The Labour Party of South AfricaMinutes of the Labour Party of South Africa
/ref> ( af, Arbeidersparty van Suid-Afrika) was a South African political party founded in 1969 and led for many years by

Allan Hendrickse Helenard Joe Hendrickse (22 October 1927 – 16 March 2005), popularly known as Allan Hendrickse, was a South African politician, Congregationalist minister and teacher. He participated in an act of defiance by swimming at a South African beach ...

. Although avowedly opposed to

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 ...

, it participated in the

Coloured Persons Representative Council The Coloured Persons Representative Council of the Republic of South Africa was a partially elected council with limited legislative powers, intended to represent coloured South Africans during the apartheid era. It was first elected in 1969, re-e ...

.Allan Hendrickse's obituary in ''The Guardian''.
/ref> It opposed the guerrilla struggle of Umkhonto we Sizwe and the call for international sanctions against South Africa. The party later dominated the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

in the Tricameral Parliament from its foundation in 1984 until 1992, winning 76 of the 80 seats in the 1984 elections and 69 in those of 1989. When the National Party of

F. W. de Klerk Frederik Willem de Klerk (, , 18 March 1936 – 11 November 2021) was a South African politician who served as state president of South Africa from 1989 to 1994 and as deputy president from 1994 to 1996 in the democratic government. As South ...

decided to admit non-White members, however, a substantial number of members of the House of Representatives who had been members of Labour

crossed the floor Crossed may refer to: * ''Crossed'' (comics), a 2008 comic book series by Garth Ennis * ''Crossed'' (novel), a 2010 young adult novel by Ally Condie * "Crossed" (''The Walking Dead''), an episode of the television series ''The Walking Dead'' S ...

to join the Nationalists. In 1992, a group of 36 such former Labour members led by

Jac Rabie Jacobus Albert Rabie (August 1938 – 29 April 2008) was a South African politician who was Minister for Population Development under President F. W. de Klerk from 1993 to 1994. He served in the apartheid-era House of Representatives throughou ...

engineered a vote of no confidence in Hendrickse's Labour government.South Africans of Mixed Race in a Political Shift.
Christopher Wren, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', 9 February 1992. Losing influence at the polls, Hendrickse concluded that the Labour Party had fulfilled its uses, and the party was disbanded in 1994, with Hendrickse and his followers joining the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

.Recipients of the Order of the Baobab in Silver.
The Presidency of South Africa. The name of the New Labour Party of

Peter Marais Petrus Jacobus "Peter" Marais (born 4 September 1948) is a South African politician who is currently serving as a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament. He previously served as the inaugural Mayor of Cape Town from 2000 until his dis ...

was meant to evoke Hendrickse's Labour Party. It is not to be confused with the earlier South African Labour Party, which had represented White industrial workers.

Electoral history

Coloured Persons' Representative Council elections

Notes

In 1984 the

was created as part of the Tricameral Parliament and replaced the

Coloured Persons' Representative Council The Coloured Persons Representative Council of the Republic of South Africa was a partially elected council with limited legislative powers, intended to represent coloured South Africans during the apartheid era. It was first elected in 1969, re-e ...

House of Representatives elections

References

Anti-Apartheid organisations Defunct political parties in South Africa Labour parties Social democratic parties in South Africa {{SouthAfrica-party-stub