General Smuts remembered
"He contributed a lot in building this country. His legacy will live forever."
A memorial service was held on Sunday for General Jan Christiaan Smuts at his Doringkloof home, in Irene, and was marked by a wreath-laying ceremony.
The Welsh Male Voice Choir of SA sang beautiful hymns which Smuts loved listening to whenever he visited the country.
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His great-grandson, Philip Weyers said he had heard a lot of good thing about his great-grandfather who helped shape South Africa.
“He contributed a lot in building this country. His legacy will live forever,” he said.
“For a part of his life he worked for reconciliation and emphasised on the British Commonwealth’s positive role until his death in 1950,” he said.
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General Smuts Foundation board member Rodney Wood said Smuts was a true leader who cared about his family.
“He enjoyed the most simple things in life yet he wanted better lives of South Africans,” he said.
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Nyllin van Staden said people like Smuts needed to be celebrated regardless of colour.
“There are many things he has done for this country. We need to put our difference aside and honour men who did good.”
Smuts led a Boer commando in the Second Boer War for the Transvaal.
During the First World War, he led the armies of South Africa against Germany, capturing German South-West Africa and commanding the British Army in East Africa.
From 1917 to 1919, he was also one of the members of the British Imperial War Cabinet and he was instrumental in the founding of what became the Royal Air Force.
He became a field marshal in the British Army in 1941, and served in the Imperial War Cabinet under Winston Churchill.
Also read: Day of Reconciliation – where does it come from?
Smuts was the only man to sign both of the peace treaties ending the First and Second World Wars. A statue of him stands in Parliament Square.
Between 1919 until 1924 and from 1939 until 1948 Smuts was the prime minister of the Union of South Africa while having occupied various cabinet posts. The Union of South Africa is the predecessor of the present-day Republic of South Africa.
Smuts married Isabella (Isie) Margaretha Krige (in later life was known as “Ouma”) in 1897 and they had six children. A statesman, military leader and philosopher, he died 67 years ago.
The General Smuts Foundation appealed to the public for donations which will be used to renovate and the up-keep of the museum.
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