South Africa

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of South Africa Image File history File links Coat_of_arms_of_South_Africa. ... // Constitution Following the 1994 elections, South Africa was governed under an interim constitution. ...

Constitution Bill of Rights Government Executive President Thabo Mbeki Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka Ministers Legislative Parliament Council of Provinces National Assembly Speaker Leader of the Opposition Tony Leon Elections Judiciary Constitutional Court Supreme Court of Appeal High Court Magistrates Courts Provinces Districts Municipalities Political parties Foreign relations

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The United Party was South Africa's ruling political party between 1934 and 1948. It was formed by a merger of most of Prime Minister Barry Hertzog's National Party with the rival South African Party of Jan Smuts. It's full name was the United National South African Party, but it was generally called the, "United Party." The party drew support from several different parts of South African society, including English-speakers, Afrikaners and 'Coloureds'. The President of South Africa, in full, the President of the Republic of South Africa is the head of state and head of government under South Africas Constitution. ... Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki (born June 18, 1942) is the President of the Republic of South Africa. ... The Deputy President of South Africa is appointed by the President of South Africa. ... Mrs Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (born November 3, 1955) is the current Deputy President of South Africa. ... Ministers, in the South African government, are Members of Parliament who hold a ministerial warrant to perform certain functions of government. ... A legislature is a type of deliberative assembly with the power to adopt laws. ... The Parliament of South Africa is South Africas legislature and is composed of the National Assembly of South Africa and the National Council of Provinces. ... The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) is the upper house of the Parliament of South Africa under the (post-apartheid) constitution which came into full effect in 1997. ... The National Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of South Africa, located in Cape Town, Western Cape Province. ... The Speaker of the National Assembly presides over the South African National Assembly. ... Tony Leon Anthony James Leon (born 15 December 1956) is a South African politician and the leader of the Democratic Alliance, South Africas main opposition party and current leader of the opposition. ... Tony Leon Anthony James Leon (born 15 December 1956) is a South African politician and the leader of the Democratic Alliance, South Africas main opposition party. ... Elections in South Africa take place on national, provincial, and local levels. ... The Judiciary of South Africa is an independent branch of government, subject only to the South African Constitution and the laws of the country. ... The South African Constitutional Court was established in 1994 by South Africas first democratic constitution: the Interim Constitution of 1993. ... The South African Supreme Court of Appeal (Afrikaans; Hoogste Hof van Appel van Suid Afrika) is the South African court that has the final say on all matters other than those that involve the interpretation of the constitution. ... The High Court of South Africa is a court of law in South Africa. ... Magistrates Courts in South Africa are the lower courts and the courts of of first instance and decide all matters as provided for by an act of parliament. ... A map of the nine provinces of South Africa South Africa is currently divided into nine provinces. ... A map of the 52 districts of South Africa South Africa is divided into 52 districts (Metropolitan and District municipalities). ... Municipalities in South Africa are a division of local government that lie one level down from provincial government, and form the lowest level of democratically elected government structures in the country. ... Political parties in South Africa lists political parties in South Africa. ... Foreign Relations of South Africa South African forces fought on the Allied side in both World War I and World War II, and it participated in the postwar United Nations force in the Korean War. ... Information on politics by country is available for every country, including both de jure and de facto independent states, inhabited dependent territories, as well as areas of special sovereignty. ... 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ... Cover of Time Magazine (April 27, 1925) James Barry Munnik Hertzog, better known as Barry Hertzog, (1866-1942) was Prime Minister of South Africa from 1924 to 1939. ... The South African Party was a liberal political party that existed in the Union of South Africa from 1911 to 1934. ... Jan Smuts Field Marshal Jan Christiaan Smuts, OM, CH, ED, KC, FRS (May 24, 1870 – September 11, 1950) was a prominent South African and Commonwealth statesman, military leader, and philosopher. ... In the South African context, the term Coloured refers to various people of mixed Bantu, Khoisan, and European descent (with some Malay or Indian ancestry, especially in the Western Cape) together with some racially pure Khoisans. ...

Hertzog led the party until 1939. In that year, Hertzog refused to commit South Africa to Britain's war effort against Nazi Germany. Many Afrikaners who had fought in the Second Boer War were still alive, and the atrocities committed by the British during that conflict were fresh in their memory. Hertzog felt that siding with the former enemy would be unacceptable to Afrikaners. Furthermore, he could see little benefit for South Africa in taking part in a war that he saw as an essentially European affair. 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full year calendar). ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Combatants United Kingdom Australia New Zealand Canada Cape Colony Orange Free State South African Republic Commanders Redvers Buller Frederick Roberts Herbert Kitchener Paul Kruger Martinus Steyn Louis Botha Christiaan de Wet Casualties 22,000 6,500 Civilians killed [mainly Boers]: 24,000+ The Second Boer War, commonly referred to as...

The majority of the United Party caucus were of a different mind, however, and Hertzog resigned. Jan Smuts succeeded him and led the party and the country throughout World War II and the immediate post-war years. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

Smuts and the United Party lost the 1948 election to the National Party. It was never to hold power again. Sir de Villiers Graaff replaced J.G.N. Strauss in 1956 as leader, who in turn had replaced Smuts as party leader in 1950, a post he held until 1977. Attrition characterized his leadership years, as the party slowly declined because of electoral gerrymandering, changes to South Africa's voting laws, including the removal of the 'Coloureds' - South Africans of mixed ancestry, who had been staunch United Party supporters - from the electoral rolls, and defections to other parties. In 1977, the United Party was renamed the New Republic Party, but a significant number of its parliamentarians refused to remain with the renamed party; some joined the anti-apartheid Progressive Federal Party and others eventually joined the ruling National Party. Elections in late 1977 left the New Republic Party gutted, with only 10 parliamentary seats, down from the 41 the United Party had held previously. 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ... The National Party (Afrikaans: Nasionale Party) (with its members sometimes known as Nationalists or Nats) was the governing party of South Africa from June 4th 1948 until May 9th 1994, and was disbanded in 2005. ... Sir de Villiers Graaff, 2nd Baronet (given name de Villiers, surname Graaff) (8 December 1913 - 4 October 1999) was a South African politician who succeeded his father, David Pieter de Villiers Graaff to his baronetcy in 1931. ... 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... Gerrymandering is a controversial form of redistricting in which electoral district or constituency boundaries are manipulated for an electoral advantage. ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... The New Republic Party (NRP) was a South African political party. ... The Progressive Federal Party (PFP) was a South African political party formed in 1977. ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ...

The UP's position on race relations in South Africa was a complex one; while the UP was more liberal in character than the National Party, it never clearly articulated its views on the best approach to them. Smuts himself alluded to the fact that at some unspecified point in the future, black South Africans might be asked to share power with the white minority, provided Black politicians demonstrated their commitment to 'civilized' norms of political and personal conduct. Generally, though, the UP seemed to have little difficulty in tacitly supporting apartheid. One of the reasons the UP fared so disastrously in the 1948 election was its lack of commitment to a clear policy on race relations. This stood in contrast to the National Party, which was firmly and unequivocally behind the notion of preserving white superiority at all costs. A segregated beach in South Africa, 1982. ...

The UP was against apartheid as a system, but also favoured the continuation of white minority rule. During the late 1960s the party tried to gain support by its resistance to the National Party's politics on giving land to the bantustans. A dominant minority is a group that has overwhelming political, economic or cultural dominance in a country or region despite representing a small fraction of the overall population (a demographic minority). ... Bantustan refers to any of the territories designated as tribal homelands for black South Africans during the Apartheid era. ...

It is often said that the United Party was a more Anglo-African party. Anglo-Africans are primarily associated with Southern Africa and British ancestry. ...

See also: List of political parties in South Africa Political parties in South Africa lists political parties in South Africa. ...

External Link

"Revisiting Urban African Policy and the Reforms of the Smuts Government, 1939-48", by Gary Baines