Genl Constand Viljoen’s role will be recognised

The death of Constand Viljoen, former SA Defence Force (SADF) general and later founder of the Freedom Front, will be greeted with mixed reaction.

There will be those who will say he was one of the enforcers of apartheid, yet there will be others who say he fought to defend his people, the Afrikaners.

The reality is that Viljoen played a very important role in the peaceful transition from apartheid to democracy.

He was a soldier’s soldier and one of those Afrikaners who realised, early on, that apartheid was not sustainable.

It was on his watch that the SADF began the process of integrating blacks into its ranks and he was famous for saying – long before such talk became fashionable – that if a person was good enough to die for his country, then he deserved a vote.

That is a side to the man that many perhaps might want to acknowledge.

Yet, Viljoen – and many other verligte (enlightened) Afrikaners – helped push white people into accepting that black majority rule was inevitable … which was confirmed by the overwhelming support in the 1992 referendum for the peaceful handing over of power.

When history is written, that seminal watershed moment will be recognised.

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