Why did South Africa become a republic in 1961? Flashcards
(18 cards)
What percentage of white votes did the nationalists receive in the 1958 election?
55%
Give two of Verwoerd’s aims for the referendum
To gain support beyond the usual NP supporters.
To “stamp his authority” as a “hardline transvaler” within the party
Who was Dr. P.J. Meyer?
What two positions did Verwoerd give him?
A former member of the Ossewabrandwag
Head of Broederbond, Head of South African Broadcasting Corporation
What year did South Africa get television and why?
1976, the NP did not feel that they could adequately control the output. They wanted to control media as much as possible.
Who was the first prime minister to tour Africa and what month/year did he visit South Africa?
What were the two main reasons for his visit?
Macmillan, February 1960
To strengthen commonwealth ties/celebrate independence. To keep African countries from falling to communism during the Cold War.
What two reasons meant that Macmillan was careful with the content of his speech?
50 years since the union of South Africa, Verwoerd had announced the South African referendum on republican status.
What did Macmillan focus much of his speech on?
What fraction of external investment was from Britain in 1956?
What did Macmillan praise?
Praising South Africa’s achievements/its beauty
nearly two thirds
Smuts and South Africa’s contribution to the war and commonwealth.
What was the only country to achieve independence under the previous British Labour government?
What was guiding the French and British governments to pursue decolonisation?
What was Macmillan’s memorable phrase, referring to the above answer?
India
Conservative realism, cost, pressure.
“The wind of change blowing through Africa”
What event (year) showed the problems of an aggressive defence of the British Empire?
In which two places did Britain face major wars against insurgents?
What factors put pressure on Britain to decolonise?
What did Macmillan hope rapid decolonisation would achieve?
The Suez Crisis (1956)
Malaysia and Kenya
The rising cost of the empire, American pressures
Strong links between Britain and its former colonies which would remain important markets and sites for investment
What did Macmillan indicate that white South Africans needed to accept?
What did Macmillan explicitly query?
What did Verwoerd emphasise in his response/later speeches?
What did Macmillan’s speech help to cement in the mind of Verwoerd?
African Nationalism
“some aspects of your policies”
the white determination to stay in power
The idea of internal decolonisation of South Africa through the Bantustan or homeland policy.
What month was the 1960 republic vote and what percentage voted for a republic?
Where in South Africa did a large number of people reject the republic and why?
Why did black opposition parties reject the move?
October, 52%
Natal, a sizeable population of British South Africans
Mainly because it was done without the consultation of the majority of South Africa’s population
What date did South Africa become a republic?
What replaced the Queen as the ceremonial head of state?
What was the new currency?
May 1961
President
The rand
What month and year was the commonwealth conference?
What heads of state were against South Africa (with the apartheid policy) remaining as a republic within the commonwealth?
Which countries supported South Africa?
March 1961
Asian and African due to apartheid policies
Britain, Australia, New Zealand
Why could Australian and British advisors not allow South Africa into the commonwealth?
Verwoerd would not allow diplomatic representation for newly independent African states “he could not have the capital crowded with so many embassies”
Why did Botswana, Lesotho, and Swaziland become significant as independent states within the commonwealth?
Between which years did they gain their independence?
What is AAM, where was it founded and when, why was it significant?
They became “occasional havens” for South African political dissidents and routes for escape.
1966-68
British Anti Apartheid Movement London, 1960. Global focus for opposition, the major destination for those fleeing SA
Which cold war event (and what year) affirmed the USA/UK sense that the benefits of White minority rule (bastion against communism) outweighed the costs? (ANC = communist links)
The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962
Which event triggered a brief withdrawal of British investment in South African companies?
Which country still remained the largest investors in South Africa throughout the 1960s?
Why was Britain thought to be cautious in action against apartheid?
What two metals did South Africa produce which were vital for the global economy and nuclear technology?
Sharpeville
Britain
Due to economic interests.
Gold (money supply) and Uranium (nuclear, Cold War)
What year did the UN pass a resolution to ban imports and exports to and from South Africa?
What made these sanctions “irrelevant”?
What was the next resolution that the UN passed, what year was it passed?
What year was it made compulsory?
1962
They were voluntary so Western powers with interest in the SA economy did not take them up
Arms embargo so that the state could not suppress its people (1963)
1964
