Editing Union of South Africa (section)

== History of the Union of South Africa ==

{{main|History of South Africa (1910–1948)}}

[[File:Botha gouvernment 1910.jpg|right|thumb|The first Union cabinet, 1910]]

===National Convention===

The [[National Convention (South Africa)|National Convention]] was a [[Constitutional convention (political custom)|constitutional convention]] held between 1908 and 1909 in [[Durban]] (12 October to 5 November 1908), [[Cape Town]] (23 November to 18 December 1908, 11 January to 3 February 1909) and [[Bloemfontein]] (3 to 11 May 1909).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Minutes of Proceedings with Annexures (Selected) of the South African National Convention held at Durban, Cape Town and Bloemfontein, 12th October, 1908, to 11th May, 1909|publisher=Cape Times Limited Government Printers|year=1910|location=Cape Town}}</ref> This convention led to the [[British parliament|British Parliament]]'s adoption of the [[South Africa Act 1909|South Africa Act]], which ratified the Union. The four colonies that would become South Africa were represented, along with a delegation from [[Company rule in Rhodesia|Rhodesia]]. The 33 delegates assembled behind closed doors, in the fear that a public affair would lead delegates to refuse compromising on contentious areas. The delegates drew up a constitution that would, subject to some amendments by the British government, become the South Africa Act. This was South Africa's constitution between 1910 and 1961, when the country became a [[South Africa|republic]] under the [[South African Constitution of 1961|Constitution of 1961]].

===Union of South Africa and Southern Rhodesia===

In 1922 the colony of [[Southern Rhodesia]] had a chance (but ultimately rejected) to join the Union through a [[Southern Rhodesia government referendum, 1922|referendum]]. The referendum resulted from the fact that by 1920 [[British South Africa Company]] rule in Southern Rhodesia was no longer practical with many favouring some form of '[[responsible government]]'. Some favoured responsible government within Southern Rhodesia while others (especially in [[Matabeleland]]) favoured membership of the Union of South Africa. Politician [[Charles Coghlan (politician)|Sir Charles Coghlan]] claimed that such membership with the Union would make Southern Rhodesia the "[[Ulster]] of South Africa".<ref>{{cite book | first =Keith | last =Jeffrey | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=WUTpAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA196 | title =An Irish Empire?: Aspects of Ireland and the British Empire| publisher = Manchester University Press | year = 1996 | isbn =	0719038731 | page =196 }}</ref>

Prior to the referendum, representatives of Southern Rhodesia visited Cape Town where the Prime Minister of South Africa, [[Jan Smuts]], eventually offered terms he considered reasonable and which the United Kingdom government found acceptable. Although opinion among the United Kingdom government, the South African government and the British South Africa Company favoured the union option (and none tried to interfere in the referendum), when the referendum was held the results saw 59.4% in favour of responsible government for a separate colony and 40.6% in favour of joining the Union of South Africa.{{cn|date=March 2025}}

===Union of South Africa and South West Africa===

====Background====

{{main|Palgrave Commission}}

The inhospitable coast of what is now [[Namibia]] remained uncolonised up until the end of the 19th century.

From 1874, the leaders of several Indigenous peoples, notably [[Maharero]] of the [[Herero people|Herero]] nation, approached the [[Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope|Cape Parliament]] to the south. Anticipating invasion by a European power and already suffering [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese encroachment]] from the north and [[Afrikaners|Afrikaner encroachment]] from the south, these leaders approached the [[Cape Colony]] government to discuss the possibility of accession and the political representation it would entail. Accession to the Cape Colony, a self-governing state with a [[Cape Qualified Franchise|system of multi-racial franchise]] and legal protection for traditional land rights, was at the time considered marginally preferable to annexation by either the [[Kingdom of Portugal]] or the [[German Empire]].

In response, the [[Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope|Cape Parliament]] appointed a special Commission under [[Palgrave Commission|William Palgrave]], to travel to the territory between the [[Orange (river)|Orange]] and [[Cunene river]]s and to confer with these leaders regarding accession to the Cape. In the negotiations with the [[Palgrave Commission]], some indigenous nations such as the [[Damara (people)|Damara]] and the Herero responded positively (October 1876), other reactions were mixed. Discussions regarding the magisterial structure for the area's political integration into the Cape dragged on until, from 1876, it was blocked by Britain. Britain relented, insofar as allowing the Cape to incorporate [[Walvis Bay]] as an exclave, which was brought under the magisterial district of [[Cape Town]], but when the Germans established a protectorate over the area in 1884, South West Africa was predominantly autonomous.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.ukzn.ac.za/files/theses/david%20mccarney.pdf |title=Smuts, South West Africa and the League of Nations, 1919 - 1924. |first1=David |last1=Mccarney |date=1978|access-date=12 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209150334/http://www.history.ukzn.ac.za/files/theses/david%20mccarney.pdf |archive-date=9 February 2014 }}</ref><ref>P. A. Molteno: ''The life and times of Sir John Charles Molteno, K. C. M. G., First Premier of Cape Colony, Comprising a History of Representative Institutions and Responsible Government at the Cape''. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1900. Vol.I. p.284.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.ukzn.ac.za/files/theses/hartman-honours.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=14 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209154519/http://www.history.ukzn.ac.za/files/theses/hartman-honours.pdf |archive-date=9 February 2014 }}</ref>

Thereafter, [[South West Africa]] became a [[German colonial empire|German colony]], except for [[Walvis Bay]] and the [[Penguin Islands|Offshore Islands]] which remained part of the Cape, outside of German control.

====South African occupation====

{{Unreferenced section|date=May 2022}}

[[File:SWA sur AfSud filles royales 1947.jpg|thumb|South West Africa stamp: Princesses [[Elizabeth II|Elizabeth]] and [[Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon|Margaret]] on the [[1947 Royal Tour of South Africa]]]]

Following the outbreak of the [[First World War]] in 1914, the Union of South Africa occupied and annexed<ref>{{Cite web |title=German South West Africa |url=https://awayfromthewesternfront.org/campaigns/africa/german-south-west-africa/ |access-date=2023-05-13 |website=Away from the Western Front |language=en-GB}}</ref> the German colony of [[German South West Africa]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The South West Africa Campaign 1914–1915 |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/south_west_africa_campaign_1914-1915 |access-date=2025-05-16 |website=1914-1918 Online International Encyclopedia of the First World War}}</ref> With the establishment of the [[League of Nations]] and cessation of the war, South Africa obtained a [[Class C mandate|Class C Mandate]] to administer South West Africa "under the laws of the mandatory (South Africa) as integral portions of its territory".<ref>{{Cite web |title=South-West Africa. |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/a22000969/ |access-date=2023-05-13 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA}}</ref> Subsequently, the Union of South Africa generally regarded South West Africa as a fifth province, although this was never an official status. 

With the creation of the [[United Nations]], the Union applied for the incorporation of South West Africa, but its application was rejected by the U.N., which invited South Africa to prepare a [[Trusteeship (United Nations)|Trusteeship]] agreement instead.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mandates and Trusteeship System |url=https://www.un.org/en/about-us/trusteeship-council |access-date=2025-05-16 |website=United Nations}}</ref> This invitation was in turn rejected by the Union, which subsequently did not modify the administration of South West Africa and continued to adhere to the original mandate. This caused a complex set of legal wranglings that were not finalised when the Union was replaced with the Republic of South Africa. In 1949, the Union passed a law bringing South West Africa into closer association with it including giving South West Africa representation in the South African parliament.<ref>{{cite web |title=South West Africa Affairs Amendment Act, 1949 |url=https://omalley.nelsonmandela.org/index.php/site/q/03lv01538/04lv01828/05lv01829/06lv01835.htm |access-date=2025-05-16 |website=The O’Malley Archives}}</ref>

[[Walvis Bay]], which is now in [[Namibia]], was originally a part of the Union of South Africa as an [[Enclave and exclave|exclave]] as it was a part of the Cape Colony at the time of Unification. In 1921, Walvis Bay was integrated with the Class C Mandate over South West Africa for the rest of the Union's duration and for part of the republican era.

===Statute of Westminster===

The [[Statute of Westminster 1931|Statute of Westminster]] passed by the [[British Parliament]] in December 1931, which repealed the [[Colonial Laws Validity Act]] and implemented the [[Balfour Declaration 1926]], had a profound impact on the constitutional structure and status of the Union. The most notable effect was that the South African Parliament was released from many restrictions concerning the handling of the so-called "native question". However, the repeal was not sufficient to enable the South African Parliament to ignore the entrenched clauses of its constitution (the [[South Africa Act 1909|South Africa Act]]) which led to the [[coloured-vote constitutional crisis]] of the 1950s wherein the right of coloureds to vote in the main South African Parliament was removed and replaced with a separate, segregated, and largely powerless assembly.
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