Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr (politician, 1894)

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Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr (1940s)

Jan "Jannie" Hendrik Hofmeyr (born March 20, 1894 in Cape Town , Cape Colony ; † December 3, 1948 in Johannesburg , South Africa ) was a South African politician who held high government functions in the Union of South Africa several times as minister and in 1948 as deputy prime minister .

Life

Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr began studying at the University of Cape Town after attending the South African College Schools (SACS) , which he continued at Balliol College at the University of Oxford . After completing his studies and returning to South Africa in 1916, he worked as a teacher and as a lecturer in Classical Antiquity at the South African School of Mines and Technology . In 1919 he took over the office of principal in this university institution and in this role he held the foundation of the Witwatersrand University. In 1924 he succeeded Alfred George Robertson as administrator of the Transvaal province and held this position until 1929, after which Jacobus Stephanus Smit became his successor there. In 1929 he became a member of the Suid-Afrikaanse Party SAP (South African Party) and acquired a mandate for this in the People's Assembly (Volksraad van Suid-Afrika) , in which he represented the constituency of Johannesburg-Noord until his death . In the early 1930s he became patron of the South African Institute of Race Relations ( South African Institute of Race Relations , SAIRR) . This institute collects and analyzes data and facts about the living conditions of disadvantaged population groups, promotes awareness of these questions and makes a contribution to the public understanding of these facts. From the self-image of the institution, South Africa's future is seen as a community in which there are no “racial and ethnic” differences, but where different cultural identities are considered part of the nation.

On March 30, 1933, Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr entered a government of the South African Union for the first time and took over as Minister of the Interior (Minister van Binnelandse Sake) as the successor to Daniel François Malan in the cabinet of Prime Minister Barry Hertzog , which he held until he was replaced by Richard Stuttaford held on December 9, 1936. In this position he had until the end against the adoption of the "electoral law for natives" in 1936 ( Representation of Natives Act ) expressed through which the voting rights for the black population has been severely restricted. At the same time he also served as Minister of Health (Minister van Minister van Openbare Gesondheid) between 1933 and 1936 and as Minister of Education (Minister van Onderwys) from 1933 until he was replaced by Henry Allan Fagan in 1938 . On December 5, 1934 he became a member of the United South African National Party UP ( Verenigde Suid-Afrikaanse Nasionale Party ) , of which he was a member until his death. Furthermore, as successor to Patrick Duncan between 1936 and his replacement by Jan Christiaan Smuts in 1938, he was also Minister of Mines (Minister van Mynwese) . In 1936 he also replaced Adriaan Fourie as Minister of Labor and Social Affairs (Minister van Indiensneming en Maatskaplike Sake) and also held this post until 1938, after which Harry Lawrence became Minister of Labor and Henry Allan Fagan Minister of Social Affairs.

After Jan Christiaan Smuts succeeded Barry Hertzog as the new Prime Minister on September 5, 1939, Hofmeyr took over the office of Minister of Finance (Minister van Finansies) and held this position until he was replaced by Frederick Sturrock in January 1948. At the same time, he succeeded Daniël François Malan was again Minister of Education from 1939 until he was succeeded by Henry Allan Fagan in 1948. Most recently, he was minister of mining again in 1948 and deputy prime minister in the cabinet of the current prime minister Daniel François Malan.

Web link

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eric Rosenthal: Southern African Dictionary of National Biography . Frederick Warne & Co., London 1966, p. 172
  2. ^ Transvaal: Administrators in Rulers
  3. ^ South Africa: Interior Ministers in Rulers
  4. ^ South Africa: Finance Ministers in Rulers
personal data
SURNAME Hofmeyr, Jan Hendrik
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jannie (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African politician
DATE OF BIRTH March 20, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Cape Town , Cape Colony
DATE OF DEATH December 3, 1948
Place of death Johannesburg