Tricameral Parliament

Last updated

Parliament of the Republic of South Africa
Coat of arms of the Parliament of South Africa 1932-2000.jpg
Type
Type
Houses House of Assembly (representation of "Whites"), House of Representatives (representation of "Coloureds") House of Delegates (representation of "Indians")
History
Established1984
Disbanded1994
Preceded by Parliament of South Africa
Succeeded by Parliament of South Africa
Elections
First-past-the-post
Last election
6 September 1989
Meeting place
Houses of Parliament
Cape Town
Cape Province, South Africa

The Tricameral Parliament, officially the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, was the legislature of South Africa between 1984 and 1994, established by the South African Constitution of 1983, which gave a limited political voice to the country's Coloured and Indian population groups. The majority African population group was however still excluded, their interests notionally represented in the governments of the black homelands, or "bantustans", of which they were formally citizens. As these institutions were largely politically impotent, its principal effect was to further entrench the political power of the White section of the South African population (or, more specifically, that of the ruling National Party, which in turn mainly drew its support from the Afrikaner community).

Contents

History

The Tricameral Parliament can trace its origin back to 1981, when the Senate was replaced with the President's Council (Afrikaans : Presidentsraad), which was an advisory body consisting of sixty nominated members from the White, Coloured, Indian, and Chinese [1] population groups.

Following a request by Prime Minister P.W. Botha, the President's Council presented a set of proposals in 1982 for constitutional and political reform. This proposal called for the implementation of "power sharing" between the White, Coloured, and Indian communities. The right wing of the NP was very unhappy about this proposal, and a group of its MPs, led by Dr. Andries Treurnicht, a cabinet minister and the leader of the NP in the Transvaal province, broke away to form the Conservative Party (CP) to fight for a return to apartheid in its original form.

However, Botha continued to be in favour of implementing the President's Council proposal, and, in 1983, the NP government introduced a new constitutional framework.

Referendum

To approve the proposed constitution, a referendum among White voters was held on 2 November 1983. Both the Progressive Federal Party (PFP), which objected to the exclusion of Blacks, as well as the CP, which objected to the participation of Coloureds and Indians, campaigned for a "No" vote. The conservative opposition to the reforms used banners with the text "Rhodesia voted yes – vote no!", reflecting on the transition to majority rule in Rhodesia. [2]

However, many PFP followers and parts of the anti-government English-language press supported the new constitution as "a step in the right direction". Consequently, the "Yes" vote won the referendum with 66.3% of the ballots cast. The proposed constitution was consequently enacted by parliament as the Republic of South Africa Constitution Act of 1983.

Opposition

The general election for the House of Representatives and House of Delegates in August 1984 ran into heavy opposition. The United Democratic Front (UDF) was formed by a number of (mainly pro-African National Congress) community organisations and trade unions to oppose and boycott these elections. Nevertheless, although the election boycott was widely supported, the new constitution did come into effect, and the general election was held.

The Indian and Coloured chambers of the Tricameral Parliament suffered from a crisis of credibility, with election boycotts leading to notoriously low turnouts (the 1984 elections achieved only a 16.2% turnout). [3] Elected officials in these houses were sometimes scorned for participating in the apartheid system. In 1987, Frederik van Zyl Slabbert, the leader of the opposition in the White chamber, quit parliamentary politics, as he saw it as increasingly irrelevant to South Africa's political future.

Structure

Chambers

The parliament had three separately elected chambers:

Under the original proposals, the White chamber was to be known as the "Assembly", while the Indian chamber was to be known as the "Chamber of Deputies". [4] The Senate was abolished with effect from 1981. [5]

Each of these three chambers had power over the "own affairs" (as it was termed) of the population group it represented, such as education, social welfare, housing, local government, arts, culture and recreation. [6]

"General affairs", such as defence, finance, foreign policy, justice, law and order, transport, commerce and industry, manpower, internal affairs, and agriculture required approval from all three chambers, after consideration by joint standing committees.

Leadership

The government was led by a State President. The office of Prime Minister was abolished, and its powers were de facto transferred to the State President, which was made an executive post with very broad executive powers. He was to be selected from among the members of the Tricameral Parliament by an 88-member electoral college composed of 50 Whites, 25 Coloureds and 13 Indians, each group chosen by its respective house in parliament, and held office for the parliament's duration—in practice, five years. The State President appointed a Cabinet of ministers who would be in charge of "general affairs" as well as Ministers' Councils for each of the three parliamentary chambers to manage their "own affairs".

Cases of disagreements between the three houses of Parliament on specific legislation would be resolved by the President's Council. It consisted of 60 members—20 members appointed by the House of Assembly, 10 by the House of Representatives, five by the House of Delegates and 25 directly by the State President.

Although ostensibly based on population figures, the numerical composition of the electoral college and the President's Council meant that the white chamber could not be outvoted by the other two chambers. Thus, the real power remained in white hands—and in practice, in the hands of Botha's National Party, which had a large majority in the white chamber. For all intents and purposes, Botha held nearly all governing power in the nation.

The constitution made no provision for the representation of Black South Africans. Botha's government stripped blacks of their South African citizenship and legally considered them citizens of the homelands, in which they were expected to exercise their political rights.

Location

The House of Assembly met in the Assembly chamber at the Houses of Parliament in Cape Town. The House of Representatives met in the former Senate chamber. The House of Delegates met in a new building across the road from the Houses of Parliament which also housed a chamber for joint sittings of the three houses of the Tricameral Parliament. [7]

As of 2020, the National Assembly met in the chamber built for joint sittings of the former Tricameral Parliament while the National Council of Provinces was housed in the old Senate chamber. The decor of the National Assembly chamber retained the theme incorporating wooden panels of tessellating sets of three triangles.

Dissolution

In 1994, ten years after the Tricameral Parliament was formed, one of the last pieces of legislation it passed was the Interim Constitution of 1993, which paved the way for the first non-racial elections that were held on 27 April of that year.

See also

Related Research Articles

Tricameralism is the practice of having three legislative or parliamentary chambers. It is contrasted with unicameralism and bicameralism, each of which is far more common.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">State President of South Africa</span> 1961–1994 head of state of South Africa

The State President of the Republic of South Africa was the head of state of South Africa from 1961 to 1994. The office was established when the country became a republic on 31 May 1961, albeit, outside the Commonwealth of Nations, and Queen Elizabeth II ceased to be Queen of South Africa. The position of Governor-General of South Africa was accordingly abolished. From 1961 to 1984, the post was largely ceremonial. After constitutional reforms enacted in 1983 and taking effect in 1984, the State President became an executive post, and its holder was both head of state and head of government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parliament of South Africa</span> Legislative body of South Africa

The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa is South Africa's legislature; under the present Constitution of South Africa, the bicameral Parliament comprises a National Assembly and a National Council of Provinces. The current twenty-seventh Parliament was first convened on 22 May 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">P. W. Botha</span> Leader of South Africa from 1978 to 1989

Pieter Willem Botha, was a South African politician. He served as the last prime minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and the first executive state president of South Africa from 1984 to 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Party (South Africa)</span> 1914–1997 political party known for implementing apartheid

The National Party, also known as the Nationalist Party, was a political party in South Africa from 1914 to 1997, which was responsible for the implementation of apartheid rule. The party was an Afrikaner ethnic nationalist party, which initially promoted the interests of Afrikaners but later became a stalwart promoter and enactor of white supremacy, for which it is best known. It first became the governing party of the country in 1924. It merged with its rival, the SAP, during the Great Depression, and a splinter faction became the official opposition during World War II and returned to power. With the National Party governing South Africa from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994, the country for the bulk of this time was only a de jure or partial democracy, as from 1958 onwards non-white people were barred from voting. In 1990 it began to style itself as simply a South African civic nationalist party, and after the fall of apartheid in 1994, attempted to become a moderate conservative one. The party's reputation was damaged irreparably by perpetrating apartheid, and it rebranded itself in 1997 before eventually dissolving.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conservative Party (South Africa)</span> 1982–2004 political party in South Africa

The Conservative Party of South Africa was a far-right South African political party that sought to preserve many aspects of apartheid in the system's final decade, and formed the official opposition in the white-only House of Assembly in the last seven years of minority rule. It declined quickly after apartheid ended, before being merged with the Freedom Front in 2004.

The Cabinet of South Africa is the most senior level of the executive branch of the Government of South Africa. It is made up of the president, the deputy president, and the ministers.

The Senate was the upper house of the Parliament of South Africa between 1910 and its abolition from 1 January 1981, and between 1994 and 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1981 South African general election</span>

General elections were held in South Africa on 29 April 1981. The National Party, under the leadership of P. W. Botha since 1978, lost some support, but achieved another landslide victory, winning 131 of 165 directly elected seats in the House of Assembly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1989 South African general election</span> Last election in South Africa under apartheid

General elections were held in South Africa on 6 September 1989, the last under apartheid. Snap elections had been called early by the recently elected head of the National Party (NP), F. W. de Klerk, who was in the process of replacing P. W. Botha as the country's president, and his expected program of reform to include further retreat from the policy of apartheid. The creation of the Conservative Party had realigned the NP as a moderate party, now almost certain to initiate negotiations with the black opposition, with liberal opposition openly seeking a new constitutional settlement on liberal democratic and federalist principles.

General elections were held in South Africa in August 1984 to elect Coloured and Indian representatives to their respective houses of the Tricameral Parliament. The Coloured elections for the House of Representatives took place on 22 August, and resulted in a victory for the Labour Party, headed by the Reverend Allan Hendrickse, which won 76 of the 80 seats. The Indian elections for the House of Delegates were held on 28 August and saw the National People's Party emerge as the largest party, winning 18 of the 40 seats. The Indian elections were opposed by the United Democratic Front and were marked by boycotts and protests. Despite the Prohibition of Political Interference Act of 1968 which banned mixed-race political parties, nine Indian members of Hendricke's Labour Party stood as independents, one of whom won a seat and subsequently joined the NPP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1983 South African constitutional referendum</span>

A referendum on a new constitution was held in South Africa on 2 November 1983 in which the white population was given the opportunity to approve or reject the Constitution of 1983. This constitution introduced the Tricameral Parliament, in which Coloured and Indian South Africans would be represented in separate parliamentary chambers, while black Africans, who were the majority of South Africa's population, would remain unrepresented. The referendum passed with 66.3% of voters voting "Yes"; consequently the new constitution came into force on 3 September 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Republic Party (South Africa)</span> 1977–1988 political party in South Africa

The New Republic Party (NRP) was a South African political party. It was formed as the successor to the disbanded United Party (UP) in 1977 and as a merger with the smaller Democratic Party. It drew its support mainly from the then Province of Natal, and tried to strike a moderate course between the apartheid policy of the ruling National Party (NP) and the liberal policies of the Progressive Federal Party (PFP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">House of Assembly (South Africa)</span> 1910–1994 house in the Parliament of South Africa

The House of Assembly was the lower house of the Parliament of South Africa from 1910 to 1981, the sole parliamentary chamber between 1981 and 1984, and latterly the white representative house of the Tricameral Parliament from 1984 to 1994, when it was replaced by the current National Assembly. Throughout its history, it was exclusively constituted of white members who were elected to office predominantly by white citizens, though until 1960 and 1970, respectively, some Black Africans and Coloureds in the Cape Province voted under a restricted form of suffrage.

Jan Christiaan "Chris" Heunis, DMS was a South African Afrikaner lawyer, politician, member of the National Party and cabinet minister in the governments of John Vorster and P. W. Botha.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South African Constitution of 1983</span>

The Constitution of 1983 was South Africa's third constitution. It replaced the republican constitution that had been adopted when South Africa became a republic in 1961 and was in force for ten years before it was superseded by the Interim Constitution on 27 April 1994, which in turn led to the current Constitution of South Africa, which has been in force since 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1984 South African presidential election</span>

The 1984 South African presidential election was the first to be held under the new South African Constitution of 1983, which abolished the office of Prime Minister and merged its powers into the position of State President, who was now both head of state and government. According to the new basic law, the State President was to be elected by an electoral college composed of members of the majority party in each of the chambers of the new tricameral parliament. As such, the electoral college was composed of 50 National Party members elected by the House of Assembly, 25 Labor Party members elected by the House of Representatives, and 13 members of the National People's Party elected by from the House of Delegates.

The 1989 South African presidential election resulted in the election of Frederik Willem de Klerk as State President.

Solidarity was a political party created in the lead-up to the 1984 South African general election, which determined the makeup of the first House of Delegates, the body within the Apartheid Tricameral Parliament reserved for Indian South Africans. It took its name from the Polish trade union.p. 40 Its first leader was JN Reddy, an influential banker and businessman with a number of company directorships. To be able to lead the party, Reddy relinquished some of his business interests. Another important party member was Pat Poovalingam, the chairman of weekly newspaper "The Graphic". Solidarity appealed more to South Africans with Southern Indian roots, while Amichand Rajbansi's National People's Party appealed more to those with a North Indian heritage.

Mario George Masher was a South African politician from the Western Cape. He represented the National Party (NP) in the National Assembly from 1994 to 1999, when he defected to the African National Congress (ANC). A teacher by profession, he formerly represented the Labour Party in the Tricameral Parliament. After joining the ANC, he was appointed South African Consul-General to Hong Kong and Macau.

References

  1. Yap, Melanie; Man, Dianne Leong; Yap, Dianne (13 April 1996). Colour, Confusion and Concessions: The History of the Chinese in South Africa. Hong Kong University Press. ISBN   9789622094246 via Google Books.
  2. Whose Kith and Kin Now?, Peter Godwin, Sunday Times , 25 March 1984
  3. Elections in South Africa African Elections Database
  4. South Africa and the Consociational Option: A Constitutional Analysis, Laurence Boulle, Juta, 1984, page 152
  5. South Africa: Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa, Department of Information, 1979, page 952
  6. https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/handle/11427/15830/thesis_hum_1989_behrens_gerd.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y [ bare URL PDF ]
  7. Race Relations Survey, South African Institute of Race Relations, page 130