Liberalism in South Africa

Part of a series on
Liberalism
Schools Classical Conservative Cultural Democratic Feminist Equity Green Internationalist Muscular National Neo Ordo Radical Religious Christian Catholic Islamic Jewish Secular Social Techno Third Way
Principles Consent of the governed Due process Democracy Economic liberalism Economic globalization Equality Gender Legal Federalism Freedom Economic Market Trade Press Religion Speech Harm principle Internationalism Invisible hand Labor theory of property Laissez-faire Liberty Negative Positive Limited government Market economy Natural monopoly Open society Permissive society Popular sovereignty Property Private Public Rights Civil and political Natural and legal To own property To bear arms Rule of law Secularism Secular humanism Separation of church and state Separation of powers Social contract Social justice Social services Welfare state State of nature
History Age of Enlightenment List of liberal theorists (contributions to liberal theory)
Philosophers Milton Locke Spinoza Montesquieu Voltaire Rousseau Smith Kant Turgot Burke Priestley Paine Beccaria Condorcet Bentham Korais De Gouges Wollstonecraft Staël Say Humboldt Constant Ricardo Guizot List Bastiat Martineau Emerson Tocqueville Mill Spencer Arnold Acton Weber Hobhouse Croce Cassirer Mises Ortega Keynes Collingwood Čapek Hu Hayek Popper Aron Berlin Friedman Rawls Sen Nozick Kymlicka Badawi
Politicians Jefferson Kołłątaj Madison Artigas Bolívar Broglie Lamartine Macaulay Kossuth Deák Cobden Mazzini Juárez Lincoln Gladstone Cavour Sarmiento Mommsen Naoroji Itagaki Levski Kemal Deakin Milyukov Lloyd George Venizelos Ståhlberg Gokhale Rathenau Madero Einaudi King Roosevelt Pearson Ohlin Kennedy Jenkins
Organizations Africa Liberal Network Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party Arab Liberal Federation Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats European Democratic Party European Liberal Youth International Alliance of Libertarian Parties International Federation of Liberal Youth Liberal International Liberal Network for Latin America Liberal parties Liberal South East European Network
Regional variants Europe Latin America Albania Armenia Australia Austria Belgium Bolivia Brazil Bulgaria Canada Chile China Hong Kong Colombia Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia Denmark Ecuador Egypt Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Venizelism Honduras Hungary Iceland India Iran Israel Italy Liberism Japan Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Mexico Moldova Montenegro Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Nigeria North Macedonia Norway Panama Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Cracovian Portugal Romania Russia Senegal Serbia Slovakia Slovenia South Africa South Korea Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Thailand Tunisia Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom Cobdenism Gladstonian Manchester Whiggism United States Arizona School Classical Jeffersonian Modern Uruguay Venezuela Zimbabwe
Related topics Anti-authoritarianism Anti-communism Bias in American academia Bias in the media Capitalism Democratic Centrism Radical centrism Economic freedom Egalitarianism Empiricism Humanism Individualism Anarchist Land value tax Libertarianism Left Right Pirate Party Sexually liberal feminism Utilitarianism
Liberalism portal  Politics portal
v t e

This article is part of a series on the
Politics of South Africa
Constitution Bill of Rights
Executive President Cyril Ramaphosa Deputy President Paul Mashatile Cabinet Departments Shadow Cabinet
Legislature National Council of Provinces Chairperson Amos Masondo National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula Leader of the Opposition John Steenhuisen
Judiciary Chief Justice Ray Zondo Deputy Chief Justice Mandisa Maya Courts Constitutional Court Supreme Court of Appeal President: Mahube Molemela High Court Magistrate's courts Electoral Court
Elections General 1910 1915 1920 1921 1924 1929 1933 1938 1943 1948 1953 1958 1961 1966 1970 1974 1977 1981 1984 1987 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024 Municipal 2000 2006 2011 2016 2021 Referendums 1960 1983 1992 Political parties
Administrative divisions Provinces Districts Metropolitan municipality District municipality Municipalities (list)
Foreign relations Department of International Relations and Cooperation Minister: Naledi Pandor Diplomatic missions of / in South Africa Nationality law Passport Visa requirements Visa policy
Related topics Human rights National debt Political assassinations Protests Repression Social Welfare Taxation
Provincial Politics Politics of the Eastern Cape Politics of the Free State Politics of Gauteng Politics of KwaZulu-Natal Politics of Limpopo Politics of Mpumalanga Politics of the Northern Cape Politics of North West Politics of the Western Cape
South Africa portal Other countries
v t e

Liberalism in South Africa has encompassed various traditions and parties.

The moderate South African Party and its successor, the United Party, formed government several times between the formation of the Union and the election of the National Party in 1948. In 1959, members of the United Party formed the Progressive Party, a precursor to the present-day Democratic Alliance. Separately, in 1953, the anti-Apartheid and multi-racial Liberal Party of South Africa was formed, before disbanding in 1968.

Various South Africans have contributed prominently to liberalism in the country.

History

Timeline

Progressive Party to Unionist Party

• 1890: The Progressive Party was formed.
• 1910: PP merged with the Constitutional Party from the Orange River Colony and the Progressives from the South African Republic to form the Unionist Party.
• 1920: The Unionist Party merged into the ⇒ South African Party.

South African Party

• 1911: The South African Party was formed of various pre-Union parties. Led by the moderate Louis Botha, it formed the first government of a united South Africa. The party's support base included English-speaking white South Africans who developed a pattern of supporting the most moderate Afrikaner politicians to avoid domination. The party's own 'liberal' wing was led by Jan Hofmeyr.^[1]
• 1934: SAP merged into the ⇒ United Party.

United Party

• 1934: The United Party was formed in response to the Great Depression, combining Jan Smuts' South African Party and most of Barry Hertzog's National Party.^[1]
• 1939: Hertzog left the party and a split formed following South Africa's entry into the Second World War.^[2] The party increasingly resembled the former South African Party.^[1]
• 1948: The United Party, led by Jan Smuts, lost in the 1948 election to the Reunited National Party. The United Party based its platform on the recommendations of the Fagan Commission, which determined total segregation to be impossible, and advocated a relaxation of restrictions on black African migration into urban areas.^[3][4] The Reunited National Party, conversely, had campaigned on total racial separation.^[3]
• 1973: Democratic Party broke away from the National Party.
• 1977: DP and UP formed the New Republic Party.
• 1987: NRP dissolved, many of their members went to the Independent Party.
• 1988: IP and NRP merged into the ⇒ Democratic Party.

Liberal Party of South Africa

• 1953: The Liberal Party of South Africa was formed by Alan Paton
• 1968: The SALP decided to disband rather than obey legislation outlawing multiracial political parties. The decision was also influenced by the fact that the leadership of the SALP had been decimated by banning orders and other restrictive measures, and by the fact that many stalwarts had been forced into exile.

Progressive Party to Democratic Alliance

• 1959: Liberal members of the United Party seceded and formed the liberal Progressive Party. The parliamentary party is led by Helen Suzman
• 1975: The party merged with the Reform Party led by Harry Schwarz, a faction of the United Party, and became the Progressive Reform Party
• 1977: After the dissolution of the United Party, former members merged into the PRP, which is renamed the Progressive Federal Party
• 1987: National Party MP Wynand Malan quit the governing party to protest PW Botha's policies. South African Ambassador to the UK Denis Worrall quit his post in order to return to South Africa and fight apartheid. The two formed and led the liberal Independent Party.
• 1988: The PFP merged with the newly founded National Democratic Movement and the Independent Party into the Democratic Party
• 2000: The DP merged with the conservative New National Party into an alliance, the Democratic Alliance.
• 2001: The NNP left the alliance and the DP continues as the present-day Democratic Alliance

Mahlabatini Declaration

On 4 January 1974, Transvaal United Party leader Harry Schwarz met with Mangosuthu Buthelezi and signed a five-point plan for racial peace in South Africa, which came to be known as the Mahlabatini Declaration of Faith. Its purpose was to provide a blueprint for the government of South Africa by consent and racial peace in a multi-racial society, stressing opportunity for all, consultation, the federal concept, and a bill of rights. It also affirmed that political change must take place though non-violent means, at a time when neither the National Party nor the African National Congress were looking to peaceful solutions or dialogue. The declaration enshrined the principles of peaceful transition of power and equality for all, the first of such agreements by acknowledged black and white political leaders in South Africa and was heralded by many as a breakthrough in race relations in South Africa. Liberal figures and others such as Alan Paton praised the declaration. The declaration drew much media interest both inside and outside South Africa. Schwarz, leader of the liberal 'Young Turks' in the UP, would be expelled with other liberals from the party the following year.

Prominent individuals

Politics

• South African Party: Louis Botha, Jan Smuts, Jan Hofmeyr. Botha and Smuts were the first and second prime ministers of South Africa respectively
• United Party: Harry Schwarz, Jan Smuts
• Liberal Party of South Africa: Alan Paton
• Progressive Party: Jan Steytler, Colin Eglin, Bernard Friedman, Helen Suzman
• Reform Party: Harry Schwarz
• Progressive Reform and Progressive Federal Party: Colin Eglin, Frederik van Zyl Slabbert, Harry Schwarz, Zach de Beer
• Independent Party: Denis Worrall, Wynand Malan
• Democratic Party: Denis Worrall, Harry Schwarz Wynand Malan, Zach de Beer, Tony Leon, Sipho Moganedi (first black Democratic Party Youth national president, 1995 to 1998)
• Democratic Alliance: Tony Leon, Helen Zille, John Steenhuisen

Academia

• Donald Barkly Molteno (1908–1972)
• Edgar Brookes (1897–1979)

Media and literature

• Author Alan Paton (1903–1988)
• Laurence Gandar^[5] (1915–1998), editor of the liberal daily the Rand Daily Mail in Johannesburg from 1957 to 1969
• Barry Streek^[6] (1948–2006)

Religion

• South African Council of Churches (SACC): Beyers Naudé

Liberal organisations

• Helen Suzman Foundation
• South African Institute of Race Relations
• Black Sash
• Free Market Foundation

References

See also

• History of South Africa
• Politics of South Africa
• List of political parties in South Africa

This page was last edited on 11 January 2024, at 22:05