South African Party | |
|---|---|
| Founder | William Schreiner |
| Founded | 1896 |
| Merged into | South African Party |
| Ideology | Anti-imperialism Liberalism Free trade Non-racialism |
The South African Party was a political party in Cape Colony.
The party had its origins in the liberal tradition that arose in the western half of the Cape Colony in its early parliamentary history. In the 1890s, the liberal Afrikaans politician Jacobus W. Sauer led a "South African Political Association" in an attempt to unite the Cape's anti-imperialist opposition. [1]
As a formal party however, it was first founded by William Philip Schreiner, as a means of countering the aggressive imperialist policies of Cecil Rhodes.
The party's platform brought together many of the policies that dated back to the Molteno Ministry, the first elected government of the Cape Colony, such as an emphasis on locally driven development, anti-imperialism, free trade, compulsory education, peaceful relations with neighbouring states and an inclusive attitude to race relations. Supporters of such policies had frequently needed to align with the more extreme Afrikaner Bond in order to counter the powerful pro-imperialist Progressive Party, but the alliance was an uneasy one, as there were major differences with the Afrikaner nationalism of the Bond.
Under its leader John X. Merriman, the South African Party governed Cape Colony in a unity government with Afrikaner Bond from 1908 until the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910.
During the National Convention on Union, Merriman and other South African Party representatives fought to extend the Cape's multi-racial franchise system (whereby minor property and literacy suffrage qualifications applied equally to all male citizens, regardless of race) to the rest of South Africa, post-union. This failed, as it was strongly opposed by the other constituent states which were determined to preserve white rule.
In the Union parliament, the South African Party, the Afrikaner Bond, Het Volk of the Transvaal and Orangia Unie of the Orange Free State merged to form a new Union-wide South African Party.
After the merger, the policies of the larger Afrikaner parties came to predominate and the distinctiveness of the original South African Party was subsumed. The Afrikaner statesman, Louis Botha, formed and led the new government, while Merriman declined to accept a post in government.
| Election | Party leader | Seats | +/– | Position | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1904 | James Tennant Molteno | 42 / 95 | New |  2nd | Opposition |
| 1908 | John X. Merriman | 69 / 107 |  27 | 1st | Majority government |
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The Orange River Colony was the British colony created after Britain first occupied (1900) and then annexed (1902) the independent Orange Free State in the Second Boer War. The colony ceased to exist in 1910, when it was absorbed into the Union of South Africa as the Orange Free State Province.
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William Philip Schreiner was a South African barrister and politician who served as the eighth Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1898 to 1900, during the Second Boer War.
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Jacobus Wilhelmus ("J.W.") Sauer, was a prominent liberal politician of the Cape Colony. He served as Minister in multiple Cape governments, and was influential in several unsuccessful attempts to enshrine equal political rights for black South Africans in the constitution of the Union of South Africa. He was also a strong early supporter of women's rights and suffrage.
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The Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope functioned as the legislature of the Cape Colony, from its founding in 1853, until the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, when it was dissolved and the Parliament of South Africa was established. It consisted of the House of Assembly and the legislative council.
Sir James Rose Innes was the Chief Justice of South Africa from 1914 to 1927 and, in the view of many, its greatest ever judge. Before becoming a judge he was a member of the Cape Parliament, the Cape Colony's Attorney-General, and a prominent critic of Cecil John Rhodes. His grandson was Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, a prominent opponent of the Third Reich.
Sir James Sivewright K.C.M.G. was a businessman and politician of the Cape Colony. He was a strong political ally of Cecil Rhodes and, as his cabinet minister, was implicated in the "Logan" corruption scandal that led to the fall of the first Rhodes government.
The Eastern Province Separatist League was a loose political movement of the 19th century Cape Colony. It fought not for independence, but for a separate colony in the eastern half of the Cape Colony independent from the Cape government, with a more restrictive political system and an expansionist policy eastwards against the remaining independent Xhosa states. It was crushed in the 1870s, and many of its members later moved to the new pro-imperialist, Rhodesian “progressive party”.
The National Convention, also known as the Convention on the Closer Union of South Africa or the Closer Union Convention, was a constitutional convention held between 1908 and 1909 in Durban, Cape Town and Bloemfontein. The convention led to the adoption of the South Africa Act by the British Parliament and thus to the creation of the Union of South Africa. The four colonies of the area that would become South Africa - the Cape Colony, Natal Colony, the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal Colony - were represented at the convention, along with a delegation from Rhodesia. There were 33 delegates in total, with the Cape being represented by 12, the Transvaal eight, the Orange River five, Natal five, and Rhodesia three. The convention was held behind closed doors, in the fear that a public affair would lead delegates to refuse compromising on contentious areas of disagreement. All the delegates were white men, a third of them were farmers, ten were lawyers, and some were academics. Two-thirds had fought on either side of the Second Boer War.
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