Conservative Party Konserwatiewe Party (Afrikaans) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Andries Treurnicht 1982–1993 Ferdi Hartzenberg 1993–2004 |
| Founded | 20 March 1982 |
| Dissolved | September 2004 |
| Split from | National Party |
| Merged into | Freedom Front |
| Headquarters | Cape Town |
| Ideology | Social conservatism National conservatism |
| Political position | Far-right |
TheConservative Party (Afrikaans:Konserwatiewe Party) was afar-right South African political party that sought to preserve many aspects ofapartheid in the system's final decade, and formed theofficial opposition in the white-onlyHouse of Assembly in the last seven years of minority rule. It declined quickly after apartheid ended, before being merged with theFreedom Front in 2004.
It was formed in 1982 by 23 MPs from the rulingNational Party who opposed Prime MinisterPW Botha's reforms toapartheid andpower sharing proposals, that resulted in theTricameral Parliament, which they saw as a threat towhite minority rule, and theracial segregation known asSeparate Development. It was led byAndries Treurnicht, a formerDutch Reformed Church 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 ofself-determination after the [NP] government had exchanged self-determination" (something the CP described as an "infallible policy"), for power-sharing.[1][2] It drew support from white South Africans, mostlyAfrikaners in the rural heartlands of South Africa. All members of the new party that belonged to theAfrikaner Broederbond had to leave that organization as they were not welcome anymore.[citation needed]
It became theofficial opposition in the whites-onlyHouse of Assembly of South Africa in the elections of 6 May 1987, when it surpassed the liberalProgressive Federal Party, winning 550,000 votes. Donald Simpson, writing in the South African newspaper,The Star, 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.[3]
In the local elections of 1987 the Conservative Party won 60 municipalities out of 110 in theTransvaal, and 1 out of 4 in theOrange Free State. The Conservative Party received 45% of theAfrikaner votes and 7.5% of theEnglish-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 far-rightanti-communist pressure group, theWestern Goals Institute.[4][better source needed]
In thegeneral 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 theHouse of Assembly.
The Conservative Party led the "no" campaign during the1992 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 officialLeader of the Opposition, andClive Derby-Lewis, theShadow Finance Minister, theno side was supported by former PresidentP 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".
Clive Derby-Lewis was found guilty in 1993 (under the emergency legislation enacted by the House of Assembly) of involvement in the assassination ofSouth African Communist Party leaderChris Hani. In 1997, party leaderFerdi Hartzenberg testified before theTruth and Reconciliation Commission that the assassination had been carried out on the party's behalf.[5]
| Election year | # of total votes | % of overall vote | # of seats won | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987[6] | 574 502 | 26.6% | 22 | 2/5 |
| 1989[7] | 680,131 | 31.5% | 39 | 2/4 |
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Its support rapidly declined after majority rule in 1994. The decision not to participate inthe first non-racial parliamentary elections in 1994 resulted in much of its support base defecting to the newly formedFreedom Front, another party of similar views which had been joined by one of its MPsPieter Mulder. 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.[8] 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 theFreedom Front Plus. Besides Mulder, two other former Conservative Party MPs,Corné Mulder andPieter 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.
A new political party was founded by former members of the Conservative Party on 16 April 2016, with similar beliefs, policies and logo, namely theNational Conservative Party of South Africa.
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