South West African Legislative Assembly
The South West African Legislative Assembly (SWALA) was the representative body of the whites in the mandate of South West Africa .
prehistory
In the German colony of German South West Africa there was only an advisory representative body in the form of the Landesrat . German South West Africa was in accordance with the provisions of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles as a League of Nations mandate Southwest Africa the administration of South Africa has been transferred.
In the course of the subsequent "South Africanization" of South West Africa, around half of the 15,000 Germans still living there were expelled and their farms were handed over to South Africans. South Africa's policy, known as “de-Germanization”, only changed with the London Agreement of October 23, 1923, according to which the Germans remaining in the country were offered British citizenship and immigration from Germany and the expansion of the German language were strongly encouraged. 258 Germans refused British citizenship, 2873 German Namibians made use of the possibility of changing citizenship.
Founding of the South West African Legislative Assembly
In 1925 the South West Africa Constitution Act, No. 42 of 1925 passed by the Parliament of the Union of South Africa. This law was the legal basis for a legislative assembly (Legislative Assembly) and the Cabinet (Executive Committee) in South West Africa. The assembly consisted of 18 members. Twelve of these were elected in one-person constituencies and six were appointed by the South African administrator. Only white British nationals were eligible to vote. The large black majority population was excluded from the elections, as was the small minority of Germans who had refused British citizenship.
The powers of the parliament were limited. The most important tasks fell in the area of the Union government ( Pretoria ). These included national defense, rail, port, post and telegraph affairs, court affairs , immigration issues, customs and excise duties, banks and currency, as well as native affairs . The tasks in the area of police affairs, private air traffic, school affairs, land and agricultural banks as well as national defense initially lay with the Union. Three years after the establishment of the Legislative Assembly, it was able to apply for a transfer of these powers with a 2/3 majority. In the questions that were not within the competence of the Union, the Legislative Assembly was ordinances , that regulations enacted.
The royal right of every parliament was only rudimentarily given. If the Legislative Assembly rejected the administrator's draft budget , he could still put it into effect as a proclamation.
The government , the Executive Committee, consisted of the Administrator and four members who elected the Legislative Assembly from among their number.
The Advisory Council had an advisory role on questions in which the Union had legislative powers. It consisted of the Executive Committee and three other members appointed by the Administrator. Among them was an official from the native administration who was supposed to take into account the wishes of the local population.
The further development of the Legislative Assembly
As a result of the 1926 elections to the South West African Legislative Assembly, the population of German origin, which was organized in the German Confederation , gained a narrow majority. In the following years the conflict between the Germans and the Union supporters determined the policy of the mandate area. As a result of the global economic crisis and a long drought, the miserable economic situation forced Germans and supporters of the Union to come closer for a short time in 1932. On April 27, 1932, the Legislative Assembly unanimously adopted a bill that included the possible transfer of further powers from the Union to the Legislative Assembly under Section 27 of the Constitution.
In 1949 there was another amendment to the constitution. With the South West Africa Affairs Amendment Act , the status of the mandate area was adapted to that of the South African states as was justified by the mandate. This meant a significant expansion of self-government and democratization. The appointed MPs were dropped. As of the elections to the South West African Legislative Assembly in 1950 , all 18 MPs were elected. South West Africa received financial sovereignty. The Legislative Assembly could therefore also enact tax laws. The Legislative Assembly received new competencies in the areas of education, mining, land bank and settlement. The Advisory Council was abolished, and the administrator's right to issue proclamations was transferred to the Union Parliament (to which South West Africa sent six MPs and two senators).
The end of the Legislative Assembly
The effectiveness of the previous constitutional law of 1925 ended in 1968. In its place came the South West Africa Constitution Act 39 of 1968 . The mandate area finally became de facto part of South Africa. In 1966 the UN had withdrawn the mandate of South West Africa from the Republic of South Africa and two years later placed it under its own administration under the name Namibia de jure . This decision could not be effective. The elections to the South West African Legislative Assembly in 1966 were therefore the last election to the Legislative Assembly before it ceased its work in 1968.
See also
literature
- Martin Eberhardt: Between National Socialism and Apartheid: the German population group in South West Africa 1915-1965. 2007, dissertation, esp. Pp. 153–154 and 462–464, ISBN 978-3-8258-0225-7 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Legal Assistance Center: NAMLEX, index of the Laws of Namibia . Windhoek 2010, online at www.lac.org.na ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)
- ↑ Victor L. Tonchi, William A. Lindeke, John J. Grotpeter: Historical dictionary of Namibia. (= African historical dictionaries. No. 57). Metuchen 2012, ISBN 978-0-8108-5398-0 . (English)
- ^ Act 23 of 1949
