Jacobus Groenendaal

Jacobus Groenendaal (1 November 1805 – 27 November 1860) was a South African statesman of Dutch origin, member of the Volksraad of the Orange Free State and the republic's first Treasurer General and Government Secretary in office from 1854 to 1855 and 1856 respectively.

Groenendaal was born in Heerewaarden, Netherlands, and was one of the many Dutch immigrants who settled in South Africa around the middle of the nineteenth century. He was a schoolteacher by training, but quickly became an influential politician, first in the negotiations about the formation of the Orange Free State, and afterwards as a parliamentarian and office holder. His political career was hampered by bad health and differences of opinion with State President Boshoff, and eventually cut short by his early death.

Groenendaal left an important political legacy in the form of the Orange free State constitution, in the draft of which he played an important role.

Early life and migration Groenendaal was born in Heerewaarden, the Netherlands, son of a farmer in that village. He was trained as a schoolteacher, and worked in a primary school in the Dutch town of Amersfoort in the late 1840s. Several articles written in 1848 and 1849 by professor U.G. Lauts about Dutch relations with South Africa, and the need for Dutch assistance in the field of education and public administration, inspired Groenendaal to get in touch with Lauts. On his recommendation Groenendaal emigrated to South Africa in 1849, already forty-four years old, but still single. From Cape Town, where he arrived with several other Dutch migrants, Groenendaal travelled to the Orange River Sovereignty, where he established himself in February 1850 as government teacher in Rietrivier in Sannah's Poort (now Fauresmith).

As a member of the Volksraad Groenendaal and his fellow member J.M. Orpen, an Irishman, were the dominant forces behind the drafting of a constitution. After the formation of the Orange Free State Groenendaal was appointed its first State Secretary, a title soon changed to Government Secretary. He was also appointed the state's Treasurer General. In April 1854 he briefly acted as State President for J.P. Hoffman.

Groenendaal and State President Hoffman did get along well together, and they briefly established a solid political and administrative basis for the new state. Both Groenendaal and Hoffman were cripples, reason for their government to quickly gain the nickname 'the crippled government', but this did not reflect the true affairs of the state.

After State President Hoffman was forced to retire because of the 'gunpowder incident', Groenendaal remained in office. However, his relationship with the new State President, Boshoff, was much less cordial than that with Hoffman. One reason was the chaotic state of affairs at the Treasury, for which Groenendaal was responsible, and which Boshoff quickly criticised.

Groenendaal married late in life, in 1858, with Johanna Antoinet Helderman, widow of P.W. van der Merwe. He died in his house in Fauresmith, Orange Free State, on 27 November 1860, only fifty-five years old.