Frans Erasmus

He was born on 19 January 1896 at Houtenbeck in the Merweville district of the Cape Colony to Marthinus Frederik Erasmus and his wife Hester Maria Jacoba Maritz.{{cite encyclopedia | title = Erasmus, François Christiaan | encyclopedia = Dictionary of South African Biography | volume = V | pages = 246–8 | publisher = Human Sciences Research Council | year = 1987 | isbn = 0-7969-0420-0 }} He was educated at the University of Cape Town and obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree.{{Cite book |last1=Pienaar|first1=S. W.|chapter=Erasmus, François Christiaan |url=http://archive.org/details/standardencyclop0004unse |title=Standard encyclopaedia of Southern Africa / 4 Dev - For |volume=4|date=1971 |location=Cape Town |publisher=Nasou |via=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-625-00320-4 |pages=382–383|url-access=registration}}

In 1927 he was appointed Deputy Attorney-General of South West Africa. In 1928, he returned to South Africa and became the assistant-secretary of the National Party in the Cape Province. In 1930, he was appointed organising secretary of the same party. Afterwards he entered politics and was elected to Parliament in 1933 as the member for Moorreesburg. He joined D.F. Malan's cabinet as the Minister of Defence in 1948.{{cite journal |author=C.J. Nöthling |author2=E.M. Meyers |title=Leaders through the years (1912-1982)| journal=Scientaria Militaria|year=1982|volume=12|issue=2|page=92| url=http://scientiamilitaria.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/631}} He modernised the South African Defence Force by establishing the training gymnasiums for officers in the army, navy and air force. He was also involved in the establishment of the South African Military Academy. He negotiated the Simonstown Agreement, the return of the naval base from Royal Navy control.

During World War II, Erasmus became a general in the Ossewabrandwag.{{Cite web |last=Dickens |first=Peter |date=2024-01-02 |title=Hitler’s Spies and the Ossewabrandwag |url=https://samilhistory.com/2024/01/02/hitlers-spies-and-the-ossewabrandwag/ |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=The Observation Post |language=en}}

He was widely considered to be incompetent and was very unpopular because of his broad changes to the military to remove what he called the "British Influence".{{cite web|last1=Warwick|first1=Dr Rodney|title=Let's not forget SA's role in WW2|url=http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page72308?oid=852939&sn=Marketingweb+detail&pid=90389|website=politicsweb.co.za|access-date=13 December 2014|date=5 December 2014|quote=The NP government from 1948 cautiously distanced itself from the OB, however its main concern with the UDF was to Afrikanerize it as thoroughly and quickly as practical. This task was taken on by the unpopular and incompetent defence minister Frans Erasmus; supported by lackeys like the war "refusenik" Afrikaner nationalist Rudolph Hiemstra, who ultimately rose to the SADF Commandant-General position during 1965-73.}} This included the removal of items such as the Red Tabs ({{lang|af|Rooi Luise}}){{Cite web |last=Dickens |first=Peter |date=2016-04-06 |title=The Red Oath |url=https://samilhistory.com/2016/04/06/pride-in-rooi-lussiesred-tabs-branded-rooi-luisies-red-lice-by-some/ |access-date=2023-11-08 |website=The Observation Post |language=en}} and the retrenchment or firing of numerous English-speaking officers and the appointment of Afrikaner ones in their place.

He was appointed Minister of Justice in 1959, in the Hendrik Verwoerd cabinet. After his term as Minister of Justice, which ended upon acceptance of his own request for retirement, he was appointed Ambassador to Italy from 1961 until 1965. He retired from public service at that time due to his declining health.{{cite book|first1=Roger|last1=Boulter|title=A biography of F.C. Erasmus, South African defence minister, 1948-1959|location=Lewiston|publisher=Edwin Mellen Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0-7734-2586-6}}

Erasmus first married Christina Wiese of Melsetter in the then Southern Rhodesia. They had a son and a daughter. On 9 January 1946 he married Cornelia Margaretha (Corrie) Naudé of Lydenburg. They had three daughters.

A Strike Craft {{SAS|Frans Erasmus}} of the South African Navy was named after him.{{cite web | url=http://www.navy.mil.za/aboutus/history/ambassadors.htm | title=FLAG-SHOWING CRUISES BY SOUTH AFRICAN WARSHIPS, 1922-2002 | publisher=SA Navy | access-date=May 23, 2014 | last1=Wessels | first1=Andre | archive-date=28 May 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190528121948/http://www.navy.mil.za/aboutus/history/ambassadors.htm | url-status=dead }}

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{{s-bef | before = Jan Smuts }}

{{s-ttl | title= Minister of Defence (South Africa) | years=1948{{ndash}}1959 }}

{{s-aft | after = Jacobus Johannes Fouché }}

{{s-bef | before = Charles Robberts Swart }}

{{s-ttl | title = Minister of Justice | years = 12 December 1959{{ndash}}10 August 1961}}

{{s-aft | after=B. J. Vorster }}

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Category:1896 births

Category:1967 deaths

Category:Afrikaner people

Category:Defence ministers of South Africa

Category:Justice ministers of South Africa

Category:National Party (South Africa) politicians

Category:Ambassadors of South Africa to Italy

Category:20th-century South African lawyers

Category:Ossewabrandwag members