Marais Viljoen

Marais Viljoen DMS
Viljoen in 1960
5th State President of South Africa
In office 4 June 1979 – 4 September 1984
Prime Minister	Pieter Willem Botha
Vice President	Alwyn Schlebusch (1982–1984)
Preceded by	Johannes Vorster
Succeeded by	Pieter Willem Botha
In office 21 August 1978 – 10 October 1978 Acting
Prime Minister	Johannes Vorster Pieter Willem Botha
Preceded by	Nicolaas Diederichs
Succeeded by	Johannes Vorster
President of the Senate
In office 22 January 1976 – 19 June 1979
Preceded by	Johannes de Klerk
Succeeded by	Jimmy Kruger
Personal details
Born	(1915-12-02)2 December 1915 Robertson, Cape Province, Union of South Africa
Died	4 January 2007(2007-01-04) (aged 91) Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
Political party	National Party
Spouse	Dorothea Maria Brink ​ ​ (m. 1940; died 2005)​
Children	Elizabeth Magdalena
Alma mater	University of Cape Town

Marais Viljoen, DMS (2 December 1915 – 4 January 2007) was the last ceremonial State President of South Africa from 4 June 1979 until 3 September 1984. Viljoen became the last of the ceremonial presidents of South Africa when he was succeeded in 1984 by Prime Minister P. W. Botha, who combined the offices into an executive state presidency.^[1]