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| Prime Minister of South Africa | |
|---|---|
| Eerste Minister van Suid-Afrika (Afrikaans) | |
.svg) | |
| Style | The Right Honourable(until 1961) |
| Type | Head of government |
| Member of | |
| Appointer | Governor-General of South Africa(1910–1961) State President of South Africa(1961–1984) |
| Term length | Whilst commanding the confidence of theHouse of Assembly |
| Formation | 31 May 1910; 115 years ago (1910-05-31) |
| First holder | Louis Botha |
| Final holder | Pieter Willem Botha |
| Abolished | 14 September 1984; 41 years ago (1984-09-14) |
| Superseded by | ExecutiveState President of South Africa |
Theprime minister of South Africa (Afrikaans:Eerste Minister van Suid-Afrika) was thehead of government inSouth Africa between 1910 and 1984.
The position of Prime Minister was established in 1910, when theUnion of South Africa was formed. He was appointed by themonarch’s representative in the country—thegovernor-general until 1961 and thestate president after South Africa became a republic in 1961. In practice, he was the leader of the majority party or coalition in theHouse of Assembly. With few exceptions, the governor-general/state president was bound by convention to act on the prime minister's advice. Thus, the prime minister was the country's leading political figure andde facto chief executive, with powers similar to those of hisBritish counterpart.
The first prime minister wasLouis Botha, a formerBoer general and war hero during theSecond Boer War.
The position of Prime Minister was abolished in 1984, when the State President was given executive powers after anew constitution was adopted – effectively merging the role of Prime Minister and State President. The last Prime Minister of South Africa,P. W. Botha, became the first executive State President after the constitutional reform in 1984 afterMarais Viljoen's retirement.
In post-apartheid South Africa, theInkatha Freedom Party has called for a return to a Westminster-style split executive with a Prime Minister as head of government, which is part of its overarching goal of avoiding asingle-party South African state.[1]
| No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) Constituency | Term of office | Elected (Parliament) | Political party | Government | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | Time in office | ||||||
| 1 | .jpg) | Louis Botha (1862–1919) MP forStanderton,Transvaal Province (until 1915) MP forLosberg, Transvaal Province (from 1915) | 31 May 1910 | 27 August 1919 | 9 years, 88 days | 1910 (1st) 1915 (2nd) | South African Party | L. Botha I–II |
| First South African Prime Minister.Formation of theUnion of South Africa.World War I.Conquest of theGerman South West Africa. Crushed theMaritz rebellion. Ratified theTreaty of Versailles. Died in office. | ||||||||
| 2 | .jpg) | Jan Christiaan Smuts (1870–1950) MP forPretoria West, Transvaal Province | 3 September 1919 | 30 June 1924 | 4 years, 301 days | — (2nd) 1920 (3rd) 1921 (4th) | South African Party | Smuts I–II |
| Attended1921 Imperial Conference. Attempted to broker an armistice and peace deal between the British andIrish nationalists in theIrish War of Independence. Crushed theRand Rebellion, which caused a political backlash and he lost1924 general election to National Party. Created coalition with National Party and returned as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice after the1933 general election. | ||||||||
.jpg) | James Barry Munnik Hertzog (1866–1942) MP forSmithfield,Orange Free State Province | 30 June 1924 | 5 September 1939 | 15 years, 67 days | 1924 (5th) 1929 (6th) 1933 (7th) 1938 (8th) | National Party (until 1934) United Party (from 1934) | Hertzog I–II–III–IV | |
| 3 | ||||||||
| ReplacedDutch as second official language byAfrikaans in 1925. Instated a newnational flag in 1928. Approvedwomen's suffrage for white women with theWomen's Enfranchisement Act, 1930. Adoption of theStatute of Westminster 1931. Removed Black voters from the common voters roll. Created coalition with South African Party to form the United Party. Resigned after the United Party caucus refused to accept his stance of neutrality inWorld War II. | ||||||||
| (2) | | Jan Christiaan Smuts (1870–1950) MP for Standerton, Transvaal Province | 5 September 1939 | 4 June 1948 | 8 years, 273 days | — (8th) 1943 (9th) | United Party | Smuts III |
| World War II. Ratified theUN Charter. Issued theFagan Report, which stated that complete racial segregation in South Africa was not practical and that restrictions on African migration into urban areas should be abolished. Lost the1948 general election to National Party. | ||||||||
| 4 | .jpg) | Daniël François Malan (1874–1959) MP forPiketberg,Cape Province | 4 June 1948 | 30 November 1954 | 6 years, 179 days | 1948 (10th) 1953 (11th) | National Party | Malan I–II |
| Came to power on the program ofapartheid and began the comprehensive implementation of thesegregationist policy. | ||||||||
| 5 | .jpg) | Johannes Gerhardus Strijdom (1893–1958) MP forWaterberg, Transvaal Province | 30 November 1954 | 24 August 1958 | 3 years, 267 days | — (11th) 1958 (12th) | National Party | Strydom |
| Tried to cut ties with United Kingdom. Removal ofColoured voters from the common voters roll. Extended 'treason trial' of 156 activists (includingNelson Mandela) involved in theFreedom Charter. Severed diplomatic relations with theSoviet Union. Died in office. | ||||||||
| 6 | .jpg) | Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd (1901–1966) MP forHeidelberg, Transvaal Province | 2 September 1958 | 6 September 1966 | 8 years, 4 days | — (12th) 1961 (13th) 1966 (14th) | National Party | Verwoerd I–II |
| Start of theSouth African Border War. TheWind of Change speech byBritish PMHarold Macmillan. Proclaimed South Africa a Republic outside the Commonwealth of Nations on 31 May 1961 after the1960 referendum. Abolished the separate Black voters roll. Launched thebantustan programme. Assassinated. | ||||||||
| 7 |  | Balthazar Johannes Vorster (1915–1983) MP forNigel, Transvaal Province | 13 September 1966 | 2 October 1978 | 12 years, 19 days | — (14th) 1970 (15th) 1974 (16th) 1977 (17th) | National Party | Vorster I–II–III |
| Abolished the Coloured voters roll.South African Border War escalated into a full-scale conflict. He managed policy of détente with African countries, and accepted to let black African diplomats living in white areas. He alienated an extremist faction of his National Party when it accepted the presence ofMāori players and spectators during the1970 New Zealand rugby union tour of South Africa. He unofficially supported, but refused to recognize officially, the neighbouring state ofRhodesia, which was ruled by awhite minority government that hadunilaterally declared independence from United Kingdom. In 1974, under pressure from US Secretary of StateHenry Kissinger he pressuredIan Smith, thePrime Minister of Rhodesia, to accept in principle thatwhite minority rule could not continue indefinitely. Resigned. | ||||||||
| 8 |  | Pieter Willem Botha (1916–2006) MP forGeorge, Cape Province | 9 October 1978 | 14 September 1984 | 5 years, 341 days | — (17th) 1981 (18th) 1984 (19th) | National Party | P. W. Botha |
| RemainedMinister of Defence until 1980. Improved relations with the West. Authorizedradical constitutional reform in 1983, including the creation of theTricameral Parliament, which give a limited political voice to the country'sColoured andIndian population groups. The majority Black population group was still excluded. Began asecret nuclear weapons program in collaboration withIsrael, which culminated in the production of six nuclear bombs. Creation of police counter-insurgency unit,Koevoet. Resignation of Vorster as State President in the wake of theMuldergate Scandal. Abolished the position of Prime Minister in 1984 and became executive State President. | ||||||||
| Union of South Africa (1910–1961) (underApartheid from 1948) | .svg) .svg) | |
|---|---|---|
| Republic of South Africa (1961–1984) (under Apartheid) | ||
