Marais Viljoen

Marais Viljoen
State President H. E. Marais Viljoen
5th State President of South Africa
In office 4 June 1979 – 4 September 1984
Prime Minister	P. W. Botha
Vice President	Alwyn Schlebusch (1981–1984)
Preceded by	B. J. Vorster
Succeeded by	P. W. Botha
In office 21 August 1978 – 10 October 1978 Acting
Prime Minister	B. J. Vorster P. W. Botha
Preceded by	Nico Diederichs
Succeeded by	B. J. Vorster
President of the Senate
In office 22 January 1976 – 19 June 1979
Preceded by	Johannes de Klerk
Succeeded by	Jimmy Kruger
Personal details
Born	(1915-12-02)2 December 1915 Robertson, Cape Province Union of South Africa
Died	4 January 2007(2007-01-04) (aged 91) Pretoria, Gauteng South Africa
Political party	National Party
Spouse	Dorothea Maria Brink ​ ​ (m. 1940; death 2005)​
Children	Elizabeth Magdalena
Alma mater	University of Cape Town

Marais Viljoen, DMS (2 December 1915 – 4 January 2007) was the last ceremonial State President of South Africa from 4 June 1979 until 3 September 1984. Viljoen became the last of the ceremonial presidents of South Africa when he was succeeded in 1984 by Prime Minister P. W. Botha, who combined the offices into an executive presidency.

Early life

Viljoen in the Netherlands, 1975

Viljoen was the youngest of six children of Magdalena Debora "Lenie" (de Villiers) and Gabriel Francois Viljoen. He was married on 20 April 1940 to Dorothea Maria Brink (17 September 1917 – 5 October 2005), with whom he had one daughter Elizabeth Magdalena (Elna) Viljoen.

After finishing school at Jan van Riebeeck High School in Cape Town, he went to work in the Post Office, and thereafter at the Afrikaans language newspaper, Die Transvaler, edited by Hendrik Verwoerd, who later became Prime Minister.

Political career

Viljoen was elected to the House of Assembly as MP for Alberton, near Johannesburg, as President of the Senate, and as acting State President from 21 August 1978 to 10 October 1978, after which B.J. Vorster was briefly elected to the position. Viljoen was seen as a relatively moderate member of the National Party that instituted apartheid.

State Presidency

After Vorster's resignation as a result of the Muldergate Scandal in 1979, Viljoen held the post of non-executive State President from 4 June 1979 until 3 September 1984. The State Presidency during this time was a ceremonial post, like that of the Governor-General, which it replaced in 1961.

Under the 1983 Constitution, the last of Apartheid, the position of the State President was changed to a more powerful executive position. Viljoen retired and was replaced by P. W. Botha, who until 1984 had been the executive Prime Minister. After Viljoen retired from public life he maintained an interest in politics thereafter.

Depiction on a coin

He is depicted on the obverse of a 1985 1 Rand coin.

Death

Viljoen died on 4 January 2007 of heart failure. He received a state funeral on 13 January 2007.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Marais Viljoen

16. Johannes Willem Viljoen 8. Hendrik Christoffel Viljoen 17. Helena Catharina van der Merwe 4. Petrus Jacobus Viljoen 18. Petrus Jacobus du Toit 9. Elisabet Johanna du Toit 19. Rachel Rossouw 2. Gabriel Francois Viljoen 20. Carel David Wentzel 10. Johannes Jacobus Wentzel 21. Maria Sophia Hoebert 5. Anna Susanna Johanna Wentzel 22. Johannes Maree 11. Anna Margaretha Maree 23. Catharina Elizabeth Groenewald 1. Marais Viljoen 24. Petrus de Villiers 12. Petrus Johannes de Villiers 25. Magdalena de Villiers 6. Johannes Hendrikus de Villiers 26. Petrus Retief 13. Magdalena Debora Retief 27. Maria Elizabeth Redelinghuys 3. Magdalena Debora de Villiers 28. Johannes Stephanus Marais 14. Daniel Johannes Marais 29. Hester Deborah Naude 7. Hester Debora Francina Marais 30. Bartholomeus Hubertus Siebrits 15. Johanna Maria Siebrits 31. Engela Cornelia Jordaan