Carel de Wet
{{Short description|South African physician, politician}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Carel de Wet
| birth_name = Carl Pieter Cronje de Wet
| image = Carel de Wet.png
| order =
| office = South African Ambassador to the United Kingdom
| term_start =
| term_end =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1924|5|25|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Memel, Orange Free State, Union of South Africa
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2004|5|22|1924|5|25}}{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}
| death_place =
| party = National Party
| order2 =
| office2 =
| term_start2 =
| term_end2 =
| predecessor2 =
| successor2 =
| office3 =
| primeminister3 =
| term_start3 =
| term_end3 =
| predecessor3 =
| successor3 =
| office4 =
| primeminister4 =
| term_start4 =
| term_end4 =
| predecessor4 =
| successor4 =
| alma_mater = University of Witwatersrand
| spouse = {{marriage|Rina Maas| 1949}}
| children = 4
| relatives = Christian de Wet (Grandfather)
| primeminister =
| president2 =
}}
Carel Pieter Cronje de Wet (25 May 1924 – 22 May 2004{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}) was a South African politician, medical 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.{{cite magazine |title=South African Digest, Volume 11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PaUO0kM0DZ8C&dq=%22dr.+carel+de+wet%22&pg=PA5 |magazine=South African Digest |year=1964 |location= |publisher= |access-date=}} De Wet matriculated from Vrede High School.{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/internationalyea0000unse_r1z4 |title=The international year book and statesmen's who's who. 1979 |date=1979 |publisher=Kelly's Directories |isbn=978-0-610-00520-6 |edition=27th |location=East Grinstead |pages=191}} He would attend the University of Pretoria and graduated with a Bachelor of Science. He then attended Wits University and was a Medical School graduate.{{cite report |author=Rochelle Keene|date= |title=Our Graduates |url=https://www.wits.ac.za/media/wits-university/alumni/documents/other-documents/Our%20Graduates_1924_2012.pdf |publisher=University of the Witwatersrand |page=23 |docket= |access-date= |quote=}}
Political career
De Wet was elected mayor of Vanderbijlpark in 1950 and became MP for that town from 1953 until 1964,{{cite book|author=Patrick Noonan |author-link= |title=They're Burning the Churches: The Final Dramatic Events that Scuttled Apartheid |year= 2003|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vmEXCAAAQBAJ&dq=Dr+Carel+de+Wet+mp+johannesburg&pg=PA331|publisher= |page=331 |isbn= 9781919931463|access-date=}} in that same year, he succeeded Hilgard Muller as South African Ambassador in London,{{citation |title=General South African History Timeline: 1960s |url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/general-south-african-history-timeline-1960s |publisher= |page= |access-date=}} at 39, he was the youngest South African ambassador, later he would become MP for West Johannesburg in 1967. 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.{{citation |date=|title=Vorster Shuffles Cabinet in South Africa|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/05/13/archives/vorster-shuffles-cabinet-in-south-africa.html|publisher=New York Times}} In 1972, he was reappointed South African Ambassador in London, a position he held until 1977.