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Constand Viljoen

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General
Constand Viljoen
SSA SD SOE SM MMM
Viljoen in 1985
Leader of the Freedom Front
In office
1 March 1994 – 26 June 2001
Preceded byParty established
Succeeded byPieter Mulder
Member of Parliament
In office
1994–2001
Personal details
BornConstand Laubscher Viljoen
(1933-10-28)28 October 1933[1]
Standerton, Transvaal, Union of South Africa
Died3 April 2020(2020-04-03) (aged 86)
Ohrigstad, Limpopo, South Africa
Resting placeBet-El farm, Ohrigstad
PartyFreedom Front Plus (1994–2001)
Other political
affiliations
National Party (pre–1994)
Spouse
Christina "Ristie" Heckroodt
​
​
(m. 1957)​
Relations
  • Braam Viljoen (twin brother)
  • Andries Carel Viljoen 1889–1947 (father)
  • Geesie Maria Viljoen née Kotzé 1905–1990 (mother)
Children5
Alma materUniversity of Pretoria
OccupationSoldier, farmer and politician
ProfessionGunner, artilleryman
Civilian awards
Star of South Africa SSAG
Military service
AllegianceSouth Africa
Branch/serviceSouth African Army
Years of service
1956–1985
RankGeneral
Unit4 Field Regiment
Commands
Battles/wars
Military awardsStar of South Africa SSAG Southern Cross Decoration SD South African Police Star for Outstanding Service SOE Southern Cross Medal SM Military Merit Medal MMM Pro Patria Medal (South Africa) Good Service Medal Good Service Medal Permanent Force Good Service Medal Order of the Cloud and Banner ORB

General Constand Laubscher Viljoen SSA SD SOE SM MMM (28 October 1933 – 3 April 2020) was a South African Army officer and politician. As the Chief of the South African Defense Forces from 1980 – 1985, he oversaw military attacks on the anti-apartheid movement both within South Africa and neighbouring countries. During South Africa's transition from apartheid to democracy, he co-founded the Afrikaner Volksfront, a separatist group, and planned to lead an armed insurgency. After participating in discussions with Nelson Mandela and leading a failed armed incursion in Bophuthatswana, Viljoen left the Volksfront and founded the Freedom Front political party. His decision to participate in elections was instrumental in quashing the plans of white separatists to pursue armed insurgency. He served seven years in parliament.

Early life and education

[edit]

In 1933, Viljoen and his identical twin brother, Abraham (Braam), were born in the town of Standerton, Mpumalanga.[3][4] Their ancestors were 17th century European settlers.[4] During the Anglo-Boer war, their father Andries had been interned in a concentration camp as a child with his mother and his siblings while his father fought the British in a Boer militia.[5]

Constand and Braam grew up on Potfontein, the family farm.[6] Viljoen graduated from Standerton High School in 1951.[3] His political views differed from his family's: they supported Jan Smuts and the United Party, while he supported the National Party.[3] His brother Braam became an anti-apartheid activist, theology professor, and clergyman.[3] Viljoen was interested in fighting insurgencies.[3]

Military service

[edit]

He joined South Africa's pre-republic Union Defence Force at the Military Gymnasium in Voortrekkerhoogte for the Permanent Force Cadet Course of which he won the "Best Student" in 1952. He studied at the Military Academy from 1953 and graduated as Best Student in 1955 receiving a degree in military science at the University of Pretoria.[1] He was among others Aide de Camp to Dr EG Jansen, Battery Commander at 4 Field Regiment, Instructor at the School of Artillery and Armour, OC 14 Field Regiment in Bethlehem, OC School of Artillery. Second in Command Orange Free State Command in 1968.

Col Viljoen qualified as a paratrooper at this time in Bloemfontein. OC Army College, Director of Artillery (on the staff of the Chief of the Army) and Director Management Services (on the staff of the Chief of Defence Staff). By 1974, Viljoen had been named the South African Army's Director of General Operations, subsequently serving as the Principal Staff Officer to the Chief of the South African Defence Force.[3] He was appointed as Chief of the Army in 1977 and succeeded General Magnus Malan as Chief of the South African Defence Force in 1980.[7]: xv  He was awarded the Master Gunner badge (crossed-barrels) in 1984.

Angola

[edit]

Viljoen was the senior SADF military officer directing Operation Savannah in 1975.[citation needed]

Viljoen is credited with having planned the first major airborne assault in South African military history, the Battle of Cassinga, in 1978 in Angola.[8] Despite his rank, Viljoen was present,[9] offering what was described as a "swashbuckling" front-line leadership, which won him the respect of many fellow soldiers.[10] According to Viljoen, it was an attack on a base belonging to SWAPO, the Namibian independence movement.[9] The incident is also known as the Cassinga massacre. According to scholar Annette Hubschle and others, the attack killed more than 600 people, mostly civilians, in a refugee camp.[9][8] In 1998, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released a report holding Viljoen responsible for the attack, which it condemned as a human rights violation.[8][11] In 2007, Viljoen stated that some civilians were present but that most of the dead were fighters.[9]

Apartheid

[edit]

In 1980, the newly elected prime minister P.W. Botha selected Viljoen as Chief of the SADF, a position he held until he retired in 1985.[4][12][13] Of the black soldiers in the SADF, he once stated: "If they can fight for South Africa, then they can vote for South Africa."[14] Viljoen considered the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), the armed wing of the African National Congress, to be weak, believing that the SADF could indefinitely hold them off.[15]: 35  According to Viljoen, the ANC started a "people's war" in the townships. The SADF's armed operations to repress the ANC harmed the South African government's reputation to the rest of the world.[15]: 127–128  In the 1980s, white rule ended in Rhodesia and South Africa was experiencing increased international isolation. Viljoen and other military leaders urged the South African government to negotiate with the anti-apartheid movement as soon as possible, stating: "you end up in a much weaker position than if you had tackled the thing politically at the right moment.”[15]: 35 [7]: 55–56 [16]

While Viljoen was chief of the SADF, Botha directed the army to undertake operations with the security police against the ANC in the townships and in neighboring countries.[4] Under Viljoen's command, the SADF mounted attacks in Lesotho,[17] Zimbabwe,[18] Botswana,[19] and Mozambique.[4] Viljoen publicly praised the Raid on Gaborone, the SADF's first attack on Botswana that killed several civilians.[19] He internally criticized the army for killing six civilians in Mozambique in 1983.[4] Because of the brutality of the SADF towards the anti-apartheid movement under Viljoen's command, many black South Africans viewed him to be racist.[20][12] British journalist John Carlin called him and the military "apartheid’s ultimate enforcers."[12][20]

Political career

[edit]

End of apartheid

[edit]

In March 1993, toward the end of apartheid, Viljoen and three other retired generals co-founded the Afrikaner Volksfront (Afrikaner People's Front), an umbrella body for separatist Afrikaner groups that wanted to create their own homeland in Transvaal.[10] Viljoen told The New York Times that he did not want South Africa to be ruled by "Marxists" and that the Volksfront had not decided whether they would use violence.[10] Viljoen had strained relationships with other white leaders including the neo-Nazi Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) and the Conservative Party.[15]: 223 [21] In June, Viljoen led a Volksfront protest outside the negotiations for the South African constitution. Despite his attempts to control the crowd, they ignored him and stormed the Kempton Park World Trade Centre.[22][15]: 223 

Viljoen planned to command an armed insurgency consisting of as many as 60,000 white soldiers.[12][20][23] He told General George Meiring, "You and I and our men can take this country in an afternoon". Meiring responded: "but what do we the morning after the coup?"[14][13] In 1993, Viljoen accepted an invitation to meet with African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela, whom he considered a terrorist.[12] Over the course of their discussions, Mandela urged him to participate in the upcoming elections instead of launching an insurgency.[12][20][13] These events were depicted in the 2018 comic book Mandela and The General by John Carlin.[24][25][26]

In January 1994, Mandela stated that the Afrikaaners would not be permitted to create a homeland. Viljoen stated for the first time that the Volksfront was willing to use violence. At the time, polls showed that most Afrikaaners did not support a separate homeland.[27][28] In March 1994, Viljoen led an incursion by several thousand Volksfront militia into Bophuthatswana, a bantustan. Viljoen was attempting to support the government against protesters who wanted the bantustan to join the Republic of South Africa.[29] Despite being requested not to participate in the action because of extremist views, militants of the AWB also advanced into Bophuthatswana, sparking clashes with the security forces.[30] After their efforts in Bophuthatswana failed, Viljoen left the Volksfront[31][13] and registered a political campaign in the upcoming elections.[32][15]: 232  He co-founded and became leader of the Freedom Front (Vryheidsfront), a new political party representing white conservatives.[33]

Viljoen helped to convince other white right-wingers against pursuing violence during the transition from apartheid to democracy.[13][33] According to Viljoen, about half of the Volksfront members favored armed insurgency, while the other half opposed it. He said that he was the one who decided that they would not pursue violence and that it was a difficult decision.[34] He later credited Mandela as the primary reason for this decision saying: "The important thing when you sit down and negotiate with the enemy is the character of the people you have across the table from you and whether they carry their people's support. Mandela had both."[20][34] He was also partly influenced by the mediation of his identical twin brother, Braam, an anti-apartheid activist who had helped arrange the meeting with Mandela.[35][36][15]: 223  The Dutch Reformed Church, of which Viljoen was a member, also pressured him not to wage war.[37]

In post-apartheid South Africa

[edit]

In the 1994 general election, the Freedom Front, under the leadership of Viljoen, received 2.2% of the national vote[38] and nine seats in the National Assembly. As the VF became the strongest party outside Nelson Mandela's Government of National Unity, as the provisional 1993 Constitution required the participation of all parties over 5% of the vote, Viljoen became the de facto leader of the opposition in South Africa until the NP's departure from government in 1996, although he did not officially hold the position.[citation needed]

In August 1996, Viljoen appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and said that both sides had committed human rights violations. He said that Afrikaaners were responsible for not pressuring their leaders to negotiate with the ANC sooner.[39] He also said that the TRC should be careful not to focus on past transgressions to avoid exacerbating conflict.[40] In December 1996, Mandela expanded the eligibility for amnesty applications to the TRC. Previously, people could apply for amnesty for acts committed until 10 December 1993, but that was extended to 10 May 1994. As a result, Viljoen was able to apply for amnesty for his abandoned plan to mount an insurgency in the period before the 1994 election.[41]

Although his supporters were at odds with the government and the ANC, Viljoen praised Mandela on the occasion of his retirement from politics in 1999, ending his Parliamentary speech speaking in Mandela's native language, Xhosa: "Go and have yourself a well-earned rest. Go rest in the shadow of a tree at your home."[20]

In 2001, Viljoen handed over the leadership of the Freedom Front to Pieter Mulder and retired from politics, citing his frustration working with a parliament dominated by the ANC.[42] On the occasion of his retirement from politics, the South African government recognised him for preventing bloodshed during the transition from apartheid to democracy.[33]

After retirement

[edit]

In 2003, a member of the Boeremag right-wing militia testified in court that the group had wanted to prosecute Viljoen after they overthrew the South African government. They considered him a traitor who had betrayed the Afrikaner people.[43]

In 2008 Viljoen, aged 74, put up what was described as a spirited fight against two would-be muggers, who were subsequently arrested.[44]

In 2014, he criticized ANC leadership and South African democracy, saying: "President Nelson Mandela took his special brand of leadership to the grave with him."[3][45]

Death

[edit]

Viljoen died of natural causes on his farm in Ohrigstad, Limpopo, on 3 April 2020, age 86.[13] He was survived by his wife Christina Susanna Heckroodt, four sons and a daughter.[46]

President Cyril Ramaphosa, the Nelson Mandela Foundation, and John Steenhuisen praised Viljoen for choosing to negotiate with the ANC instead of waging an insurgency, thus assisting in the transition from apartheid to democracy in South Africa.[47][48] Former Democratic Alliance politician Tony Leon called Viljoen "one of the heroes of our democracy".[13] Pieter Groenewald and Pieter Mulder praised Viljoen's contributions to the SADF, with Mulder stating that Viljoen strived to "lead from the front not from behind".[48]

ANC leader Mac Maharaj stated: “Viljoen made the transition from the leader of the right-wing, who threatened to derail the negotiating process, to someone who agreed that negotiations were the right way to go. But we cannot forget that he also rose to become the top military commander under apartheid, who was highly praised, and that he led the raid on Cassinga."[13] ANC politician Carl Niehaus published an op-ed arguing that Viljoen had never actually intended to wage an insurgency and had only used it to achieve concessions from the ANC, including "securing the apartheid-accumulated wealth and land ownership of whites".[49]

Awards and decorations

[edit]
Proficiency badges
Master Gunner: 48
Master Gunner
General
Constand L. Viljoen[b]
Year: 1984
←47: WO1
Robbie Graham		 Commandant
Piet D. Uys :49→
Paratrooper Basic (Qualification)
Basic, Static Line. Black on Thatch beige, Embossed. Small Black wings

Notes

[edit]
  1. ↑ Only the Cunene clasp was awarded, to members who served in Angola during Operation Savannah in 1975 and 1976. Recipients of the clasp wear a button, with the letter C encircled by a wreath, on the ribbon bar.
  2. ↑ Post occupied when award was made: Chief South African Defence Force

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 "Viljoen, Constand Laubscher". O'Malley. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  2. ↑ "School of Artillery". South African Gunner (PDF). p. 9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 June 2013. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Segar, Sue (1 June 2014). "Former SA Defence Force Chief General Constand Viljoen Fears for Democracy in South Africa, but He Wouldn't Live Elsewhere". The Sunday Independent. Archived from the original on 11 April 2023 – via PressReader.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Carlin, John (18 November 2009). "Chapter VII- The Tiger King". Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation. Penguin. ISBN 978-1-101-15992-7.
  5. ↑ Cruywagen, Dennis (2014). "The Long Shadow of the Anglo-Boer War". Brothers in War and Peace: Constand and Abraham Viljoen and the Birth of the New South Africa. Zebra Press.
  6. ↑ Cruywagen, Dennis (2014). "Early politics of the Viljoen family". Brothers in War and Peace: Constand and Abraham Viljoen and the Birth of the New South Africa. Zebra Press.
  7. 1 2 Hamann, Hilton (2001). Days of the Generals. Cape Town: Zebra Press (Struck Publishers). ISBN 1-86872-340-2.
  8. 1 2 3 "Apartheid Brass Blamed for Cassinga Massacre". Mail Guardian. 2 November 1998. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  9. 1 2 3 4 "Battle of Cassinga Still Rages". IOL. 19 May 2007. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  10. 1 2 3 Keller, Bill (6 May 1993). "South African Rightists Rally Behind Ex-Generals". New York Times. Retrieved 29 April 2009.
  11. ↑ "No truth for the thousands of apartheid dead". IOL. 8 April 2006. Retrieved 4 July 2026.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Johannesburg, John Carlin (8 December 2013). "Last sparks of a fading giant". The Times. Archived from the original on 14 April 2023. Retrieved 3 July 2026.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Toit, Pieter du. "Constand Viljoen 'played critical role' in peaceful transition to democracy". News24. Archived from the original on 18 July 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2026.
  14. 1 2 Uys, Stanley (18 July 2011). "General Magnus Malan obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 3 July 2026.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Waldmeir, Patti (1998). "13: Battling for the Right". Anatomy of a Miracle: The End of Apartheid and the Birth of the New South Africa. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-2582-2.
  16. ↑ Parks, Michael (19 April 1994). "SOUTH AFRICA: FORGING A NATION : SOUTH AFRICA: A TALE OF SIX FAMILIES : CHAPTER THREE / The White Retreat". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 11 October 2024. Retrieved 4 July 2026.
  17. ↑ Times, Joseph Lelyveld, Special To the New York (9 December 1982). "SOUTH AFRICA REPORTS KILLING 30 IN ATTACK ON FOES IN LESOTHO". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 4 July 2026.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  18. ↑ Times, Special to the New York (28 August 1982). "SOUTH AFRICA CONCEDES 3 SOLDIERS WERE KILLED BY ZIMBABWE". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 4 July 2026.
  19. 1 2 Times, Alan Cowell, Special To the New York (15 June 1985). "U.S. RECALLS SOUTH AFRICA ENVOY IN RESPONSE TO RAID ON BOTSWANA; 16 ARE REPORTED KILLED AS COMMANDOS STRIKE AN INSURGENT 'CENTER'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 4 July 2026.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Blake, John (18 July 2021). "Analysis: How the Nelson Mandela's example of radical empathy can help the US today". CNN. Archived from the original on 18 July 2021. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  21. ↑ Keller, Bill (26 June 1993). "White Separatists Storm South African Negotiations". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 4 July 2026.
  22. ↑ Keller, Bill (26 June 1993). "White Separatists Storm South African Negotiations". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 4 July 2026.
  23. ↑ Du Preez, Max (25 March 2001). "Viljoen Reveals Just how Close SA Came to War". IOL. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  24. ↑ McMillan, Graeme (15 October 2018). "'Mandela and the General' Explores Hidden Moment in History (Exclusive Preview)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 3 July 2026.
  25. ↑ "The secret negotiations that brought an end to apartheid bloodshed in South Africa". The Independent. 2 December 2018. Retrieved 3 July 2026.
  26. ↑ MANDELA AND THE GENERAL | Kirkus Reviews.
  27. ↑ "Former Generals Threaten Violence to Achieve Afrikaner Homeland". Christian Science Monitor. 20 January 1994. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 4 July 2026.
  28. ↑ Tribune, Chicago (20 January 1994). "AFRIKANER RIGHT WING THREATENS VIOLENCE IN PLEA FOR A HOMELAND". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 4 July 2026.
  29. ↑ Keller, Bill (11 March 1994). "Homeland Leader in South Africa Flees His Capital". New York Times. Retrieved 29 April 2009.
  30. ↑ Keller, Bill (12 March 1994). "Mixed Signals Fatal for South African Separatists". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 April 2009.
  31. ↑ Cohen, Tom (13 March 1994). "South Africa Takes Control Of Homeland – Bophuthatswana's Ruler Removed To Open Up Election". The Seattle Times. Associated Press. Retrieved 29 April 2009.
  32. ↑ Keller, Bill (13 March 1994). "A Homeland's Agony". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 April 2009.
  33. 1 2 3 "Mbeki Thanks Constand Viljoen". News24. 15 March 2001. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  34. 1 2 Carlin, John (18 November 2009). "Chapter 11: "Address their hearts"". Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation. Penguin. ISBN 978-1-101-15992-7.
  35. ↑ Battersby, John (28 October 1993). "Abraham Viljoen: Longtime Campaigner For Black-White Solidarity in South Africa". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 29 April 2009.
  36. ↑ Kotzé, Dirk (1995). "Mediation During the Transition in South Africa". University of South Africa. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 29 April 2009.
  37. ↑ van der Merwe, Johan (December 2014). "Between war and peace: The Dutch Reformed Church agent for peace 1990 -1994". Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae. 40 (2): 85–103. ISSN 1017-0499.
  38. ↑ "BBC News | Africa | South Africa: The main contenders". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 4 July 2026.
  39. ↑ "SAPA - 19 Aug 96 - VILJOEN AVOIDS APOLOGY FOR APARTHEID ERA CRIMES". South African Press Association. Retrieved 4 July 2026.
  40. ↑ Baines, Gary. "SADF soldiers' silences: institutional, consensual and strategic". Acta Academica.
  41. ↑ Daley, Suzanne (14 December 1996). "Mandela Broadens Limits For Apartheid-Era Amnesty". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 4 July 2026.
  42. ↑ "Constand Viljoen to Leave SA Parliament". BBC News. 15 March 2001. Retrieved 29 April 2009.
  43. ↑ Venter, Zelda (1 November 2003). "'Boerehof' planned to try 'traitor' De Klerk". IOL. Retrieved 4 July 2026.
  44. ↑ "Ex-SANDF Chief Turns Tables on Muggers". IOL. South African Press Association. 18 May 2008. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  45. ↑ Wet, Phillip De (24 April 2014). "Last Boer general fears for the future". Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 4 July 2026.
  46. ↑ du Toit, Pieter (3 April 2020). "General Constand Viljoen Passes Away Aged 86". News24. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  47. ↑ Seleka, Ntwaagae. "Ramaphosa, Nelson Mandela Foundation pays tribute to General Constand Viljoen". News24. Retrieved 13 July 2026.
  48. 1 2 TimesLIVE (4 April 2020). "Former defence force chief Constand Viljoen dies". The Herald. Retrieved 13 July 2026.
  49. ↑ Niehaus, Carl (19 April 2020). "How Constand Viljoen conned Madiba into believing in his SADF coup threat". The Citizen. Retrieved 4 July 2026.
  50. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Riddle, Samantha (3 April 2020). "Freedom Front Plus Founding Leader General Constand Viljoen Dies". MSN.com.
Party political offices
New title
New Party
 Leader of the Freedom Front
1994–2001		 Succeeded by
Military offices
Preceded by Chief of the South African Defence Force
1980–1985		 Succeeded by
Chief of the South African Army
1976–1980
Preceded by GOC I South African Corps
1976–1976		 Succeeded by
Maj Gen Ian Gleeson
Preceded by Director of Artillery
1972–1973		 Succeeded by
Brig Frans van den Berg
Preceded by
Brig LL Gordon
 Director Management Services
1970–1972		 Succeeded by
Preceded by
Col JW van Niekerk
 OC South African Army College
1968–1969		 Succeeded by
Preceded by OC School of Artillery
1966–1968		 Succeeded by
Preceded by Chief Instructor Gunnery
1962–1963		 Succeeded by
Maj John Albert Reid Cox
Honorary titles
Preceded by
WO1 Robbie Graham
 48th Master Gunner
1984		 Succeeded by
Cmdt Piet Uys
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