Marais Viljoen was the last ceremonial State President of South Africa

State President of South Africa

State President, or Staatspresident in Afrikaans, was the title of South Africa's head of state from 1961 to 1994. The office was established when the country became a republic in 1961, and Queen Elizabeth II ceased to be head of state...

 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 an executive president, P. W. Botha.

Early life

Viljoen was the youngest of six children. 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, who in turn married Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 Louis Arnold Meyers and had one son. Before entering a political career, he worked 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

House of Assembly of South Africa

The House of Assembly was the lower house of the Parliament of South Africa from 1910 to 1984, and latterly the white representative house of the Tricameral Parliament from 1984 to 1994, when it was replaced by the current National Assembly...

 as MP

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Alberton

Alberton, Gauteng

Alberton is a town situated on the East Rand of the Gauteng Province in South Africa which celebrated its centenary year in 2005. it had a population of 202,202 inhabitants. It is known as a typical bedroom community, a community primarily residential in character, with most of its workers...

, near Johannesburg

Johannesburg

Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...

, as President of the Senate

Senate of South Africa

The Senate was the upper house of the Parliament of South Africa between 1910 and its abolition from 1 January 1981, and between 1994 and 1997.-1910-1981:...

, and as acting State President from 21 August 1978 to 10 October 1978, after which B.J. Vorster

B.J. Vorster

Balthazar Johannes Vorster , 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...

 was briefly elected to the position. Viljoen was seen as a relatively moderate member of the National Party

National Party (South Africa)

The National Party is a former political party in South Africa. Founded in 1914, it was the governing party of the country from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994. Members of the National Party were sometimes known as Nationalists or Nats. Its policies included apartheid, the establishment of a...

 that instituted apartheid.

State Presidency

After Vorster's resignation 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

Governor-General of the Union of South Africa

The Governor-General of the Union of South Africa was the representative of the British and later South African Crown in the Union of South Africa between 31 May 1910 and 31 May 1961...

, which it replaced in 1961.

Under the 1983 Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, the position of the State President was changed to a more powerful executive position. Viljoen retired and was replaced by P. W. Botha

Pieter Willem Botha

Pieter Willem Botha , commonly known as "P. W." and Die Groot Krokodil , was the prime minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and the first executive state president from 1984 to 1989.First elected to Parliament in 1948, Botha was for eleven years head of the Afrikaner National Party and the...

, who until 1984 had been the executive Prime Minister. After Viljoen

Viljoen

Viljoen is a surname of French Huguenot origin in South Africa and all Viljoens are the descendants of Francois Villion, a free wagon maker who arrived as a Huguenot refugee at the Cape of Good Hope in October 1671 from Clermont, France. He married Cornelia Campenaar from Middelburg, Holland, in...

 retired from public life he maintained an interest in politics thereafter.

Death

Viljoen

Viljoen

Viljoen is a surname of French Huguenot origin in South Africa and all Viljoens are the descendants of Francois Villion, a free wagon maker who arrived as a Huguenot refugee at the Cape of Good Hope in October 1671 from Clermont, France. He married Cornelia Campenaar from Middelburg, Holland, in...

died on 4 January 2007 due to heart failure. He received a state funeral on 13 January 2007.