Adjunkspeaker, net soos die totstandkoming van die nuwe Suid- Afrika as 'n wonderwerk aanvaar word, kan die onderhandelinge van die Nasionale Konvensie wat op 12 Oktober 1908 in Durban begin het en op 31 Mei 1910 tot die totstandkoming van die Unie van Suid-Afrika gelei het, as 'n staatkundige wonderwerk vir sy tyd beskou word. Dit was egter een wat ongelukkig nie aan al sy inwoners gelyke regte gegee het nie.
Dit was egter 'n wonderwerk omdat, toe die Nasionale Konvensie begin het, die drie jaar lange Anglo-Boereoorlog maar ses jaar vantevore op 31 Mei 1902 met die Vrede van Vereeniging ten einde geloop het. Gevoelens tussen Boer en Engelsman was nog rou. Verder was daar sterk wantroue by die bevolking. In die Transvaal was daar digene wat gevra het waarom die ryk goudopbrengste met die res van Suid-Afrika gedeel moes word, en ook waarom hulle die gevaar moes loop van die ho belastings wat in daardie tyd in die Kaapkolonie gegeld het.
In die Kaapkolonie was daar weer digene wat gevrees het dat die Transvaal met sy ekonomiese voorspoed die res van die land sal oordonder en die vrees dat die Kaapkolonie die stemreg van sy swart en bruin bevolking sou moes inboet. In Natal was daar gevrees dat hulle hul sterk Brits-gebaseerde karakter en vryhede sou verloor, en in die Vrystaat was daar weer die vrees dat so 'n klein republiek binne 'n Unie deur die ander oordonder sou word.
Die dertig afgevaardigdes - twaalf van die Kaap, agt van die Transvaal, en vyf elk van Natal en die Oranje-Vrystaat, plus drie afgevaardigdes sonder stemreg van Rhodesi - het inderdaad 'n wonderwerk vir hul tyd bewerkstellig. Dis maklik om vandag vinger te wys na die gebreke van die Nasionale Konvensie.
Ons moet egter hul tydsgebondenheid verstaan. Twee voorbeelde is onder andere: die 33 mans het byvoorbeeld meer as een petisie van vroue gekry, een met meer as 7 000 handtekeninge, om tog nie stemreg aan vroue te gee nie, iets wat eers twee dekades later sou kom, en niemand minder nie as genl Jan Smuts het sterk geargumenteer dat die Parlement die hoogste gesag moet wees en dat die onverkose regbank nie finale uitsluitsel oor wetgewing mag gee nie. Abraham Fischer, premier van die Vrystaat, het vir Smuts hierin teengestaan.
Daar kan met reg ges word dat die Uniewording se hoofdoel was om ongelukkig net die Afrikaners en die Engelssprekendes bymekaar te bring, hul versoening na te streef, en in die proses Suid-Afrika ekonomies op te bou.
Dit is interessant om daarop te let dat 16 afgevaardigdes van Engelssprekende afkoms en 14 Hollandssprekend was. Lees 'n mens die debat van die imperiale Parlement in Londen wat op 16 en 19 Augustus 1909 die Zuid-Afrika Wet gedebatteer het, is dit ook duidelik dat die hoofsaak vir Brittanje was 'n welvarende land wat tot die imperiale ryk moes bydra. Oor die regte van die res van die inheemse bevolking is daar in di debat wel vrae gevra, maar die wet is onveranderd deurgevoer.
Lof vir die afgevaardigdes se leierskap - met veral die voorsitter van die konvensie, Sir Henry de Villiers, Hoofregter van die Kaapkolonie wat uitgesonder is - is uitgespreek, want die nuwe Unie het Britse belange eintlik volledig verteenwoordig.
Ja, die vinger kon gewys word dat die konvensie die totstandkoming van 'n sterk Unie as die enigste manier gesien het om die inheemse vraagstuk, soos dit genoem is, vorentoe op te los. Wat stemreg betref, is die Unie dus in sonde ontvang en gebore. Die Transvaal en die Vrystaat wou niks weet van stemreg vir swartmense, bruinmense en Indirs nie.
Die wete dat die Britte ten minste 60 000 swart en bruin mans onder wapen gebring het om teen die Boere te veg en veral ten opsigte van wat hulle op die plase aan weerlose vroue en kinders gedoen het, het waarskynlik tot hierdie onverbiddelikheid bygedra.
Selfs die Natalse afgevaardigdes, kol Greene en Sir Hislop, was onverbiddelik teen die uitbreiding van stemreg, omdat hulle gevrees het dat die Zulus met wie hulle vantevore in oorlo was teen hulle sou draai. Op die ou end is die status quo gehandhaaf. Geen stemreg vir swartes, bruines en Indirs in die Transvaal en die Vrystaat nie, terwyl swartmense in Natal stemreg kon bekom, maar dit was onder sulke moeilike voorwaardes dat dit stemreg eintlik uitgesluit het.
Net in die Kaapkolonie is daar betekenisvolle stemreg vir swart en bruin kiesers behou. Adv F S Malan wat gedurende die oorlog deur die Engelse in die tronk gestop is oor sy koerant se ondersteuning vir die Boere en ook ander Afrikaners uit die Kaap het regdeur geveg vir die behoud van die Kaapse stemreg.
Oor ander moeilike kwessies is geredelik eenstemmigheid gekry. 'n Unie en nie 'n federasie nie sou tot stand kom en dit sou wel onder die Britse Kroon plaasvind. Oor ampstale is die volgende voorstel eenparig aanvaar: Beide die Engelse en Hollandse tale sal amptelike tale van die Unie wees en sal gelyke vryhede, regte en voorregte besit en geniet. Alle verslae, joernale en verrigtinge van die Unie-Parlement sal in albei tale wees, en alle wetsontwerpe, aktes en kennisgewings van algemene publieke belang en betekenis wat deur die Unie-regering uitgevaardig word, sal in albei tale wees.
Verskeie sake en sommige wat vandag selfs geld, is so in goedertrou besleg. Pretoria is die administratiewe hoofstad, Bloemfontein is die regterlike hoofstad, en hier sit ons in Kaapstad in die wetgewende hoofstad.
Laat ons leer uit die foute oor uitsluiting wat destyds gemaak is, maar laat ons ook positief wees. Uniewording het hierdie mooi land van ons tot 'n geografiese eenheid gebind. Die staat Suid-Afrika wat ontwikkel het, het tot die suksesvolste land op die Afrika-vasteland ontwikkel.
Die bevolking het van 6 miljoen tot 50 miljoen gegroei. Die lewensstandaard het dramaties gestyg, en staatkundig het 'n kieserslys wat oorheers is deur blanke mans ontwikkel tot 'n volwaardige stemreg vir almal bo 18 jaar. Na die monargale stelsel van 1910 het ons in 1961 'n Republiek met 'n President as 'n staatshoof gekry wat behou is toe ons in 1994 'n volwaardige demokrasie geword het.
Soos in 1910 en 1994, kan ons weer eens in ons nasiebou en in ons ekonomiese opheffingstaak wonderwerke laat gebeur. Ek lees die volgende aanhaling deur Antonio Gramsci, 'n Italiaanse filosoof:
The old is dead and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum, many morbid symptoms appear.
Ja, daar was na 1910 vir baie jare morbiede simptome, en daar is ook morbiede simptome in die nuwe Suid-Afrika wat ons nie verwag het nie, waarteen ons veg, maar die nuwe moet gebore word: 'n nuwe Suid-Afrikaanse identiteit waarin ons onsself kan wees en deel met almal; 'n nuwe identiteit waarin ons almal in ons land, die Republiek van Suid-Afrika, tuis sal voel. [Applous.] (Translation of Afrikaans speech follows.)
[Mr W P DOMAN: Deputy Speaker, in the same way that the establishment of the new South Africa is considered to be a miracle, the negotiations of the National Convention, which started in Durban on 12 October 1908 and led to the establishment of the Union of South Africa on 31 May 1910, could also be seen as a constitutional miracle for its time. It was, however, one that unfortunately did not afford all its residents equal rights.
Nevertheless, it was a miracle because when the National Convention started the Anglo-Boer War, which lasted for three years, had ended only six years before when the Peace Treaty of Vereeniging was signed on 31 May 1902. Feelings between the Boer and the Englishman were still raw. In addition, there was a feeling of deep-rooted distrust among the population. In the Transvaal there were those who questioned why the high returns from gold had to be shared with the rest of South Africa, and why they had to run the risk of paying the high taxes that were levied in the Cape Colony at that time.
In the Cape Colony, in turn, there were those who feared that the Transvaal with its economic prosperity would overshadow the rest of the country and that the Cape Colony would have to forfeit the franchise of its African and Coloured population. In Natal, the fear existed that they would lose their strong British-based character and freedoms, and in the Free State there was the fear that such a small republic would be overshadowed by the others in a Union.
The thirty delegates - twelve from the Cape, eight from the Transvaal, and five each from Natal and the Orange Free State, plus three delegates from Rhodesia without the right to vote - did indeed accomplish a miracle for their time. Today, it is easy to point fingers at the shortcomings of the National Convention.
However, we have to understand that they were time-bound. Two examples, amongst others, are: the 33 men, for instance, received more than one petition from women, one with more than 7 000 signatures, not to give women the franchise, something that would only happen two decades later, and no less a person than Gen Jan Smuts put forward a strong argument that the Parliament had to be the highest authority and that the unelected judiciary may not make the final pronouncement on legislation. Abraham Fischer, premier of the Free State, opposed Smuts on this.
It could justifiably be said that the main aim of establishing the Union was unfortunately only to unite the Afrikaners and English-speaking people, and to strive towards their reconciliation and build the South African economy in the process.
It is interesting to note that 16 delegates were of English-speaking descent and 14 were Dutch. When one reads the debate of the imperial Parliament in London, which discussed the South Africa Act on 16 and 19 August 1909, it is also clear that the main objective for Britain was a prosperous country that had to contribute to the imperialist empire. Questions were indeed asked about the rights of the indigenous population during this debate, but the Act was promulgated without amendments.
Praise was expressed for the leadership of the delegates - singling out the chairperson of the convention, Sir Henry de Villiers, Chief Justice of the Cape Colony in particular - because the new Union actually fully represented British interests.
Yes, it could be said that the convention saw the establishment of a strong Union as the only way to resolve the indigenous question, as it was called, in the years ahead. With regard to the franchise, the Union was, therefore, conceived and born in sin. The Transvaal and the Free State wanted nothing to do with enfranchising Africans, Coloureds or Indians.
The knowledge that the British had called up at least 60 000 African and Coloured men to take up arms against the Boers, and particularly with regard to what they had done to defenceless women and children on the farms, probably contributed to this implacability.
Even the delegates from Natal, Col Greene and Sir Hislop, were implacably against extending the franchise because they feared that the Zulus, with whom they had been engaged in wars before, would turn against them. In the end, the status quo was maintained. Africans, Coloureds and Indians in the Transvaal and the Free State were not allowed to vote, while Africans in Natal could be enfranchised, but it was under such difficult conditions that it actually excluded franchise.
Only the Cape Colony retained meaningful franchise for African and Coloured voters. Adv F S Malan, who had been imprisoned by the British during the war for his newspaper's support for the Boers, as well as other Afrikaners from the Cape fought throughout for the retention of the Cape franchise.
Other difficult issues were readily agreed upon. A Union would be established and not a federation and it would indeed be under the British Crown. The following recommendation was accepted unanimously with regard to official languages: Both English and Dutch would be the official languages of the Union and they would have and enjoy equal freedoms, rights and privileges. All reports, journals and proceedings of the Union Parliament would be in both languages, and all Bills, Acts and notices of general public interest and significance issued by the Union government would be in both languages.
In this way several matters, and some that are still relevant today, were resolved in good faith. Pretoria would be the administrative capital, Bloemfontein the judicial capital, and here we are in Cape Town in the legislative capital.
Let us learn from the mistakes made back then in respect of exclusion, but let us also be positive. The establishment of a Union brought together this beautiful country of ours as a geographical unit. The South African state that emerged developed into the most successful country on the African continent.
The population has grown from six million to 50 million. The standard of living has improved drastically, and constitutionally a voters' roll which had been dominated by white men has developed into a full franchise for everyone above 18 years. Subsequent to the system of monarchy of 1910, we got a Republic in 1961 with a President as the Head of State, which was retained when we became a fully fledged democracy in 1994.
As was the case in 1910 and 1994, we can once again make miracles happen in our task of nation-building and economic upliftment. I am reading the following quote from Antonio Grasci, an Italian philosopher:
The old is dead and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum, many morbid symptoms appear.
Yes, after 1910 there were morbid symptoms for many years, and there are also morbid symptoms in the new South Africa that we did not expect, that we are fighting against, but the new has to be born: a new South African identity in which we can be ourselves and share with everyone; a new identity in which we will all feel at home in our country, the Republic of South Africa. [Applause.]]