Labour Party of South Africa Arbeidersparty van Suid-Afrika (Afrikaans) | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Allan Hendrickse |
| Founded | 1969 |
| Dissolved | 1994 |
| Merged into | African National Congress |
| Headquarters | Cape Town |
| Ideology | Coloured people's rights Anti-apartheid |
| Political position | Centre-left toleft-wing |
TheLabour Party of South Africa[1] (Afrikaans:Arbeidersparty van Suid-Afrika) was a South African political party founded in 1969 and led for many years byAllan Hendrickse. Although avowedly opposed toapartheid, it participated in theColoured Persons Representative Council.[2] It opposed the guerrilla struggle ofUmkhonto we Sizwe and the call for international sanctions against South Africa. The party later dominated theHouse of Representatives in theTricameral Parliament from its foundation in 1984 until 1992, winning 76 of the 80 seats in the1984 elections and 69 inthose of 1989. When theNational Party ofF. W. de Klerk decided to admit non-White members, however, a substantial number of members of the House of Representatives who had been members of Labourcrossed the floor to join the Nationalists. In 1992, a group of 36 such former Labour members led byJac Rabie engineered a vote of no confidence in Hendrickse's Labour government.[3] Losing influence at the polls, Hendrickse concluded that the Labour Party had fulfilled its uses, and the party was disbanded in 1994, with Hendrickse and his followers joining theAfrican National Congress.[4]
The name of theNew Labour Party ofPeter Marais was meant to evoke Hendrickse's Labour Party. It is not to be confused with the earlierSouth African Labour Party, which had represented White industrial workers.
| Election | Party leader | Seats | +/– | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | Allan Hendrickse | 26 / 60 |  26 | 2nd |
| 1975 | 35 / 60 | 9 | 1st |
In 1984 theHouse of Representatives was created as part of theTricameral Parliament and replaced theColoured Persons' Representative Council
| Election | Party leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Allan Hendrickse | 200,791 | 74.5% | 76 / 80 | 76 | 1st |
| 1989 | 171,930 | 65.0% | 74 / 85 |  2 |  1st |
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