Charles Robberts Swart (5 December 1894 – 16 July 1982), nicknamed ''Blackie'', was a South African politician who served as the last

governor-general of the Union of South Africa The governor-general of the Union of South Africa ( af, Goewerneur-generaal van Unie van Suid-Afrika, nl, Goeverneur-generaal van de Unie van Zuid-Afrika) was the highest state official in the Union of South Africa between 31 May 1910 and 31 ...

from 1959 to 1961 and the first

state president The State President of the Republic of South Africa ( af, Staatspresident) was the head of state of South Africa from 1961 to 1994. The office was established when the country became a republic on 31 May 1961, albeit, outside the Commonweal ...

of the

Republic of South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countr ...

from 1961 to 1967.

Early life

Swart was born on 5 December 1894 on the Morgenzon farm, in the

Winburg Winburg is a small mixed farming town in the Free State (province), Free State province of South Africa. It is the oldest proclaimed town (1837) in the Orange Free State, South Africa and thus along with Griquastad, one of the oldest settlemen ...

district, part of the

Boer Boers ( ; af, Boere ()) are the descendants of the Dutch-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled this are ...

republic of the

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...

(which became a British colony in 1902 and a province of the

Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa ( nl, Unie van Zuid-Afrika; af, Unie van Suid-Afrika; ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the Cape, Natal, Tr ...

in 1910).''Current Biography Yearbook''
H. W. Wilson Company, 1960, page 420 He was the third of six children, born to Hermanus Bernardus Swart (1866–1949) and Aletta Catharina Robberts (1870–1929). The Anglo Boer War (

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the So ...

) broke out when he was five years old. During the war, his mother and the children were interned at the

concentration camp. Out of the three boys, one died while in the concentration camp. His father was wounded and captured by the British during the

Battle of Paardeberg The Battle of Paardeberg or Perdeberg ("Horse Mountain") was a major battle during the Second Anglo-Boer War. It was fought near ''Paardeberg Drift'' on the banks of the Modder River in the Orange Free State near Kimberley. Lord Methuen adv ...

. He became a prisoner-of-war and stayed in Groenpunt and

Simonstad Simon's Town ( af, Simonstad), sometimes spelled Simonstown, is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa and is home to Naval Base Simon's Town, the South African Navy's largest base. It is located on the shores of False Bay, on the eastern sid ...

until the end of the war. Aged seven, Swart went to the government school in Winburg. He later went to a CNO (''Christelike Nasionale Onderwys'' or "Christian National Education") school, set up by the Afrikaners in response to

Lord Milner Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner, (23 March 1854 – 13 May 1925) was a British statesman and colonial administrator who played a role in the formulation of British foreign and domestic policy between the mid-1890s and early 1920s. From ...

's anglicisation policy at the government-sponsored schools. He established himself as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and givin ...

in 1914. He spent a brief period in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

acting in silent films, before embarking on his public career. He practised law in Bloemfontein from 1919–1948, with the exception of the time spent earning a degree in journalism from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in New York in 1921–22. He reported briefly from Washington for the ''

Die Burger ''Die Burger'' (English: The Citizen) is a daily Afrikaans-language newspaper, published by Naspers. By 2008, it had a circulation of 91,665 in the Western and Eastern Cape Provinces of South Africa. Along with ''Beeld'' and ''Volksblad'', it ...

'' newspaper. He was married to Cornelia Wilhelmina (Nellie) de Klerk and had three children. He was a tall man at .

Public life

In 1923, he was elected to the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony adm ...

as the Member of Parliament for Ladybrand. until he was defeated in 1938. He became leader of the National Party in the

and MP for

in 1941. After the end of the Second World War, he was appointed Minister of Justice when the National Party came to power in 1948, and was responsible for legislation to strengthen the powers of the

South African Police The South African Police (SAP) was the national police force and law enforcement agency in South Africa from 1913 to 1994; it was the ''de facto'' police force in the territory of South West Africa (Namibia) from 1939 to 1981. After South Af ...

to suppress anti-apartheid activity. Between 1949 and 1950 he held the portfolio for Education, Arts and Science and served as Deputy Prime Minister between 1954 and 1959. In 1959, Swart was appointed Governor-General, but like his predecessor E.G Jansen, he was a staunch republican.''Politics in the Republic of South Africa''
Leonard Monteath Thompson, Little, Brown, 196, page 60 Despite this, he had earlier kneeled before

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

and kissed her hand. In a

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a Representative democr ...

the following year, a small majority of White voters endorsed a government proposal to become a republic. In 1961, after signing the new republican constitution passed by Parliament into law, he asked the Queen to release him from office, and Parliament then elected him as State President, the new post which replaced the monarch and the Governor-General as ceremonial head of state.

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the ...

and other underground Black resistance leaders tried to protest against the change to the new system by planning a three-day

general strike A general strike refers to a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large coa ...

of non-White workers, but the government preemptively averted most of these plans through an extensive use of police force to persecute the dissenters. Although elected for a seven-year term in office, Swart served as state president for only six years, and retired in 1967. After his retirement, Swart was awarded the

Decoration for Meritorious Services The Decoration for Meritorious Services was an honour conferred until 1987 by the Government of the Republic of South Africa, usually for political services to the country. The appointments were made by the State President of South Africa. Pos ...

by State President

Jim Fouché Jacobus Johannes "Jim" Fouché, (6 June 1898 – 23 September 1980Jacobus Johannes Fouch� ...

. He died on 16 July 1982, aged 87. Swart was popularly known as "Blackie" (''Swart'' is

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gr ...

for "black")"Blackie and the Blacks"
''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

'', 1961, Volume 57, Part 2, page 46 or as "Oom Blackie", ''oom'' being Afrikaans for "uncle".

Legacy

The tallest building in

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein, ( ; , "fountain of flowers") also known as Bloem, is one of South Africa's three capital cities and the capital of the Free State province. It serves as the country's judicial capital, along with legislative capital Cape To ...

, which housed various governmental departments and the Law Faculty of the University of the Orange Free State, was named the President CR Swart Building in his honour. In 2015, the ANC government renamed the popular CR Swart Building the Fidel Castro Building. A statue of CR Swart at the

University of the Free State The University of the Free State is a multi-campus public university in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State (province), Free State and the judicial capital of South Africa. It was first established as an institution of higher learning in ...

was destroyed by protesting students in late-February 2016. The highest peak in the remote

Prince Edward Islands The Prince Edward Islands are two small uninhabited islands in the sub-Antarctic Indian Ocean that are part of South Africa. The islands are named Marion Island (named after Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne, 1724–1772) and Prince Edward Islan ...

was called State President Swart Peak, before it was renamed Mascarin Peak in 2003. Swart's portrait is depicted on the obverses of the coins of the South African rand – from 1 to 50 Cents dated 1968, which was struck to commemorate him as the first

State President of South Africa The State President of the Republic of South Africa ( af, Staatspresident) was the head of state of South Africa from 1961 to 1994. The office was established when the country became a republic on 31 May 1961, albeit, outside the Commonweal ...

.50 Cents Charles Swart; Afrikaans Legend - SUID AFRIKA
/ref>

References

Generally: * {{DEFAULTSORT:Swart, Charles Roberts 1894 births 1982 deaths Afrikaner people Apartheid government University of the Free State alumni Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni Education ministers of South Africa Governors-General of South Africa Herenigde Nasionale Party politicians Justice ministers of South Africa Members of the House of Assembly (South Africa) National Party (South Africa) politicians People from Masilonyana Local Municipality Purified National Party politicians South African anti-communists South African people of Dutch descent State Presidents of South Africa 20th-century South African politicians