Olof Godlieb de Wet (1739–1811) was a South African high-ranking official in the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

and co-founder of the Freemasons in South Africa.

Personal life

He was born in middle 1739 in Cape Town, South Africa. De Wet's grandfather Jacobus de Wet emigrated from

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, The Netherlands in 1693 to South Africa. His parents were Maria Magdalena Blankenberg and Johannes Carolus de Wet. He married Magdalena Saria Maria Butger in July 1761, and out of their marriage one child was born. He died at age 72 in Cape Town, South Africa on 6 December 1811.

Work path

He started his working career in the Dutch East India Company (DEIC) in 1757. Through the years he stayed with the DEIC and started as assistant and followed that up with a bookkeeper (1768), office manager (1772), buyer (1775) and then a member of the Council of Justice in 1778. This was followed by work as a store manager (1782) and auctions manager(1785). In this period he acted as Journal Writer and assistant for Governor

Joachim van Plettenberg Baron Joachim Ammena van Plettenberg (8 March 1739, Leeuwarden, Netherlands – 18 August 1793, Zwolle, Netherlands) was the governor of the Cape of Good Hope from 11 August 1771 to 14 February 1785. Plettenberg was presiding governor after ...

, on the governor's trips. De Wet became the president of the Council of Commissioners for Civil and Matrimonial Affairs, in 1787. He was the president of the Council of Justice and Receiver of Revenue, in 1791 and 1793 respectively. In the beginning of 1795, de Wet led an official commission that went to

Graaff-Reinet Graaff-Reinet is a town in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is the oldest town in the province. It is also the sixth-oldest town in South Africa, after Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Simon's Town, Paarl and Swellendam. The town was the c ...

to look into complaints by the residents against, Magistrate Honoratius Maynier . This was done on instructions received from Commissioner General Abraham Sluijsken.

Freemasons

In 1772 de Wet together with the German banker

Chiron In Greek mythology, Chiron ( ; also Cheiron or Kheiron; ) was held to be the superlative centaur amongst his brethren since he was called the "wisest and justest of all the centaurs". Biography Chiron was notable throughout Greek mythology ...

, the Dutch Ships Captain van der Weijden and locals ( Brand, de Wit, le Febre, van Schoor,

Gie ''Gie'' is a 2005 Indonesian biopic film directed by Riri Riza. The film tells the story of Soe Hok Gie, a graduate from University of Indonesia who is known as an activist and nature lover. The film is based on a diary ''Catatan Seorang Demonstr ...

, and Pieter Soermans) started the first Freemasonry movement in South Africa.

References

{{reflist 1739 births 1811 deaths People from Cape Town South African Freemasons