Constand Viljoen

Constand Viljoen (born in 1933 in Standerton, Transvaal) is a general and a politician of South Africa, founder of the Front of Freedom and appointed between 1994 and 2001.

It joined the army as of 1954, 21 years old.

1954: second lieutenant
1956: lieutenant
1959: captain
1961: major
1965: commander
1968: colonel
1971: sergeant
1974: major-general
1976: lieutenant-general
1980: general

In 1960, it orders the artillery school of which it takes the direction in the Seventies.

Hero of the war of Angola in 1975 - 1976, Constand Viljoen is chief of the army of 1976 with 1980 and chief of the defense forces of South Africa (SA Defense Force- SADF) 1980 with 1985.

Soldier enjoying a great prestige, it takes his retirement in his farm of the district of Ohrighstad to Transvaal and cultivates the Maïs there.

In 1993, Constand Viljoen enters in policy to defend the interests of the nation afrikaner “put in danger” by the abandonment in the course of the white capacity by the president Frederik de Klerk and is made the partisan of the Volkstaat.

It enters directly into negotiation with the ANC and Nelson Mandela and tries to unify the line and the extreme South-African line in the Face of the Afrikaner People ( Afrikaner Volksfront ) and to unite it with the preserving black parties in a " Alliance of the libertés".

In March 1994, in dissension with its allies which refuse to take part in the elections, it founds the Face of Freedom, single party representative the South-African extreme line to take part in the first multiracial elections of the country in April 1994 when it obtained 640.000 votes, 9 deputies and 5 senators. Although it did not obtain the minimum necessary according to the terms of the provisional constitution to obtain a post of minister automatically for its political training, Nelson Mandela proposes to him to take part in the government of national union but it refuses, disappointed not to have obtained the vote of all the former voters of the conservative party nor of the majority of Afrikaners.

Since 1995, Constand Viljoen will encourage Afrikaners to carry out new a Grand Trek inside Africa, with the call besides of the African countries in search for skilled labor.

Re-elected in 1999, it did not manage to make recognize the vital need for one 10th province afrikaner with the elected officials of the ANC nor to the parliamentary right-hand side, opposed to the communautarism afrikaner, divider of the white community. Nevertheless, its action is recognized and the ANC knows liking to have prevented to him the line extremists resorting to the weapons and from having contained the partisans of a civil war and racial.

In 2001, Constand Viljoen definitively leaves the policy after a homage paid to the Parliament by the president Thabo Mbeki itself and leaves the presidency of the Face of freedom with Pieter Mulder.

External bond

Official site

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