B. J. Vorster

Balthazar Johannes Vorster (Afrikaans pronunciation: [ˈforstər]; 13 December 1915 - 10 September 1983), better known as John Vorster, served as the Prime Minister of South Africa from 1966 to 1978 and as the fourth State President of South Africa from 1978 to 1979. While known for his adherence to apartheid, he nevertheless concluded a more pragmatic foreign policy than his predecessors, in an effort to improve relations between the white minority government and South Africa's neighbours.

Biography

Support for Nazism

In Vorster's younger years, he attracted notoriety by opposing South Africa's intervention on the side of the Allies in World War II, and speaking favourably of the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler, whose dictatorial government he regarded as a better model.

1940s to 1950s

Following his release in 1944 from a detention camp in Koffiefontein (he had been detained for involvement with the Ossewabrandwag in 1942)^[1], Vorster became active in the National Party, which began implementing the policy of Apartheid in 1948. Although racial discrimination in favour of whites had long been a central fact of South African politics and society, the National Party institutionalized racism through Apartheid legislation.

In 1953, Vorster was elected to the House of Assembly representing the seat of Nigel in the Transvaal. He was a MP during the terms of prime ministers D.F. Malan, J.G. Strijdom and Dr Hendrik Verwoerd. Vorster's past as a draft-dodger and Nazi sympathizer came back to haunt him. Vorster answered his critics by saying that he had now "come to believe in" the parliamentary system.

1960s to 1970s

A leader of the right wing of the National Party, he was appointed Minister of Justice in 1961 by PM Verwoerd, a self-outspoken mentor and idol of Vorster. Upon Verwoerd's assassination in 1966, Vorster was elected by the National Party to replace him. He continued Verwoerd's implementation of apartheid legislation, and in 1968 abolished the last four parliamentary seats that had been reserved for white representatives of Coloured (mixed race) voters. Vorster's rule nevertheless oversaw the several other proposed bills dropped, and repealing of legislation prohibiting multi-racial sports team in order to allow for South Africa to admit to the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico. Due to the protests of numerous African nations, however, the proposed team was rejected from competing. As a personal figure, was commented as "flesh and blood" by Progressive MP Helen Suzman in contrast to the "diabolical" and "frightening" Verwoerd. To the South African public, Vorster tidewise withheld great support for his eccentric, periodically humorous concessions, most notably by briefing opposition in his private chambers, by allowing pictures of himself in not seldom precautious situations being distributed publicly as well as welcoming foreigners, by his words, to "the happiest police state in the world". This new outlook in the leadership of South Africa was dubbed "billikheid" or "sweet reasonableness".^[2]

Most notably, Vorster was (or became) more pragmatic than his predecessors when it came to foreign policy. He alienated an extremist faction of his National Party by pursuing diplomatic relations with African countries, and by agreeing to let black African diplomats live in white areas. He unofficially supported, but refused to recognize officially, the neighbouring state of Rhodesia, which was ruled by a white minority government that had rebelled against British rule. Vorster followed white public opinion in South Africa by supporting Rhodesia publicly, but was unwilling to alienate important political allies in the United States by extending diplomatic recognition to Rhodesia. In 1974, under pressure from US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger he pressured Ian Smith, the Rhodesian Prime Minister, to accept in principle that white minority rule could not continue indefinitely. Smith subsequently resigned in June 1979.

Retirement

Vorster retired as Prime Minister in 1978, after twelve years in office. He was succeeded by P.W. Botha, a hardliner who nevertheless began the first reforms to moderate the apartheid system. Following his retirement as Prime Minister, Vorster was elected to the largely honorary position of State President. His tenure in that office, however, was short-lived. In what came to be known as the Muldergate Scandal, so named after Dr Connie Mulder, the Cabinet minister at the centre of it, Vorster was implicated in the use of a secret slush fund to establish The Citizen, the only major English language newspaper that was favourable to the National Party. A commission of inquiry concluded in mid-1979 that Vorster "knew everything" about the corruption and had tolerated it. He resigned from the presidency in disgrace. He died in 1983, aged 67 years.

References

1. ↑ Balthazar Johannes Vorster Biography | Encyclopedia of World Biography Biography
2. ↑ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,941074,00.html

External links

• Website of the South African Vorster family. (In Afrikaans.)
• B.J. Vorster, BookRags
• B. J. Vorster: Selected speeches
• The Rise of the South African Reich - Chapter 6, Brian Bunting, 1969

Prime Ministers of South Africa Louis Botha · Jan Christiaan Smuts · James Barry Munnik Hertzog · Jan Christiaan Smuts · Daniel François Malan · Johannes Gerhardus Strijdom · Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd · Balthazar Johannes Vorster · Pieter Willem Botha Governor-General of the Union of South Africa · State President of South Africa

Presidents of South Africa 1961 Constitution (ceremonial) Charles Robberts Swart · Theophilus Ebenhaezer Dönges · Jozua François Naudé * · Jacobus Johannes Fouché · Johannes de Klerk * · Nicolaas Johannes Diederichs · Marais Viljoen * · B. J. Vorster · Marais Viljoen 1983 Constitution (executive) Pieter Willem Botha · Chris Heunis * · Pieter Willem Botha · Frederik Willem de Klerk 1996 Constitution (executive) Nelson Mandela · Thabo Mbeki · Kgalema Motlanthe · Jacob Zuma * = acting