South African Bureau of Racial Affairs

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The South African Bureau of Racial Affairs (SABRA for short) or Suid-Afrikaanse Buro vir Rasse Aangeleenthede (German: "South African Bureau for Racial Relations") was an organization founded in South Africa in 1948 , which predominantly took positions on racial politics from the perspective of ultra-conservative Afrikaans within the propagated political development of the country.

history

The South African Bureau of Racial Affairs was founded at the suggestion of the Afrikaner Broederbond in September 1948 as a conservative alternative to the South African Institute of Race Relations . Most of the SABRA members were academics and other intellectuals from among the Boers . The central task of this organization included the preparation of studies for the design of a future race policy in South Africa with the stipulation of a “separate development” of the ethnic groups. The strategic goal was to secure “white” supremacy. This request led the organization u. a. from the economic situation in South Africa in the 1940s, when “black” trade unions had gained enormous economic and political influence and, according to nationalist whites, could threaten their prosperity and continued existence. To secure this position, the concepts of the SABRA envisaged promoting the division of society in all areas, especially under economic, political, territorial, social, cultural and educational aspects.

The organization had good informal contacts with the Afrikaner Broederbond and the Dutch Reformed Church . The purpose of the organization was to justify apartheid politics (“separate development”) and related strategies of the National Party (NP) by means of actual or supposed scientific statements. In the 1950s, this gave rise to important political impulses for the apartheid governments of South Africa. Influential members of SABRA were represented in the Tomlinson Commission , which advocated the development of homelands within the South African Union . In 1957, SABRA publicly declared that it understood itself as an "indigenous white nation" and wanted to go a way of coexistence in the "common fatherland" together with the "non-white population groups". Strictly conservative SABRA members publicly opposed such balancing positions from their ranks, which they denounced as " liberalism ".

At the 1958 annual conference in Stellenbosch from April 29th to May 2nd, a programmatic debate took place on the basis of 10 themed papers. The members discussed the responsibility they see as a “white” group within a particular sphere of life in South African society. The director of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Natal , JF Hollemann, warned of a situation that could "go from bad to worse", as there would not be unlimited time to answer the questions raised because there was between to widen rather than narrow the recommendations of the Tomlinson Report and the government's implementation of apartheid. The conference concluded with the recommendation to invest large sums of the state budget in the development of the “non-white” settlement areas and to hold a meeting with representatives of the black population at the end of the year. Due to internal differences of opinion, the date of such a meeting was postponed to 1959.

In 1958, following criticism from members of the NP, the SABRA was reformed. Because of positions that were too liberal, the members transformed the organization into an institution of “pure apartheid” and expanded it into the intellectual power center of the NP. The Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd , who was elected to office in 1958, had a decisive influence on the changed political orientation of SABRA. In the course of this reorientation, SABRA played a leading role in raising awareness among young Afrikaans. A close cooperation with parishes and cultural organizations of the Boers developed.

On September 10, 1960, SABRA Chairman Geyer stated at the Transvaal Congress in Pretoria : “ We have to move faster in the formation of economically viable Bantu homelands, faster enough at least to show the patterns of development, and in everyone Fall faster than we've moved so far. "

Under the leadership of chairman Gerrit Viljoen , the concept of a new constitution for South Africa with a three-chamber system for separate "national groups" arose in the 1970s. In 1983 , Pieter Willem Botha implemented a constitution based on this concept with a majority in the National Assembly of South Africa, which became effective in 1984.

From 1974, under the leadership of the theologian Carel Boshoff , the organization made a systematic move away from NP influence. The cramped members in the NP and the Broederbond were able to take control of the organization again, as many of the moderate NP members were no longer willing to be publicly identified with SABRA.

The SABRA pursued the idea of ​​the "white state". In 1980 the organization began with the idea of ​​a “ white homeland ”, the Projek Oranje , which pursued the vision of a “space where no blacks live”. Subsequently, the positions of SABRA turned against the concept of a three-chamber parliament pursued by the government and the NP. This led to a final break between the two sides in 1983 and state financial support ended. This decision was announced by the Minister of National Education Gerrit Viljoen. As a result of this development, a rapprochement with right-wing extremist organizations such as the Conservative Party ( Konserwatiewe Party ) and the Afrikaaner-Volkswag developed . Finally, members initiated an investigation into the economic implementation possibilities of alternative models of separate development within South African society.

Personnel

During the annual conference in 1958, Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd announced that he was leaving the organization.

Chair of the SABRA

  • Nicolaas (Nic) Johannes Jacobus Olivier, founding member of SABRA and professor, vice-chairman SABRA partially at AL Geyer
  • GBA Gerdener (until 1955) Professor of Theology at Stellenbosch University
  • Adolf M. Willem Landman (1955–1958) Professor at Vista University (1982–1989)
  • AL Geyer (1958–1964), former South African High Commissioner in London and former editor of the nationalist newspaper Die Burger
  • PFD Weiss (1964–?), Professor
  • Gerrit Viljoen (Chair since the late 1960s), Administrator-General of South West Africa
  • Carel Boshoff (1972-1978)

Published periodicals

  • Journal of racial affairs. Tydskrif vir race aangeleenthede (1950–1993)
  • SABRA news letter . SABRA Newsletter (1953–1966, irregular)
  • Triomf. Jaarboek van die Suid-Afrikaanse Buro vir Rasse-aangeleenthede (1964–1967)
  • Jaarboek van die Suid-Afrikaanse Buro vir Rasse-Aangeleenthede (1967–1979)

Further publications by SABRA

  • South African Bureau of Racial Affairs: Die totstandkoming, ontwikkeling en toekomsplanne van SABRA [The creation, development and future plans of SABRA]. In: Journal of racial affairs, vol. 1 (1949) (1), pp. 3-6

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Padraig O'Malley: Historical Background: 1960 - Early Times . on www.nelsonmandela.org (English)
  2. ^ John Lazar: The Role of the South African Bureau of Racial Affairs (SABRA) in the Formulation of Apartheid Ideology, 1948-1961 . at www.sas-space.sas.ac.uk (English)
  3. ^ A b SAIRR : A Survey of Race Relations 1957-1958 . Johannesburg [1959], pp. 15-16
  4. ↑ Padraig O'Malley: South African Bureau for Racial Affairs (SABRA) . on www.nelsonmandela.org (English)
  5. ^ South African History Online : The national Chairman of SABRA warns of sour relations in the Union . on www.sahistory.org.za (English)
  6. ^ SAIRR: Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1980 . Johannesburg 1981, p. 607
  7. ^ SAIRR: A Survey of Race Relations 1957-1958 . P. 16. at www.nelsonmandela.org (English, PDF; 6.2 MB)
  8. ^ SAIRR: Survey 1958-1959 . 1960, p. 21
  9. ^ SAIRR: Survey 1954–1955 . 1955, p. 8
  10. ^ Saul Dubow : Afrikaner Nationalism, Apartheid, and the conceptualization of "Race" . University of the Witwatersrand, African Studies Institute. Johannesburg 1991. PDF document p. 25. online at www.wiredspace.wits.ac.za (English)
  11. ^ SAIRR: A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1955-1956 . Johannesburg 1957, p. 8, here PDF document p. 18
  12. ^ SAIRR: Survey 1957-1958 . 1958, p. 15
  13. ↑ Willem Adolf Landman: verbintenis met Universiteit Vista . on www.landmanwa.co.za (English)
  14. ↑ a b SAIRR: Survey 1964 . 1965, p. 19
  15. ↑ Shelag Gastrow: Who's who in South African Politics, Number 3 . Johannesburg 1990, p. 354
  16. ↑ Shelag Gastrow: Who's who in South African Politics, Number 4 . Johannesburg 1992, p. 18
  17. ↑ HeBIS: bibliographic evidence . at www.cbsopac.rz.uni-frankfurt.de
  18. ↑ Entry on www.catalogue.nla.gov.au
  19. ↑ Entry on www.worldcat.org
  20. ↑ Entry in the online catalog of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London (English)
  21. ↑ Entry on www.worldcat.org
  22. ^ Tom A. Moultrie: Racism and Reproduction: The Institutional Effects of Apartheid on the South African Fertility Decline . (XXIV IUSSP General Population Conference) Salvador , 2001