Constand Viljoen, the founding leader of the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) and former head of the South African Defence Force (SADF) has died. He was 86.
Viljoen was born in Standerton – in what is now Mpumalanga – in 1933. He joined the precursor to the SADF, the Union Defence Force, in 1956, and rose through the ranks, becoming chief of the SADF in 1980. He had also played a number of important roles during the South African intervention in Angola in the 1970s.
Viljoen began dabbling in politics in the early 1990s, during South Africa’s transition. He was first a member of the Afrikaner Volksfront but subsequently left it and formed the Freedom Front (which later became the Freedom Front Plus). Viljoen’s decision to take part in the first inclusive South African elections probably legitimized the process in the eyes of many Afrikaners, who would have been loyal to him if he had decided to take up arms to try stop the process of South Africa becoming a democracy.
He served as a Member of Parliament until 2001 when he was succeeded as the leader of the FF+ by Pieter Mulder.
President Cyril Ramaphosa noted his passing and said in a statement that Viljoen had to be credited with ending conservative resistance to the South African transition and helping smooth the way for democracy.
Viljoen passed away on his farm on Friday and is survived by his wife Christina and four sons and a daughter.