VILJOEN, MARAIS

born Dec. 2, 1915, Robertson, S.Af. South African politician who was the fifth state president (197984) of South Africa (a largely ceremonial post). Viljoen was born on a farm in the Cape Province and orphaned at the age of four. Forced to leave school before matriculation (which he obtained later by private study), he joined the Post Office as a learner telegraphist at the age of 18. In 1937 he moved on to journalism as a reporter on a newly founded Afrikaans newspaper edited by the future prime minister H.F. Verwoerd, who in time would give him his first Cabinet post. Years of service as an efficient party organizer led to his election as a member of the Transvaal provincial council in 1949 and to a seat in Parliament four years later (1953). Following a term as deputy minister of labour and of mines (195861), Viljoen served, either as deputy minister or as minister, in the departments of labour, mines, Coloured affairs, immigration, education, the interior, and posts and telecommunications. In these positions he firmly supported the National Party's policy of apartheid, or separate development, for South Africa's racial groups. Viljoen was president of the Senate from 1976 until he was elected to replace B.J. Vorster as state president in 1979. Viljoen served until September 1984, when a new constitution dramatically increasing the president's powers came into effect. Pieter Willem Botha became the first state president under this new constitution.