The Conservative Party of South Africa ( af, Konserwatiewe Party van Suid-Afrika) was a

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

South African political party that sought to preserve many aspects of

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

in the system's final decade, and formed the

official opposition Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''t ...

in the white-only

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony adm ...

in the last seven years of minority rule. It declined quickly after apartheid ended, before being merged with the Freedom Front in 2004.

Foundation and early support

It was formed in 1982 by 23 MPs from the ruling National Party who opposed Prime Minister PW Botha's reforms to

and power sharing proposals, that resulted in the Tricameral Parliament, which they saw as a threat to

white minority rule In political science, minoritarianism (or minorityism) is a neologism for a political structure or process in which a minority segment of a population has a certain degree of primacy in that entity's decision making. Minoritarianism may be cont ...

, and the

racial segregation Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crime against humanity under the Statute of the Intern ...

known as Separate Development. It was led by Andries Treurnicht, a former

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

minister popularly known as 'Doctor No'. The CP's English-language programme booklets from 1987 to 1989 stated that the party was established "to continue the policy of self-determination after the Pgovernment had exchanged self-determination" (something the CP described as an "infallible policy"), for power-sharing. It drew support from white South Africans, mostly

Afrikaner Afrikaners () are a South African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: Brain to Cast ...

s in the rural heartlands of South Africa. All members of the new party that belonged to the

Afrikaner Broederbond The Afrikaner Broederbond (AB) or simply the Broederbond was an exclusively Afrikaner Calvinist and male secret society in South Africa dedicated to the advancement of the Afrikaner people. It was founded by H. J. Klopper, H. W. van der Merwe, ...

had to leave that organization as they were not welcome anymore.

Official opposition

It became the

in the whites-only

House of Assembly of South Africa The House of Assembly (known in Afrikaans as the ''Volksraad'', or "People's Council") was the lower house of the Parliament of South Africa from 1910 to 1981, the sole parliamentary chamber between 1981 and 1984, and latterly the white rep ...

in the elections of 6 May 1987, when it surpassed the liberal Progressive Federal Party, winning 550,000 votes. Donald Simpson, writing in the South African newspaper, ''

The Star ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'', went as far as to predict that the National Party would lose the next election and that the Conservative Party would become the new government of South Africa. In the local elections of 1987 the Conservative Party won 60 municipalities out of 110 in the Transvaal, and 1 out of 4 in the

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...

. The Conservative Party received 45% of the

votes and 7.5% of the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

-speaking votes. It won 50% of the Afrikaner vote in the Transvaal and Orange Free State provinces in the 1989 general elections. It won 40% of the White popular vote in the Transvaal, and 45% in the Orange Free State provinces in the 1989 elections. In the late 1980s, the party established links with the British conservative

anti-communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...

pressure group, the Western Goals Institute.

Opposition to negotiations to end apartheid

In the general election of 1989, the last before non-racial elections, the party strengthened its vote to 31.52% of the white electorate and 41 seats in the

. The Conservative Party led the "no" campaign during the 1992 referendum, when white South Africans were asked to determine whether or not they supported the negotiated reforms started by the government. Apart from Treurnicht, the official

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

, and

Clive Derby-Lewis Clive John Derby-Lewis (22 January 1936 – 3 November 2016) was a South African politician, who was involved first in the National Party and then, while serving as a member of parliament, in the Conservative Party. In 1993 he was convicted ...

, the Shadow Finance Minister, the ''no'' side was supported by former President P W Botha, who denounced de Klerk's reforms as irresponsible and perilous to the stability of the country. The result was a defeat for the "no" side, when 68% of white voters voted "yes".

was found guilty in 1993 (under the emergency legislation enacted by the House of Assembly) of involvement in the assassination of

South African Communist Party The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by the governing N ...

leader

Chris Hani Chris Hani (28 June 1942 – 10 April 1993), born Martin Thembisile Hani , was the leader of the South African Communist Party and chief of staff of uMkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). He was a fierce ...

. In 1997, party leader Ferdi Hartzenberg testified before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that the assassination had been carried out on the party's behalf.

Election results

Post apartheid decline and dissolution

Its support rapidly declined after majority rule in 1994. The decision not to participate in the first non-racial parliamentary elections in 1994 resulted in much of its support base defecting to the newly formed Freedom Front, another party of similar views which had been joined by one of its MPs

Pieter Mulder Pieter Willem Adriaan Mulder (born 26 July 1951) is a South African politician and the former leader of the Freedom Front Plus. He served as the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in the Cabinet of President Jacob Zuma from ...

. In the 1995–1996 municipal elections, the CP won 57 seats (out of 11 368) and a mere fraction of the votes compared to the FF and the NP. In 2002, the Conservative Party became more active again after a largely dormant period. The party gained two seats at local level in the North West province when councillors representing a regional party joined the CP, and in the 2003 floor crossing period a Freedom Front MPL defected to the CP, giving the party one seat in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature. This was followed by several more defections from FF members at regional or branch level. Party leader Hartzenberg explained that the CP had re-considered its stance not to contest elections. However, it soon became apparent that increasing its participation within the modern South African political system meant that it would merge with the larger Freedom Front, now led by Mulder, to form the Freedom Front Plus. Besides Mulder, two other former Conservative Party MPs, Corné Mulder and Pieter Groenewald, also serve as Freedom Front Plus MPs. The merger was consolidated when its remaining two municipal councillors joined the FF+ during the September 2004 floor crossing period, thus bringing a formal end to the Conservative Party.

Legacy

A new political party was founded by former members of the Conservative Party on 16 April 2016, with similar beliefs, policies and logo, namely the

National Conservative Party of South Africa The National Conservative Party of South Africa (Nasionale Konserwatiewe Party van Suid-Afrika in Afrikaans) is a nationalist political party formed on 16 April 2016 in Pretoria. Formation The party was formed on 16 April 2016 by a wide spe ...

References

External links

Flag of the Conservative Party (South Africa)
{{Authority control 1982 establishments in South Africa 2004 disestablishments in South Africa Afrikaner nationalism Afrikaner organizations Anti-communist parties Boer nationalism Conservative parties in South Africa Defunct political parties in South Africa Far-right politics in South Africa National conservative parties Nationalist parties in South Africa Organisations associated with apartheid Political parties disestablished in 2004 Political parties established in 1982 Political parties of minorities Protestant political parties Separatism in South Africa White nationalist parties White separatist groups