Carel de Wet
South African Ambassador to the United Kingdom
Personal details
Born
Carl Pieter Cronje de Wet

(1924-05-25)25 May 1924
Memel, Orange Free State, Union of South Africa
Died22 May 2004(2004-05-22) (aged 79)
Political partyNational Party
Spouse
Rina Maas
​
(m. 1949)​
Children4
RelativesChristian de Wet (Grandfather)
Alma materUniversity of Witwatersrand

Carel Pieter Cronje de Wet (25 May 1924 – 22 May 2004) was a South African politician, doctor, diplomat, and member of the National Party. De Wet was mayor for Vanderbijlpark and MP of that town, then MP for Johannesburg West, and was also an Ambassador.

Life

Dr. Carel de Wet was born in Memel, Orange Free State Province (Now Free State). He was the grandson of Boer general Christiaan Rudolf de Wet, born 2 years after his death. He married Rina Maas in 1949 and they both had 4 children together.[1] De Wet matriculated from Vrede High School.[2] He would attend the University of Pretoria and graduated with a Bachelor of Science.[2] He then attended Wits University and was a Medical School graduate.[3]

Political career

De Wet was elected mayor of Vanderbijlpark in 1950 and became MP for that town from 1953 until 1964,[4] in that same year, he succeeded Hilgard Muller as South African Ambassador in London,[5] at 39, he was the youngest South African ambassador, later he would become MP for West Johannesburg in 1967.[1] He was minister of Planning, Health, and Mines, until, on May 12, 1970, Prime Minister John Vorster, transferred his planning portfolio, though he still remained minister of Health and Mines.[6] In 1972, he was reappointed South African Ambassador in London, a position he held until 1977.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 "South African Digest, Volume 11". South African Digest. 1964.
  2. 1 2 3 The international year book and statesmen's who's who. 1979. Internet Archive (27th ed.). East Grinstead: Kelly's Directories. 1979. p. 191. ISBN 978-0-610-00520-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. ↑ Rochelle Keene. Our Graduates (PDF) (Report). University of the Witwatersrand. p. 23.
  4. ↑ Patrick Noonan (2003). They're Burning the Churches: The Final Dramatic Events that Scuttled Apartheid. p. 331. ISBN 9781919931463.
  5. ↑ General South African History Timeline: 1960s
  6. ↑ Vorster Shuffles Cabinet in South Africa, New York Times
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