Herstigte Nasionale Party

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Reconstituted National Party
Herstigte Nasionale Party
Leader Andries Breytenbach
Founder Albert Hertzog
Founded 1969
Split from National Party
Headquarters Neethlingstraat 199, Eloffsdal, Pretoria
Newspaper Die Afrikaner
Ideology Afrikaner nationalism
Apartheid
Anti-communism
Political position Far-right
Colours Orange, White and Blue
              
Party flag
200px
Website
www.hnp.org.za
Politics of South Africa
Political parties
Elections

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. The Herstigte Nasionale Party (Reconstituted National Party) is a South African political party which was formed as a far right splinter group of the now-defunct National Party in 1969. The party name was commonly abbreviated as HNP, although colloquially they were also known as the Herstigtes.[1]

Formation

The HNP was formed in 1969 by Albert Hertzog (son of former Prime Minister General JBM Hertzog) in protest against the decision by Prime Minister BJ Vorster to authorize the presence of Maori players and spectators during the tour of New Zealand rugby union team in South Africa in 1970. He was also against Vorster's re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Malawi and that country's appointment of a Black ambassador to South Africa.[2] The name was chosen to reflect the initials of the earlier Herenigde Nasionale Party (Reunited National Party), the name used by the National Party in the election of 1948. Seeking a return to Calvinism as the basis of South Africa, the party advocated complete racial segregation and the adoption of Afrikaans as the only official language.[3] The bulk of the membership of the new party was made up of rural and small town working and lower middle class Afrikaners who resented what they saw as the National Party devoting their attentions to the concerns of urban Afrikaner elites.[2]

The party contested the general election of 1970 although its campaign was the subject of government crackdowns and attacks. The party's 78 candidates were all defeated, including its four Ministers of Parlement, all of whom had been National Party members before defecting to the new HNP.[4] The party also contested 50 seats in the 1974 election but failed to make an impact in an election where reformists advanced.[5] During this election the HNP boycotted the English language press, as the party opposed the use of the language.[6] It also contested three by-elections in 1975 and 1976 and enjoyed some growth, taking second place ahead of the United Party in the two seats that that group contested.[7] The HNP captured 3.3% of the vote in 1977 before increasing to 14.1% in 1981 but on no occasion did it win any seats.[8]

Eugène Terre'Blanche had been a member of the HNP, but split from the group in 1973, after becoming disillusioned with their adherence to conventional electoral politics. He then established the paramilitary Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging.[9]

Emergence in the 1980s

Under the leadership of Jaap Marais, who replaced the retiring Hertzog in 1977,[10] the party emerged as a notable force amongst white South Africans. In 1979 the evidence of its potential was demonstrated in a series of by-elections when it suddenly began to threaten the position of the ruling party.[11] Despite obtaining 14.1% support in the 1981 elections, the HNP never managed to gain seats in the South African parliament in a general election (although it won a by-election in Sasolburg in 1985),[12] and remained only a voice of external opposition. The HNP effectively became the chief voice of the far right, particularly in 1989 when both the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging and the Boerestaat Party declared their support for Marais.[13] The group's only previous contact with other parties had been in 1985 when it briefly co-operated with the Conservative Party to oppose the repeal of the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act and the Immorality Amendment Act by P.W. Botha.[14]

Network with other organisations

On the international stage, the HNP built up a number of contacts with far-right groups in Europe and for a time during the 1980s it was responsible for funding the United Kingdom-based League of Saint George.[15] It was also closely associated with the South African National Front (SANF), an overseas branch of the British National Front.[16] Between 1980 and 1987 the party bankrolled the English-speaking far-right journal South African Patriot, edited by SANF members John Hiddleston and then Alan Harvey.

Election results

File:South Africa national election 2014 ANC vote by ward.svg
Proportion of votes cast for the ANC in the 2014 election, by ward.
  0–20%
  20–40%
  40–60%
  60–80%
  80–100%
National Assembly
Election year # of total votes  % of overall vote # of seats won Rank
1970[17] 53 763 Increase 3.57% Increase 0 Steady 3/4 Increase
1974[18] 39 568Decrease 3.6% Increase 0 Steady 4/5 Decrease
1977[19] 34 161 Decrease 3.2% Decrease 0 Steady 4/5 Steady
1981[20] 192 304 Increase 14.09% Increase 0 Steady 3/4 Increase
1987[21] 62 888 Decrease 3.1% Decrease 0 Steady 4/5 Decrease
1989[22] 5,416 Decrease 0.2% Decrease 0 Steady 4/4 Increase

Leaders

Year Name Period Time in office Deputy leader/s
1969 Albert Hertzog 1969 – 1977 8 years
1977 Jaap Marais 1977 – 2000 23 years
2000 Willie Marais 2000 – 2007 7 years
2007 Japie Theart 2007 – ??  ?? years
 ??? Andries Breytenbach  ??? – present incumbent

Post-Apartheid

The HNP joined the Afrikaner Volksfront of General Constand Viljoen in 1991, but the front collapsed in 1994 when many of the members refused to participate in South Africa's first multi-racial elections.[23] The HNP drifted away from General Viljoen and did not join his Freedom Front party. As a result, it has become something of a marginal force in contemporary South Africa, arguing for the self-determination of white Afrikaners and a return to Verwoerdian Apartheid. The party motto is now "Dié Land is ons Land" (This land is our land).[citation needed]

It re-emerged in 2004, when the party lodged an official complaint against SABC 3 when it broadcast a play entitled ID which satirised the killing of Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd. Although the HNP argued that it portrayed Verwoerd and his supporters unfairly, the complaint was rejected by the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa.[24]

Jaap Marais died in 2000, and was replaced as leader by Willie Marais. Willie Marais died in December 2007, and was replaced as by Japie Theart.[25] The present leader is Andries Breytenbach.[26] Two splits have occurred from the party over ideology and tactics: the Afrikaner Nationalist Movement in 2004, and the Afrikaner Volksparty in 2008.

Ideology

When founded, the HNP emphasised above all its Afrikaner identity, attacking immigration, seeking to downgrade the importance of the English language, and endorsing apartheid. The party also launched an attack on the materialism that it felt was taking over South African society and thus sought to present itself as the voice of working class Afrikaners.[27] It frequently attacked the "liberalism" of the National Party regime, arguing that it was gradually diluting apartheid and offering too many concessions to non-Whites.[28]

The party reject the concept of a Volkstaat, claiming all of South Africa for the Afrikaner instead. It believes that the interests of the black population will be sufficiently met in the former homelands. The HNP have no clear plan as to how the return to Verwoerdian South Africa could be achieved. The party also emphasises the importance of Calvinism to the South African identity.[29]

The party does not recognise the new order in South Africa, and as a result, encourages people not to vote as part of its policy of resistance. However, this also makes it impossible to determine the exact support levels the party enjoys.

Namibia

While South Africa administered Namibia until 1988, the party was active in the country in opposition to independence and black rights. It contested the first multi-ethnic election in 1978, capturing 1.8% of the vote, or 10% of the White vote, the election resulted in a landslide win for the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance of Namibia, albeit with the main black opposition parties, the South West Africa People's Organization and the Namibia National Front, excluded from the ballot.[30]

References

  1. ↑ Jean Branford, A Dictionary of South African English, Oxford University Press, 1978, p. 88
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Howard Brotz, The Politics of South Africa: Democracy and Racial Diversity, Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 45
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Brotz, Politics of South Africa, p. 47
  5. ↑ A.W. Stadler, 'The 1974 General Election in South Africa', African Affairs, Vol. 74, No. 295. (April 1975), pp. 209–218
  6. ↑ Brotz, Politics of South Africa, p. 49
  7. ↑ Brotz, Politics of South Africa, pp. 54–55
  8. ↑ Elections in South Africa
  9. ↑ (Afrikaans) Eugene Terre'Blanche (1941–2010). Retrieved 4 April 2010
  10. ↑ du Toit, op cit, p. 638
  11. ↑ M. Meredith, In the Name of Apartheid, London: Hamish Hamilton, 1988, p. 175
  12. ↑ du Toit, op cit, p. 639
  13. ↑ de Toit, op cit, p. 646
  14. ↑ R. Omond, The Apartheid Handbook, Penguin, 1985, pp. 26–7
  15. ↑ R. Hill & A. Bell, The Other Face of Terror, London: Grafton, 1988, pp. 255–6
  16. ↑ Hill & Bell, op cit, pp. 52–73
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ "UK 2015 general election results in full", The Guardian,
  22. ↑ "UK 2015 general election results in full", The Guardian,
  23. ↑ 'South Africa Freedom Front'
  24. ↑ Herstigte Nasionale Party v SABC 3, Case 42 of 2004
  25. ↑ Party site
  26. ↑ Die HNP se leiers
  27. ↑ M. Meredith, In the Name of Apartheid, London: Hamish Hamilton, 1988, p. 160
  28. ↑ Brotz, Politics of South Africa, p. 46
  29. ↑ 'Waarvoor die HNP staan'
  30. ↑ 'Elections in Namibia'

External links

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