen began his military training as an officer candidate (1953 to 1954) with a degree at the University of Pretoria , which he obtained with a B.Sc. (B. Mil) graduated.
During his military career, Viljoen rose quickly. With the rank of major-general , he achieved the rank of general for the first time in 1974. From 1976 to 1980 he was Chief of the Army and from 1980 to 1985 he was Chief of the SADF at the head of the entire South African armed forces.
During his tenure as Commander- in -Chief , he gained a high reputation in the armed forces and in parts of the South African population, as he commanded the military operations from locations close to operations and stayed several times near the deployment locations. He survived a double mine explosion in a Ratel unharmed when he moved about 200 kilometers deep in the southern Angolan region in the course of the Angolan civil war , and occasionally accompanied airborne supply missions for the troops personally as a parachutist.
As commander-in-chief of the South African Army , Constand Viljoen assumed high military-operational responsibility for military operations on foreign territory. After his promotion to Chief of the SADF and with the political support of Defense Minister Magnus Malan and Foreign Minister Pik Botha , the SADF's missions abroad increased massively. For example, SADF troops, often together with SWATF units, undertook commando operations from South West Africa / Namibia to neighboring southern Angolan territory. In addition to motorized ground troops, aircraft and airborne units were also used. On August 23, 1981, a South African bomber mission destroyed a FAPLA early warning system and Soviet surface-to-air missiles in the port of Moçâmedes and Lubango . With leaflets , South Africa warned the Angolan military and the civilian population in southern Angola against further deployments of its armed forces and Constand Viljoen justified these warnings publicly with the Angolan support for the SWAPO . In order to protect South Africa, Constand Viljoen said in the press at the beginning of 1981, preventive military commandos were also used in Mozambican territory, from where, in his opinion and that of other members of the government, there was a terrorist threat. Multi-ethnic SADF battalions were stationed on the eastern borders with Mozambique and Swaziland and control of the Zululand region had been switched from the police to the army. Military operations on and across the borders of Botswana and Lesotho followed in 1982 , killing civilians and raising concerns in neighboring countries. Constand Viljoen defended the action against Lesotho as a precautionary protective measure.
One of the notable developments in his time as Commander-in-Chief was the increasing independence of South Africa from foreign arms deliveries as a result of a growing domestic arms industry due to the expanding international embargo measures . In this context, Constand Viljoen referred to a significant increase in experience with the weapon systems used in the course of military operations, after a parliamentary commission examined and critically assessed details of the defense budget, which had risen rapidly during this period. In his view, South Africa had received "practical lessons" since 1975 on how to wage war. The 1982 White Paper of Defense attested an increase in arms procurement programs due to the expansion of military operations at the time, which consequently led to the extensive capacity expansion of Armscor .
The criticism of the use of defense budget funds continued. The South African auditor-general AP Ellis (1982 to 1984) criticized Constand Viljoen for the reporting period 1982/83 in his capacity as the person mainly responsible for the use of the defense budget for unscheduled additional expenditure of 28.4 million rand . The escalating military operations in South Africa continued to lead to large-scale operations in South Angola. The "Operation Askari" between December 6, 1983 and January 15, 1984 in southern Angola comprised 2,000 soldiers from the SWATF and SADF. Constand Viljoen justified the use as a preventive measure against a feared invasion of up to 1000 SWAPO fighters into Southwest Africa / Namibia, which is dominated by South Africa. Finally, on April 17, 1985, the South African-led military forces withdrew from Angola and only two platoons remained on its territory to protect the Calueque Dam and its pumping station (for the Calueque-Oshakati Canal). Viljoen publicly expressed his hope that further negotiations between South Africa and Angola could now begin.
On June 14, 1985, SADF special forces attacked ten buildings and offices scattered throughout Gaborone in a 40-minute operation , killing twelve people and confiscating ANC weapons and documents. Viljoen explained the attack on the neighboring country in a press conference, recognizing that the planning, training, control and supply of insurgent operations against South Africa had originated from these locations.
The defense budget made available to him continued to grow under these conditions; from April 1, 1985 to March 31, 1986 it was R 4.274 billion , an increase of R 519 million over the previous financial year.
In November 1985 Johannes Geldenhuys took over the SADF high command from Constand Viljoen.
Civil life with political commitment
After his military career, Constand Viljoen lived on his farm near Ohrigstad from 1985 , where cattle are raised and peppers are grown for export.
In 1993 his political activities began in circles of right-wing Boer groups. As a result of the fatal attack on SACP functionary Chris Hani , the Committee of Generals was formed , which later developed into a leadership group of the African Popular Front (AVF). This circle was connected to the Konserwatiewe Party (KP) and represented the idea of establishing a “ people's state ” of the Boers.
On May 6, 1993, Constand Viljoen took part in a major event by farmers from the Transvaal and Orange Free State provinces at the Olen Park Stadium in Potchefstroom . There he was expected to give a speech on safety measures in favor of the farmers, for which he finally received wide approval. The following day, the African Popular Front met under his leadership and at its head a group of former generals from SADF and SAP in Pretoria . From this emerged a driving force of the right-wing forces in what was then South Africa. Under the slogan "Self-determination of Africans " an executive council was established, chaired by the Communist Party leader Ferdinand Hartzenberg. From this personal constellation a controversial dualism developed among the AVF members, whereby political negotiations with groups opposed to the conservative camps on the one hand or a military solution in the tense domestic political situation on the other hand were up for discussion and Constand Viljoen played a prominent role in the process . After the nationwide critical escalation as a result of the attack on the multi-party negotiations in the World Trade Center in Johannesburg by an armed group from the AWB led by Eugène Terre'Blanche , Constand Viljoen pleaded for a negotiated solution with the aim of establishing a new and independent Boer state ( Afrikaans : Volkstaat ) persecuted on the previous territory of South Africa.
In 1994 there were further disagreements in the AVF because of the appearance of the AWB during the political crisis in Homeland Bophuthatswana . Constand Viljoen was accused of being a "political Judas" who, in the sense of an alleged alliance of Broederbond / ANC / Nasionale Party / SACP, was leading the Boers to the "slaughter". As a result, Viljoen withdrew from this organization on March 12 and took the lead of the Vryheid Front (VF), which had just been founded . The positions he represented helped to avoid a civil war.
As VF chairman, Constand Viljoen negotiated possibilities with the government and the ANC to form a “people's state” that should have future economic ties with South Africa. This idea determined the VF election campaign in 1994, for which the party gained 2.2 percent nationwide and was subsequently represented with nine seats in the National Assembly. Constand Viljoen exercised his parliamentary mandate until 2001.
From 2001, after retiring from active politics, he lived in seclusion on his farm in Mpumalanga and passed the party leadership to Pieter Mulder . He continued to work as a consultant for Armscor .
He died on April 3, 2020 at the age of 86.
Personal
Constand Viljoen was born with Christina Susanna. Heckroodt married. The marriage had five children.
literature
- Shelagh Gastrow: Who's Who in South African Politics, Number 5 . Ravan Press, Johannesburg 1995, pp. 298-301, ISBN 0-86975-458-0 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Gastrow, 1995, p. 298
- ^ SAIRR : Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1981 . Johannesburg 1982, pp. 449-453
- ↑ SAIRR: Survey 1981 . P. 451
- ↑ SAIRR: Survey 1981 . Pp. 457-458
- ^ SAIRR: Survey 1982 . Pp. 194-195
- ^ SAIRR: Survey 1982 . Pp. 198-199
- ↑ Corrie Pretorius, Chrisna Botha: A short history of performance auditing in South Africa ( Memento of 21 April 2016 Internet Archive ). on www.saiga.co.za (English)
- ↑ SAIRR: Survey 1984 . Pp. 738-739
- ↑ SAIRR: Survey 1984 . P. 825
- ↑ SAIRR: Survey 1985 . P. 429
- ↑ SAIRR: Survey 1985 . Pp. 430-431
- ↑ SAIRR: Survey 1985 . P. 415
- ↑ SAIRR: Survey 1985 . P. 416
- ↑ Gastrow, 1995, pp. 298-299
- ↑ Gastrow, 1995, p. 299
- ↑ a b Constand Viljoen . on whoswho.co.za (English)
- ↑ Gastrow, 1995, p. 300
- ↑ Gen. Constand Viljoen . on www.volkstaat.net (English)
- ^ Charles Cilliers: General Constand Viljoen passes away aged 86 . Message in The Citizen of April 3, 2020 on www.citizen.co.za (English)
- ↑ Gastrow, 1995, p. 301
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Magnus Malan | Commander of the South African Defense Force 1980 to 1985 |
Johannes Geldenhuys |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Viljoen, Constand |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Viljoen, Constand Laubscher (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | South African officer and politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 28, 1933 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Standerton |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 3, 2020 |
| Place of death | Ohrigstad , Limpopo |