Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts OM, CH, PC, ED, KC, FRS (1870 - 1950) was a towering figure both in the local South African and global political theatre. He was a statesman, military leader and tactician, writer, and social and political philosopher. He held several high level cabinet appoints in the South African Government, as well as the office of Prime Minister for two separate terms between 1919 to 1924, and 1939 to 1948. He served as a British commander in both WWI and WWII, most notably conducting the gruelling East Africa Campaign on behalf of the allies during WWI.

Politically Smuts was a liberal, but he remained fundamentally a supporter of race segregation and strict limits on black enfranchisement. He, in common with most of the ruling establishment at that time, sensed that the inclusion of blacks within the body politic of South Africa would precipitate the destruction of the western, Christian social and values that had evolved under white tutelage. He however reached the conclusion towards the end of his life that this approach was impractical, and began to advocate the abolition of many of the entrenched restrictions in place to limit black movement and progress. This contributed to his narrow defeat as Prime Minister in 1948 at the hands of the Nationalist Party that campaigned on a platform of increased segregation and the imposition of a statutory system of apartheid.

There were several phases in the life of Jan Smuts that were in some ways contradictory, but which all contributed to his enduring legacy of bipartisanship and global vision. As a young luminary in the Transvaal Republic he led Boer Commandos against the British in the Anglo/Boer War, and then later on behalf of the Allies he led both South African and Imperial forces against the Germans in German South West and East Africa. From 1917 to 1919 he held a position in the British War Cabinet, contributing to the formation of the Royal Air Force. He was promoted to Field Marshal in the British Army in 1941, and served in the Imperial War Cabinet under Winston Churchill. His was the only signature to appear on the peace treaties ending both World Wars.

Arguably Smuts’ principal achievement was the establishment of the League of Nations, forerunner of the United Nations, that emerged after WWI as an international organization formed to arbitrate global events in the aftermath. He was instrumental in the formation of the United Nations itself, and was responsible for composing the preamble to the UN Charter, and was again the only person to sign the charters of both the League of Nations and the United Nations. Incidental, however, was the fact that Smuts’ own government suffered condemnation for South African race practice. He was also instrumental in assisting in the redefinition of Her Majesty’s relationship with her former colonies in the formation of British Commonwealth.