Liberal Party of South Africa
The Liberal Party of South Africa ( short LPSA or Liberal Party, Liberal Party Afrikaans, German about: Liberal Party of South Africa ) was a party in South Africa that existed from 1953 to 1968. They broke up because an apartheid law forbade party members of different skin colors.
History
1951 met in Pietermaritzburg many liberal people to respond to the increasing consolidation of apartheid by the ruling Nasionale Party (NP ). To this end, the writer Alan Paton, Peter Brown (1924-2004) and Henry Selby Msimang (1886-1982), one of the few blacks were at the meeting. In response to the re- election victory of the NP in April 1953 they founded on May 9, 1953 in Cape Town, the South African Liberal Party. President of the party was Margaret Ballinger (1894-1980), who belonged to as deputies for blacks and the National Assembly. The Vice President was Alan Paton. In the founding year, the party leadership met to exchange with the leadership of the opposition African National Congress. From 1954 to 1967, the magazine Contact, which was close to the party appeared.
In the early years the party was set rather moderate, particularly the members of the Cape Province. Among the earliest demands of the party were the inclusion of a Bill of Rights in the Constitution, an independent constitutional court and initially an extended class suffrage. The political discussion of the party in 1954 was increasingly dominated by the idea of a new electoral law, regardless of the membership of "races". At its Congress in July of the same year in Durban, she decided to work closely with organizations representing the non-European population and sought a revision of the electoral law to. At the beginning of the LPSA was not yet occurred for universal suffrage, but now demanded its introduction in stages.
1956 Paton National Chairman, effectively became party leader. In 1958 he was the official Peter Brown from to continue to act as a writer to be able to, and remained until 1968 as president of the supreme representative of the party. LPSA - 1958, the two MPs were re-elected for the black population in the constituencies Transkei and Eastern Cape. However, the party won in the election for the seats of the white population only 0.25 percent of the vote and no other seat With the elimination of the Progressive Party of the United Party in 1959 moved the Liberal Party to the left. Due to their anti-communism the LPSA was temporarily the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC ) closer than the ANC, who made a pact with the South African Communist Party. On December 7, 1959 ANC, South African Indian Congress and LPSA appealed jointly to the British public to boycott South African products. Here, the LPSA Member Patrick van Rensburg played an important role.
After the Sharpeville massacre and the subsequent state of emergency leading party members were arrested and banned over 40 usually. Some of them were accused of supporting the aims of communism. In 1960, the parliamentary seats were abolished for white representative of the black population, so that the two LPSA politicians were forced to leave the National Assembly. At the general election in 1963 the LPSA not approached. At the end of the Rivonia process in 1964 it was Alan Paton, who entered his appearance in court for a lighter sentence for Nelson Mandela and his co-defendants. Also Paton was monitored by the security police; among other things, his phone was bugged. The proportion of non-white LPSA - members took.
In 1968, the Government enacted the Prohibition of Political Interference Act (about: law banning political interference ) (Act No. 51/1968. ), Which forbade South African parties to have members of different skin colors, to provide support for other political parties whose members not the " racial" group ( defined according to the population Registration Act ) of its own membership belong to accept money from sources outside the country and to participate in events organized by other prohibited by this law partners. This law created further impetus to the intended division of the South African civil society. In the context of the intervention in their political self-determination and decision-making ( 50/1968 Act No.. ) Was this year a supplementary law to Separate Representation of Voters Act, the Coloured Persons Representative Council Act (Act No. 52/1968 ) and the South African Indian Council Act (Act No. 31/1968 ) decided. In political reality, other political groups, the group-specific complaint under Anerkennmung the principle of " separate development " representative claims for themselves and were oriented government compliant formed. An example of this is the Federale Kleuring people party with Tom Swartz at the top.
As the Liberal Party to this dictate would not bend, they broke up, unlike the Progressive Party, at a meeting at the Guildhall in Durban.