South Africa 1936 The End of the Cape Black Vote
The Story of South Africa: Empire, Apartheid, and Transformation — Fexingo HistoryPlay episode
Show notes
In 1936, the South African government under Prime Minister J.B.M. Hertzog passed the Representation of Natives Act, effectively ending the Cape's historic non-racial qualified franchise — a right that had allowed a small number of African men to vote alongside whites since the 1850s. This episode unpacks how the Cape franchise worked, why it was a thorn in the side of segregationists, and how the act replaced direct political representation with a hollow system of indirect 'native representation' in the Senate and the Natives Representative Council. We explore the role of figures like D.D.T. Jabavu, who convened the All-African Convention in protest, and the broader impact on black political strategy — pushing the ANC toward mass defiance in the following decade. This is a crucial turning point in South Africa's slide from segregation to apartheid, revealing how legal manoeuvring stripped black South Africans of their last vestige of political voice in the Union parliament. #SouthAfrica #1936 #RepresentationOfNativesAct #CapeQualifiedFranchise #Hertzog #D.D.T.Jabavu #AllAfricanConvention #NativeRepresentativeCouncil #CapeVote #Segregation #ANC #AfricanNationalCongress #UnionofSouthAfrica #FexingoHistory #History #BlackHistory #20thCentury #PoliticalHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
