François Christiaan Erasmus (19 January 1896 – 1 July 1967) was a South African National Party politician and

Minister of Defence A defence minister or minister of defence is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from coun ...

from June 1948 to 1959 as well as

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...

from 1959 to August 1961.

Early life

He was born on 19 January 1896 at Houtenbeck in the

Merweville Merweville is a town located in Beaufort West Municipality, Western Cape. Village 45 km north-west of Prince Albert Road and 130 km south-east of Beaufort West. It was established on the farm Vanderbylskraal in 1904 and administered by ...

district of the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...

to Marthinus Frederik Erasmus and his wife Hester Maria Jacoba Maritz.

Family life

Erasmus first married Christina Wiese of

Melsetter Chimanimani is a town in Zimbabwe. Location Chimanimani is a village located in Manicaland Province, in south-eastern Zimbabwe, close to the border with Mozambique. The village lies about , by road, south of Mutare, the location of the provin ...

in the then

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally kn ...

. They had a son and a daughter. On 9 January 1946 he married Cornelia Margaretha (Corrie) Naudé of

Lydenburg Lydenburg, officially known as Mashishing, is a town in Thaba Chweu Local Municipality, on the Mpumalanga highveld, South Africa. It is situated on the Sterkspruit/Dorps River tributary of the Lepelle River at the summit of the Long Tom Pass. ...

. They had three daughters.

Career

In 1927 he was appointed Deputy Attorney-General of

South West Africa South West Africa ( af, Suidwes-Afrika; german: Südwestafrika; nl, Zuidwest-Afrika) was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1990, after which it became modern-day Namibia. It bordered Angola (Portuguese colony before 1 ...

. Afterwards he entered politics and was elected to Parliament in 1933. He joined D F Malan's cabinet as the Minister of Defence in 1948. He was widely considered to be incompetent and was very unpopular because of his broad changes to the military to remove what he called the "British Influence". This included the removal of items such as the ''Red Tabs'' (''Rooi Luise'') and the retrenchment or firing of numerous English-speaking officers and the appointment of Afrikaner ones in their place. After his term as Minister of Justice he was appointed Ambassador to Italy. A Strike Craft of the

South African Navy The South African Navy (SA Navy) is the naval warfare branch of the South African National Defence Force. The Navy is primarily engaged in maintaining a conventional military deterrent, participating in counter-piracy operations, fishery prot ...

was named after him.

References

1896 births 1967 deaths Afrikaner people Defence ministers of South Africa Justice ministers of South Africa National Party (South Africa) politicians Ambassadors of South Africa to Italy 20th-century South African lawyers {{SouthAfrica-politician-stub