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South Africa, officially the Union of South Africa (Afrikaans: Unie van Zuid-Afrika), is a country in southern Africa. It is bordered by the German colony of Mittelafrika to the north and north-west, the Portuguese colony of Mozambique to the north-east and by the Indian and Atlantic Oceans to the east, south and west.

A British dominion formed in the aftermath of the Second Boer War, South Africa’s society is defined by its multilayered ethnic conflicts. Political and economic power is held by the white minority, divided between the Dutch-derived Afrikaners and the more recently-arrived British South Africans, with the native African population totally excluded. Debates about South Africa’s place within the British Empire coloured its participation in the Weltkrieg and took on even greater significance after the collapse of the Empire left it as the last outpost of unoccupied imperial territory on the African continent.

History[]

Formation of the union[]

Boer War Map

Map of South Africa around the turn of the century.

The South Africa Act 1909, passed by the British Parliament, created the Union of South Africa by combining the Cape Colony, Natal, the Orange Free State, and Transvaal into a single unitary state. The latter two entities were former Boer Republics that had been conquered by the British during the Second Boer War. The process of union necessitated a great deal of compromise between the British and the Afrikaners, many of whom had only recently been at war against the British and still felt a good deal of resentment towards the Empire.

Nonetheless, the process was successful and the Union of South Africa was proclaimed on May 31st, 1910. The first elections pitted Louis Botha’s Afrikaner-dominated South African Party against the British-dominated Unionist Party and the smaller Labour Party. The South African Party won handily, setting the pattern for South Africa’s Afrikaner-dominated politics.

The Weltkrieg and aftermath[]

Maritz

Boer irregulars south of Johannesburg during the Maritz Rebellion, late 1914

The outbreak of war in 1914 exposed the persisting rifts in South African society. British South Africans were generally enthusiastic and fell in behind the British cause. The Afrikaners, on the other hand, were greatly ambivalent, many viewing the war in Europe as a foreign affair that South Africa was dragged into by its British master. A group of pro-German Afrikaner nationalists rose up in what became known as the Maritz Rebellion at the beginning of the war, but the SAP government swiftly crushed the uprising. An invasion force led by General Jan Smuts and Prime Minister Botha himself then advanced into German Southwest Africa, securing the surrender of the Germans by mid-1915. South African units also participated in the East African Campaign, and in smaller numbers on the Western Front.

Though South Africa was not devastated by the war, it could not escape the winds of change that blew through 1919. In August, Prime Minister Botha died after a prolonged illness. He was succeeded by his deputy Smuts, who had to hurry back from his station in British-occupied Palestine. Upon arrival he faced harsh criticism from the Afrikaner community and was forced to call elections. The result was a hung parliament: the National Party, a rising force among hardline Afrikaner nationalist under J.B.M. Hertzog, won the largest share of seats. Smuts managed to survive by forming a coalition between the South Africa Party and the dwindling Unionist Party. However, this act also placed the SAP more firmly than ever in the loyalist camp, thus pushing even more of its Afrikaner supporters towards the National Party.

South African War Propaganda

South African war propaganda after the occupation of German South Africa. The return of the colony to Germany in 1919 would cause immense public uproar.

Even if many South Africans were not firmly in favor of the war, there was great expectation that the occupation of German South West Africa would lead to its annexation into the union once victory was attained. However, the French defeat in continental Europe assured a victory for the Central Powers, and the Treaty of Versailles would stipulate that the territory be returned immediately. Even though South Africa was in no position to oppose the settlement, the retreat from South West Africa caused great bitterness as the public had considered its acquisition a fait accompli.

The coalition between the SAP and the Unionists managed to hold together until new elections were called in 1921. However, it was clear that the National Party had consolidated its position as leader of the opposition and it now represented a serious threat to the coalition government. As a result, the Unionist Party agreed to merge into the SAP, but even still the new party managed to only barely secure a majority in the Volksraad.

Rise and fall of the National-Labour coalition[]

The SAP victory, though narrow, was widely seen as an endorsement of the status quo and the maintenance of stability. However, South Africa would prove not immune from the disturbances of the postwar world. In March 1922, a strike by white miners in the Witwatersrand turned violent as trade unionists took over several towns and declared an armed uprising. The miners had been striking against efforts by the major mining companies to cut their operating costs by decreasing wages, and by weakening the colour bar so that lower-paid black miners could be promoted to skilled and supervisory positions. The revolt was organized chiefly by the syndicalist International Socialist League (ISL) and its chairman W. H. Andrews. The Rand Rebellion (as it came to be known) was crushed when Prime Minister Smuts sent a military detachment of 20,000 soldiers to bloodily suppress the revolt. Though fears of a syndicalist revolution were nipped in the bud, the action turned the white working class decisively against the SAP.

Randrebellion

Striking miners in the Witwatersrand during the Rand Rebellion, March 1922

With the expansion of the German Empire in Africa as a result of the Treaty of Versailles, the British were looking for any way to shore up their position in the region. As a result, the government of Bonar Law pushed Smuts to enter negotiations with the British South Africa Company, which administered the colony of Southern Rhodesia, about incorporation into the Union as its fifth province. This was accomplished in 1922, though it was done without consultation of the white South Rhodesian population, which greatly opposed the move. In 1924, the loss of the constituency of Wakkerstroom to the National Party in a by-election caused Smuts to call for early elections in the hope of retaking the region and strengthening the SAP’s position in the Volksraad. This proved a major miscalculation, however, when the results saw the SAP lose its majority instead. Having been greatly embittered by Smut’s heavy-handed response to the Rand Rebellion, the Labour Party spurned the SAP and agreed to enter coalition talks with the National Party. In the end, the National Party was able to form a government for the first time ever with Labour’s support, and J. B. M. Hertzog became prime minister. He wasted no time in formulating policies in favor of Afrikaner interests, strengthening the colour bar and expanding the nascent welfare state to placate his Labour allies.

Hertzog1925

Newly-inaugurated Prime Minister J. B. M. Hertzog of the NP after the elections of 1924

With the eruption of the British Revolution in late 1924, the future of the British Empire was suddenly very much in doubt. There was a great deal of support within the National Party for renouncing South Africa’s dominion status and proclaiming a new, independent Republic of South Africa. However, Labour was adamantly against the idea and denied Hertzog the needed votes to pass such an act. In the end, South Africa remained true (if somewhat reluctantly) to the new exiled British government in Ottawa. In mid-1925, as the German Empire moved to occupy many of Britain’s colonies, the South African Defense Force moved into the largely defenseless Bechuanaland Protectorate to safeguard it from the Germans. Basutoland and Swaziland were likewise occupied.

Though the Labour Party totally rejected the Union of Britain’s radicalism, the International Socialist League took the opportunity to rethink its programme, mindful of the failures that had led to the defeat of the Rand Rebellion. Though W. H. Andrews advocated a continuation of the ISL’s traditional policy of focusing on white workers, he faced newly-energized opposition from Sidney Brunting who proposed to refocus the ISL’s energies towards the organization of native blacks into the trade unions. With the support of the Third Internationale, Bunting’s inclusionist faction emerged victorious and Andrews resigned as ISL chairman.

Meanwhile, the economic picture was poor. Soon after the collapse of the New York Stock Exchange, the so-called Great Depression hit South Africa with full force, as its economy had only fitfully recovered from the post-war slump. The National Party’s response was hampered by its insistence on keeping the gold standard. It did score one victory, however, when in January of 1926 it took advantage of the Empire’s weakened state to pass the Status of the Union Act, which conferred upon the Union of South Africa near-complete sovereignty over its own affairs, though not renouncing its dominion status. With this new power, South Africa could reach out to Germany and forge closer trade relations that would partially replace those lost with Britain because of the revolution.

While the Hertzog government’s attention was absorbed in economic recovery during the late 20s, unrest grew within the labour movement as the radical left recovered its strength. In 1928, Minister of Communications and Labour MP Walter Madeley recognized South Africa’s largest trade union, the ISL-affiliated Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union (ICU). The action greatly angered Hertzog and the other National Party ministers, and Madeley was sacked from his post. In response, Madeley repudiated Labour leader Frederic Creswell’s alliance with the Nationals and took his supporters out of the party. Though Creswell’s Labour continued to support the governing coalition, Madeley’s National Council Labour proclaimed itself sympathetic to the SAP. The National Party was itself not immune to division: Justice Minister Tielman Roos also resigned from the government, having criticized its handling of the economy and unwillingness to abandon the gold standard, forming his own moderate Central Party. Thus, facing assaults on both sides, the National-Labour coalition was in a weakened state heading into the 1929 elections.

Smuts’ return to power[]

When elections were finally held in June, the results came in with the National-Labour coalition having lost its majority. However, despite making considerable gains, the SAP was not able to form a majority government, a testament to the increasingly fragmented nature of South African politics. After many weeks of negotiation, the SAP managed to form a minority government with the support of the small Central Party.

The new government’s first order of business was to finally take South Africa off of the gold standard. At the same time, it retained the previous government’s trade agreements with the German sphere. As the price of gold went up, low grade mines became profitable once more, and South Africa’s economy recovered. The improved conditions were appreciated by the white electorate, which rewarded the SAP government with a proper majority in the 1933 elections. However, the death of Tielman Roos in March 1935 led to the dissolution of the Central Party, with many of its members returning to the National fold. As a result, the SAP government once again found itself barely hanging on to power.

Politics[]

Title Name Party Portrait
Governor-General of the Union of South Africa George Villiers

(born 7 June 1877)

Conservative Party
Villiers
Prime Minister of South Africa Jan Smuts

(born 24 May 1870)

South African Party
Genl JC Smuts
Minister of Native Affairs Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr

(born 20 March 1894)

South African Party
Hofmeyr
Minister of Interior Affairs Deneys Reitz

(born 2 April 1882)

South African Party
Deneys Reitz
Minister of Finance Pieter Voltelyn Graham van der Byl

(born 21 February 1889)

South African Party
P. K

The Union of South Africa is a self-governing dominion of the British Empire. Executive power is held by the Governor-General, the British Crown’s official representative. The South African Parliament is organized along the Westminster model, with a lower house (the House of Assembly or Volksraad) and an upper house (the Senate). Members of the Volksraad are chosen through direct election, while senators are chosen through an electoral college composed of the Volksraad and the provincial councils. South Africa is a unitary state, with the former parliaments dissolved upon the Act of Union and replaced with the weaker provincial councils.

Though the provinces lack much power, they do have the ability to determine their own requirements of franchise. In Natal, Transvaal, and the Orange Free State, suffrage is restricted to all white males. In the Cape Province and South Rhodesia, qualified franchise based on property and educational requirements means that some non-white males also have the ability to vote. In practice, however, even in these two provinces the number of qualifying black and coloured voters is so small that the white minority overwhelmingly dominates political life.

Contiguous with South Africa are the British protectorates of Bechuanaland, Basutoland, and Swaziland. These territories are administered by resident commissioners in cooperation with native chiefs, answerable to the British High Commissioner to South Africa. However, these territories are not part of the Union of South Africa, only coming under South Africa’s military protection as a result of the collapse of the British Empire.

Political parties[]

South African Party - The origins of the SAP lie in the pre-union Cape party of the same name, which originally represented a liberal, anti-imperialist course that disapproved of Cecil Rhodes’s provocation of the Boer Republics. It merged with the Cape-based Afrikaner Bond, the Transvaal-based Het Volk, and the Orange Free State-based Orangia Unie. As such, it quickly became the main political vehicle for the Afrikaners and under Louis Botha it dominated South African politics. However, the rise of the National Party forced it to first cooperate with and eventually absorb its old foe the Unionist Party, and even that could not prevent it from losing to the National-Labour Coalition in 1924. The SAP staged a comeback in 1929 and has held power ever since. It is a big tent party which draws support from both pro-British Afrikaners and the majority of the British South African community. Though the majority of the party supports the status quo of white majority rule, a smaller progressive wing continues the “Cape liberal tradition” of extending representation for non-white South Africans.

National Party - The National Party was founded in 1914 in Bloemfontein by J.B.M. Hertzog, former minister of justice. The party rapidly emerged as the main opposition to the SAP, and was able to govern from 1924-1929 in coalition with the Labour Party. The National Party is the primary vehicle of Afrikaner nationalism and Afrikaner interests, and as such commands the loyalty of a large part of the Afrikaner community. It is ambivalent towards South Africa’s status as a British dominion and its responsibilities to the Entente, and contains a strong republican current. Still, the party contains multiple tendencies, ranging from moderates who are willing to cooperate with the SAF to hardliners who wish to assure Afrikaner domination.

Labour Party - Founded in 1910, the Labour Party draws its membership from the mostly anglophone white working class, which is concentrated around the mining industry. Under Frederic Creswell, its was the junior coalition partner in government with National from 1924-1929, during which time it was able to implement a number of industrial reforms. However, the party split in 1928 and to this day remains divided between “Creswell Labour” and “National Council Labour”, led by Walter Madeley.

International Socialist League - The ISL is South Africa’s principal far-left political movement, originating in the tradition of De Leonism in the IWW and sympathetic to contemporary syndicalism. Its role in the Rand Rebellion and support for black African trade unions puts it at the margins of political life, though it is influential within South Africa’s largest union, the Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union.

Economy[]

South Africa has a partially-industrialized, export-oriented economy. Agriculture was the primary economic activity of the early Cape Colony, and as Europeans penetrated the interior they confiscated land from the natives and established farmsteads. Today, South Africa is a major producer of cereals and exports grain to the rest of the African continent. The Mediterranean climate prevailing in certain parts of the country also supports a thriving fruit industry.

Mining[]

The mining industry is by far the main driver of South Africa’s economy. Its modern history begins in 1867, when diamonds were discovered in the area of what would become the city of Kimberley. A decade later, the discovery of the world’s largest gold deposits in the Witwatersrand led to a major gold rush. The influx of English-speaking immigrants to the Boer republics that resulted was a major cause of the Boer Wars and, indirectly, the eventual formation of the Union of South Africa.

Ownership of the diamond and gold mines are concentrated in the hands of a few ultra-wealthy British South Africans, known as the Randlords. Besides precious metals, South Africa is also a major producer of coal. Most industrial activity in the country is related to the extraction, refining, or transportation of these three minerals.

Military[]

The Union Defense Force comprises three branches: the South African Army, the South African Air Force, and the South African Naval Service. During the Weltkrieg, over 250,000 South Africans served in the UDF, and various units saw action in Africa, Palestine, and on the Western Front. The UDF has seen its size and funding cut drastically during peacetime, in large part due to the Afrikaners’ traditional mistrust of standing armies and belief that the UDF mostly exists to serve British imperial ambitions.

Foreign Relations[]

The Union of South Africa is a British dominion, recognizing the British government-in-exile in Ottawa and thus also a member of the Entente. The traditional antipathy of Afrikaner nationalists towards the British Empire has led to South Africa being regarded as a “reluctant” member of the alliance, and during the National Party’s time in government it adopted an increasingly independent stance in foreign affairs. This involved a deepening of trade relations with Germany for whom the nationalists have some sympathy. Though the return of the SAP to power brought a return to pro-British policy, ties to the German bloc were maintained.

South Africa’s interests in its backyard of southern Africa is a matter of some complexity. During the Weltkrieg, there was strong support for the annexation of German Southwest Africa, and during the years of occupation South Africa treated it almost like its own territory. Some Afrikaner nationalists desire the annexation of new territories for the acquisition of more farmland, while others oppose the idea because it would increase the proportion of the country’s native black population. Since the collapse of the British Empire, the occupation by Germany of former British colonies to the north is a source of displeasure for pro-British South Africans and there are strong desires to bring Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland back under British stewardship.

Culture[]

Ethnic/racial groups[]

Black South Africans[]

“Blacks” refers to all indigenous peoples of South Africa whose presence in the region predates European colonization. There are a great number of different ethnic and tribal groups, including the Zulus in Natal, the Xhosa in the eastern Cape, the Sotho in the Orange Free State, the Tswana in Transvaal and Bechuanaland, the Ndebele in Transvaal and Southern Rhodesia, and the Shona in Southern Rhodesia. All of these groups speak Bantu languages. A very different (and less numerous) group of indigenous people, the Khoisan, inhabit the western part of Cape Province.

Prior to colonization, these peoples were organized in a variety of different social forms, from small tribes to large confederations to kingdoms. Over the course of the nineteenth century, wars with both the Boers and the British resulted in the destruction of all native polities, save for the kingdoms of Swaziland and Basutoland, which became British protectorates. During this process much of the land was confiscated by white settlers, leading to the dispossession and impoverishment of most of the native population. However, the low numbers of whites and scarcity of labor made it necessary for blacks to be employed as agricultural laborers and later mine workers. The entrance of black South Africans into the modern industrial economy, along with the development of a small, educated black middle class, has increased the political consciousness and militancy of the disenfranchised majority.

Coloured South Africans[]

The category of “Coloured” in South Africa typically refers to people of mixed-race ancestry, though this can vary. The most prominent group to have the appellation is the Cape Coloureds, a people of mixed Dutch-Khoisan descent who speak Afrikaans and live mainly in rural parts of the Cape. However, the designation can encompass people of any combination of African, European, and Asian descent. Because of their part-European ancestry, Coloureds are not as heavily oppressed as blacks, and a few even qualify for the franchise in the Cape and Southern Rhodesia.

White South Africans[]

The largest group of white South Africans are the Afrikaners. Their origins can be traced back to the seventeenth century, when the Dutch East India Company first colonized the Cape of Good Hope. Over time, a community of Dutch settlers grew around the Cape, as well as smaller numbers of French Huguenots, Germans, and Malays from the East Indies. Around the beginning of the nineteenth century the Cape passed under British control, and discontent with their new rulers, among other factors, led thousands of Boers (referring to the Dutch who lived on the frontier of the Cape Colony) to migrate east in what became known as the Great Trek. The Boers fought with the native blacks, settled large swathes of farmland and pasturage, and created their own small, self-declared states: the so-called Boer Republics. The discovery of gold in the Witwatersrand brought British settlers and imperialist ambition, and after the two Boer Wars the Boer Republics were defeated and annexed into the British Empire.

Afrikaner identity coalesced in the late nineteenth century as a response to the threat of British imperialism. It comprises both the “Boers” of the Transvaal and Orange Free State, as well as the “Cape Dutch” who never made the trek. The language of the Afrikaners is Afrikaans, a descendent of Dutch, and the overwhelming majority adhere to the Dutch Reformed tradition of Protestantism. Despite short-lived attempts at anglicization after the Second Boer War, the Afrikaners have managed to maintain, if not strengthen, their identity as a distinct nation, and they currently dominate South African politics.

British South Africans began arriving in the area after the Cape’s annexation to the British Empire. Settlement schemes brought large numbers to the eastern Cape and later Natal, which remain the most British parts of South Africa to this day. The discovery of diamonds at Kimberley and the later gold rush brought a surge of English-speaking immigrants to the interior, where they often clashed with the Dutch-speakers who preceded them. British South Africans tend to be more urban than the Afrikaners (with the exception of the South Rhodesians) and are more likely to be employed in mining, transport, or other services. They also tend to identify themselves with the British Empire and support South Africa’s dominion status.

Asian South Africans[]

The first major group of Asians to come to South Africa were the Cape Malays, who arrived from the Dutch East Indies during the period of Dutch colonial rule. Later, the introduction of British rule paved the way for immigration from India. The first Indians came as indentured servants, contracted to work on the sugar plantations of Natal, for which they were considered particularly suitable. Nowadays, the Indian population remains concentrated in Natal, though sizable Indian communities also exist in Transvaal and the Cape. Indian South Africans tend to be urban-dwellers and are prominent as small shop-owners, often to the chagrin of white competitors. Similar to Coloureds, Asians are generally disenfranchised.

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