SA leaves the Commonwealth

Winds of change

The UK intervention in the Special Political Committee during the apartheid debate at the 14th GA at the end of 1959, where its representative merely reiterated his government's traditional stand on competence, gave little hint of change. Below the surface, however, tensions had been simmering between SA and other Commonwealth members for some time. The UK permanent representative reported to his government in November 1955 during the 10th GA that the South Africans knew that even ‘their few constant supporters did not in fact agree with them’. The actions of ‘old’ Commonwealth colleagues during and after the 14th session revealed such tensions just below the surface. The SA acting High Commissioner reported that, in its Parliament at Ottawa, Canada had even evoked the spectre of choosing between SA and the new Commonwealth members at the UN.

The Union government facilitated disengagement. Although the Governor-General's speech opening Parliament in January 1960 gave no warning, Prime Minister Verwoerd chose the no-confidence debate to announce a referendum, at a time to be decided, to ascertain whether SA should become a republic. The change had been in gestation as a constant aim of NP governments since Union in 1910. It was appropriate, he said, to make the announcement before the fiftieth anniversary celebrations of Union, but the vote would not take place until the emotions they excited had subsided.

The UK Prime Minister, Sir Harold Macmillan, arrived in Cape Town on the heels of this announcement at the close of a tour through Africa, during which he had assured the new states of continued UK support and cooperation. Without prior warning and in the precincts of the SA Parliament, Macmillan told his audience on 3 February 1960 that the West needed to come to terms with African nationalism: ‘The winds of change were blowing through Africa.’ It was the theme of his African tour but the time and place of this speech gave it added resonance and impact. The UK had to do its duty as it saw it, he said, and could not be expected to extend support to SA for a policy that denied access to political power on the basis of race.