Representation of Natives Act

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The Representation of Natives Act , Act No. 12/1936 (German: natives election law) was a 1936 in the Union of South Africa enacted law, through its action in the country a consistent political division of the population was generated. This brought about a change in the 80-year-old right to vote for blacks (with higher education) in the area of ​​the former Cape Colony , which led to a considerable restriction.

Purpose and goals

The Representation of Natives Act came into force at a time when the economic situation of the South African population was worsening due to global recessive developments and country-specific land use conflicts with restrictions on land acquisition. This particularly affected the parts of the country that were primarily characterized by agricultural employment structures. The law follows the principle of indirect rule in the traditional pattern of British colonial rule in South Africa.

According to this law, black citizens entitled to vote could only elect three white mandate holders to parliament ( Union House of Assembly ) and two representatives to the Cape Provincial Council ( Cape Provincial Council ). The political representation of the black population also took place through four senators who were appointed in the electoral assembly from among the chiefs and by the regional councils . After a joint final reading before the representatives of the House of Assembly and the Senate , the law was passed in parliament on April 7, 1936 with a majority of 169 votes and 11 votes against in a heated atmosphere. This ended the right to vote for blacks entered in the electoral roll in the Cape Province ( Cape Native Franchise ), which had guaranteed them a limited opportunity to participate in parliament since 1854. The Minister of the Interior Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr and Senator François Stephanus Malan had spoken out against this law until the very end.

The representatives of the black population were now appointed
to the Senate

into the House of Assembly

  • GH Hemming
  • Margaret Ballinger
  • Donald Barkly Molteno.

In the course of this change in electoral law, a Native Representative Council (NRC) was created with 21 members in German. The Native Representative Council was overseen by the Minister for Native Affairs. This council was composed of five (according to other information: six) non-voting (white) Chief Native Commissioners , four nominated blacks and 12 other representatives elected from "black" colleges. His role consisted of an advisory role for the Ministry of Native Affairs ( Native Affairs Department ). Its meetings took place in the presence of representatives of this ministry and its decisions were not binding.

Political framework

The government under Prime Minister James Barry Munnick Hertzog took gradual measures to reduce voting rights for non-European people. The Women Enfranchisement Act of 1930 strengthened the right to vote for white women in South Africa, and the Franchise Laws Amendment Act of 1931 lifted any restrictions on the white population. Finally, the 1936 Representation of Natives Act decoupled the non-European population from the principle of equal suffrage under the British-based Westminster system . The Native Trust and Land Act created further restrictions on civil rights . The Hertzog government saw the combined effect of both laws as the "permanent solution to the native problem ".

literature

  • Andrea Lang: Separate Development and the Department of Bantu Administration in South Africa. History and analysis of special administrations for blacks . (Works from the Institut für Afrika-Kunde, 103), Hamburg 1999. ISBN 3-928049-58-5 , pp. 57-58

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Andrea Lang: Separate Development , 1999, p. 57.
  2. ^ Robert HW Shepherd: Lovedale South Africa. The Story of a Century 1841-1941 . Lovedale (The Lovedale Press) 1940, p. 492.
  3. ^ A b Nelson Mandela Center of Memory : 1936. Representation of Natives Act No. 12 . at www.nelsonmandela.org (English).
  4. ^ A b Robert HW Shepherd: Lovedale South Africa . 1940, p. 494.
  5. ↑ Pierre L. van den Berghe: South Africa, A Study in Conflict . Berkeley, Los Angeles, Oxford, 1967, p. 126. online at www.publishing.cdlib.org University of California Press, E-Books Collection, 1982-2004 (English).