Gerrit Viljoen

Gerrit van Niekerk Viljoen , often for short Gerrit Viljoen (born September 11, 1926 in Cape Town ; † March 29, 2009 in Stilbaai ) was a South African professor of classical philology , university rector and politician of the National Party with several national ministerial functions. From 1979 to 1980 he was general administrator in South West Africa .

Youth and education

Gerrit Viljoen was the child of Hendrik Geldenhuys Viljoen and his wife Helena (née Stofberg). Another three siblings grew up in the family. At that time his father was the editor of the magazine Die Huisgenoot , an Afrikaans-language family magazine for the entertainment and communication of Boer culture and politics. In 1931 the family moved to Pretoria , where his father took up a professorship at the Universiteit van Pretoria in the field of classical studies .

As a young person, Gerrit Viljoen had already come into contact with political issues in his family. His parents were among the supporters of Daniel François Malan's political course in the 1930s , when the ultra-conservative Boers split off from the National Party at his instigation in connection with a large “party merger” . This turning point sparked polarizing discussions in society. Viljoen's interest in politics continued from school through university.

Viljoen spent his school days in Pretoria, first from 1933 to 1938 at Pretoria Oos Laerskool and then at Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool , where he took his matric in 1943 . He then studied for seven years at the Universiteit van Pretoria and earned a master's degree in classical philology and a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.). He then continued his education abroad, studied at the University of Cambridge and received his doctorate in 1955 as Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) And D. Phil at the University of Leiden . His dissertation is a work on the literary work of the ancient Greek poet Pindar (522–446 BC).

During his studies Viljoen took part in the work of the student council for four years. This interest led him to participate in the formation of the Afrikaner Studentebond (ASB) founded in 1948 , with which several organizations of Boer students were brought together again after the fragmentation in the 1930s. Viljoen was an active participant in this process on the Association Committee. In the course of his study visit to Oxford , his political views changed. He came into contact with Piet Koornhof , who later became a minister in South Africa and who had received his doctorate here in 1952. At the University of Leiden, Viljoen met people whose critical views on the South African situation at the time led to lively discussions. During his studies abroad, his main political convictions emerged, which differed from those at home.

Eventually he accepted membership in the National Party (NP) and was in charge of SABRA in the late 1960s . In the early 1970s, Viljoen headed an NP association in Johannesburg- West and from 1974 to 1980 he was chairman of the influential African Broederbond . The previous chairman Andries Treurnicht was not defeated in 1974 when he ran for this office.

Academic years of work

After returning from studying abroad in 1955, he initially accepted the position of senior lecturer at the University of South Africa (UNISA). After a few years, Viljoen took over a professorship for classical philology, which he held until 1967. He then moved to the newly established Randse Afrikaanse Universiteit in Johannesburg as founding rector .

In the course of his academic professional life, Viljoen took on various part-time management functions. This included chairing the National Education Council , participating in the Prime Minister's Scientific Advisory Council , the Human Sciences Research Council and chairing the Board of the State Library . He was also a member of the Council of the University of Fort Hare and participated in the executive board of the Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniging (FAK) and as a trustee in the South African Foundation .

Political-administrative function in South West Africa / Namibia

At the decision of the South African Prime Minister Pieter Willem Botha and without prior consultation with the Foreign Ministry, Viljoen took over the office of Administrator-General of South West Africa / Namibia from August 2, 1979 , which he only held until September 1980. The replacement of his predecessor Marthinus J. Steyn was related to the formal lifting of the racial segregation policy as a result of international pressure on South Africa. A year before his appointment to this function, the South African cabinet had decreed that the South African Service Commission would open a department (called: Central Personnel Institution ) in Windhoek for the purpose of an independent public service, as a result of which the government departments previously concerned with South West Africa would move there relocate and act as directorates to ensure the state administration. Viljoen played a leading role in shaping this process. At the end of 1979, all central government agencies for the occupied area were located in Windhoek. Exceptions were the police, national defense, national security, foreign affairs, tax and customs duties and the railway administration. As the next stage, Viljoen presented a reform of the administrative structure in South West Africa / Namibia to the South African parliament on November 28, 1979 . As a result, the establishment of a multi-level system was planned, but initially only a second level of administration was established below its administrative level in the form of self-governing bodies ( second tier authorities ) of the ethnic groups. These were under the control of the white-occupied National Assembly of SWA / Namibia. The severely restricted competences of these bodies were limited to the sectoral tasks listed below: land ownership, agriculture and related lending, primary school education , health care, social benefits and pension payments. In the course of this term of office, with the introduction of the Proclamation AG 8/1980 , he initiated a new constitutional framework for the occupied area, which was actually run from Pretoria. During this time, with Proclamation No AG 105/1980 , the South West African Territory Force was officially established on August 1, 1980.

Ministerial offices

In 1980, Viljoen took his first ministerial post as Minister of National Education . A year later he ran in the parliamentary elections in April 1981 and won a mandate for the constituency of Vanderbijlpark .

As Minister of National Education, he was solely responsible for the educational institutions of the white population . He modernized the ministry in the management and organizational structures, which corresponded to his experiences from the establishment of the Randse Afrikaanse Universiteit and his work in what was then South West Africa . In addition, he reformed the employment and pay conditions of teachers, among other things in favor of married women in this profession. During his tenure, a start was made to standardize the remuneration structures for educational staff at all levels. His most important achievement in this office, however, was the amendment of the legislation towards a uniform educational policy in the demographically defined area of ​​responsibility of the ministry, the merging of various educational departments so that a monitoring of various factual issues became possible, such as uniform educational standards , exams and certificates as well as the formulation of a general one Educational policy.

In September 1984, the year when a new constitution for South Africa came into force , Viljoen took over the Ministry for Cooperation, Development and Education , which was created through the merger of the previous departments for Cooperation and Development and Education and Training . These were ministries that covered the remit of the former Bantu administration . As part of the so-called reform apartheid , his ministry was renamed the Department of Education and Development Aid in September 1985 .

He responded to calls for a democratization of everyday life in educational institutions for blacks with a draft to revise the existing regulations for the Student Representative Councils (SRCs). The core statements of his proposals included the eligibility of the student council members, but no management or takeover option of the schools by the councils, only participation in educational issues without reference to political issues. These suggestions did not find support in the target group; the influential Soweto Parent's Crisis Committee rejected it. This organization referred to the key ideas expected in December 1985 from the Education Consultative Conference at Witwatersrand University . Ruling opinions among those affected at the time were determined by the positions of the Azanian Students' Organization and the Azanian Student Movement , which rejected a separation of the student bodies from the field of action of the joint "liberation struggle".

Regardless of his own setbacks in this policy area, Viljoen continued to advance the reform of the education system for the black majority of the population. With an expanded budget proposal for Education and Training in Parliament (April 1986), he improved the conditions for preschool children, created the introduction of vocational education to ensure greater career choices, initiated further standardization in the pay system of teachers with free choice of school from 1986 and from 1987 onwards Free choice of school books at the educational institutions.

During this time, Viljoen was possibly at the height of his professional career. He was vice chairman of his party in the Transvaal provincial association , honorary president of the Classical Association of South Africa , also a member of the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns ("South African Academy for Science and Art") and a corresponding member of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen .

In September 1989, the President appointed him Minister of Constitutional Development and Planning and of National Education (German: "Ministry for Constitutional Development and Planning and National Education"). As early as March 1990, as a consequence of the legalization of the ANC and PAC as well as the SACP , his ministerial offices were transferred to others in order to keep him free for new tasks in the social transformation process. Roelof Meyer (NP) took over the entire Department of Constitutional Development and of National Education and Tertius Delport (NP) took over the constitutional development department .

During the phase to end apartheid, Viljoen was delegated by the Nasionale Party to take part in the deliberations of the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (Codesa). This enabled him to take part in direct government negotiations with the ANC delegation. The efforts of this time led to illness in May 1992. In addition, in an investigation report by Judge Pickard, allegations of corruption were made against Viljoen, relating to his term of office as Minister of Education between 1984 and 1989. According to him, billions of Rand are said to have been misused.

Finally, President Frederik Willem de Klerk appointed him to his close government team . Viljoen took over the role of Minister of State Affairs in the Office of the State President in the President's Office in mid-1992 . Here further tasks arose in the negotiations on the democratic transition in South Africa.

Personal

Gerrit Viljoen married the biochemist Magdalena van der Merwe. The couple had two sons and five daughters.

Honors

• 1981: Honorary LL.D (honorary doctorate in law) from the Randse Afrikaanse Universiteit ,
• 1982: Honorary D.Ed (honorary doctorate in education) from the Universiteit van die Oranje-Vrystaat ,
• Medal of the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns .

Publications

• 1955: Pindaros are present in the eleven Olympic Games . (Dissertation). Luctor et Emergo, Leiden
• 1959: Cicero, the student . Universiteit van Suid Afrika (Publicity Committee of the Universiteit van Suid-Afrika)
• 1978: The kwaliteit van ons oorlewing . In: Aambeeld, 6 (1978), issue 1. ISSN 0301-6102 (Opinieblad van die Randse Afrikaanse Universiteit)
• 1978: Ideaal en werklikheid: rekenskap deur'n Afrikaner . Table Mountain Publishing House, Cape Town. ISBN 0624012344
• 1979: Vernuwing en Voortgang . Table Mountain Publishing House, Cape Town. ISBN 0624013049

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m} Shelagh Gastrow: Who's who in South African Politics, Number Two . Ravan Press, Johannesburg 1987, pp. 335-338. ISBN 0-86975-336-3
2. ^ André du Pisani : SWA / Namibia. The Politics of Continuity and Change . Jonathan Ball Publishers , Johannesburg 1985, pp. 436, 442. ISBN 0-86850-092-5
3. ^ ^{A b} SAIRR : Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1980 . Johannesburg 1981, pp. 638, 646.
4. ↑ Joe Pütz, Heidi von Egidy, Perri Caplan: Political Who's who of Namibia . Magus, Windhoek 1987, p. 22.
5. ^ ^{A b c d} Shelagh Gastrow: Who's who in South African Politics, Number 4 . Ravan Press, Johannesburg 1992, pp. 317-319. ISBN 0-86975-433-5
6. ^ South African History Online : Gerrit Viljoen . on www.sahistory.org.za (English)
7. ↑ Copac: bibliographic evidence . on www.copac.jisc.ac.uk (English)
8. ↑ Copac: bibliographic evidence . on www.copac.jisc.ac.uk (English)
9. ↑ Copac: bibliographic evidence . on www.copac.jisc.ac.uk (English)
10. ↑ WorldCat : bibliographic evidence . at www.worldcat.org (English)
11. ↑ Copac: bibliographic evidence . on www.copac.jisc.ac.uk (English)

predecessor	Office	successor
Marthinus Steyn	South African General Administrator of South West Africa August 7, 1979 to September 4, 1980	Daniel Hough