JOUBERT, PETRUS JACOBUS A ( 1_34-1900), com mandant-general of the South African republic from 188o to 190o, was born at Cango, in the district of Oudtshoorn, Cape Colony, on Jan. 20, 1834, of a family of Huguenot origin. Left an orphan at an early age, Joubert migrated to the Transvaal, where he settled in the Wakkerstroom district near Laing's Nek and the north east angle of Natal. There he farmed with great success, and studied law. He was elected to the volksraad as member for Wakkerstroom early in the sixties, Marthinus Pretorius being then in his second term of office as president. In 187o Joubert was again elected, he became attorney-general of the republic, and in 1875 was acting president.
During the first British annexation of the Transvaal, Joubert was a consistent irreconcilable. In the war of 1880-81, he was commandant-general of the Boer forces and a member of the triumvirate that administered the provisional Boer Government set up in Dec. 188o at Heidelberg. He was in command of the
Boer forces at Laing's Nek, Ingogo, and Majuba Hill, and he conducted the earlier peace negotiations that led to the conclusion of the Pretoria convention.
In 1883 he was a candidate for the presidency of the Transvaal, but received only 1.171 votes as against 3,431 cast for Kruger. In 1893 he again opposed Kruger in the contest for the presidency, representing the progressive Boer elements. He was defeated by a small majority, 7,911 votes being cast for Kruger and 7,246 for Joubert. He stood again in 1898, but the Jameson raid had made Kruger's position impregnable. When war broke out with Great Britain Joubert assumed nominal command of the operations, but he gave up to others the chief share in the direction of the war. His cautious nature had in early life gained him the sobriquet of "Slim Piet." He died at Pretoria on March 28, 1900.