95-577: South West Africa was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1966, and under South African occupation from 1966 to 1990. Renamed Namibia by the United Nations in 1968, it became independent under this name on 21 March 1990. South West Africa bordered Angola ( a Portuguese colony before 1975), Botswana ( Bechuanaland before 1966), South Africa , and Zambia ( Northern Rhodesia before 1964). During its administration, South Africa applied its own apartheid system in
190-780: A German colony , except for Walvis Bay and the Offshore Islands which remained part of the Cape, outside of German control. Following the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the Union of South Africa occupied and annexed the German colony of German South West Africa . With the establishment of the League of Nations and cessation of the war, South Africa obtained a Class C Mandate to administer South West Africa "under
285-541: A Trusteeship agreement instead. This invitation was in turn rejected by the Union, which subsequently did not modify the administration of South West Africa and continued to adhere to the original mandate. This caused a complex set of legal wranglings that were not finalised when the Union was replaced with the Republic of South Africa. In 1949, the Union passed a law bringing South West Africa into closer association with it including giving South West Africa representation in
380-725: A fire broke out at the Houses of Pariament building in Cape Town causing severe damage to the session rooms of both the National Council of Provinces and the National Assembly. The 2022 State of the Nation Address was held at Cape Town City Hall and subsequent meetings of the National Assembly will be held at Good Hope Chamber. The temporary debating chamber has previously been used for committee meetings of
475-575: A referendum held in 1992 , 68.73% of (only white) voters approved the reform process that effectively ended Apartheid. In late 1993, one of the last pieces of legislation passed by the tricameral Parliament was the Interim Constitution , which took effect on 27 April 1994, the same day as the first non-racial elections. A new interim constitution, introduced in 1994 after four years of negotiation, finally introduced all-race democracy and enfranchised men and women of all races on equal terms,
570-592: A Constituent Assembly were held in November 1989 and the territory became independent as the Republic of Namibia on 21 March 1990. Walvis Bay and the Penguin Islands remained under South African control until 1994. Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa ( Dutch : Unie van Zuid-Afrika ; Afrikaans : Unie van Suid-Afrika ; pronunciation ) was the historical predecessor to
665-475: A decline in political respectability had occurred in parliament, due to its members not engaging with one another in a courteous manner. She remarked that she felt undignified to be an observer of the crude behaviour, which also inhibited the conduct of successful politics. On 2 January 2022, large parts of the Old Assembly Building and National Assembly building were damaged in a fire . A man
760-557: A separate colony and 40.6% in favour of joining the Union of South Africa. The inhospitable coast of what is now the Republic of Namibia remained uncolonised up until the end of the 19th century. From 1874, the leaders of several indigenous peoples, notably Maharero of the Herero nation, approached the Cape Parliament to the south. Anticipating invasion by a European power and already suffering Portuguese encroachment from
855-615: A stronger voice within the political system, especially against the ANC. The Independent Electoral Commission is charged with keeping elections fair, regular, and equal. Parties submit closed lists of candidates to the IEC, and the IEC fills the seats allotted to individual parties using the candidate lists after election results come in. The electoral system has seen little corruption since 1994. International Relations Minister and Cooperation Naledi Pandor has noted that during her term (starting 1994)
950-532: A three-month rotational basis. The DTA was awarded 22 seats in the National Assembly with five other parties being awarded 8 seats each. Johannes Skrywer would again become Speaker of the National Assembly and Dawid Bezuidenhout would be the first Chairman of the Council of Ministers. The second-tier of governance in South West Africa consisted of ethnic-based Representative Authorities which replaced
1045-472: Is a far-left revolutionary socialist political party, advocating for land expropriation and for an end to corruption within parliament. Inkatha Freedom Party : The IFP, which was formed in 1990 was the successor to the former government in the now-defunct Kwazulu Bantustan, traditionally draws its support from the Zulu people. It has however made inroads into the minority electorate of Whites and Indians. The IFP
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#17327718216511140-474: Is an opposition party and has been traditionally supported by South Africa's minority communities (White, Coloured and Indian). In more recent years, the party has attempted to win votes from Black South Africans and as a result, Black support for the DA has risen over the past several years, going from 1% to 6%. The DA is a liberal party that favours free-market policies. The DA was allotted 89 seats in parliament after
1235-705: Is permitted to provide in its rules and orders for sittings outside Cape Town. Rule 24 of the National Assembly Rules accordingly allows the Speaker to direct that the House will sit at 'a place other than the Houses of Parliament in Cape Town' after consulting the Leader of the House and the Chief Whip of each party represented in the House. Rule 23 of the rules of the National Council of Provinces allows
1330-706: The British Crown as a self-governing dominion of the British Empire . With the passage of the Statute of Westminster in 1931, the Union and other dominions became equal in status to the United Kingdom, and the Parliament of the United Kingdom could no longer legislate on behalf of them. This had the effect of making the Union and the other dominions de jure sovereign nations. The Status of
1425-774: The British Parliament in December 1931, which repealed the Colonial Laws Validity Act and implemented the Balfour Declaration 1926 , had a profound impact on the constitutional structure and status of the Union. The most notable effect was that the South African Parliament was released from many restrictions concerning the handling of the so-called "native question". However, the repeal was not sufficient to enable
1520-488: The British Parliament 's adoption of the South Africa Act , which ratified the Union. The four colonies that would become South Africa were represented, along with a delegation from Rhodesia . The 33 delegates assembled behind closed doors, in the fear that a public affair would lead delegates to refuse compromising on contentious areas. The delegates drew up a constitution that would, subject to some amendments by
1615-606: The Houses of Parliament , Cape Town , even though the seat of government is in Pretoria . This dates back to the foundation of the Union, when there was disagreement among the four provinces as to which city would be the national capital. As a compromise, Cape Town was designated the legislative capital, Bloemfontein the judicial capital, and Pretoria the administrative capital. The African National Congress (ANC) government has proposed moving Parliament to Pretoria, arguing that
1710-468: The Houses of Parliament, Cape Town that were built 1875–1884. A fire broke out within the buildings in early January 2022, destroying the session room of the National Assembly. It was decided that the National Assembly would temporarily meet at the Good Hope Chamber. The predecessor of the Parliament of South Africa, before the 1910 Union of South Africa , was the bicameral Parliament of
1805-819: The Kingdom of Portugal or the German Empire . In response, the Cape Parliament appointed a special Commission under William Palgrave , to travel to the territory between the Orange and Cunene rivers and to confer with these leaders regarding accession to the Cape. In the negotiations with the Palgrave Commission , some indigenous nations such as the Damara and the Herero responded positively (October 1876), other reactions were mixed. Discussions regarding
1900-546: The South African Defence Force (SADF). [REDACTED] Wikimedia Atlas of Union of South Africa 30°S 25°E / 30°S 25°E / -30; 25 Parliament of South Africa Opposition (113) Progressive Caucus (100) Other Parties (13) The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa is South Africa 's legislature . It is located in Cape Town ,
1995-908: The Union of South Africa in 1910, Walvis Bay became part of the Cape Province . As part of the Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty in 1890, a corridor of land taken from the northern border of Bechuanaland , extending as far as the Zambezi River, was added to the colony. It was named the Caprivi Strip ( Caprivizipfel ) after the German Chancellor Leo von Caprivi . In 1915, during the South West Africa campaign of World War I , South Africa captured
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#17327718216512090-799: The United Party of Jan Smuts , which favoured close relations with the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth , unlike the Afrikaans-speaking National Party , which had held anti-British sentiments and was opposed to South Africa's intervention in the Second World War . Some Nationalist organisations, like the Ossewabrandwag , were openly supportive of Nazi Germany during the Second World War . Most English-speaking South Africans were opposed to
2185-564: The Windhoek Declaration of Basic Principles in 1984 and a Bill of Fundamental Rights and Objectives the following year, resulting in the establishment of a Transitional Government of National Unity (TGNU) on 17 June 1985. Unlike the previous Interim Government, the TGNU was not directly elected but instead consisted of an appointed 62 member National Assembly and an 8-member Council of Ministers which would be led by each member on
2280-479: The founding members of the League of Nations . It was mandated by the League with the administration of South West Africa (now known as Namibia ). South West Africa became treated in most respects as another province of the Union, but it never was formally annexed. Like Canada , Australia and New Zealand , the Union of South Africa was a self-governing dominion of the British Empire . Its full sovereignty
2375-529: The inaugural post-apartheid election in 1994 . The centrist Democratic Alliance (DA) remained in second place with a slight increase. uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), a left-wing populist party founded 6 months prior to the election and led by former president Jacob Zuma , came in third place. Most of the ANC's loss of support flowed into the MK, while the DA saw some gains, and the EFF lost some support. Parliament sits at
2470-425: The 2014 general election, but the party's seat total decreased to 84 seats following the 2019 general election. Economic Freedom Fighters : The EFF emerged eight months before the 2014 general election and won 25 seats in parliament. After the 2019 general elections, the EFF increased their seats in parliament to 44, the only party of the top three parties that achieved an increase of members in parliament. The EFF
2565-491: The ANC had such a large majority in parliament, smaller parties are constantly forming alliances and coalitions in order to act as a stronger opposition to the ANC-run legislative and executive branches. However, in the 2024 South African general election , support for the ruling African National Congress (ANC) significantly declined; the ANC remained the largest party but lost the parliamentary majority that it had held since
2660-644: The ANC went down between the 2014 and the 2019 general elections, with violent protests erupting all over the country in response to the allegations of corruption within the ANC and the non-delivery of municipal services. Democratic Alliance : The DA was formed when the New National Party, the successor to the apartheid-era National Party, merged with the Democratic Party and the Federal Alliance in 2000 to form an alliance. The DA
2755-513: The Boer republics. Numerous Boer soldiers refused to surrender and took to the countryside to carry out guerrilla operations against the British, who responded by implementing scorched earth tactics. These tactics included interning Afrikaner civilians from the Boer republics in concentration camps (in which roughly 28,000 people died) and destroying homesteads owned by Afrikaners to flush out
2850-611: The British government, become the South Africa Act. This was South Africa's constitution between 1910 and 1961, when the country became a republic under the Constitution of 1961 . In 1922 the colony of Southern Rhodesia had a chance (but ultimately rejected) to join the Union through a referendum . The referendum resulted from the fact that by 1920 British South Africa Company rule in Southern Rhodesia
2945-552: The Cape of Good Hope . This was composed of the House of Assembly (the lower house) and the Legislative Council (the upper house). It dated back to the beginnings of Cape independence in 1853 and was elected according to the multi-racial Cape Qualified Franchise system, whereby suffrage qualifications were applied equally to all males, regardless of race. The buildings of the Cape Parliament went on to house
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3040-663: The Council of Ministers on 1 July 1980. Johannes Skrywer, also of the DTA, became Speaker of the National Assembly. The interim government collapsed on 18 January 1983 following the resignation of the Council of Ministers citing interference from the South African government and proposals to create a State Council. Following the collapse of the Interim Government, its legislative and executive powers returned to South African Administrator-General Willie van Niekerk , who
3135-753: The Court ruling in 1966 that they were not the proper parties to bring the case. There was a protracted struggle between South Africa and forces fighting for independence, particularly after the formation of the South West Africa People's Organisation ( SWAPO ) in 1960. On 27 October 1966, the General Assembly passed resolution 2145 (XXI) which declared the Mandate terminated and that the Republic of South Africa had no further right to administer South West Africa. South African control over
3230-581: The German colony. After the war, it was declared a League of Nations Class C Mandate territory under the Treaty of Versailles , with the Union of South Africa responsible for the administration of South West Africa. From 1922, this included Walvis Bay, which, under the South West Africa Affairs Act, was governed as if it were part of the mandated territory. South West Africa remained a League of Nations Mandate until World War II and
3325-589: The Indian population. It retained the existing House of Assembly for whites and established a House of Representatives to represent the Coloureds, and a House of Delegates for the Indians, making Parliament a tricameral legislature. Blacks continued to be excluded. The black majority were still disfranchised, and the new system lacked legitimacy even among the Coloureds and Asians, many of whom boycotted elections. In
3420-622: The National Party. An additional consequence of this was the extension of apartheid laws to the territory. This gave rise to several rulings at the International Court of Justice , which in 1950 ruled that South Africa was not obliged to convert South West Africa into a UN trust territory, but was still bound by the League of Nations Mandate, with the United Nations General Assembly assuming
3515-753: The Parliament of South Africa, after union. When the Union of South Africa was established in 1910, the Parliament was bicameral and consisted of the King or the Queen , the Senate , and the House of Assembly (known in Afrikaans as the Volksraad ). The composition of Parliament was changed by constitutional amendments from time to time: In a referendum held in 1960, a small majority of white voters approved
3610-442: The Prime Minister of South Africa, Jan Smuts , eventually offered terms he considered reasonable and which the United Kingdom government found acceptable. Although opinion among the United Kingdom government, the South African government and the British South Africa Company favoured the union option (and none tried to interfere in the referendum), when the referendum was held the results saw 59.4% in favour of responsible government for
3705-458: The Rehoboth Self-Determination Act, 1976. An advisory council was established for San Bushmen in 1986. No representative body was established for Himbas . Local authorities formed the lowest tier of governance in South West Africa. Previously established local government bodies would continue to exist and new ones could be formed. In urban areas, the local authority would be an elected local council. In rural areas where local governance structures
3800-444: The South African Parliament to ignore the entrenched clauses of its constitution (the South Africa Act ) which led to the coloured-vote constitutional crisis of the 1950s wherein the right of coloureds to vote in the main South African Parliament was removed and replaced with a separate, segregated, and largely powerless assembly. The military of the Union of South Africa was the Union Defence Force (UDF) until 1957, when it became
3895-400: The South African parliament. Walvis Bay , which is now in Namibia , was originally a part of the Union of South Africa as an exclave as it was a part of the Cape Colony at the time of Unification. In 1921, Walvis Bay was integrated with the Class C Mandate over South West Africa for the rest of the Union's duration and for part of the republican era. The Statute of Westminster passed by
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3990-470: The South West Africa Affairs Act was amended to give representation in the Parliament of South Africa to whites in South West Africa, which gave them six seats in the House of Assembly and four in the Senate . This was to the advantage of the National Party , which enjoyed strong support from the predominantly Afrikaner and ethnic German white population in the territory. Between 1950 and 1977, all of South West Africa's parliamentary seats were held by
4085-515: The UN when the General Assembly changed the territory's name by Resolution 2372 (XXII) of 12 June 1968. SWAPO was recognised as representative of the Namibian people , and gained UN observer status when the territory of South West Africa was already removed from the list of non-self-governing territories . In 1977, South Africa transferred control of Walvis Bay back to the Cape Province , thereby making it an exclave . The South African authorities established 10 bantustans in South West Africa in
4180-456: The Union Act , passed by the South African Parliament in 1934, incorporated the applicable portions of the Statute of Westminster into South African law, underscoring its status as a sovereign nation. It removed what remaining authority Whitehall had to legislate for South Africa, as well as any nominal role that the United Kingdom had in granting Royal Assent . The governor-general was now required to sign or veto bills passed by Parliament, without
4275-414: The Union. Five years earlier, some 33,000 Natalians had signed the Natal Covenant in opposition to the plans for a republic. Subsequently, the National Party government had passed a Constitution that repealed the South Africa Act . The features of the Union were carried over with very little change to the newly formed Republic. The decision to transform from a Union to Republic was narrowly decided in
4370-417: The ability to pass legislation known as Ordinances. Unlike the former Bantustans, Representative Authorities functioned on the basis of ethnicity only and were no longer based on geographically defined areas. Representative Authorities were created for Whites , Coloureds , Ovambos , Kavangos , Lozi , Damaras , Namas , Tswanas , and Herero . A similar body had been established for Rehoboth Basters by
4465-468: The collapse of the League of Nations. The Mandate was supposed to become a United Nations Trust Territory when League of Nations Mandates were transferred to the United Nations following World War II. The Prime Minister , Jan Smuts , objected to South West Africa coming under UN control and refused to allow the territory's transition to independence, instead seeking to make it South Africa's fifth province in 1946. Although this never occurred, in 1949,
4560-410: The colonial empire found just". Several previous unsuccessful attempts to unite the colonies were made, with proposed political models ranging from unitary , to loosely federal . Sir George Grey , the Governor of Cape Colony from 1854 to 1861, decided that unifying the states of southern Africa would be mutually beneficial. The stated reasons were that he believed that political divisions between
4655-438: The conversion of the country from a constitutional monarchy to a parliamentary republic . The Republic of South Africa was established in 1961. The only change made to the composition of the Parliament was the substitution of the State President for the Queen. A few significant changes were made later: A new Constitution, introduced in 1984, re-enfranchised the Coloured population (women as well as men) and enfranchised
4750-495: The council to pass a resolution providing for it to sit elsewhere. In 2018, the Government of South Africa formed a project steering committee to conduct a feasibility study into moving parliament to Pretoria and to identify potential sites for a new parliament building. In April 2019, the Minister of Public Works announced that a list of potential sites had been drawn up. In 2020, it was suggested that moving parliament to Pretoria would save R650 million per year. In January 2022,
4845-473: The country's legislative capital . Under the present Constitution of South Africa , the bicameral Parliament comprises a National Assembly and a National Council of Provinces . The current twenty-eighth Parliament was first convened on 14 June 2024. From 1910 to 1994, members of Parliament were elected chiefly by the South African white minority . The first elections with universal suffrage were held in 1994 . Both chambers held their meetings in
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#17327718216514940-464: The creation of a republic , many of them voting "no" in the 5 October 1960 referendum . But due to the much larger number of Afrikaans-speaking voters, the referendum passed, leading to the establishment of a republic on 31 May 1961. The government led by the National Party consequently withdrew South Africa from the Commonwealth. Following the results of the referendum, some whites in Natal, which had an English-speaking majority, called for secession from
5035-399: The end of his tenure and, having little experience of southern Africa, he preferred to enforce the more familiar model of confederation used in Canada. He pushed ahead with his Confederation plan, which unraveled as predicted, leaving a string of destructive wars across southern Africa. These conflicts eventually fed into the first and second Anglo-Boer Wars , with far-reaching consequences for
5130-514: The final act of Union in 1909. A crucial difference was that the Cape's liberal constitution and multiracial franchise were to be extended to the other states of the union. These smaller states would gradually accede to the much larger Cape Colony through a system of treaties, whilst simultaneously gaining elected seats in the Cape parliament . The entire process would be locally driven, with Britain's role restricted to policing any set-backs. While subsequently acknowledged to be more viable, this model
5225-427: The gold and diamond mines there and highly protective of its own citizens, demanded reforms, which the Afrikaners rejected. A small-scale private British effort to overthrow Transvaal's President Paul Kruger , the Jameson Raid of 1895, proved a fiasco, and presaged full-scale conflict as diplomatic efforts all failed. The Second Boer War started on 11 October 1899 and ended on 31 May 1902. The United Kingdom gained
5320-625: The guerillas and deny them a base of civilian support. Using these tactics combined with a system of blockhouses and barriers to seal off Boer holdouts, the British were able to gradually track down and defeat the guerillas. In the 1902 Treaty of Vereeniging , the British formally annexed the Boer republics into the Cape Colony , ending the war. The National Convention was a constitutional convention held between 1908 and 1909 in Durban (12 October to 5 November 1908), Cape Town (23 November to 18 December 1908, 11 January to 3 February 1909) and Bloemfontein (3 to 11 May 1909). This convention led to
5415-441: The idea in principle and the Transvaal may also eventually have agreed. However, he was overruled by the British Colonial Office which ordered him to desist from his plans. His refusal to abandon the idea eventually led to him being recalled. In the 1870s, the London Colonial Office, under Secretary for the Colonies Lord Carnarvon , decided to apply a system of confederation onto southern Africa. On this occasion, however, it
5510-556: The last months of 1899, Boer forces launched the first attacks of the war, besieging the British-held settlements of Ladysmith , Kimberley and Mafeking , and winning several engagements against British troops at Colenso , Magersfontein and Stormberg . However, by the next year the British soon organised an effective response to these attacks, lifting the three sieges and winning several battles against Boer forces. The British, now deploying approximately 400,000 soldiers from across their colonial empire, successfully invaded and occupied
5605-427: The late 1960s and early 1970s in accordance with the Odendaal Commission , three of which were granted self-rule. These bantustans were replaced with separate ethnicity based second-tier representative authorities in 1980. The South African government convened the Turnhalle Constitutional Conference between 1976 and 1978 with a view to achieving an "internal" solution to the status of South West Africa. The conference
5700-415: The laws of the mandatory (South Africa) as integral portions of its territory". Subsequently, the Union of South Africa generally regarded South West Africa as a fifth province, although this was never an official status. With the creation of the United Nations , the Union applied for the incorporation of South West Africa, but its application was rejected by the U.N., which invited South Africa to prepare
5795-450: The magisterial structure for the area's political integration into the Cape dragged on until, from 1876, it was blocked by Britain. Britain relented, insofar as allowing the Cape to incorporate Walvis Bay as an exclave, which was brought under the magisterial district of Cape Town , but when the Germans established a protectorate over the area in 1884, South West Africa was predominantly autonomous. Thereafter, South West Africa became
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#17327718216515890-408: The minimum age remaining 18 years. Parliament was reconstituted to consist of a Senate and a National Assembly . The parliamentary system uses proportional representation, with voters voting for political parties rather than for candidates. Proportional representation allows for smaller parties to have a chance of acquiring seats in parliament, although these parties often combine in order to have
5985-422: The name of the Crown (cited in the format Rex / Regina v Accused ) and government officials served in the name of the Crown. An entrenched clause in the Constitution mentioned Dutch and English as official languages of the Union, but the meaning of Dutch was changed by the Official Languages of the Union Act, 1925 to include both Dutch and Afrikaans. Most English-speaking whites in South Africa supported
6080-473: The needs of the government of the day. Parliamentary sovereignty was a convention of the constitution, inherited from the United Kingdom; save for procedural safeguards in respect of the entrenched sections of franchise and language, the courts were unable to intervene in Parliament's decisions. Pretoria was the seat of government, while the Parliament sat in Cape Town and the Appellate Division in Bloemfontein . The Union initially remained under
6175-416: The north and Afrikaner encroachment from the south, these leaders approached the Cape Colony government to discuss the possibility of accession and the political representation it would entail. Accession to the Cape Colony, a self-governing state with a system of multi-racial franchise and legal protection for traditional land rights, was at the time considered marginally preferable to annexation by either
6270-411: The onset of the war, the British were both overconfident about the chances of success in a military confrontation with the Boer republics and underprepared for a long-term conflict. British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury and members of his cabinet , in particular Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain , ignored repeated warnings that Boer forces were more powerful than previous reports had suggested. In
6365-454: The option of seeking advice from London. The monarch was represented in South Africa by a governor-general , while effective power was exercised by the Executive Council, headed by the prime minister . Louis Botha , formerly a Boer general, was appointed first prime minister of the Union, heading a coalition representing the white Afrikaner and English-speaking British diaspora communities. Prosecutions before courts were instituted in
6460-409: The present arrangement is cumbersome as ministers, civil servants and diplomats must move back and forth when Parliament is in session. However, many Capetonians have spoken out against such a move, accusing the ANC of trying to centralise power. Under the Constitution, there is provision for Parliament to sit elsewhere than Cape Town on grounds of public interest, security or convenience and Parliament
6555-399: The present-day Republic of South Africa . It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the Cape , Natal , Transvaal , and Orange River colonies. It included the territories that were formerly part of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State . Following World War I , the Union of South Africa was a signatory of the Treaty of Versailles and became one of
6650-475: The previous system of Bantustans that were established in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Each authority would have executive and legislative competencies, being made up of elected Legislative Assemblies who would appoint Executive Committees led by chairmen. Representative Authorities had responsibility for land tenure, agriculture, education up to primary level, teachers' training, health services, and social welfare and pensions and their Legislative Assemblies had
6745-531: The referendum. The decision together with the South African Government's insistence on adhering to its policy of apartheid resulted in South Africa's de facto expulsion from the Commonwealth of Nations . The South Africa Act dealt with race in two specific provisions. First it entrenched the liberal (by South African standards) Cape Qualified Franchise system of the Cape Colony which operated free of any racial considerations (although due to socio-economic restrictions no real political expression of non-whites
6840-506: The socio-economic classes which are often based on race. The ANC has been considered a party for native South Africans, especially before 2009 when party leader Jacob Zuma faced multiple accusations regarding corruption, particularly using public funds for his own purposes. The economic difficulties in South Africa, as well as police brutality have both been blamed on the ANC. Currently, the ANC holds 230 seats in parliament. Support for
6935-603: The subcontinent. After the discovery of gold in the 1880s, thousands of British immigrants flocked to the gold mines of the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State . The newly arrived miners, though needed for the mines, were distrusted by the politically dominant Afrikaners, who called them " uitlanders ", imposed heavy taxes on them and granted them very limited civil rights, with no right to vote. The British government, interested in profiting from
7030-471: The supervisory role. The ICJ also clarified that the General Assembly was empowered to receive petitions from the inhabitants of South West Africa and to call for reports from the mandatory nation, South Africa. The General Assembly constituted the Committee on South West Africa to perform the supervisory functions. In another Advisory Opinion issued in 1955, the Court further ruled that the General Assembly
7125-555: The support of its Cape Colony, of its Colony of Natal and of some African allies. Volunteers from across the British Empire further supplemented the British war effort. All other nations remained neutral, but public opinion in them was largely hostile to Britain. Inside Britain and its Empire there was also significant opposition to the Second Boer War , spearheaded by anti-war activists such as Emily Hobhouse . At
7220-813: The territory nevertheless continued despite its illegality under international law. In 1971, acting on a request for an Advisory Opinion from the United Nations Security Council , the ICJ ruled that the continued presence of South Africa in Namibia was illegal and that South Africa was under an obligation to withdraw from Namibia immediately. It also ruled that all member states of the United Nations were under an obligation not to recognise as valid any act performed by South Africa on behalf of Namibia. South West Africa became known as Namibia by
7315-429: The territory of South West Africa. A German colony known as German South West Africa from 1884 to 1915, it was made a League of Nations mandate of the Union of South Africa following Germany 's defeat in the First World War . Although the mandate was repealed by the United Nations on 27 October 1966, South African control over the territory continued despite its illegality under international law. The territory
7410-513: The territory, as well as a draft constitution for "a republican, democratic state" to be known as "South West Africa/Namibia" with its own flag and national anthem. Under the proposals, there was to be a three-tiered system of governance. The first tier, the Central Government, would consist of a National Assembly which would appoint a Council of Ministers. The second tier would consist of ethnically based Representative Authorities and
7505-435: The third tier would be made up of Local Authorities. The upper tier of governance consisted of an elected fifty member National Assembly with legislative powers. The assembly would appoint a Council of Ministers with executive powers. Multi-racial elections for the National Assembly were held in December 1978. The Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) won 41 of the 50 seats and its leader, Dirk Mudge would become Chairman of
7600-402: The way it was imposed from outside without understanding of local issues. The Confederation model was also seen as unsuitable for the disparate entities of southern Africa , with their wildly different sizes, economies and political systems. The Molteno Unification Plan (1877), put forward by the Cape government as a more feasible unitary alternative to confederation , largely anticipated
7695-412: The white-controlled states "weakened them against the natives", threatened an ethnic divide between British and Boer, and left the Cape vulnerable to interference from other European powers. He believed that a united "South African Federation", under British control, would resolve all three of these concerns. His idea was greeted with cautious optimism in southern Africa; the Orange Free State agreed to
7790-433: Was a unitary state , rather than a federation like Canada and Australia, with each colony's parliaments being abolished and replaced with provincial councils . A bicameral parliament was created, consisting of the House of Assembly and Senate , with members of the parliament being elected mostly by the country's white minority. During the course of the Union, the franchise changed on several occasions always to suit
7885-502: Was administered directly by the South African government from 1915 to 1978, when the Turnhalle Constitutional Conference laid the groundwork for semi-autonomous rule. During an interim period between 1978 and 1985, South Africa gradually granted South West Africa a limited form of home rule, culminating in the formation of a Transitional Government of National Unity . As a German colony from 1884, it
7980-457: Was arrested and subsequently charged with arson. African National Congress : The ANC was founded in 1912, but were banned by State President Charles Robberts Swart in 1960, remaining so until the ban was lifted thirty years later by President F. W. De Klerk . The ANC became the leading political party in South Africa after the first multi-racial election in 1994. The party's main platform rests on working towards racial equality and eradicating
8075-525: Was assisted by and Jan F Greebe as chief executive officer. The Representative Authorities and Local Authorities continued to function as intended during this period. A Multi-Party Conference was established in September 1983 to suggest arrangements for the formation of a new Central Government. Nineteen parties participated in the conference, but again SWAPO was excluded. The Multi-Party Conference issued
8170-526: Was attended by representatives of 11 ethnic groups: Herero , Baster , Tswana , Damara , Ovambo , Lozi , Nama , Kavango , San , the Coloureds , and the Whites . However, the largest freedom movement, SWAPO , was not invited. The conference produced a 29-page document entitled "Petition for the establishment of an interim government" . The petition contained a request to set up an interim government for
8265-421: Was based on traditional customary law, the relevant Representative Authority could support their further development. The Three-tier system of governance was suspended on 28 February 1989 following the signing of a peace agreement the previous year. As stipulated by United Nations Security Council Resolution 435 , a United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG) was deployed on 1 April 1989. Elections to
8360-567: Was confirmed with the Balfour Declaration of 1926 and the Statute of Westminster 1931 . It was governed under a form of constitutional monarchy , with the Crown being represented by a governor-general. The Union came to an end with the enactment of the constitution of 1961 , by which it became a republic and left the Commonwealth of Nations . The Republic of South Africa rejoined the Commonwealth on 1 June 1994. The Union of South Africa
8455-515: Was known as German South West Africa ( Deutsch-Südwestafrika ). Germany had a difficult time administering the territory, which experienced many insurrections against the harsh German rule, especially those led by guerrilla leader Jacob Morenga . The main port, Walvis Bay , and the Penguin Islands were annexed by the UK in 1878, becoming part of the Cape Colony in 1884. Following the creation of
8550-443: Was largely rejected by southern Africans, primarily due to its very bad timing. The various component states of southern Africa were still simmering after the last bout of British expansion, and inter-state tensions were high. The Orange Free State this time refused to even discuss the idea, and Prime Minister John Molteno of the Cape Colony called the idea badly informed and irresponsible. In addition, many local leaders resented
8645-527: Was no longer practical with many favouring some form of ' responsible government '. Some favoured responsible government within Southern Rhodesia while others (especially in Matabeleland ) favoured membership of the Union of South Africa. Politician Sir Charles Coghlan claimed that such membership with the Union would make Southern Rhodesia the " Ulster of South Africa". Prior to the referendum, representatives of Southern Rhodesia visited Cape Town where
8740-521: Was not required to follow League of Nations voting procedures in determining questions concerning South West Africa. In 1956, the Court further ruled that the committee had the power to grant hearings to petitioners from the mandated territory. In 1960, Ethiopia and Liberia filed a case in the International Court of Justice against South Africa alleging that South Africa had not fulfilled its mandatory duties. This case did not succeed, with
8835-542: Was possible). The Cape Prime Minister at the time, John X. Merriman , fought hard, but ultimately unsuccessfully, to extend this system of multi-racial franchise to the rest of South Africa. Second it made "native affairs" a matter for the national government. The practice therefore was to establish a Minister of Native Affairs . According to Stephen Howe, "colonialism in some cases—most obviously among white minorities in South Africa — meant mainly that these violent settlers wanted to maintain more racial inequalities than
8930-408: Was rejected at the time by London. At the other extreme, another powerful Cape politician at the time, Saul Solomon , proposed an extremely loose system of federation, with the component states preserving their very different constitutions and systems of franchise. Lord Carnarvon rejected the (more informed) local plans for unification, as he wished to have the process brought to a conclusion before
9025-487: Was the third-largest party until it was unseated by the EFF and is one of the few parties to have consecutive representation in parliament since democracy in 1994. The IFP apart from the ANC was part of the National Government for 10 years. The IFP champions the rights of traditional leaders and advocates for policies which favour free markets. The party is opposed to socialism and communist policies. Because
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