South African Republic
The South African Republic (Dutch: Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, Afrikaans: Suid-Afrikaanse Republiek, Pedi: Repabliki ya Afrika-Borwa; also known as the Transvaal Republic or ZAR) was an independent state that lasted from 1852 until 1910, located in the region now part of the Union of South Africa. It was established by a group of Dutch-speaking settlers who migrated north from the British Cape Colony in the 1830s, in a movement known as the "Great Trek". After numerous conflicts with the British and native African states, a settlement was finally reached in 1852 known as the Sand River Treaty. This treaty recognized the independence of several Dutch-speaking states north of the Orange River, known as the Boer States. Four of these states (Zoutpansberg, Lydenburg, Pretoria, and Griqueland) united into the South African Republic in 1853, and later unified with the Orange State in 1861. There were a number of concessions made by the ZAR in the Sand River Treaty, which maintained the republic diplomatically and economically tied with Britain for the rest of their history.
South African Republic | |
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 Flag
 Coat of arms
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Motto: Eendragt maakt magt (Unity makes strength) | |
 Location of the ZAR with Africa, indicating the Protectorates of Swaziland and Lesotho | |
| Capital | Pretoria |
| Largest city | Johannesburg |
| Official languages | Dutch, Afrikaans |
| Other languages | English, Pedi, other Bantu languages |
| Ethnic groups (1910) |
75% Black 20% Coloured 15% White |
| Religion | Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa |
| Demonym(s) | South African |
| Government | Parliamentary republic |
| State President | |
• 1853-1873 | Marthinus Pretorius |
• 1873-1883 | Thomas Burgers |
• 1883-1903 | Paul Kruger |
• 1903-1910 | Marthinus Steyn |
| Commandant-General | |
• 1853-1860 | Marthinus Pretorius |
• 1860-1880 | Paul Kruger |
• 1880-1898 | Piet Joubert |
• 1898-1910 | Louis Botha |
| Legislature | Volksraad Parliament |
| House of Delegates | |
| House of Representatives | |
| Formation | |
• Great Trek | 1833 |
• Sand River Treaty | 1852 |
• Constitution ratified | 1853 |
• Anglo-Boer War | 1896-1899 |
• Union of South Africa | 1910 |
| Area | |
• Total | 1,500,000 km2 (580,000 sq mi) (TBD) |
• Water (%) | 2.23 |
| Population | |
• 1910 census | 7 million (TBD) |
• Density | 4.6/km2 (11.9/sq mi) (TBD) |
| Currency | South African Pound (£SA) |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (South African Standard Time) |
| Calling code | +2 |
| ISO 3166 code | ZAR |
Through a combination of mass immigration, wealth of natural resources, and alliances with native African kingdoms, the ZAR quickly expanded across the next few generations, becoming among the fastest growing industries of the late 19th century. After incorporating large sections of territory from Central Africa, the ZAR gained a great degree of respect from the Great Powers of Europe, particularly the leading theorists of imperialist anthropology. After this apex had passed, the ZAR faced an unavoidable conflict with Britain in the 1890s, prompted by English citizens in South Africa who wanted to see the Republic incorporated within the British Empire. While the ZAR was ultimately victorious, they faced a subsequent economic decline that they never fully recovered from.
Finally, in 1910 the Republic negotiated a new settlement where they agreed to fully unify with the British Cape Colony, while Britain conceded that the new union may choose to become an independent state. The resulting Union of South Africa continues to exist to this day, which later annexed Namibia after the First Great War.
History
Background
Dutch and British Rule
The Dutch Republic first colonized the Cape of Africa in 1652, during their height of colonial power known as the Dutch Golden Age. The Dutch had pushed out Portuguese control of the East Indies, and monopolized trade in the Indian ocean. Because of this, an outpost was established in Cape Colony to safely resupply ships traveling from Europe to Indonesia, commonly referred to as "the halfway house". The Dutch mostly used the Cape as a penal colony to deposit political or social dissidents, including a large number of French Huguenots.
With the attention of the Dutch fixed on their more valuable colonies in India and Indonesia, the needs and rights of Cape Colony often became neglected. As was the case with the vast majority of colonial domains, a chronic labor shortage in the colony was supplemented by the use of African and Indian slaves. When the Netherlands was conquered by Napoleon in the 1790s, the citizens of Cape Colony staged a revolt and renounced Dutch rule. The British, being at war with Napoleon, immediately acted to occupy most of the Dutch colonial empire, including the Cape. When the Kingdom of the Netherlands was established at the Congress of Vienna, it was decided to grant them most of the colonial empire previously owned by the Dutch Republic. However, the British kept hold of Cape Colony, on the grounds that the people no longer want to live under Dutch rule.
Great Trek
As Cape Colony was gradually settled and expanded under British rule, the Dutch-speaking population again grew dissatisfied. At this point, they were commonly referred to as "Boers", which derives from the Dutch word for peasant. The Boer culture was radically conservative and xenophobic, and they valued isolationism where they could maintain their language and religion undisturbed. Because of this, coexisting with British settlement of the Cape was increasingly untenable. The final straw was an edict passed by the British Parliament in 1832, which abolished slavery across the entire empire.
It was at that point that the Boers decided to withdraw from Cape Colony en masse, and establish a new nation for themselves deeply inland. This mass exodus into southern Africa is known as "the Great Trek", which developed in a number of waves from 1833-1836. Prior to the actual establishment of a new nation, the mass of Boer settlers were collectively known as "the Voortrekkers". The Voortrekkers worked to establish alliances and agreements with native African kingdoms, securing a suitable area to settle north of the Orange River now known as the State of Orange. This initial settlement was disorganized and divided into various clans.
Disagreements arose between the clans on their relationship with the British Cape Colony, causing many Boers to split off again. Those that remained near the Orange River still considered themselves British citizens, while those who left wanted to cut off from Britain entirely. The new Voortrekkers established the Republic of Natalia in 1838, the first proper predecessor to the Transvaal Republic. The first Volksraad elected Piet Retief as the first Commandant-General, who helped establish their capital and first settlements.
Attempted Republic of Natalia
Within months, the republic came into conflict with the Zulu Empire that currently claimed that region, who killed Piet Retief in a massacre. The British were concerned they may have to intervene into the conflict, but in December of that year the Boers decisively defeated the Zulus at the Battle of Blood River. Andreas Pretorius, who masterminded the battle, was elected by the Volksraad to succeed Piet Retief. In 1839, the Zulu prince Mpande offered an alliance with the Boers, if they helped him secure the throne over the empire. In January 1840, Mpande defeated the incumbent King Dingane at the Battle of Maqongpo, and succeeded him as Zulu emperor. The Zulus would remain the Boers strongest ally from that point onward, until the Zulus eventual annexation by the British in 1879.
In 1842, the British government in Cape Colony considered it necessary to exert direct control over the Boers, who they still considered to be British subjects. In October 1842, the Orange River settlements were proclaimed to be a British colony. In August the next year, the Natalia Republic was also annexed and made the Natal Colony. Andreas Pretorius retreated back to the Orange River region along with the survivors of his pro-independence faction, who along with the Volksraad in Bloemfontein resisted British Rule.
Independence Recognized
The governor of Cape Colony offered a compromise in 1848, allowing autonomous Boer rule in a government known as the Orange River Sovereignty. This was unacceptable by Pretorius and his faction, who staged a new revolt in August. After being defeated by the British, Pretorius and the Voortrekkers migrated north of the Vaal River. This new group of Voortrekkers established the new states that would later unify into the South African Republic.
Finally, in 1852 the British and Voortrekkers convened the Sand River Convention, where the complete independence of the ZAR was recognized in exchange for a number of concessions: first, that slavery in all forms was abolished, and the native Africans are treated fairly without antagonism; second, that British citizens have free access in the ZAR, and British criminals are extradited; third, that communication and diplomacy between Cape Colony and the ZAR remain free and open. This treaty marks the beginning of the republic's history, and set the precedent for their relationship with the British from that point onward.
Development
Constitutional Convention
At the time the Sand River Treaty was signed, the Boer states were divided into four different governments: Zoutpansberg, Lydenburg, Pretoria, and Griqueland. The other two Boer communities in Natal and Orange River were under British rule. It was already decided by popular demand that these four states would unify into the Transvaal Republic, prompting the constitutional convention in 1853. This convention established the first provisional parliament of the democracy, which met in the city of Potchefstroom until Pretoria finished construction. The convention also created the first standard currency as the South African Pound, which was backed by the real currency in the federal treasury. Finally, the constitutional convention organized the first federal military by combining the local militias from pre existing Voortrekkers.
Andreas Pretorius, the military hero of the Natalia Republic, died while the convention was being held. He selected his son, Marthinus Pretorius, to succeed him as Commandant-General of the federal military. As Marthinus was popular and considered to be a competent leader, the provisional Volksraad voted to recognize him as the State President, and accredit him a full five-year term from starting from the time of the Sand River Treaty. The four states jointly accepted the constitution late in 1853, and were immediately recognized as the first four districts of the republic. The provisional Volksraad continued until 1854, when the first election was held. As the city of Pretoria was completed that same year, the first elected Volksraad was also the first to be convened in the new capital.
Presidential Government
As soon as Marthinus Pretorius became President, he began implementing a series of reforms that marked the beginning of the republic's radical shift towards a modern nation-state. He abolished slavery, and took steps enforce prohibition of de-facto slavery. He affirmed the Boers' alliances with native African tribes, in particular the Zulu Empire under Mpande, seeing them as a valuable asset against more aggressive native states they rival against. He instituted a mass public education system, with the help of British educators and foreign missionaries, and encouraged proselytization of the Africans. This was the first steps of his assimilation policy towards the Native Question, which he not only put into writing but also enforced by action. The assimilation schools were given the same levels of education as the white men, antagonism and injustice against Africans was strictly punished, and any land or labor taken from Africans was always monetarily compensated. And finally, Pretorius enacted laws to encourage miscegenation and racial mixing.
In terms of infrastructure, Pretorius financed the first public road system to connect the major cities of the republic, and facilitate easier communication and travel between the neighboring British and Portuguese colonies. Rather than cutting off from the world, Pretorius pushed outward to establish good relations with the British Cape Colony. Pretorius also simplified the requirements of citizenship, and expanded urban infrastructure to accommodate more immigration. Marthinus' goal was to encourage more urban communities in order to shift from a purely agrarian economy to an industrial one.
President Pretorius had a number of motivating factors for this sudden shift of policy, outside of a sheer faith in the goodness of humanity. First, because the British had all but directly ordered these actions be taken in the Sand River Treaty, and violation of this treaty could very easily lead to a British intervention just like in Natalia. Second, because of the obvious impracticality of isolationism, which was incredibly counter productive for the growth and stability of a new state. And third, because the abolition of slavery and shift away from agrarian economy weakens the power of local burghers, and allows the federal government in Pretoria to become that much stronger.
Needless to say, several voices in the Volksraad began to raise criticism of these new laws. While political parties didn't exist in this early stage, it was clear that certain dividing lines were being drawn in reaction to these policies, and the radical conservatives critical of Pretorius would later become the founders of the National Party. In the mid 1850s, Marthinus' general popularity and reputation of his father kept the majority of the Volksraad to trust in his vision. In the election of 1856, however, it was becoming clear that Pretorius' popularity in the Volksraad was beginning to slip.
Marthinus' solution was to take advantage of the relative instability of the parliament verses the president. The parliament required a new government formed every year before making legislations, while the president remained in power continuously. So Pretorius adopted a policy known as a "Presidential government" where he assumed direct executive power as long as the Volksraad was not in session. In the short term, this system proved to be rather effective, and Pretorius' popularity surged just in time for his first proper election in 1857. By this point, both the military and middle class were seeing the effects of these policies rapidly improving the standards of living in the Transvaal, and this formed the largest base of Marthinus' supporters.
Early Military Encounters
Part of the criticism against Pretorius came from his organization of a professional, meritocratic military, which ran up against the traditional burgher system built on clan-based nepotism. The first few military engagements conducted by the ZAR essentially became a contest between the old and new systems, with the burghers constantly trying to prove themselves on the battlefield. The first test of this military came in 1854, when a group of settlers were massacred by a tribal state led by Mapela. This incident was crushed by a contingent of 300 men, and a retaliatory counter-attack decimated the tribe. In the aftermath of this encounter, President Pretorius conceded that a stronger hand against the natives was necessary. Furthermore, the economic reforms had immediately run into the same labor shortage that the Boers' ancestors had encountered before. So it was at this point that Pretorius introduced the apprentice system, where natives can be contracted, but they must be voluntary and properly compensated.
The second, and arguably more significant, test of the professional military came with the South African intervention in the Zululand Civil War. While King Mpande remained the strongest ally of the Boers, at this point he had grown weak and senile, and effective control over the empire had fallen in the hands of his two eldest sons: Mbuyazi and Cetshwayo. These two princes disputed which of them is the rightful heir apparent, and erupted into civil war in 1856. President Pretorius viewed an intervention was not only necessary to maintain their alliance, but demonstrated the significance of a larger, professional military. He dispatched Paul Kruger at the head of a force of 2,000 troops, consisting of both light infantry, light cavalry, and grenadiers. Starting from the fortress just south of Bethlehem, they maneuvered down the Tugela River on a series of barges.
The Battle of Ndondakusuka in December 1856 saw these troops support the 7,000 Zulu warriors on Mbuyazi's side, opposed by 20,000 Zulus supporting Cetshwayo. The battle ended inconclusively with both sides needing to withdraw, but crucially Mbuyazi survived to fight another day. In spring of 1857, Mbuyazi laid siege to the capital city of Ulundi with a larger force of 15,000 Zulus, now supported by the remaining 1,800 Boers. Cetshwayo was captured alive and executed, along with five younger sons of King Mpande. Indebted to the Boers for his throne just as much as his father was, Mbuyazi affirmed their alliance with the ZAR for the remainder of his career.
Foreign Diplomacy
In foreign diplomacy, the republic's first priority was their relations with the British in Cape Colony. Using the new road system, Pretorius' government established close contact with the Cape as their main conduit to the outside world, and they utilized this to hire technical contractors and educators. In 1858, the ZAR signed a new treaty with Britain that elevated their relation from mere recognition to a military alliance. From the British perspective, they wanted to keep the Transvaal Republic dependent on their support, and remain isolated from any potential rivals like France or America. However, the British had no way to prevent the ZAR from extending diplomacy with Portugal, whose colony of Mozambique was right next door. As the new road system was constructed, a new highway was added to connect Lydenburg to Portuguese Maputo.
In 1854, the Orange River Sovereignty established in 1848 came to an end, and the Boer state was released as a new republic known as the Orange Free State. The Transvaal Republic immediately recognized this independence, and extended peaceful relations to their brethren in the south. Between this peaceful reunion and their mutual cultural heritage, it was immediately clear that the Orange Free State would at some point join the Transvaal as their fifth district, making their position even stronger. But for the time being, the transition to union had to be a slow one. In 1855, the Orange Free State agreed to an economic and diplomatic union, which required them to adopt the South African Pound and nullify their border with the ZAR. Immediately after Marthinus was re-elected in 1857, he negotiated a new settlement with the Orange Free State to form a military confederacy.
Expansion
After the election of 1859, President Pretorius decided to relax his internal reforms and focus on expanding the republic outward. In January 1860, he abdicated the position as Commandant-General, and appointed Paul Kruger to be his successor. The Volksraad approved this appointment in April, seeing Kruger had proven himself as a capable military leader.
Throughout the 1860s, the ZAR experienced an unprecedented economic growth, attracting a wave of immigration that contributed to a population boom. Gold was struck in Witwatersrand in 1860, and diamonds were discovered in Kimberley in 1867. By the end of the 1860s, the ZAR had become one of the fastest-growing industries in the world, and the government sustained a vast surplus of revenue that was helping to expand the military, roads and infrastructure. The South African Pound replaced ivory as the main source of currency in the nation, and the population in cities was starting to surpass that of rural communities. In the west, the frontiers of the republic were constantly spreading outward in the 1860s, as new settlers and new immigrants claimed territory within the region now known as the state of Bechuanaland.
Pedi and Swazi Conflicts
The next priority of Transvaal's military expansion was against the Pedi Kingdom. Sekukuni succeeded his father Sekwati as ruler of Pediland, which continued to exist as an unincorporated enclave within the claimed borders of the ZAR. While the Boers had attempted negotiations with the Pedi king on several occasions, it was clear that the new ruler sought to challenge the borders of the republic, which made him a threat to their existence. In 1859, a campaign of 1,500 men enclosed against the Pedi capital on three fronts, using the professional army that was recently completed. The ZAR also extended a temporary alliance with King Mzilikazi of the Matabeleland Kingdom, a traditional enemy of Pediland, who supplied additional forces in order to extinguish their old rival. Sekukuni resisted the Boers viciously, but ultimately saw his kingdom dismantled. Even through subsequent decades of assimilation, the Pedi people remained the most prominent Bantu group in the Transvaal for the rest of the republic's history.
The next military intervention by the ZAR was at the behest of their ally Zululand, who had designs against the neighboring kingdom of Swaziland. For the purpose of expanding the power of a friendly nation, and to neutralize a potential threat to the east, the ZAR occupied the Swazi kingdom with 1,000 men, and secured the state as a vassal of the Zulu Empire. In exchange, the Zulus agreed for the ZAR to share in the tribute and economic concessions of Swaziland's vassalization, and allowed the Boers free access into the kingdom. This effective neutralization of Swaziland would be a contributing factor for their future annexation.
Annexation of the Orange Free State
Having seen the Transvaal Republic so handily suppress the Pedi threat, the Orange Free State began opening negotiations for their annexation into the ZAR. The Kingdom of Lesotho had recently dealt the Orange State a humiliating defeat, so the Transvaal military offered a better form of protection. However, Paul Kruger expressed his concern that a united Boer nation, while beneficial for them, might be seen as a threat to Cape Colony, and could provoke a British response. Indeed, in early 1861 the Commissioner of Cape Colony sent a telegram attempting to dissuade the union, claiming that the Orange Free State was beholden to the British Empire in a way that the Transvaal wouldn't accept. However, in the end Britain had no authority of arbitration between the two states, and in July 1861 Orange became the fifth district added to the republic.
As it would turn out, this annexation resulted in making the Transvaal Republic far more unstable. The six new delegates in the Volksraad were dissatisfied by Pretorius' liberal reforms, and particularly critical of his heavy-handed use of the Presidential Government. The year 1862 saw an increasing amount of deadlock between the President and Parliament, which culminated in the constitutional crisis. The Orange delegates sympathized with the Burgher elites who represented the nationalist opinion at the time, as they both saw the rapid urbanization and foreign immigrants as a threat to their power and way of life. The apprentice system, which was the only advantage of the Burghers at this point, was also becoming increasingly restricted as Pretorius sought to close up loopholes in the law.
The final straw came in July 1862, when Pretorius was making preparations for opening voting rights for colored people. At that point, the Volksraad and Burghers became fully allied, and decided that Pretorius must be removed. However, as his five-year term had almost expired, they focused instead on a negative campaign against his reputation. Stephanus Schoeman, most vocal of the Burghers, was chosen to be Pretorius' opposing candidate. Unfortunately, the Burghers had drastically underestimated Pretorius' popularity, and he swept the election for the second time.
Constitutional Crisis and Civil War
Immediately after the election, the Volksraad called an emergency special meeting, and overwhelmingly voted for Pretorius' dismissal. The President refused to acknowledge this, as no special meetings were authorized in the constitution, and the new Volksraad had not officially formed a new government yet. But now knowing their intention, Pretorius responded by declaring the Volksraad to be dismissed and called for a new election, sparking the constitutional crisis. The Parliament, considering Pretorius to be an ex-President, treated this response as an act of treason, and called for his arrest. While the military was officially in favor of Parliament, Paul Kruger managed to raise a sizable force to Pretorius' support, and the entire faction withdrew from the capital back to Potchefstroom.
The next couple of months saw a number of skirmishes between the two sides, but for the most part the civil war was a standoff between the two rival capitals. Finally, in March 1863 Marthinus approached the Volksraad with a new compromise: he agreed to pull back on his liberal reforms in a number of areas, particularly the colored vote and the apprentice system, and agreed to end the Presidential Government to grant Parliament more direct power over legislation. In exchange, the Volksraad withdraws their dismissal. While this compromise was not universally accepted, it was enough to sway the moderates back into his fold, putting the nationalists back into the minority. It was also believed, with an increased power of parliament, they would have a better check over his future plans.
As the agreement was accepted, the President returned back to Pretoria as a reunified government, and Stephanus Schoeman was asked to step down. However, at this point the Burghers were determined to refuse any compromise, and Schoeman organized a rebel army to assault the capital, initiating the civil war in full. While Schoeman now had no legal legitimacy, he did have a sizable military support. The Burghers now felt that federal government had failed to uphold the ideals of the republic, and a revolution was the only chance they had to maintain their way of life.
The next series of battles throughout 1863 highlighted the differences of military organization between the two sides, as well as the differences of popular support. The federal military represented the new professional system based on merit, while the Burghers represented the old clan system based on blood. Among the common people, the older generation of Boers tended to support the Burghers, while the younger generation and immigrant families supported the government. In January 1864, the Battle of Crocodile River was a decisive victory for the government, finally breaking the power of the Burghers and forcing them into retreat. At that point, popular support severely turned against the conservative elites, and in April 1864 the Burghers were officially declared to be enemies of the state. Stephanus Schoeman himself attempted to escape to Cape Colony, but after his capture he was sentenced to be exiled.
In the aftermath of the civil war, Marthinus Pretorius found his presidential powers limited but his popular support larger than ever. With the expanded powers of parliament, the surviving supporters of the Burghers organized themselves into South Africa's first political party, the National Party, founded in June 1864. While outright support of the Burghers was now illegal, they still sought to represent the national interests of the Boer people, and they managed to maintain a far-right position without becoming ultra-conservative. Pretorius responded by founding his own party the same year, known as the South African Party.
The breaking of the Burgher power enabled the general population to explore a far more liberal approach to society than was ever possible before. The federal military likewise reached a new peak at this time, amounting to 25,000 men. The Burgher system had been purged out of the military officially, and nepotism was henceforth banned by law, although it would persist in practice for many years anyway. In terms of infrastructure, all the fighting was limited to rural areas and did not cause any significant damage to the nation, nor did it put a dent in the nation's GDP.
Southwestern Expansion
In 1865, the Orange governor Johannes Brand requested for the Volksraad to intervene against the Kingdom of Lesotho. The constitutional crisis had delayed the Transvaal from intervening on the southwestern border, and the subsequent actions of King Moshoeshoe continued to pose a threat to the Orange District. John Fick was put in charge of a campaign of 2,000 troops to occupy the Lesotho Kingdom, known by historians as the Seqiti War. Within months, kingdom was entirely occupied and the capital city of Thaba Bosiu was captured. Moshoeshoe attempted to appeal to the British for protection, but the Boers had acted too quickly for the British to fully respond. Nonetheless, Cape Colony did demand that the ZAR should keep the Lesotho Kingdom in tact, and cannot annex it directly. Not wanting to put the British to the test, the Volksraad relented and re-organized Lesotho as a protectorate state.
In 1869, the Volksraad officially annexed a section of territory north of the Orange River and west of the Vaal, which would later become the district of Bechuanaland. This was more formally recognizing the Boer and English settlements that had been expanding in that region over the last ten years, who were considered ZAR citizens by law. Now living within an incorporated federal territory, the native Tswana people were now subject to the same assimilation policies that had been applied to the Bantu people of South Africa. The missionary John Mackenzie was employed to organize the first schools of the new territory, just as David Livingston did for South Africa. Bechuanaland was elevated to become the sixth district of the republic in 1872.
Portuguese Relations
By 1867, the reputation of the Transvaal Republic began to impress many notable figures in the western world, and began to view their success as a prototypical civilized state in an uncivilized environment. Due to the British attempts to keep them isolated, however, only one nation was able to independently reach out to the republic: Portugal. Starting in 1864, the Gaza Empire under King Gungunhana was lodged within the claimed territory of Mozambique, and also prosed a threat to the frontier of the Transvaal. So in 1867, the ZAR signed a military alliance with the Kingdom of Portugal, and organized a two-sided campaign to utterly dismantle the Gaza Empire.
While this resulted with South Africa occupying the southern coast of Mozambique, Portugal was more than grateful for the assistance on their colonial front. The Portuguese government a this time was largely bankrupt, facing insurmountable deficit that was forcing them to severely downsize their military. With the vast supply of surplus wealth in South Africa, the Transvaal government was willing to bail out the Portuguese in exchange for buying the city of Maputo.
As one could expect, the prospect of this sale terrified the British: the Transvaal was already rapidly becoming a regional power rivaling Cape Colony, and accessing a coast would give them even more leverage. The British attempted to dissuade Portugal from this sale by offering their own bailout, namely a loan from the Bank of England. However, while the Boers offered less money their deal was far more shrewd, because it was presented as immediate cash instead of a loan. While the land purchased from Mozambique technically fell under the control of Lydenburg district, the city of Maputo itself became a federal territory, and remained as such until 1899.
Transformation
Foreign Diplomacy
Twenty years since the beginning of the republic, the new generation helped transform the nation's influence from an isolated region to the world stage. After purchasing the port of Maputo, the South African Republic now had the liberty to conduct diplomacy with any major nation, without having to go through the British or Portuguese. Their first priority was starting diplomacy with the Second French Empire, with whom they signed a treaty of diplomatic and military alliance in 1869. The ZAR felt that the French was a "natural enemy" of Britain, so allying with them could provide a proper counter-balance should Britain ever move against them. It also did not pose any risk as France had no colonial interests in South Africa.
Their next priority was the Kingdom of the Netherlands, whose Dutch-speaking population were perceived as "long-lost brethren". The Netherlands were willing to provide technical contractors and educators, which was satisfactory to the National Party who wanted to maintain the education system in the Dutch language. In the early 1870s, similar diplomatic missions were also extended to the German Empire, the Kingdom of Spain, the Kingdom of Belgium, and the United Commonwealth.
In 1872, King Mpande died and was succeeded by his son, Mbyuzi, who was crowned as the fourth monarch of the Zulu Empire. Mpande's death was initially kept secret for a few months, in order to silence any threats to Mbyuzi's power. The Volksraad offered their condolences for the man who was so helpful to the Voortrekkers, and confirmed a cordial relationship with the new administration. Mbyuzi responded graciously to this diplomacy, and offered to settle any disputed territory in favor of the Boers. This should not be oversimplified to think that Mbyuzi was merely a puppet of he ZAR. Rather, this humble submission ensured his kingdom remained fully independent, which could not be said for the other states around him at this point.
Burgers Presidency
In March 1872, Marthinus Pretorius announced he intended to retire from politics, and will not run for re-election. The election of 1872 was a race between Thomas Burgers, nominated by the South African Party, and Johannes Brand from the National Party. Paul Kruger was also rather popular and the spiritual successor of Pretorius, but he was barred from running due to already holding office as Commandant-General. As such, Kruger donated his support towards Burgers' campaign. William Robinson, a naturalized British citizen, ran as a third party candidate on an independent ticket. The final tally saw Burgers win the election with 68% of the vote, followed by Brand with 31%.
Thomas Burgers was considered to be a visionary, and he foresaw the South African Republic transitioning into an industrial power comparable with Europe and America. He fulfilled on this promise, but it was only made possible by the earlier economic reforms by Pretorius. He established the first state university in Pretoria in 1872, and funded another university in Bloemfontein the next year (now called Burgers University). He upgraded the highway system spanning across the republic, but he also supplemented this with the first railroads. The Netherlands-South Africa Railroad Company was founded in 1873, and by 1880 it had connected lines all the way from Maputo to Bloemfontein. He established the first national telegraph service, and laid down telegraph cables as far as the public roads went. On top of all this, he also funded the expansion of major cities and factories, further limiting the rural communities.
Thomas Burgers main priority, however, was modernization of the military. The professional, merit-based system of Pretorius was a revolutionary shift from the Burghers, and thus far was adequate to secure victories against native African kingdoms. However, when compared to other western militaries, the Boers were still woefully undisciplined, under-equipped, and outdated. For example, the infantry still used muzzle-loaded rifles, and the "artillery" division did not possess a single cannon.
Burgers turned to the United Commonwealth, and hired a number of veterans of the American Contingency War to reconstruct the South African military from the ground up. This succeeded to train the military in modern discipline and chain of command, and supplied the army with American-made Winchester rifles, Colt revolvers and Gatling guns. Burgers replaced the Gatling guns with German-made Krupp guns, where he also purchased European field cannons. Standard uniforms were added in the early 1880s. For the navy, Burgers again reached out to the Commonwealth to purchase excess steam ships used in the Civil War, but now no longer of any use.
First Civil Rights Movement
The white population were not the only people benefiting from this transformation. After being educated and assimilated in white culture, the new generation of African natives were beginning to become more organized and more visible in society. Many Africans imported their knowledge back to their native tribe, helping them to become more settled and improve their standard of living. More significantly, however, is that Africans began mass-migrating into urban centers, and provided a cheap source of labor for the growing factories. The black urban culture created a blend of their various native identities, expressed in a synthesized genre of art and music. This new African identity is what set the stage for the first civil rights movement.
Within the white population, the younger generation was embracing ideas far more liberal than the republic's founders. At this point, a large portion of the population was not even related to the Voortrekkers, but were instead immigrant families from Europe or Asia. For those who were descended from the Voortrekkers, they now grew up in an environment filled with ethnic diversity, urban culture and public education, allowing them to adopt a much broader worldview. As famously said in Louis Botha's memoirs, "one could walk down the street in Johannesburg and hear five different tongues, two of which are Caucasian and three Hamitic".
With the increased organization and visibility of the black population, their ongoing disenfranchisement presented a paradox in public discourse. The ideals of the Transvaal republic were founded on liberty and freedom, which they secured from the British, but this freedom was not enjoyed by all people. Despite the efforts of the first civil rights movement, the concept of granting rights to the black population was far too liberal for anyone to take seriously at this time. However, it did find a revolutionary success when the Volksraad granted citizenship to colored (i.e. mixed race) population in 1877, after several years of different negotiations and compromises. The success of this act panicked the National Party, who feared this new voting block could push them out of the Volksraad completely. So in 1878 they put forward a new bill granting votes for women, securing the vote of white women in their favor.
British Conquest of Zululand
In 1875, Governor Henry Frere of Cape Colony laid out a plan for uniting the British colonies of Africa into a Confederacy, imitating the confederacy of Canada. He reached out to the South African Republic to join in this confederacy, but they graciously refused. The ZAR felt that any concessions granted to Britain, outside of the Sand River Treaty, would end up being a prelude to annexation. In 1877, Theophilus Shepstone of Natal proposed a secret plan to Frere, whereby Britain could invade and annex the Transvaal by force. While Frere seriously considered the plan, he ultimately dismissed it, as a conquest of Zululand would prove much more profitable. Besides, by eliminating the Boers' closest ally it could make a future campaign against Transvaal that much easier.
In December 1878, Governor Frere submitted a surprise ultimatum against King Mbyuzi, essentially demanding his surrender as a colony. As Mbyuzi refused, this ignited the Anglo-Zulu War that lasted until July 1879. In January 1879, President Burgers inquired the Volksraad on what should be done about the apparent conflict. The Volksraad concluded that they would be unlikely to sustain a long-term war with the British, and even if they won it would put them in a bad position to become their enemy. So the Transvaal Republic announced an effective termination of their alliance with Zululand, much to the dismay of Mbyuzi. After the fall of Ulundi, Mbyuzi was treated well as a monarch without a kingdom, until he died in 1882. He was succeeded by his half-brother Shingana, the direct ancestor of the current royal claimant Africa Zulu.
Although the Transvaal Republic was officially neutral in the Anglo-Zulu War, they did have an obligation to secure their economic interests, namely their investment into the tribute of Swaziland. So in March 1879, the ZAR dispatched a force of 1,100 troops that occupied the Kingdom of Swaziland, simultaneous to the British occupation of Zululand. In June, the Volksraad transferred Swaziland from its former vassalage into a full protectorate of the republic. In 1882, this protectorate was also recognized by the British government.
Scramble for Africa
The 1880s was the peak of ZAR's economic and demographic growth. The railroads and urban development in the last ten years facilitated the start of the industrial revolution, allowing the South African Republic to become the most modern independent state on the continent. Johannesburg at this time grew to become one of the largest cities in southern Africa, overtaking both Pretoria and Cape Town. The South African Pound became such a ubiquitous currency that it became standard in the federal treasury. With much more of the economy based on industry instead of agriculture, the apprentice system created by Pretorius slowly feel out of use. However, this did not mean that South Africa had resolved their social issues, but in fact the old Native Question was now augmented with a new debate over wealth inequality and workers' rights.
Another issue that arose in the 1880s over Indian immigrants. For a long time, Asiatic immigrants lived in a quasi-state in South Africa, since the constitution only allowed people of white descent to become citizens. While very few had issues with immigration reform, neither party wanted to open citizenship to all races, as that would exasperate the Native Question. So the final compromise in 1884 was to allow citizenship to a specific list of Asiatic ethnicities, defined as "Chinese, Arabs, Malays, and Turks". The limited rights and segregation of Indian communities would continue to be a point of contention into the early 20th century.
Kruger Presidency
Paul Kruger resigned his position as Commandant-General in 1880. President Burgers replaced him with Piet Joubert, a capable military leader who had gained popularity during the recent occupation of Swaziland. For Kruger, this was preparation of a new political career, as he was already planning to run for president in the next election. In 1882, Burgers health had declined rapidly, and it was clear he was not going to run for a third term. Kruger swept the following election, becoming the third State President of the republic. Thomas Burgers died within months of the inauguration, having won the admiration of a nation he was not born into.
Kruger was much more conservative than the previous two administrations, and he worked to pull back from the liberal reforms of Pretorius. This was not only to win back support of the Nationalists, but also for the benefit of the rural Boer communities who by now were feeling slighted by the city-dwelling industrialists. Kruger's first term of office also saw political fractionalization in the republic. The demographic shift from mass immigration coupled with an industrialized economy saw two new political parties form, representing the interests of newly-developing social classes. First was the Labour Party, representing the interests of industrial workers, and second was the Progressive Party representing interests of British immigrants. Kruger had a dim view of both movements, particularly the Progressivists who he felt was an encroachment of British influence.
Exploration of Zimbabwe
With little attention taken to domestic affairs, Kruger's main focus was expanding the republic outward, particularly for the purpose of gaining respect among the colonial powers. Since the early days of the republic, the Boers had maintained friendly relations with the Matabelaland Kingdom, and became officially allies in 1861. King Lobengula succeeded his father Mzilikazi in 1868, but had much the same opinion of the Transvaal. Many Boer settlements were already established across the Limpopo river into Zimbabwe, but up until now the ZAR had done little to enforce any claim. While Kruger was not considering to betray an old ally, he felt that it was necessary to assert direct control in Matabelaland in order to protect it from colonists. At this time, the diamond magnate Cecil Rhodes was already voicing his intention to establish a British colony in Central Africa, spanning between the Transvaal Republic and Lake Tanganyika. The Kingdom of Portugal also had ambitions in the region, sending expeditions along the Zambezi River and northern Zimbabwe. Finally, the region was also plagued by Swahili and Arab slave-hunters, who were working to extend the slave trade towards the Congo.
In 1883, an expedition was sent to Matabelaland consisting of Piet Grobler and the missionary John Moffat. Moffat was instrumental for this negotiation, as he was born in the region to the previous missionary Robert Moffat. After two months of negotiations, King Lobengula signed a treaty placing his kingdom under protection of the ZAR, and allowing free settlement of Boers in his territory. The British High Commissioner Hercules Robinson made numerous attempts to dissuade Lobengula from signing this treaty, but ultimately Moffat and Grobler were able to demonstrate the Boers were more trustworthy than the British. Subsequent to the Moffat Treaty, Kruger sponsored further expeditions to chart the Zimbabwe region, opening communication with Ndebele and Shona tribes. Grobler was keen to ensure this treaty was upheld to the letter: in 1884 numerous raids by Arab slave drivers were repelled by an expeditionary force of 450 Boers.
Berlin Conference
In 1885, the pressure of increased European presence on the continent prompted the German Empire to call the Berlin Conference. This conference was one of the first, and most significant diplomacies that settled the official political borders of colonial Africa. The Transvaal Republic was one of two non-European nations invited to the conference, and the only nation native to Africa. The inclusion of the ZAR was partly out of pragmatic realism, as the Boers now commanded such political and military influence on the continent that future colonization in the region would require their cooperation. Another reason is because of Germany's close relation with the ZAR specifically, as they opened diplomacy to counterbalance against France and Britain.
The outcome of the conference settled the border between the Bechuanaland district and the German colony of Southwest Africa, now known as the state of Namibia. The situation in Zimbabwe, however, caused great contention between President Kruger and Cecil Rhodes. All delegates at the conference affirmed that Zimbabwe was, both legally and ethically, best annexed as a territory of the ZAR. But using his excess of personal wealth, Rhodes managed to bribe or occasionally blackmail the British commissioners of southern Africa in his favor, putting pressure on the British delegation to dispute this claim. In the end, a compromise was reached where Zimbabwe was annexed to the ZAR, but recognized as a "trustee territory" in which the Rhodes-controlled British South African Company can freely operate. This settlement was officially settled in the Anglo-Transvaal Bilateral Treaty of 1886.
In the aftermath of this agreement, a new wave of both Boer and British settlers poured in throughout the new territory. There was initially talk of a "second 'Rand" in memory of the Witwatersrand Gold Rush, but the talk of wealth turned out to be an exaggeration. President Kruger employed a private police force in 1887 to maintain order, stationed both in and around the capital of Matabelaland. By 1889, the largest kingdoms of Zimbabwe had been mostly squeezed out of any de facto power, although King Lobengula still commanded a significant army.
As for Cecil Rhodes, he was granted a charter in 1889 to settle a colony along the Zambezi Region north of Zimbabwe, now known as the Republic of Zambia. He obtained the land rights for this charter in 1890 from the Lochner Concession, when the British South African Company took effective control of the Kingdom of Barotseland. However, this was just a staging area as his real goal was to take control of the Misri Kingdom in Katanga. Rhodes failed to obtain this, as the Katanga region ultimately fell under the control of Belgium in 1892. After Rhodes' death in 1902, the now-bankrupt BSAC sold their charter to the Kingdom of Portugal.
Conflict with Britain
Union with the Cape
The Anglo-Boer War left a devastating impact on the nation, which the South African Republic never fully recovered from. The Volksraad directed efforts towards a gradual reconstruction of the affected cities, railroads and ports. Unfortunately, the national GDP took a sharp decline in the early years of the 20th century, causing federal revenue to become severely limited. Most of the conflict took place near the gold and diamond mines of the western territory, destroying much of the industrial infrastructure in the region. It would take a long time for these areas to rebuild, and in the meantime unemployment rose to an all-time high. These compounding factors limited the budget the government could use on reconstruction, which prolonged recovery even further. In order to save money, the federal government reduced bureaucracy by ceding federal territory to the district governments. Most notably, the port city of Maputo was ceded to the Lydenburg District. Marthinus Pretorius, the former first President of the South African Republic, died in 1901. He was given one of the few state funerals administered by the Volksraad. This funeral was largely viewed as a commemoration for the survival of the republic, in the face of British imperialism, but for others it marked the impending end of an era.
Economic Recession
In 1902, Paul Kruger announced his retirement from politics on account of poor health, and did not run for another election. While Kruger was generally popular for his leadership in the war, his conservative beliefs were becoming outdated in a rapidly-changing society. Marthinus Steyn of the South African Party won the election in November, being the fourth and last president of the South African Republic. Steyn believed in a more lax approach to administration, and largely permitted the Volksraad to direct their own policy. Steyn was also secretly suffering from muscular degeneration at this time, which forced him to stay out of public view.
The government at this time attempted multiple avenues to alleviate the economic slump. The Native Act of 1904 limited Asiatic immigrants, especially from India and China. While the Indian community of South Africa was already substantial, the flood of cheap foreign labor was perceived as a threat to both the white and African population, as it undercut their wages. Thus, the nativist reaction by the government was supported by both the National Party and the Labour Party, along with some wings of the South African Party. This and subsequent acts against Indians were protested by a number of Indian activists, particularly Mahatma Gandhi, until they were reversed in the 1920s.
As the Labour Party was rapidly gaining seats in the Volksraad, the standing government felt pressure to finally institute major social reforms for the protection of lower classes, starting with the Welfare Act of 1905. This was also prompted by more intense activism by the working class, culminating in the General Strike of 1904. While this did not directly impact the economic recovery, it did succeed in revitalizing the national spirit and gave a general sense of optimism for the labor force. It also gave a justification for the government to raise taxes, which increased the budget for urban reconstruction. When these new taxes were still insufficient for reconstruction, the Volksraad took out substantial loans from the United Commonwealth.
When the Bambatha Rebellion erupted in 1906, the Volksraad made some covert effort to support the Zulu people, as an old traditional ally of the Voortrekkers, which was ultimately unsuccessful.
Union Ratified
By 1907, a popular movement was spreading that pushed for the unification of the British Cape Colony and Transvaal into a single nation. This was largely the result of generations of cultural assimilation and education in the ZAR, which fostered an overarching South African national identity that transcended both the Boers and British. This nationalist movement worked both ways, however, as the Dutch-speaking population under British rule also yearned for reunification with their northern brethren. Despite the Transvaal's efforts to remain independent for so many years, the current economic decline and mounting national debt saw the benefits of unification outweighing the cost. So in 1907, the Volksraad opened negotiations for forming the Union of South Africa. Initially, the government of Cape Colony expected the union to become a British dominion akin to Canada and Australia, which recognized the British monarch as head of state. This initial proposal, however, was unacceptable for the ZAR, so negotiations soon became stalled. Jan Smuts, the current Minister of Industry, stepped in to bridge the gap.
After much more time spent on negotiations, the South African Republic finally agreed to unify with Cape Colony as a British dominion. However, in exchange the new nation will hold a referendum the following year, to decide whether to remain a constitutional monarchy or return to a republic. The National Convention of 1909 drew up a new constitution, and in 1910 the new Union of South Africa was formed as a unification of Cape Colony, Natal, and the ZAR. The seven districts of the ZAR were now elevated to statehood, in addition to the two British colonies which were also incorporated states: Cape and Zulu-Natal. In the South African Referendum of 1911, the short-lived dominion was dissolved, and the Union of South Africa was recognized as a parliamentary democracy. In 1912, the first general election selected Louis Botha as the first president of the union.
Second Civil Rights Movement
The new nationalist movement that unified South Africa had an affect of spurring the Africans to promote their own national identity. In the same general election of 1912, the African National Congress was established as the first modern political organization of native Africans. The ANC comprised middle class representatives across every tribe and ethnicity living in the nation, all of which now were well-educated in both Dutch and English. The decades of assimilation policy from the South African Republic fostered a new generation of natives who now possessed a level of education and resources on par with their white counterparts. However, this assimilation of culture still stood in contrast with the nation's limited political franchise, which prompted the ANC to lead the Second Civil Rights Movement of the 1910s.
The protectorate states of Lesotho and Swaziland were transferred as protectorates of the new union. However, by this point these protectorates were essentially territories in all but name. In the decades since their subjugation by the ZAR, the two states had all their internal and external foreign policy devolved, the military banned, and the king merely kept as a figurehead. In the wake of the second civil rights movement, the Pan-African nationalism championed by the ANC was felt in these territories as well, and the natives living there envied the comparative wealth and higher standard of living in the rest of the union. So upon the formation of the Union of South Africa, the local governments of Lesotho and Swaziland also petitioned to join as new states. The parliament, initially, refused this request. As the natives were becoming more organized and influential, the government could tell that the days of white rule over Africa were numbered. The incorporation of two new states, consisting entirely of black population, would do nothing but exasperate the problem.
The first major success of the second civil rights movement came in 1921, with the end of federal native assimilation. This meant that federally-run schools would no longer be segregated between races. However, schools at the district level and private schools were not regulated, and many segregated schools in South Africa still exist today. Further efforts of the ANC escalated in the 1920s, attracting support from the younger liberal population that comprised the South African Party's base of support. They particularly championed the passive resistance system championed by Mahatma Gandhi and Marcus Garvey. Finally, in 1928 the government ruled that citizenship is applicable to all races, regardless of being black or white. The first black president of South Africa was Pixley Seme, elected in 1932. As this new law made the previous controversy moot, both Lesotho and Swaziland were admitted to the union as the tenth and eleventh states.
Great War
When the first Great War broke out in April 1932, the war cabinet in Britain asked the Union of South Africa to join the conflict against Germany. Not beholden to Britain's foreign policy, the parliament took a long time to decide this. A war seemingly localized to western Europe did not necessarily concern Africa, and it was not too long ago that Britain attempted to annex the Transvaal. For the English population in both the Transvaal and Cape, however, joining the war on Britain's side was a matter of duty. In preparation for a future conflict, however, South Africa spent the next few months mobilizing their military and building a war-time economy. For the pro-war side of the parliament, they also spent this time spreading Anti-German propaganda. As the second civil rights movement was under way, the Africans were incentivized to join the war on the promise to improve their rights in the nation, a promise that was later fulfilled. In September 1932, Britain finally persuaded South Africa to join the war by offering them to annex the German colony of Namibia. On October 5 1932, the Union of South Africa declared war on the Triple Alliance, aligning itself with Britain in the Imperial Entente.
The Southwest African Campaign was the first major deployment of South Africa's navy and air-force. The South African navy was, at the time, not officially organized, and consisted of battleships inherited from the ZAR and Cape Colony. The navy wasn't fully organized until 1922, after the conclusion of the war. In 1912, Christian Beyers established the first flying school in Kimberley, after studying under various flying instructors from Britain, France, and Switzerland. It was this flying school that formed the first generation of pilots in the Union Defense Force, which was the aviation wing of South African military used in World War One.
The invasion of Namibia was split into two fronts. One front landed in Walvis Bay on October 11, and invaded eastward to capture the regional capital of Windhoek in January 1933. The second front used air and land forces to capture the city of Keetmanshoop in January, and push north to occupy the southern half of the colony. The final stand of German military was in March at the Battle of Otavi, north of Windhoek. Although France fell to Germany in the following year, South Africa was able to negotiate a separate peace with the Triple Alliance to drop out of the war and remain in occupation of the colony. In the 1920s, South Africa's economy made the most substantial recovery by extending foreign credit to various powers affected by the war, financed by their surplus of valuable minerals. The first film school in the nation was created in 1915 in Johannesburg, and the 1920s saw the production of many silent films in Durban.
Later Developments
When the United Commonwealth succumbed to a Landonist revolution in the 1910s, the communist government was immediately condemned by South Africa. For a long time, the Union refused to recognize the Landonists as the legitimate government of the Commonwealth, but saw them as a rebel insurgency. There was a brief red scare in the late 1910s as a result of this, leading to local suppression of the Labour party, but this subsided by 1919. This unfortunately had reversed South Africa's relationship with the Commonwealth, which had previously been very positive, and from that point onward they aligned closer with Sierra. During the Cold War, South Africa sided with the Imperial community against the global communist threat.
The status of Namibia as a territory of South Africa remained nebulous in the interwar period. The British agreed that South Africa could annex the colony directly, but the Paris Peace Conference implied that the territory could be returned to Germany at some point in the future. Rather than starting a diplomatic incident, the colony remained a territory into the 1950s. When it became clear that war with the fascist powers was inevitable, the Union of South Africa decided to incorporate Namibia as the twelfth state of the union in 1960. It has remained the last state added to the union to this day. The union declared war on the Axis Powers fairly early in the Second Great War, and was instrumental for the liberation of French Madagascar in 1942.
As the most southern point in Africa, the union eventually turned its interests in territorial expansion in Antarctica. South Africa first sent expeditions to the continent in 1931, documenting the coastline directly south of Cape Town. South Africa was invited to the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, where they claimed a section of territory spanning from 45-18 degrees East.
As nuclear power began to be used across the western world in the 1930s, uranium production suddenly became a valuable asset. Starting in 1935, the Union of South Africa heavily invested in uranium exports, which added to their existing natural wealth. At the end of Second Great War, South Africa voted in favor of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and was a founding member of SPATO. In recent years, South Africa was also elected as a rotating member of the League of Nations security council. As a result of these global alliances, South Africa never had a need to develop nuclear weapons, but they did develop a research program for capitalizing on nuclear power.
Today, South Africa has a population of around 85 million people.
Administration
The South African Republic is organized as a Parliamentary Democracy. The head of state is the President, while legislation is carried out by a Parliament divided into two houses. This Parliament, officially called called the Volksraad, meet in the capital city of Pretoria. Before the constitution was officially first adopted, the provisional government was located in Potchefstroom while Pretoria was still being constructed, and moved to the new city in 1854.
The Volksraad has power over finances and legislation, while the President has power over domestic and foreign policy. Like all parliamentary governments, the Volksraad has to form a new government after reach election. However, the President takes office immediately after inauguration, so that he can still act as head of state when a government hasn't been formed. After the constitutional crisis of 1862, the Supreme Court ruled that certain presidential edicts can still be overruled by the Volksraad once a new government has formed.
The Commander-in-Chief of the military is the Commandant-General, considered to be the second-highest executive office. It is is appointed by the President with approval from the Volksraad. Cabinet ministers can be replaced by the president twice, after which it requires approval from the Volksraad.
The two houses of Parliament are the House of Delegates and the House of Representatives, which collectively have 142 members. The House of Delegates have 42 members, with six elected from each of the districts of the republic. The House of Representatives has a total of 100 members, with one member representing roughly 70,000 people. Members of Parliament are elected annually from the nation as a whole, with elections held in October each year. Each district could organize their own voting committee to assemble delegates, but they must meet certain standards provided by the federal government. The President is elected for indefinite number of five year terms. The President is also elected in October, and inaugurated in February.
A judiciary branch of government consist of 42 judges, six elected annually from each of the districts. A central body of five judges makes up the Supreme Court in the capital city of Pretoria, with the power to interpret the constitution and settle disputes between districts.
Local Administration
| Name | Acquired | District | Statehood | Size (sq km) |
Population | Population density (per sq km) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pretoria | 1852 | 1853 | 1910 | 69,627 | 19,582,571 | 281.24 |
| Zoutpansberg | 1852 | 1853 | 1910 | 125,754 | 5,404,868 | 42.97 |
| Lydenburg | 1852 | 1853 | 1910 | 103,814 | 8,441,918 | 81.31 |
| Griqueland | 1852 | 1853 | 1910 | 33,789 | 1,085,351 | 32.12 |
| Orange | 1861 | 1861 | 1910 | 181,299 | 2,745,590 | 15.14 |
| Bechuanaland | 1869 | 1871 | 1910 | 594,055 | 8,037,801 | 13.53 |
| Zimbabwe | 1883 | 1899 | 1910 | 390,757 | 15,092,171 | 38.62 |
| Cape | 1910 | - | 1910 | 600,068 | 16,221,928 | 27.03 |
| Zulu-Natal | 1910 | - | 1910 | 94,361 | 11,513,575 | 122.02 |
| Lesotho | 1865 | - | 1929 | 30,355 | 2,108,328 | 69.45 |
| Swaziland | 1879 | - | 1929 | 17,364 | 1,160,164 | 66.81 |
| Namibia | 1933 | - | 1960 | 825,615 | 2,550,226 | 3.08 |
By the time of the 1910 union with Cape Colony, the republic was divided into seven districts: Zoutpansberg, Lydenburg, Pretoria, Griqueland, Orange, Bechuanaland, and Zimbabwe. The first four of these districts were the original authors of the constitution from 1853-1854. Orange District, originally an independent republic known as the Orange Free State, accepted the constitution in 1861. Bechuanaland was a federal territory gradually colonized by new immigrants in the 1860s, before being elevated to a district in 1872. Zimbabwe was granted as a trustee territory by the Berlin Conference in 1885, and elevated as a district shortly before the republic ended.
With the policy native assimilation, any native African kingdoms or tribal states are alienated from administration, and are gradually dismantled by the federal government. The two exceptions from this are the kingdoms of Lesotho and Swaziland. Lesotho was secured as a protectorate in 1867, and Swaziland in 1879. Both of these were jointly admitted as states of the Union in 1929.
Each district is administered by a governor appointed by the Volksraad with approval from the President. The governor has the power to appoint their own provisional cabinet. Additionally each district has a Commandant, in charge of managing order within the district as well as defense from without. The Commandant can raise and lead a limited local military, as well as an armed militia with approval from the Volksraad. Upon the annexation of new territory, a 2/3 vote from the Volksraad can ratify the territory to become a new district of the Republic. This same system continued with the Union of South Africa, which has maintained a total of twelve states since 1938.
Political Parties
While the constitution does not recognize any political parties, four main parties remained prominent until 1910: the South African Party, the National Party, the Labour Party, and the Progressive Party. The South African Party is center-right, and seeks to establish a central national identity for all citizens in the republic, regardless of their personal identity. They have centrist economic policies, and favors an assimilation approach to the Native Question. As such, they encourage miscegenation and enfranchisement of colored people, with a path of citizenship of natives. They also have an open immigration policy towards Europeans.
The National Party is far-right, and supports the interests South Africa's white minority and white nationalism. They support classical liberal economy, as well as a segregation approach to the Native Question. While the National Party doesn't disenfranchise British immigrants, they do seek to limit immigration out of concern for the Boers being pushed out. The Labour Party is center-left, and supports the interests of working-class citizens and Boer farmers. They favor socialist economic reform, but they tend to agree with the Nationals in protecting rural Boer farmers from immigrant industrial centers in the cities. The Progressive Party is centrist, and supports the interest of British immigrants. They tend to agree with the Labour party on social reform, but they favor urban expansion rather than rural protection. Late in the republic's history, the Progressive Party pushed for the ZAR to become a dominion of the British Empire.
The first several Parliaments in the 1850s did not have any official parties, although there were clear lines of division based on opinions of Marthinus Pretorius and feuds within the military. The South African Party and the National Party first emerged after the 1862 crisis, and have remained the two most prominent parties ever since. The other two parties first appeared in the 1880s, as the republic quickly grew into an industrial society and a regional power. The interests of native Africans was not represented by a party until the African National Congress was formed in 1915, after the Union of South Africa was formed. The vast majority of parliaments saw a majority by the South African Party, with the rest either controlled by the National Party or a coalition.
Law Enforcement
Every major city of the South African Republic has a local volunteer police force organized by the district Commandant, in charge of maintaining order, enforcing laws, and settling minor disputes. They are only armed with revolvers and bludgeoning weapons. There is also a national police force for the purpose of enforcing federal laws, called the South African Republic Police (SARP). It is divided into two wings, the mounted police and the foot police, which are armed the same way. There are separate higher and lower courts, both of which either use jury trials or judicial tribunals. The district courts are allowed to arbitrate any laws outside of execution or banishment. Laws of this kind can only be decided by the Supreme Court.
List of State Leaders
|
South African Party National Party None | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Presidency | President | Party | Term | |||||
| 1 | July 23, 1853 – February 7, 1873 |
|
Marthinus Pretorius September 17, 1819 – May 19, 1901 |
Unaffiliated July 23, 1853 – September 14, 1864 |
(1853) Provisional (1857) (1862) | |||
| South African Party September 14, 1864 – February 7, 1873 |
(1867) | |||||||
| - | October 20, 1862 – March 15, 1863 |
|
Stephanus Schoeman March 14, 1810 – June 19, 1870 |
Unaffiliated Supported by Nationalists |
(1862) Civil War | |||
| 2 | February 7, 1873 – February 7, 1883 |
|
Thomas Burgers April 15, 1834 – May 9, 1883 |
South African Party | (1872) (1877) | |||
| 3 | February 7, 1883 – February 7, 1903 |
|
Paul Kruger October 10, 1825 – July 14, 1904 |
South African Party | (1882) (1887) (1892) (1897) | |||
| 4 | February 7, 1903 – May 11, 1910 |
|
Marthinus Steyn October 2, 1857 – November 28, 1916 |
South African Party | (1902) (1907) | |||
| Term | Commandant-General | |
|---|---|---|
| October 5, 1837 – February 6, 1838 |
|
Piet Retief September 12, 1780 – February 6, 1838 |
| February 6, 1838 – July 23, 1853 |
|
Andreas Pretorius September 27, 1798 – July 23, 1853 |
| July 23, 1853 – August 19, 1860 |
|
Marthinus Pretorius September 17, 1819 – May 19, 1901 |
| August 19, 1860 – March 14, 1880 |
|
Paul Kruger October 10, 1825 – July 14, 1904 |
| March 14, 1880 – June 10, 1898 |
|
Piet Joubert January 20, 1831 – March 28, 1900 |
| June 10, 1898 – May 11, 1910 |
|
Louis Botha September 27, 1862 – August 27, 1919 |
|
South African Party National Party Labour Party African National Congress | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Presidency | President | Party | Term | |||||
| 1 | March 11, 1913 – August 27, 1919 |
|
Louis Botha September 27, 1862 – August 27, 1919 |
South African Party | (1912) (1917) Died in Office | |||
| - | August 27, 1919 – February 7, 1923 |
|
Jan Smuts May 24, 1870 – September 11, 1950 |
South African Party | (1917) Acting | |||
| 2 | February 7, 1923 – August 1, 1927 |
|
James Hertzog April 3, 1866 – November 21, 1942 |
National Party | (1922) Resigned | |||
| 3 | August 1, 1927 – February 7, 1933 Second term |
|
Jan Smuts May 24, 1870 – September 11, 1950 |
South African Party | (1927) | |||
| 4 | February 7, 1933 – February 7, 1938 |
|
Pixley Seme January 15, 1881 – June 2, 1951 |
African National Congress | (1932) | |||
| 3 | February 7, 1938 – February 7, 1948 Third term |
|
Jan Smuts May 24, 1870 – September 11, 1950 |
South African Party | (1937) (1942) | |||
| 5 | February 7, 1948 – February 7, 1963 |
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Albert Luthuli June 15, 1898 – July 21, 1967 |
African National Congress | (1947) (1952) (1957) | |||
| 6 | February 7, 1963 – February 7, 1973 |
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De Villiers Graaff December 8, 1913 – October 4, 1999 |
South African Party | (1963) (1967) | |||
| 7 | February 7, 1973 – February 7, 1978 |
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Jan Steytler October 26, 1910 – July 28, 1978 |
Labour Party | (1972) | |||
| 8 | February 7, 1978 – February 7, 1993 |
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Oliver Tambo October 27, 1917 – May 24, 1993 |
African National Congress | (1977) (1982) (1987) | |||
| 9 | February 7, 1993 – February 7, 2003 |
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Nelson Mandela July 18, 1918 – December 5, 2013 |
African National Congress | (1993) (1997) | |||
| 10 | February 7, 2003 – February 7, 2008 |
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Thabo Mbeki June 18, 1942 – |
African National Congress | (2002) | |||
| 11 | February 7, 2008 – February 7, 2018 |
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Kumi Naidoo August 19, 1965 – |
African National Congress | (2007) (2012) | |||
| 12 | February 7, 2018 – Incumbent |
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Mmusi Maimane June 6, 1980 – |
Labour Party | (2017) | |||
Military
The federal military is a volunteer force from across all seven districts, trained either at the central command in Pretoria or a local fortification. The original settlers from the Great Trek consisted of many localized, disorganized militias, and after 1852 these were gradually centralized into a professional force. The office of Commandant-General was first held by Andreas Pretorius after the dissolution of the Natal Republic, and he appointed his son Marthinus to succeed him in 1853. After the Commandant-General, military administration is delegated to a number of Field Cornets, who are elected from among lower-ranking military officers. The first professional military was fully organized in 1857, consisting of 8,700 men. By 1867, this force had grown to 25,000. A its peak, the military of the South African Republic had 60,000 men in 1897. The main fortifications for military organization are located at Gaborone, Newcastle, Thohoyandou, Phalaborwa, and Klerksdorp.
The original military command structure were personal relatives of the preexisting militia leaders from the Great Trek, known as Burghers. The Burghers formed a quasi-feudal structure of dynastic relations, and operated on rampant nepotism to maintain inherited military posts. The professional military of 1857 saw the first moves against the Burghers by President Pretorius, who felt the system was doomed to a poorly-educated, mediocre leadership. The 1862 crisis saw the two forces come to a head, when the Burghers power was finally broken and the previous nepotism was overtly suppressed. It still persisted de-facto until the military reforms Thomas Burgers in the 1870s, when a modern merit-based system finally took shape. The early 1880s saw the addition of standard military uniforms, which took on a dark brown color to still blend in with the landscape.
The ZAR military was able to recruit much of their population due to its encouragement in their culture. Deeply devoted to the Dutch Reformed religion, the Boers saw themselves as imitating the conquest of the Promised Land by the Biblical Israelites. It was commonplace for families to encourage their sons to train in the military at a young age, as described in the Old Testament, and this same culture persists in South Africa to this day. A youth wing of the military helps train young men to fight on their own, in preparation of recruitment upon maturity.
A smaller, elite group of commandos form a national guard known as the Voortrekkers, consisting of 700 men. In the 1890s, an auxiliary division of native Africans was officially organized to augment the military as well, consisting of 20,000 troops at their height. This provided a new avenue of social advancement for native Africans, but also proved vital during the Anglo-Boer War. Africans and colored people had been allowed in the military sporadically before that point, but the auxiliary division allowed it to be properly regulated.
The original military consisted entirely of light infantry and light cavalry, armed mostly with muzzle-loaded rifles, elephant guns, and revolvers. The first artillery division was trained to utilize dynamite strategically, operating similarly to grenadiers. This is how the military operated up until the end of the 1860s. The military reforms of Thomas Burgers worked to modernize their armaments, and hire military advisors from the United Commonwealth. This new military used breech-loaded Winchester rifles and colt revolvers, and added a heavier infantry division armed with Krupp guns. The artillery was expanded to a more professional division called the Staatsartillerie, and they were given proper field cannons and mortars.
The military is trained specifically to utilize local terrain to their advantage as much as possible, scouting out areas ahead of time for quick changes of tactics on the battlefield. The infantry are also trained to pride their marksmanship as much as possible, making every single bullet count. This became a necessity, as the ZAR were usually fighting against native African kingdoms who wielded numbers several times larger than any Boer military. In effect, the ZAR military tactics were very non-standard and guerilla based, superficially more similar to a native African army than a European one.
The original ZAR Navy consisted of barges and canoes fit for navigating the major rivers around the Limpopo and Vaal tributaries. Each barge is equipped to maneuver a small battalion of men with little effort. This was the extent of the ZAR Navy up until 1868, as the republic was completely landlocked. After the purchase of Maputo, this city has served as the main docking center for the republic ever since. While the ZAR never constructed their own battleships prior to the First Great War, they did gradually purchase five steam frigates from the United Commonwealth and three gunboats from the Netherlands throughout the late 19th century.
Economy
As long as the Volksraad is dominated by the South African Party, the ZAR supports a largely liberal economy with moderate federal regulation. Manufacturing businesses in the republic are commissioned from the Volksraad, but regulations of the economy encourages competition and prevent monopolies. With the growing popularity of the Labour and Progressive Parties, some reforms such as minimum wage and unemployment benefits were added in the early 1900s.
The South African Pound is the official currency of the nation, printed at the central mint in Pretoria. While the SA Pound was first printed in 1853, it took a long time to be accepted as a viable currency internationally. Even within the nation, the original settlers from the Great Trek were used to a barter system consisting of elephant ivory. In the early years of the republic, the SA Pound was backed by the federal treasury in Pretoria, consisting of British Pounds and refined gold ore. The SA Pound gained a general public trust by 1869, and became accepted as international currency under Thomas Burgers' presidency. In the early 1880s, the federal treasury was entirely replaced with the new currency.
Citizens are taxed based on their property, assets and household size, with varying refunds based on their disability status, military or religious service. The Ministry of Finances is in charge of keeping track of money currently in circulation, detecting any sources of counterfeits or tax evasion. The SARP, acting on behalf of the Public Records Office, is in charge on enforcing laws against either of these actions.
Originally, the national economy was heavily agrarian, exporting meat and dairy products from either herd animals or poultry, with additional exports of corn and wheat. More rare wild game was the prized wealth of the original Voortrekkers, in particular elephant ivory. However, President Pretorius started the transition to an industrial economy very early in the history of the republic, which fully took off in the 1880s. As early as the 1840s, even before the Sand River Treaty was signed, foreign prospectors confirmed that the Transvaal and Orange River regions possessed some quantities of gold and coal, and possibly other minerals as well. It was on this knowledge that Pretorius established the first mining industries in the ZAR in the 1850s. The first principle mining facilities were located in Lydenburg, Witwatersrand, Kimberley, and Kaapsehoop. By 1867, the ZAR had become one of the world's leading exporters of gold, coal, diamonds uranium, and they maintained this status for the rest of the republic's history. From 1870 onward, the ZAR was responsible for more than one-third of the global gold production.
In order to prevent flooding of the markets, exports of minerals from the republic are strictly regulated. Tax rates on possession and movement of minerals vary based on the current rates of exploitation. This maintains the international value of gold and diamonds artificially high, but also ensures that the natural wealth of the nation contributes to the surplus of the federal treasury. Starting in the 1870s, this high federal surplus allowed the government to transform the nation's infrastructure, modernize the military, and ultimately achieve a status of respect on par with the Great Powers of Europe.
The rush of gold and diamonds in the republic became a huge attraction for immigration, especially from British colonists living in the Cape. Starting in the 1880s, this wave of immigration rapidly expanded the major cities, transforming the city of Johannesburg into the largest urban center of Southern Africa. However, this wave also presented social problems for the nation, creating an cultural divide between the English speaking industrialists and the Dutch speaking farmers. This became a dividing point between the two leading parties of the Volksraad, namely the moderate South African Party and the far-right Nationalists.
Infrastructure
Transportation
In the 1850s, the infrastructure changes by President Pretorius was a radical shift away from the Boer's previous policy of fanatical isolationism. Partly he saw this as economically and politically untenable, but he also feared incurring the wrath of Great Britain, as such isolation would violate several points of the Sand River Treaty.
So he commissioned a standardized, fully-functioning highway system, connecting all the major settlements and military outposts across the Transvaal. The original highway system was built out of cobblestone and packed earth, but this was heavily upgraded in the 1870s. This same highway system connected outward, linking the ZAR to major cities in neighboring nations: Bloemfontein in the Orange Free State, Natal in British Cape Colony, Maputo in Portuguese Mozambique, and Lake Ngami in the Matabele Kingdom of Zimbabwe. Pretorius also sponsored many new cities to be developed in order to encourage urbanization, including the capital city of Pretoria.
The first railroad system in the ZAR was constructed in the 1870s, augmenting the existing highway system. The Netherlands-South Africa Railroad Company was founded in 1873, and by 1880 the rail lines connected across all the South African cities from Maputo and Pretoria down to Bloemfontein and Kimberly. These public systems of transport, both highways and railroads, are maintained and regulated by the federal government. This advanced transportation system and open communication policy helped facilitate these neighboring states to either ally or unify with the ZAR.
Immigration
In accordance with the Sand River Treaty, passage through the Transvaal was made free to all British civilians, with a clause for extradition of British criminals. This same open border policy was extended to the Orange Free State, before their annexation in 1861. For all other nations, international travel is subject to a federal tax, but this cost is kept fairly light in order to encourage immigration. Immigration to the Transvaal Republic is a relatively simple process. The Public Records Office is a federal cabinet position, in charge of collecting documentation on both the white and native population at all times. Procurement of this documentation, as well as an oath of loyalty to the Republic, is sufficient for accepting new citizens to the state.
Citizens immediately share the privileges of voting and responsibility of taxation, starting a the age of 16. Originally, suffrage was limited to white males. Citizenship and suffrage of colored (i.e. mixed race) population was gradually introduced in the 1860s and 1870s, facing significant opposition from the National Party. Female suffrage was quickly approved in 1878, partly as a move by the National Party to offset the colored vote with that of white women.
President Pretorius heavily utilized the easy access to Cape Colony to contract foreign workers, mostly in the area of schools, churches, and architects. After purchasing the Maputo port, President Burgers expanded their foreign contractors to France and the Netherlands, and allowed European investors to sponsor South Africa's growing mining industry. The National Party was particularly appeased by the rapprochement to the Netherlands, as they were more comfortable with teachers and missionaries speaking their own language.
The 1860s also saw a wave of Asiatic immigration from India and China, who were at first prospecting for gold but later shifted to contracted industrial workers. Indian immigrants took advantage of mobility within the British Empire, while Chinese immigrants included many refugees of the Taiping Rebellion.
In addition to encouraging immigration, the ZAR also encouraged colonial settlements beyond the borders of "civilization". Any new settlements by citizens of the ZAR are automatically under federal administration, which can then be incorporated to the appropriate district. Citizens creating these new settlements have the responsibility to not unnecessarily antagonize the natives, and doing so is punishable by severe fines up to time in prison. Any land untilled by white men are considered "unclaimed", but any land tilled by natives cannot be seized without authorization from the Volksraad. Due to the assimilation policy of the ZAR, this authorization was strategically granted only so far as to dismantle existing tribal kingdoms within the republic's borders. While the republic also seized land from African kingdoms who they went to war with, this was viewed as a defensive measure against kingdoms that antagonized their borders. These policies of colonial expansion ended with the Berlin Conference, which finalized the internationally-recognized borders of Africa.
The result of these various policies for immigration, settlement and urbanization allowed a rapid growth for the Transvaal Republic, reaching one million citizens by the end of the 19th century.
Culture
Education
The first public, mandatory education system in the South African Republic was created in the 1850s by the order of President Pretorius. Teachers and staff were contracted from neighboring countries, primarily Cape Colony, and the Orange Free State, as well as American and British missionaries. The first schools were built in major cities such as Pretoria and Lydenburg. They initially focused on elementary grades only, and gradually expanded up to universities by the 1870s. The first four-year college was the University of Pretoria founded in 1872, later followed by Burgers University in Bloemfontein. The primary subjects taught are history, theology, mathematics, science, and English, with other subjects offered optionally.
Afrikaans is the official language of the republic, but official documents may also be written in Modern Dutch or English. The school system teaches primarily in Dutch, but optionally can teach in English as well. Outside of education and administration, the "official language" is not enforced in any official capacity. For this reason, the republic has a rich diversity of de facto languages used by local communities, either from native African tribes or from enclaves of foreign immigrants.
This school system is the most primary tool for the policy of native assimilation. Starting in the 1850s, primary schools were established for the specific purpose of educating native Africans in European language, religion, and science, with the end goal of melding their culture into the Boers. Foreign missionaries did much of the work in organizing these institutions who the Volksraad invested with lucrative contracts. It was this education that later enabled the Africans and coloreds to organize movements for further enfranchisement and civil rights, starting in the mid 1870s. After the second wave of civil rights movements in the 1910s, this system of forced assimilation officially ended in 1921. However, many private schools remain segregated between races to the present day.
Religion
The Dutch Reformed Church is the official religion of the South African Republic. In the 1850s, citizens must be a Christian of some creed. In the 1880s, as mass immigration in the republic created larger communities of other religions, this policy was somewhat relaxed. While citizens of the republic can be of any religion, only Christians are allowed to hold public office, serve in the military or work in most public jobs. Religious services conducted from the government or public schools, as well as theology taught in public schools, adheres strictly to the Dutch Reformed Church. Due to the mass evangelization of foreign missionaries, Christianity has always remained the faith of the vast majority of the population, even among native Africans. Still, the African Traditional Religion remains the second most common faith, comprising roughly 4-6% of the population. Among Middle Eastern and East Asian immigrants, various eastern religions also exist in smaller enclaves.
Racial Relations
The South African Republic has always had a complicated relationship with the native African population, which evolved considerably both before and after the union with Cape Colony. The collective debate and social movements throughout the republic's history was designated as "the Native Question".
Abolition of Slavery
Like the vast majority of colonial dominions, the original settlers of the Dutch Cape Colony used African slaves to supplement their labor shortage. This practice became such an important part of the Boer culture that it was one of the major points of dispute with the British in the early 19th century. The Great Trek began in direct response to the abolition of slavery across the British Empire. However, this doesn't mean that the organization of the Boer states was solely concerned with African slavery, and over the next generation many different approaches to the Native Question were still being debated. When the British recognized the independent Boer states in 1852, the Sand River Treaty stipulated that slavery (or any other compulsory, unpaid labor) is to be abolished.
While Marthinus Pretorius was not an advocate of civil rights, he recognized the practical necessity to abide by the Sand River Treaty, and he saw the economic benefit of transitioning the Boer economy from purely agrarian to industrialization. Furthermore, Pretorius' answer to the Native Question was a gradual assimilation of Africans into Boer culture, both by public education and encouraged miscegenation. It was this same policy that became the basis of the South African Party, which dominated politics in ZAR for most of its history.
So not only did President Pretorius outlaw slavery in the 1850s, but actively worked to enforce these laws using the SARP. Additionally, he decreed that all natives living within the federal borders of the ZAR are given fair and equal treatment before the law, and are given no less rights in court or law enforcement than any white man. At this early stage, however, they were barred from citizenship and were exempt from both elections and taxes. Pretorius' policies were rather unpopular with the radical conservatives and the Burghers, which culminated in the civil conflict of 1862.
Apprenticeship System
To satisfy necessity of labor in the nation, and to appease the Nationalists, Pretorius introduced the apprenticeship system for African natives. Any native may enter into a signed contract of labor with a white man, stipulating his mode of compensation, the length of his labor and the breadth of his responsibilities. If the native cannot sign it, he may appoint a guardian to act on his behalf, either native or white. The Public Records Office has documentation on all native laborers, whether they have contracts or not. If they do not have a contract, then the limit on his work is set to 25 years. Additionally, a tax is levied on citizens with no contract, based on the number and types of apprentices he has, and the money of this revenue is then paid to the tribal nation the apprentice came from.
This apprenticeship system had sufficient loopholes that allowed the radical Nationalists to practice a kind of de facto slavery in much smaller numbers. Both Pretorius and Thomas Burgers actively worked to suppress this abuse of the system and close up the loopholes, but always faced resistance from the National Party. Ultimately, the apprentice system gradually fell out of practice on its own in the 1880s, as rapid industrialization made the need for labor a moot point. In 1899, after the conclusion of the Anglo-Boer War, the apprentice system was finally abolished.
Native Assimilation
The assimilation policy of the South African Party utilized a segregated public education system for the native population. Dr. David Livingston was personally invited by Pretorius to organize the first of these education centers, which he gladly accepted. Foreign missionaries found the immediate benefit to spread the gospel to the African people en masse, while also improving their standard of living by introducing European laws, science, and philosophy. Some regulations were placed on these schools from the federal government: First, to adhere to the theology of the Dutch Reformed Church, and secondly to read and speak in Afrikaans. Native Africans are also allowed to organize their own education centers to help assimilate their own people, as long as the district governor approves that they meet the above regulations.
As a result of this assimilation policy, by the 1870s the standard of living for Africans in the Transvaal was rapidly reaching on par with that of the white population, and as much as one quarter of the population was a mixed race origin or "colored". This prompted a movement of civil rights across the nation, and in 1877 the Volksraad finally affirmed colored men as having full and equal citizenship as white men. After the Union of South Africa was formed, a second civil rights movement in the 1910s and 1920s pushed for equal citizenship for all native Africans, which was ultimately approved in 1928. Even so, many local laws on the state and county level still have segregation policies that persist to this day.
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This page uses material from the Wikipedia page South African Republic, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors). |