30-525: The Herstigte Nasionale Party (English: 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, evoking the Herenigde Nasionale Party , although colloquially they were also known as the Herstigtes. The party is, unlike other splinter factions from
60-456: A Black ambassador to South Africa. 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. The bulk of
90-627: A brief co-operation with the Conservative Party to oppose the repeal of the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act and the Immorality Amendment Act by P.W. Botha , both part of a cosmetic reform programme aimed at improving the picture of apartheid South Africa, which Treurnicht decried as "multiracialism". Although the AWB did not set up an official political wing and did not officially endorse
120-482: 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 "This land is our land" ( Afrikaans : Dié Land is ons Land ). It re-emerged in 2004, when the party lodged an official complaint against the SABC 3 television channel when it broadcast a play entitled ID , which satirised
150-559: The Conservative Monday Club held a dinner in his honour, at which at least one British Conservative Party MP, Tim Janman , was present. Already nicknamed "Doctor No", in 1992, he led the opposition campaign during the referendum called by F.W. de Klerk to gain white approval for negotiations to end apartheid . This campaign marked the peak of Conservative support in South Africa, gaining just under one million votes, but
180-735: The National Front in the United Kingdom. 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. 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 non-racial elections. The HNP drifted away from Viljoen and did not join his Freedom Front party. As
210-707: The South West Africa People's Organization and the Namibia National Front , excluded from the ballot. List of political parties in South Africa This is a list of political parties in South Africa . For most of its history, South Africa has been a democratic but one-party dominant state with the African National Congress (ANC) as the governing party, though this has waned as of 2024. The Democratic Alliance (DA) governs
240-698: The Soweto Riots and for a short time leader of the National Party in Transvaal . In 1982 he founded and led the Conservative Party of South Africa whose successes among the white electorate made him Leader of the Opposition in 1987, a position he retained until his death. Treurnicht was born in Piketberg , Cape Province , and began his working life as a journalist, being editor of Die Kerkbode and Hoofstad . He
270-532: The Soweto Riots . In 1978, he was chosen, over the heads of 12 ministers, as Leader of the National Party in the Transvaal , and, in 1979, he became Minister of State for Administration and of Statistics. He was chairman of the Afrikaner Broederbond (AB) from 1972 -1974. He had to leave the AB in 1983, as the newly formed Conservative Party members were not welcome in it. On 20 March 1982, he and 22 other MPs quit
300-476: The Western Cape Province and a number of municipalities , some in coalitions with smaller parties. The Inkatha Freedom Party , ANC , DA and National Freedom Party have governed KwaZulu-Natal Province since 2024 in a Government of Provincial Unity. Andries Treurnicht Andries Petrus Treurnicht (19 February 1921 – 22 April 1993) was a South African politician, Minister of Education during
330-560: The "No" vote was defeated 2 to 1 by white voters. Treurnicht was the author of no fewer than sixteen books, many in the cultural field. He died on 22 April 1993, in Cape Town , during a heart operation. His death came shortly after the Conservative Party suffered a major blow with the arrest of senior member Clive Derby-Lewis for his role in the assassination of Chris Hani . His former deputy minister, Ferdinand Hartzenberg , became
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#1732844020600360-686: The Cape Synod and later of the General Synod. He combined Afrikaner nationalism with neo-Calvinism and strongly supported the continuation of apartheid . Entering politics in 1970, as a member of the National Party , in 1971 Treurnicht was elected as a Member of Parliament for Waterberg . Appointed as Deputy Minister of Education in 1976, his instruction to implement the policy that black students should be taught half in English, half in Afrikaans triggered
390-755: The Conservative Party became the official opposition in the House of Assembly , winning 550,000 votes, displacing the liberal Progressive Federal Party . 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. In June 1989, accompanied by Clive Derby-Lewis , Carl Werth , and several other Conservative Party officials, Treurnicht made an official visit to London and some other European capitals. The far-right Western Goals Institute organized his London visit, and
420-676: The HNP was drained. The HNP effectively remained the chief voice of the uncompromising far-right, however, particularly in 1989 when both the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging and the Boerestaat Party declared their support for Marais over Treurnicht, who despite his stances was considered a pragmatic opportunist, with a long background in the NP under Vorster's and Botha's leadership. Its only previous contact with other parties had been in 1985 with
450-606: The HNP, its long-time leader Eugene Terre'Blanche had previously run for office under the HNP banner. 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 . It was also closely associated with the South African National Front (SANF), an overseas branch of
480-473: The National Party to form the Conservative Party to oppose P.W. Botha and the National Party's limited reforms to apartheid . The CP's English language programme booklets from 1987 to 1989 stated that the party was established "to continue the policy of self-determination after the [NP] government had exchanged self-determination" (something the CP described as an "infallible policy"), for power-sharing. In 1987,
510-481: The National Party, still active but politically irrelevant. 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 B.J. 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
540-407: The former black homelands . The HNP has no clear plan for how a return to Verwoerdian South Africa could be achieved. The party also emphasises the importance of Calvinism to the South African identity. The party does not recognise the new order in South Africa and, as part of its policy of resistance, encourages people not to vote. That makes it impossible to determine the exact level of support
570-553: The killing of Hendrik 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 . 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. The present leader is Andries Breytenbach. Two splits have occurred from
600-569: 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. The Afrikaner Broederbond denied membership to any HNP member. The party contested the 1970 general election although its campaign was the subject of government crackdowns and attacks. The party's 78 candidates were all defeated, including its four Members of Parliament, all of whom had been National Party members before defecting to
630-511: The new HNP. The party also contested 50 seats in the 1974 general election but failed to make an impact in an election where reformists advanced. During this election the HNP boycotted the English language press, as the party opposed the use of the language. 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. The HNP captured 3.3% of
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#1732844020600660-399: The paramilitary Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging . He also differed from the HNP in his belief in the establishment of a white homeland in South Africa, something the HNP rejected as unnecessary. Under the leadership of Jaap Marais , the former deputy leader who replaced the retiring Hertzog in 1977, the party emerged as a force amongst white South Africans. In 1979 the evidence of its potential
690-523: The party has. 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,
720-577: The party over ideology and tactics: the Afrikaner Nationalist Movement in 2004, and the Afrikaner Volksparty in 2008. 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
750-507: The party's general secretary Louis Stofberg won a by-election in Sasolburg on a campaign based on the presence of a mixed couple in the constituency and opposition to the tax system, in which the wealthier white population paid more tax than the other ethnic groups. The victory came in the midst of a failed electoral alliance between the HNP and the Conservative Party that had been established earlier that year, with Andries Treurnicht claiming it
780-426: The voice of working class Afrikaners. 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. The party rejects the idea of a separate Volkstaat specifically for Afrikaners, claiming all of South Africa for Afrikaners instead. It believes that the interests of the black population will be sufficiently met in
810-431: The vote in the 1977 general election before increasing to 14.1% in 1981 as right wing disenchantment with the NP grew, but on no occasion did it win any seats and its newly acquired voters soon shifted their support to the Conservative Party . Eugène Terre'Blanche had been a member of the HNP, but broke with the group in 1973, after becoming disillusioned with their adherence to electoral politics. He then established
840-460: Was a first step to merging the HNP into the Conservatives, something the conviction-oriented Marais firmly opposed. With the CP not filing a candidate, Stofberg represented the constituency for two years as a sole voice attacking the NP from the right. From 1987, the CP captured the role of official opposition under Treurnicht with strong support from Afrikaner voters and so the electoral basis for
870-708: Was a keen sportsman, excelling on the rugby field, playing provincial rugby against the All Blacks in 1949. After obtaining his MA in Theology at the University of Stellenbosch , he completed a Doctorate in Political Philosophy at the University of Cape Town . He subsequently entered the Dutch Reformed Church (NG Kerk), serving various congregations as minister for fourteen years. He was elected Deputy Chairman of
900-458: Was demonstrated in a series of by-elections when it seemed to threaten the position of the ruling party. In a near-breakthrough focused on right-wing Afrikaners dissatisfied with the Botha government, it obtained 14.1% support in the 1981 general election . In the constituency of Rustenburg , the HNP candidate came hundreds of votes from besting the incumbent National MP, but to no avail. In October 1985
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