General election in South Africa 1981
The 1981 general election in South Africa took place on April 29, 1981 in the Republic of South Africa for the House of Assembly . In the run-up to the election and in the election results, there was a strengthening of politically right-wing to extreme forces within the apartheid state , who took positions that were critical or even negative in parliamentary and extra-parliamentary terms on the ruling National Party .
prehistory
Constituency cuttings
In preparation for the 1981 parliamentary elections, an appointed constituency commission had examined the constituencies according to demographic and other criteria. On the basis of their report, proposals to change some constituency layouts were publicly presented by the South African President on September 6, 1980 . Changes affected constituencies in three out of four South African provinces. There were therefore proposals to resolve constituencies in:
- Cape Province : three constituencies (Griqualand East, Morreesburg and Somerset East)
- Natal : a constituency (Musgrave)
- Transvaal : five constituencies (Marico, Orange Grove, Prinshof, Von Brandis and Witwatersburg)
As a replacement for the constituencies to be dissolved, the Commission proposed the creation of the following constituencies:
- Cape Province: three constituencies (De Kuilen, Sundays River and Wellington)
- Natal: a constituency (Greyton)
- Transvaal: five constituencies (Helderkruin, Nort Rand, Modderfontein, Roodeplaat and Ventersdorp)
Secession tendencies
In the course of by-elections for individual parliamentary seats for the end of the parliamentary term, there were results in the Fauresmith constituency in March 1980 that showed a weakening of the ruling National Party to the advantage of candidates from the right-wing extremists of the conservative spectrum. The results of the count (turnout 77.8%) were as follows:
| Surname | Political party | Voting result 1977 | Voting result 1980 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phillipus Johannes Scholtz Olivier | NP | 5597 | 4984 |
| Charl Hertzog | HNP | 462 | 1647 |
| PE van Rensburg | NCP | - | 513 |
| NP majority | 5135 | 3337 |
Another trend emerged in September 1980 in the by-elections (turnout 82.9%) in the constituency of Simonstown. John Wiley represented the constituency since 1964 and stood for a "white" unit according to the political guidelines of Prime Minister Botha .:
| Surname | Political party | Voting result 1977 | Voting result 1980 |
|---|---|---|---|
| John Wiley | NP | 4927 | 6250 |
| Eddie Barlow | PFP | 3306 | 5068 |
| NP majority | 1621 | 1182 |
The by-election (voter turnout 70.55%) in October 1980 in the constituency of East London North was marked by the fact that John Malcomess, originally a member of parliament for the New Republic Party (NRP), switched to the Progressive Federal Party. Observers reported that the NRP also received votes from the ruling party (NP) camp and even a former East London Mayor Robbie de Lange had publicly signaled support for Bell.
| Surname | Political party | Voting result 1977 | Voting result 1980 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harland Bell | NRP | 5155 | 5135 |
| John Malcomess | PFP | 2928 | 3783 |
| NRP majority | 2227 | 1352 |
These three examples outline the faction of voters in the conservative spectrum and the strengthening of alternatives to the ruling National Party. Observers were surprised by the unusually high turnout in by-elections. The time before the parliamentary elections in 1981 was also marked by attacks by the right-wing camp on the politics of the ruling party of Prime Minister Bothas. She was accused of ignoring “white” interests and instead taking too much “black” interests into account.
Development of the right wing
Before the beginning of the parliamentary session in 1979, Cornelius Petrus Mulder gave up his parliamentary mandate and founded an Action Front for National Priorities with like-minded people . This group advocated the retention of “national identities” in South Africa and advocated a policy of territorial separation of the racially defined population groups and their respective political self-determination. With 160 delegates, he founded the National Conservative Party (NCP) in Verwoerdburg in November 1979 , which only received 2.5 percent of the vote in the 1981 parliamentary elections; only Mulder achieved a slightly higher level of support in the constituency of Randfontein.
The Aksie Eie Toekoms (English: Action own Future , abbreviated AET) emerged from a group of conservative Boer academics. Her notoriety increased when Betsie Verwoerd, the wife of former Prime Minister Verwoerd , gave up her membership in the NP and joined the AET. Together with the National Conservative Party and the African resistance movement , an alliance against government policy was formed in 1981, which was named Action: Save White South Africa (ASWSA) at a meeting in Pretoria . The government's plans for a constitutional amendment were described by their representatives as unrealistic and destructive. They also took the view that Namibia / South West Africa should be administered as an integral part of South Africa in order to secure the future of their country under white rule. Negotiations with the UN for independence from Namibia were rejected from this group. Their representatives saw the solution to the "Namibia problem" in the destruction of SWAPO .
Electoral process
In the course of the elections to the House of Assembly , 177 parliamentary seats were available, 165 were obtained via the direct result in the constituencies. The legislative period was fixed for 5 years. According to the constituencies, 76 seats were obtained for the Transvaal, 55 seats for the Cape Province, 20 seats for the Natal Province and 14 seats for the Orange Free State . A further 12 parliamentary seats, four (one per province) were appointed by the President and eight top-level mandates (such as a compensatory mandate ) were determined according to proportional representation , each voter had a separate vote. The parliamentary right to vote could only be exercised by the population of European descent.
Results of the parliamentary elections
There were 2,290,942 registered voters for the parliamentary elections , of which 1,389,893 exercised their right to vote. The invalid votes amounted to 24,926 ballots and the valid votes to 1,364,967 votes.
| Political party | Chairman | Voting result | Seats | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Party (NP) | Pieter Willem Botha | 777.558 | 131 | |
| Progressive Federal Party (PFP) | Frederik van Zyl Slabbert | 265.297 | 26th | |
| New Republic Party (NRP) | Vause Raw | 106,764 | 8th | |
| Seasonal Party (HNP) | Albert Hertzog | 192,304 | 0 | |
| South African Party (SAP) joined forces with the NP | 0 | |||
| National Conservative Party (NCP) | Cornelius Petrus Mulder | 2.5% | 0 | |
| Aksie Eie Toekoms (AET) | Alkmar Swart | 0 | ||
| total | 165 |
Follow-up developments
Right-wing conservative circles continued to interact after the elections. In March 1982 the Konserwatiewe Party was founded in Pretoria under the leadership of Andries Treurnicht with 7,500 followers. In his 15-point program for founding a party, he campaigned for “Christian national principles” as well as for the cultural, political and spiritual “viability” of the African “people”. In this policy paper, the Bible was emphasized as the normative basis for the organization of social life in the country. The geographical separation of the population groups was seen as a guarantee of their respective freedoms and as a bulwark against integration and the “disruptive” force of the liberation tendencies. During the first party congress in the same year, the assembled 3,000 representatives underlined a policy of strict apartheid premises. Accordingly, blacks, Indians and coloreds should not be granted any political rights in "white" South Africa, since they are to be returned from the "white fatherland " to their "own" home countries . Programmatically, the party relied on Verwoerd's constitutional plans from 1966, according to which any distribution of power to other population groups was excluded. The founding of the party promoted the further consolidation of the right-wing political spectrum in South Africa. Well-known conservatives gave their support, including Betsie Verwoerd and former ministers from previous governments such as Louwrens Muller , Daan de Wet Nel , Jimmy Kruger , Sybrand van Niekerk (former parliamentarian and Transvaal administrator) and Fanie Herman (member of the President's Council) .
More timely elections
On November 4, 1981 elections were held for the pro-government South African Indian Council (SAIC). In the run-up to this, there were massive protests and calls for boycotts from among the politically organized people of Indian origin . Turnout remained very subdued. According to the government, the SAIC was the elected representative body of the Indians in South Africa, but had no parliamentary rights or functions. The South African Interior Minister Chris Heunis opened the first session of the 45-member SAIC in Durban in February 1982 , which he described as the only representative institution of the Indian population with which the government agencies and authorities will work. Its chairman was Amichand Rajbansi .
Individual evidence
- ^ SAIRR : Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1981 . Johannesburg 1982, pp. 1-2
- ↑ a b SAIRR: Survey 1980 , Johannesburg 1981, p. 15
- ↑ a b c SAIRR: Survey 1980 , Johannesburg 1981, p. 16
- ↑ Shelagh Gastrow: Who's Who in South African Politics . Ravan Press, Johannesburg 1990, pp. 215-217, ISBN 0-86975-399-1
- ↑ SAIRR: Survey 1981 . Johannesburg 1982, pp. 10-11
- ^ A b South African History Online: The South African general elections: 1981 . on www.sahistory.org.za (English)
- ↑ SAIRR: Survey 1981 . Johannesburg 1982, p. 1
- ^ SAIRR: Survey 1982 , Johannesburg 1983, pp. 10-12
- ^ South African History Online: Anti-South African Indian Council (SAIC) Campaign . on www.sahistory.org.za (English)
- ^ SAIRR: Survey 1982 . Johannesburg 1983, p. 24
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