Magnus Malan

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General Magnus André De Merindol Malan (born January 30, 1930 in Pretoria , South Africa , † July 18, 2011 in Cape Town ) was a South African military. From 1980 to 1991 he served as Defense Minister of the Republic of South Africa during apartheid under Prime Minister and President Pieter Willem Botha and his successor. Previously, he was Commander in Chief of the Army and then the Armed Forces of South Africa.

Life

Magnus Malan was the son of Elizabeth Frederika Malan and Avril Ire Malan de Mérindol, Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Pretoria and Member of Parliament for the National Party for the Hercules constituency in Pretoria and Speaker of the House of Assembly of South Africa .

Malan first received his education at the Afrikaans Hoër Seunskool , but he finished his final exam in Kimberley at the Dr Danie Craven's Physical Education Brigade in 1948. The military character of this facility aroused his interest in a later career in the armed forces. On the advice of his father, he enrolled at Stellenbosch University for a bachelor's degree in economics from 1949 . At the end of this year, Malan switched to a course for future officers and then served as a cadet in the Permanent Force . Finally, he took up the study with the aim of the Bachelor of Military Science at the University of Pretoria , which he completed in 1953 with this degree.

From 1962 to 1963 he studied at Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth , Kansas .

In 1973 Malan took over command of the South African Army and in 1976 he became Chief of the Defense Force for all branches of service. On October 7, 1980 he was appointed Minister of Defense.

During the war operations of the SADF against the liberation movements in Mozambique and Angola , he ordered the use of methods of asymmetrical warfare . He had repeatedly spoken out in public for the concept of a total national strategy . According to his efforts, such a strategy included coordinated measures in the fields of action of the military, politics, diplomacy, economy, religion, culture, sport and public relations. The procedure under this title was carefully conceived, politically motivated and structurally based on the theoretical preparatory work of the French General André Beaufre . Between 1980 and 1991 Malan was one of the so-called Securocrats , a group of military and civilian leaders. Malan and his co-workers argued in terms of "annihilate" and "exterminate".

Shortly after taking on the role of Secretary of Defense in 1980, he approved a biological weapons development program, Project Coast, officially launched in 1981 . As defense minister, he had a budget of nearly 4 billion US dollars , about its use part decided the Government Cabinet. He ordered the establishment of the Civil Cooperation Bureau , a para-state agency for disinformation and murder. According to the results of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in recruiting the specialist Wouter Basson, he and Pieter Willem Botha were largely responsible for this project.

He sent regular army troops to township settlements , but later vehemently denied that acts of the apartheid state could be prosecuted retrospectively. In 1986, in view of the effects of the nationwide state of emergency , Malan took the view that political rights were not a major concern of the country's black population . Material needs such as work, living space, education, clothing and food seemed to have become uninteresting in his view. The political activists among the black inhabitants, the majority of the population, democratically marginalized and deprived of their citizenship after the constitutional reform of 1983 , would, in his opinion, take advantage of the desire to achieve these basic living conditions. In 1987 he reiterated this stance by stating that the ANC would have no place in the future South Africa.

In 1987 he admitted that the South African National Defense Force in Angola was supporting the União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola against SWAPO and the African National Congress .

After the state financing of the Inkatha Freedom Party in 1991 was publicly named him Frederik Willem de Klerk to the Minister for water affairs and forestry (eg: Minister of Water and Forestry).

From 1981 to 1993 he was a member of the National Party for the constituency of Modderfontein. He was also a member of his party's executive council.

medal

  • Star of South Africa (1975)
  • Southern Cross Decoration (1977)
  • Pro Patria Medal with Cunene brace for participating in Operation Savannah in Angola (1977)

Works

Private

In 1962 Malan married his wife Magrietha Johanna (Margot) van der Walt. She graduated from the University of the Orange Free State . The marriage resulted in two sons and a daughter. Magnus Malan underwent cardiac bypass surgery in 1986 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Shelagh Gastrow: Who's who in South African Politics, Number 3 . Johannesburg 1990, pp. 150-151, ISBN 0-86975-399-1
  2. ^ South African History Online: Magnus Malan . on www.v1.sahistory.org.za (English)
  3. ↑ Niel Barnard : Secret Revolution. Memoirs of a Spy Boss . Tafelberg, Cape Town 2015 ISBN 9780624074571 pp. 133-134
  4. ↑ Shelagh Gastrow: Who's who in South African Politics, Number 4 . Johannesburg 1992, p. 140
  5. ↑ Horace Campbell: Magnus Malan and crimes against humanity in Africa . on www.pambazuka.org (English)
  6. ^ The Sydney Morning Herald: 'Total onslaught' apartheid-era minister dies . News from July 19, 2011 on www.smh.com.au (English)
  7. ^ The Sydney Morning Herald: Notorious Apartheid Enforcer Dies in South Africa . News from July 25, 2011 on www.blackvoicenews.com ( Memento from February 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  8. ↑ a b c d e f Shelagh Gastrow: Who's who in South African Politics, Number 3 . Johannesburg 1990, pp. 152-153
  9. ^ The Guardian , July 18, 2011, General Magnus Malan obituary , South African defense minister during the apartheid regime
  10. ^ The New York Times , July 18, 2011, Magnus Malan, Apartheid Defender, Dies at 81
  11. ^ South African Military Veterans Organization USA: Medal Qualification Information . on www.samvousa.org ( Memento from July 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  12. ↑ Southwest German Library Association: bibliographical evidence . at www.swb.bsz-bw.de
  13. ↑ Southwest German Library Association: bibliographical evidence . at www.swb.bsz-bw.de
  14. ↑ copac: bibliographical evidence . on www.copac.jisc.ac.uk (English)
  15. ^ Leon Engelbrecht: Book Review: My life with the SA Defense Force . Posted on September 3, 2009 on www.defenceweb.co.za (English)
predecessor Office successor
Willem Louw Commander of the South African Land Forces
1973-1976 		Constand Viljoen
Hugo Biermann Commander of the South African Defense Force
1976 to 1980 		Constand Viljoen
Pieter Willem Botha Defense Minister (South Africa)
1980-1991 		Roelf Meyer
Jacobus Johannes Fouché Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs
1991 to 1993 		Squad Asmal
personal data
SURNAME Malan, Magnus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES De Merindol Malan, Magnus André
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African military and politician
DATE OF BIRTH January 30, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Pretoria
DATE OF DEATH July 18, 2011
Place of death Cape Town