top. His commanding personality, political mentorship of the late Prime Minister, and status as the HNP's leading racial theorist all pointed in a single direction - only Dr. Verwoerd could lead the HNP into a future that promised to be ever more turbulent.
While many legalist parties oppose the HNP government, the system of minority rule itself is opposed by two main groupings - the African National Congress (ANC), and the Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC). Of the two, the ANC is by far the older formation, having been founded in 1912. In its early years, the ANC was primarily a party of the Black elite and middle class, with very limited outreach to the masses. Inspired chiefly by Gandhian philosophy, the ANC maintained a stance of strict non-violence. Attempts at mass mobilisation occurred under the leadership of Josiah Gumede in the 20s, but he was eventually ousted from his position, and replaced by the conservative Pixley ka Isaka Seme. The ANC began to gradually revitalise in the 1940s, under the leadership of AB Xuma, who was able to successfully take advantage of an upsurge in discontent and Black trade unionism. The radical ANC Youth League was founded under his leadership, and they would quickly become the dominant faction in the ANC, surpassing the central leadership and building up the first generation of anti-apartheid freedom fighters - among them, Nelson Mandela.
The creation of Apartheid had huge impacts upon the ANC, with the Youth League being at the forefront, demanding a more radical policy against the government, which they successfully achieved, with the Programme of Action. The Programme of Action demanded mass civil disobedience, strikes, and deliberate defiance of the apartheid laws, which led in turn to the Defiance Campaign. The Campaign’s demands were not enacted, but it proved that radical action could work. The ANC, however, were beginning to fracture over the issue of whether or not the anti-apartheid struggle should adopt a multi-racial stance. Figures like Mandela wanted to begin official cooperation with the underground South African Communist Party, alongside other Indian, White and Coloured organisations that opposed apartheid and minority rule. They were able to successfully push for this goal, organising the Congress of the People in 1955, and forming an official alliance between anti-apartheid organisations, adopting the Freedom Charter stating their core principles and making it clear that the struggle against apartheid included all races.
Much of the ANC’s Youth League, however, felt betrayed by this policy, believing that it represented a step backward from the Programme of Action and that the Freedom Charter focused insufficiently on the Black majority. In addition to this, there was a strong dislike for the Communist Party among much of the Youth League, with the ANC and SACP being historical rivals and the ANC being a traditionally anti-communist organisation. In 1959, a major split in the party occurred due to this, with Robert Sobukwe and Potlako Leballo leading a significant section of ANC cadres over to a new party - the PAC. The PAC’s programme stressed the idea of South Africa as a solely Black African nation, and took heavy inspiration from Pan-Asian rhetoric in the Co-Prosperity Sphere, seeing common ground in the statement of “Asia for the Asians, Africa for the Africans”. In addition to this, the PAC firmly rejected communism in all forms, disavowing any cooperation with communist organisations and declaring that they had no interest in class struggle, only national liberation.
No single event better encapsulates the pervasive racial violence of South Africa than the Blesberg Massacre. In furtherance of Prime Minister Verwoerd's ambitious goals for the Homelands policy, in 1960, the HNP issued removal orders for Basotho, Swazi, and Tswana in South Africa. In a show of defiance, both the ANC and PAC organized major protests all across the country. While the South African Police unleashed violence to suppress many of
While many legalist parties oppose the HNP government, the system of minority rule itself is opposed by two main groupings - the African National Congress (ANC), and the Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC). Of the two, the ANC is by far the older formation, having been founded in 1912. In its early years, the ANC was primarily a party of the Black elite and middle class, with very limited outreach to the masses. Inspired chiefly by Gandhian philosophy, the ANC maintained a stance of strict non-violence. Attempts at mass mobilisation occurred under the leadership of Josiah Gumede in the 20s, but he was eventually ousted from his position, and replaced by the conservative Pixley ka Isaka Seme. The ANC began to gradually revitalise in the 1940s, under the leadership of AB Xuma, who was able to successfully take advantage of an upsurge in discontent and Black trade unionism. The radical ANC Youth League was founded under his leadership, and they would quickly become the dominant faction in the ANC, surpassing the central leadership and building up the first generation of anti-apartheid freedom fighters - among them, Nelson Mandela.
The creation of Apartheid had huge impacts upon the ANC, with the Youth League being at the forefront, demanding a more radical policy against the government, which they successfully achieved, with the Programme of Action. The Programme of Action demanded mass civil disobedience, strikes, and deliberate defiance of the apartheid laws, which led in turn to the Defiance Campaign. The Campaign’s demands were not enacted, but it proved that radical action could work. The ANC, however, were beginning to fracture over the issue of whether or not the anti-apartheid struggle should adopt a multi-racial stance. Figures like Mandela wanted to begin official cooperation with the underground South African Communist Party, alongside other Indian, White and Coloured organisations that opposed apartheid and minority rule. They were able to successfully push for this goal, organising the Congress of the People in 1955, and forming an official alliance between anti-apartheid organisations, adopting the Freedom Charter stating their core principles and making it clear that the struggle against apartheid included all races.
Much of the ANC’s Youth League, however, felt betrayed by this policy, believing that it represented a step backward from the Programme of Action and that the Freedom Charter focused insufficiently on the Black majority. In addition to this, there was a strong dislike for the Communist Party among much of the Youth League, with the ANC and SACP being historical rivals and the ANC being a traditionally anti-communist organisation. In 1959, a major split in the party occurred due to this, with Robert Sobukwe and Potlako Leballo leading a significant section of ANC cadres over to a new party - the PAC. The PAC’s programme stressed the idea of South Africa as a solely Black African nation, and took heavy inspiration from Pan-Asian rhetoric in the Co-Prosperity Sphere, seeing common ground in the statement of “Asia for the Asians, Africa for the Africans”. In addition to this, the PAC firmly rejected communism in all forms, disavowing any cooperation with communist organisations and declaring that they had no interest in class struggle, only national liberation.
No single event better encapsulates the pervasive racial violence of South Africa than the Blesberg Massacre. In furtherance of Prime Minister Verwoerd's ambitious goals for the Homelands policy, in 1960, the HNP issued removal orders for Basotho, Swazi, and Tswana in South Africa. In a show of defiance, both the ANC and PAC organized major protests all across the country. While the South African Police unleashed violence to suppress many of
these demonstrations, the township of Blesberg in the Orange Free State was the site of the most severe confrontation. Armed officers opened fire on the protesting crowds, killing dozens and injuring scores more. In the aftermath, Prime Minister Verwoerd brought down the full force of the state; Justice Minister B.J. Vorster invoked the 1950 Suppression of Communism Act, banning the ANC and PAC. Both organizations were scattered as the authorities hauled thousands of activists to prison. Patlako Leballo, secretary general of the PAC, fled to Azad Hind, leaving Robert Sobukwe to manage the now underground movement. Meanwhile, the ANC's leadership dispersed, with some hiding in Bechuanaland and others escaping to as far away as Ghana. Both groups have prepared a transition to armed struggle and have organized paramilitary wings, but without ready sources of weapons or a strategy to follow, both MK and Poqo have been able to accomplish little more than basic training for volunteers.
https://preview.redd.it/zxov5gezi2ff1.png?width=3123&format=png&auto=webp&s=8cc73be0fa6e9cc2db9b63c8bcafddac0faa8333
Ever since South African forces seized German South West Africa, the politicians have been determined to incorporate the territory into their country. Jan Smuts, South Africa's representative to the Versailles Conference, pushed for and ultimately received acceptance of South West Africa as a Class C mandate under the League of Nations. Under this classification, the territory would be governed as if it were an integral part of South Africa; South Africa's leaders, Smuts among them, fully expected that one day South West Africa would be recognized as the fifth province in the Union.
South African policy certainly reflected this belief. Thousands of settlers were encouraged to immigrate to South West Africa by the post-war governments. When South Africa's Parliament established a whites-only Legislative Council, politics soon divided between the old German settlers and their newer Afrikaner and English counterparts. For years, the German voting bloc, resentful of their new neighbors and opposing incorporation, managed to secure dominance in the Council, but by the 1930s, they had lost significant ground to the United National South West Party.
Unsurprisingly, National Socialism became quite popular in South West Africa during the interwar period, just as it gained many admirers in South Africa proper. To his credit, Smuts took decisive action to clamp down on many of these pro-Nazi groups, and working with the UNSWP, they banned several fascist organizations. In response, pro-Nazi German settlers formed the Deutscher Südwest Bund as a "cultural association" under the leadership of Ernest Emil Dressel.
For much of the 1930s and 1940s, facing Pretoria’s scrutiny, the German community in South West Africa was on a serious back foot, but the Reich's victory in the Second World War and the HNP's in the 1948 elections would result in a dramatic reversal. The suppression of pro-Nazi groups, which the Smuts government had continued to enforce, was soon lifted as Pretoria re-established normal diplomatic relations with the Reich. The main beneficiary of this policy in South West Africa was, of course, the DSWB. Ernest Dressel would eventually retire from his position as Führer of the organization, replaced by Adolf Brinkmann. It is an open secret that the Reich Foreign Office and Abwehr have funneled significant resources to the DSWB, and Brinkmann himself has met several times with Hellmut von Leipzig, a South West African-born Wehrmacht officer who has on several occasions been sent to Pretoria with German military delegations.
With the League of Nations defunct, the HNP was free to declare South West Africa as the country's fifth province. Parliament quickly allotted the new province seats in the House of Assembly and Senate - all of which would end up in National Party hands. By this point, the German settlers' distaste for the Afrikaners had largely abated, and the DSWB made clear it
https://preview.redd.it/zxov5gezi2ff1.png?width=3123&format=png&auto=webp&s=8cc73be0fa6e9cc2db9b63c8bcafddac0faa8333
Ever since South African forces seized German South West Africa, the politicians have been determined to incorporate the territory into their country. Jan Smuts, South Africa's representative to the Versailles Conference, pushed for and ultimately received acceptance of South West Africa as a Class C mandate under the League of Nations. Under this classification, the territory would be governed as if it were an integral part of South Africa; South Africa's leaders, Smuts among them, fully expected that one day South West Africa would be recognized as the fifth province in the Union.
South African policy certainly reflected this belief. Thousands of settlers were encouraged to immigrate to South West Africa by the post-war governments. When South Africa's Parliament established a whites-only Legislative Council, politics soon divided between the old German settlers and their newer Afrikaner and English counterparts. For years, the German voting bloc, resentful of their new neighbors and opposing incorporation, managed to secure dominance in the Council, but by the 1930s, they had lost significant ground to the United National South West Party.
Unsurprisingly, National Socialism became quite popular in South West Africa during the interwar period, just as it gained many admirers in South Africa proper. To his credit, Smuts took decisive action to clamp down on many of these pro-Nazi groups, and working with the UNSWP, they banned several fascist organizations. In response, pro-Nazi German settlers formed the Deutscher Südwest Bund as a "cultural association" under the leadership of Ernest Emil Dressel.
For much of the 1930s and 1940s, facing Pretoria’s scrutiny, the German community in South West Africa was on a serious back foot, but the Reich's victory in the Second World War and the HNP's in the 1948 elections would result in a dramatic reversal. The suppression of pro-Nazi groups, which the Smuts government had continued to enforce, was soon lifted as Pretoria re-established normal diplomatic relations with the Reich. The main beneficiary of this policy in South West Africa was, of course, the DSWB. Ernest Dressel would eventually retire from his position as Führer of the organization, replaced by Adolf Brinkmann. It is an open secret that the Reich Foreign Office and Abwehr have funneled significant resources to the DSWB, and Brinkmann himself has met several times with Hellmut von Leipzig, a South West African-born Wehrmacht officer who has on several occasions been sent to Pretoria with German military delegations.
With the League of Nations defunct, the HNP was free to declare South West Africa as the country's fifth province. Parliament quickly allotted the new province seats in the House of Assembly and Senate - all of which would end up in National Party hands. By this point, the German settlers' distaste for the Afrikaners had largely abated, and the DSWB made clear it
stood behind the government. The UNSWP collapsed in the Legislative Assembly elections in 1953, while the party's leader, Jacques Niehaus, adopted an ultraconservative tack that led nowhere. From that point on, South West Africa was an HNP stronghold. In a sign of extremism baked into the HNP's everyday politics, the party's chairman in South West Africa since the 1950s has been Senator Johannes von Strauss von Moltke, a former fascist Greyshirt.
It was during the Strijdom years that South African lawmakers began to turn their attention to implementing the new racial order in the Republic's fifth province. It helped that in the colonial period, the Germans had already established a native reserve system that the South Africans could take advantage of. Most of these reserves were located in the north of the territory, above the 'Police Zone' that demarcated where the state maintained European policing. As the timetable for the Homelands scheme in South Africa progressed, Native Affairs Minister Verwoerd tapped his longtime ally and fellow racial theorist Michiel Daniel Christiaan de Wet Nel to lead a commission aimed at expanding the Homeland system into South West Africa. When Verwoerd found himself the next Prime Minister after Strijdom's unexpected death, he picked de Wet Nel as South West's next administrator, with a remit to implement the recommendations of the Commission.
While opposition exists among the South West Africans, it has so far proven to be underdeveloped, underequipped, and heavily divided along ethnic lines, making large-scale resistance all the more difficult and armed resistance an impossibility for the foreseeable future. The nationalist cause is currently dominated by two organizations, the first being the South West African National Union (SWANU) under Jariretundu Kozonguizi and the South West African People's Organization (SWAPO) led by Sam Nujoma. At the urging of Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah, host of Nujoma and SWAPO's headquarters, both groups have pledged to integrate into the South West African National Liberation Front (SWANLF), but as of 1962, only tentative steps have been taken to bring this dream of a united front into reality.
Britain kept many of its African territories following the war, but this was not true for the High Commission Territories. The High Commission Territories, consisting of Basutoland, Swaziland, and Bechuanaland, were Britain's South African possessions under their direct supervision as compared to the self-ruling Union of South Africa. These territories had a long history of opposition to settler encroachment during the late nineteenth century, and while each eventually fell under British dominion, before the Second World War, London protected them from Pretoria's expansionist impulses.
The British declared a protectorate over the Bechuanaland territory, which at that time was divided between various Tswana chiefdoms, during the Berlin Conference in 1885 (before even making this known to the BaTswana themselves). Initially, the territory was expected to go to Cecil Rhodes' British South Africa Company, but Rhodes' ill-fated Jameson Raid caused Whitehall to shelve this plan. Still, with the consolidation of British rule in South Africa, culminating in the creation of the Union in 1910, incorporation into South Africa seemed inevitable. It was continuously delayed, however, thanks to the public and private lobbying efforts of the DiKgosi, the ruling Tswana chiefs, and their agents.
At first, South Africa's occupation of the High Commission Territories at the end of the war brought few real changes to life in the Protectorate. It was not even clear in what capacity the Smuts government even intended to administer Bechuanaland. The Protectorate had already been run from the South African city of Mafeking, and an equivalent reserve system had been introduced in the Union in 1913.
More dramatic changes were introduced following the ascension of the HNP. Official documents began to refer to the "Territory
It was during the Strijdom years that South African lawmakers began to turn their attention to implementing the new racial order in the Republic's fifth province. It helped that in the colonial period, the Germans had already established a native reserve system that the South Africans could take advantage of. Most of these reserves were located in the north of the territory, above the 'Police Zone' that demarcated where the state maintained European policing. As the timetable for the Homelands scheme in South Africa progressed, Native Affairs Minister Verwoerd tapped his longtime ally and fellow racial theorist Michiel Daniel Christiaan de Wet Nel to lead a commission aimed at expanding the Homeland system into South West Africa. When Verwoerd found himself the next Prime Minister after Strijdom's unexpected death, he picked de Wet Nel as South West's next administrator, with a remit to implement the recommendations of the Commission.
While opposition exists among the South West Africans, it has so far proven to be underdeveloped, underequipped, and heavily divided along ethnic lines, making large-scale resistance all the more difficult and armed resistance an impossibility for the foreseeable future. The nationalist cause is currently dominated by two organizations, the first being the South West African National Union (SWANU) under Jariretundu Kozonguizi and the South West African People's Organization (SWAPO) led by Sam Nujoma. At the urging of Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah, host of Nujoma and SWAPO's headquarters, both groups have pledged to integrate into the South West African National Liberation Front (SWANLF), but as of 1962, only tentative steps have been taken to bring this dream of a united front into reality.
Britain kept many of its African territories following the war, but this was not true for the High Commission Territories. The High Commission Territories, consisting of Basutoland, Swaziland, and Bechuanaland, were Britain's South African possessions under their direct supervision as compared to the self-ruling Union of South Africa. These territories had a long history of opposition to settler encroachment during the late nineteenth century, and while each eventually fell under British dominion, before the Second World War, London protected them from Pretoria's expansionist impulses.
The British declared a protectorate over the Bechuanaland territory, which at that time was divided between various Tswana chiefdoms, during the Berlin Conference in 1885 (before even making this known to the BaTswana themselves). Initially, the territory was expected to go to Cecil Rhodes' British South Africa Company, but Rhodes' ill-fated Jameson Raid caused Whitehall to shelve this plan. Still, with the consolidation of British rule in South Africa, culminating in the creation of the Union in 1910, incorporation into South Africa seemed inevitable. It was continuously delayed, however, thanks to the public and private lobbying efforts of the DiKgosi, the ruling Tswana chiefs, and their agents.
At first, South Africa's occupation of the High Commission Territories at the end of the war brought few real changes to life in the Protectorate. It was not even clear in what capacity the Smuts government even intended to administer Bechuanaland. The Protectorate had already been run from the South African city of Mafeking, and an equivalent reserve system had been introduced in the Union in 1913.
More dramatic changes were introduced following the ascension of the HNP. Official documents began to refer to the "Territory
of Bechuanaland" rather than the "Protectorate" as they had continued to do during Smuts' tenure. This attitude would later culminate in South Africa's standoff with the British government in 1954, ultimately leading to the 1955 republican referendum.
Prime Minister Strijdom took these new policies even further. Rather than seeing Bechuanaland as a British Protectorate under new management, or even just a large Tswana reserve in line with the nascent Homeland plan, he moved to expand Afrikaner presence northwards into the territory. To entice settlement, the government moved to dispossess the few African freeholders in the Barolong Farms, the only area in the Protectorate where individual Africans were allowed to own land; this land was then sold to settlers at a substantial discount. Pretoria then transferred the administrative capital of the territory from Mafikeng to Francistown.
By the time of Hendrik Verwoerd's premiership, thousands of settlers had taken up new residence in Bechuanaland. Charles Swart now represented the South African government in Francistown. A party rival of Verwoerd's, Swart lost the battle to succeed Strijdom and has been sent into political wilderness with the largely thankless task of carrying out Pretoria's will in its northern frontier. Counterbalancing the territorial administration is the Native Advisory Council. The Council's current speaker is Bathoen Gaseitsiwe, Kigosi of the BaNgwaketse; for the most part, he has found himself at peace with his new South African overlords, although he maintains an interest in uniting the Tswana chiefdoms into a federation under a single paramount chief. Who would have the credibility to claim such a mantle, though, remains rather unclear.
While these institutions constitute the accepted range of political involvement for Bechuanaland's elite, a new force is emerging in the territory. The Bechuanaland People's Congress has not yet faced official proscription like the ANC or PAC, but it is cast in their mold. Founded in the late 1950s by former schoolteacher Kgaleman Motsete, exiled activist Motsamai Mpho, and Philip Matante, a veteran, Apostolic minister, and Witwatersrand gangster. While the BPC has grown substantially, it is strained by competing visions for the future of the movement. Mpho and his followers in the party believe in the Charterist principles of their ANC cousins in South Africa, while Matante has increasingly identified with the more Africanist PAC.
These divisions have caused a paralysis in the movement, and it is clear that something must give, and soon. For the South African masters of Bechuanaland, this crisis in the opposition can only be seen as an opportunity. Indeed, with South West Africa having been officially integrated, the most fervent settlement advocates in Pretoria now wonder if the former Protectorate is destined to become the Republic's sixth province.
After 1948, HNP rule transformed the small, landlocked chiefdoms of Basutoland and Swaziland into de facto autonomous Homelands under South African sovereignty, although officially, both polities remain in a legal grey area. Internally, South African overlordship also had the effect of reversing the very modest steps that had been taken towards diffusing and democratizing political power in the polities. For Pretoria, strong, centralized, and traditional authority would be its conduit to rule over its new subjects.
In Basutoland, they supported the ascension of the young and ambitious Moshoeshoe II. Working through tobacco magnate Anton Rupert, Pretoria and Moshoeshoe sidelined the Basutoland National Council in favor of the newly installed Basutoland Advisory Commission. Moshoeshoe's cooperation with the South African regime dismayed many of his loyalists thought to use the Paramount Chieftancy as a counterweight to the oligarchic chiefly class that the colonial order had empowered. This reversal drained support from reformist loyalist groups like the Basutoland Progressive Association of Samuel Seepheephe
Prime Minister Strijdom took these new policies even further. Rather than seeing Bechuanaland as a British Protectorate under new management, or even just a large Tswana reserve in line with the nascent Homeland plan, he moved to expand Afrikaner presence northwards into the territory. To entice settlement, the government moved to dispossess the few African freeholders in the Barolong Farms, the only area in the Protectorate where individual Africans were allowed to own land; this land was then sold to settlers at a substantial discount. Pretoria then transferred the administrative capital of the territory from Mafikeng to Francistown.
By the time of Hendrik Verwoerd's premiership, thousands of settlers had taken up new residence in Bechuanaland. Charles Swart now represented the South African government in Francistown. A party rival of Verwoerd's, Swart lost the battle to succeed Strijdom and has been sent into political wilderness with the largely thankless task of carrying out Pretoria's will in its northern frontier. Counterbalancing the territorial administration is the Native Advisory Council. The Council's current speaker is Bathoen Gaseitsiwe, Kigosi of the BaNgwaketse; for the most part, he has found himself at peace with his new South African overlords, although he maintains an interest in uniting the Tswana chiefdoms into a federation under a single paramount chief. Who would have the credibility to claim such a mantle, though, remains rather unclear.
While these institutions constitute the accepted range of political involvement for Bechuanaland's elite, a new force is emerging in the territory. The Bechuanaland People's Congress has not yet faced official proscription like the ANC or PAC, but it is cast in their mold. Founded in the late 1950s by former schoolteacher Kgaleman Motsete, exiled activist Motsamai Mpho, and Philip Matante, a veteran, Apostolic minister, and Witwatersrand gangster. While the BPC has grown substantially, it is strained by competing visions for the future of the movement. Mpho and his followers in the party believe in the Charterist principles of their ANC cousins in South Africa, while Matante has increasingly identified with the more Africanist PAC.
These divisions have caused a paralysis in the movement, and it is clear that something must give, and soon. For the South African masters of Bechuanaland, this crisis in the opposition can only be seen as an opportunity. Indeed, with South West Africa having been officially integrated, the most fervent settlement advocates in Pretoria now wonder if the former Protectorate is destined to become the Republic's sixth province.
After 1948, HNP rule transformed the small, landlocked chiefdoms of Basutoland and Swaziland into de facto autonomous Homelands under South African sovereignty, although officially, both polities remain in a legal grey area. Internally, South African overlordship also had the effect of reversing the very modest steps that had been taken towards diffusing and democratizing political power in the polities. For Pretoria, strong, centralized, and traditional authority would be its conduit to rule over its new subjects.
In Basutoland, they supported the ascension of the young and ambitious Moshoeshoe II. Working through tobacco magnate Anton Rupert, Pretoria and Moshoeshoe sidelined the Basutoland National Council in favor of the newly installed Basutoland Advisory Commission. Moshoeshoe's cooperation with the South African regime dismayed many of his loyalists thought to use the Paramount Chieftancy as a counterweight to the oligarchic chiefly class that the colonial order had empowered. This reversal drained support from reformist loyalist groups like the Basutoland Progressive Association of Samuel Seepheephe
Matete and towards oppositional movements advocating for a modern and independent Basutoland. At present, the two largest opposition movements, the Basutoland National League under Chief Joseph Leabua Jonathan and the PAC-aligned Basutoland African Congress under Ntsu Mokhele, have formed a united front in calling for a constitutional system of government able to check Moshoeshoe's currently unlimited powers.
To the east, Swaziland's estimable Ngwenyama Sobhuza II rules his lands as a royal dictator. Once a reformer engaged in the work of his progressively-minded subjects, the aging monarch has become increasingly wary of any efforts to limit his royal prerogative. In that sense, South Africa's offered quid pro quo - that of obeisance in return for a free hand domestically - had been a godsend.
In contrast to the backwards Basutoland, Swaziland has had something of an economic boom since the 1940s. Swaziland is home to many profitable mines and plantations, most of which are in the hands of European corporations and a thriving settler community of nearly ten thousand. Unsurprisingly, these settlers, who make their outsized voices heard through the European Advisory Council, have benefited greatly from the arrival of the HNP and its representative, Jacobus Loubser.
Democratic and partisan politics do not exist in the new Swaziland, and even the Libandla lakaNgwane, the aristocratic Council of the Ngwane Nation, has been marginalized. Of course, politics have been banished - far from it. Alongside the European Advisory Council, other advocacy groups exist, like the EurAfrican Welfare Association, but they pale in comparison to the EAC's influence. Real opposition to Sobhuza and South African influence has come from the Swaziland Progressive Association. While handicapped by the monarchy's extensive popular support, it enjoys shrewd leadership under men like Dr. Ambrose Zwane and John Nquku. Unfortunately, this has come at something of a cost, as Nquku, despite his skill, has proven to be rather authoritarian himself, threatening to split the organization. For his part, Zwane looks not only to neighboring South Africa's ANC for guidance, but increasingly to President Nkrumah's Accra, and only the insistence of the South African authorities has prevented his visiting the capital of Pan-Africanist action.
https://redd.it/1m982us
@tnomod
To the east, Swaziland's estimable Ngwenyama Sobhuza II rules his lands as a royal dictator. Once a reformer engaged in the work of his progressively-minded subjects, the aging monarch has become increasingly wary of any efforts to limit his royal prerogative. In that sense, South Africa's offered quid pro quo - that of obeisance in return for a free hand domestically - had been a godsend.
In contrast to the backwards Basutoland, Swaziland has had something of an economic boom since the 1940s. Swaziland is home to many profitable mines and plantations, most of which are in the hands of European corporations and a thriving settler community of nearly ten thousand. Unsurprisingly, these settlers, who make their outsized voices heard through the European Advisory Council, have benefited greatly from the arrival of the HNP and its representative, Jacobus Loubser.
Democratic and partisan politics do not exist in the new Swaziland, and even the Libandla lakaNgwane, the aristocratic Council of the Ngwane Nation, has been marginalized. Of course, politics have been banished - far from it. Alongside the European Advisory Council, other advocacy groups exist, like the EurAfrican Welfare Association, but they pale in comparison to the EAC's influence. Real opposition to Sobhuza and South African influence has come from the Swaziland Progressive Association. While handicapped by the monarchy's extensive popular support, it enjoys shrewd leadership under men like Dr. Ambrose Zwane and John Nquku. Unfortunately, this has come at something of a cost, as Nquku, despite his skill, has proven to be rather authoritarian himself, threatening to split the organization. For his part, Zwane looks not only to neighboring South Africa's ANC for guidance, but increasingly to President Nkrumah's Accra, and only the insistence of the South African authorities has prevented his visiting the capital of Pan-Africanist action.
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