Jan Smuts

Jan Christiaan Smuts OM, CH, ED, PC, KC, FRS was a prominent South African and British Commonwealth statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various cabinet posts, he served as prime minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 until 1924 and from 1939 until 1948. Although Smuts had originally advocated racial segregation and opposed the enfranchisement of black Africans, his views changed and he backed the Fagan Commissions findings that complete segregation was impossible. Smuts subsequently lost the 1948 election to hardline Afrikaners who created apartheid. He continued to work for reconciliation and emphasised the British Commonwealths positive role until his death in 1950.

He was born onMay 1870, at the family farm, Bovenplaats, near Malmesbury, in the Cape Colony. His parents, Jacobus Smuts and his wife Catharina, were prosperous, traditional Afrikaner farmers, long established and highly respected.

Source: Wikipedia