Magnus Malan

General Magnus André de Merindol Malan (30 January 1930 – 18 July 2011) was a South African military figure and politician during the last years of apartheid in South Africa.

He served respectively as Minister of Defence in the cabinet of President P. W. Botha, Chief of the South African Defence Force (SADF), and Chief of the South African Army.

Rising quickly through the lower ranks, he was appointed to strategic command positions.

His tenure as chief of the defence force saw it increase in size, efficiency and capabilities.

As P.W. Botha's cabinet minister, he posited a total communist onslaught, for which an encompassing national strategy was devised.

This entailed placing policing, intelligence and aspects of civic affairs under control of generals.

The ANC and SWAPO were branded as terrorist organizations, while splinter groups (UNITA and RENAMO) were bolstered in neighbouring and Frontline States.

Malan's father was a professor of biochemistry at the University of Pretoria and later a member of parliament (1948–1966) and Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Committees (1961–1966) of the House of Assembly.

He started his high school education at the Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool but later moved to Dr Danie Craven’s Physical Education Brigade in Kimberley, where he completed his matriculation.

He wanted to join the South African armed forces immediately after his matriculation, but his father advised him first to complete his university studies.

As a result of this advice, Malan enrolled at the University of Stellenbosch in 1949 to study for a Bachelor of Commerce degree.

However, he later abandoned his studies in Stellenbosch and went to University of Pretoria, where he enrolled for a BSc Mil.

degree.

At the end of 1949, the first military degree course for officers was advertised and Malan joined the Permanent Force as a cadet, going on to complete his BSc Mil at the University of Pretoria in 1953.

Malan was commissioned in the Navy and served in the Marines based on Robben Island.

When they were disbanded, he was transferred back into the Army as a lieutenant.

He graduated in 1953.

In 1962, Malan married Magrietha Johanna van der Walt; the couple had two sons and one daughter.

Malan was earmarked for high office from early on in his military career; one of the many courses he attended was the Regular Command and General Staff Officers Course at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in the United States of America from 1962 to 1963.

During this time he was introduced to President J.F. Kennedy and spent time doing manouvres with an American Armoured Division.

In 1967, at age 36, while stationed in Windhoek and holding the rank of colonel, Malan joined the secretive Broederbond organization.

He went on to serve as commanding officer of various formations, including Western Province Command, South West Africa Command, and the South African Military Academy.

In 1973, Malan was appointed as Chief of the South African Army and three years later as Chief of the South African Defence Force (SADF).

As Chief of the SADF he implemented many administrative changes that earned him great admiration in military circles.

During this period he became very close to P.W. Botha, the then Minister of Defence and later Prime Minister and State President of South Africa.

Malan was awarded the following awards and decorations:

In October 1980, Botha appointed Malan defence minister in the National Party government, a post he held until 1991.

As a result of this appointment, he joined the National Party and became Member of Parliament for Modderfontein.

He was also elected to be a member of the Executive Council of the National Party.

During Malan's tenure in parliament as defence minister, his greatest opposition came from MPs of the Progressive Federal Party such as Harry Schwarz and Philip Myburgh, who both served as shadow defence ministers at various points during the 1980s.

Cross-border raids targeted suspected bases of insurgents or activists, while at home the army entered townships from 1984 onwards to stifle unrest.

Elements in the Inkhata Freedom Party were used as a proxy force, and rogue soldiers and policemen in the CCB assassinated opponents.

The charges related to an attack in January 1987 on the home of Victor Ntuli, an ANC activist, in KwaMakhutha township near Durban in KwaZulu-Natal.

In July 1991, following a scandal involving secret government funding to the Inkatha Freedom Party and other opponents of the African National Congress, President F. W. de Klerk removed Malan from his influential post of defence minister and appointed him as the minister for water affairs and forestry.

The strike craft SAS Magnus Malan of the South African Navy was named after him prior to the change of government in 1994.

On 2 November 1995, Malan was charged together with 19 other former senior military officers for murdering 13 people (including seven children) in the KwaMakhutha massacre in 1987.

The murders were said to have been part of a conspiracy to create war between the African National Congress (ANC) and the Zulu Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), and maintaining white minority rule.

Malan and the other accused were bailed and ordered to appear in court again on 1 December 1995.

A seven-month trial then ensued and brought hostility between black and white South Africans to the fore once again.

All the accused were eventually acquitted.