Japie Basson

Jacobus "Japie" Basson (25 July 1918 – 8 August 2012) was a South African politician who began his career with the National Party, but was later expelled from it, and became a forceful critic of the apartheid government as a member, by turns, of the United Party, Progressive Federal Party, and his own short-lived National Union.[1][2] He was described as "fiery", "colourful", an "individualist", and as the "chameleon" of South African politics for his shifting partisan allegiances.[1]

Japie Basson
Member of the South African Parliament
In office
1950–1980
ConstituencyNamib
Bezuidenhout
Personal details
Born25 July 1918
Paarl, Cape Province
Died8 August 2012(2012-08-08) (aged 94)
Cape Town
Political partyNational Party
Independent
National Union
United Party
Progressive Federal Party
Alma materStellenbosch University

He was originally elected to the House of Assembly in 1950 as MP for the constituency of Namib, in what was then South African-administered South West Africa, before leaving the National Party in 1959. In 1960, he co-founded the South West Party with Ferdinand Lempp, former editor of Allgemeine Zeitung, the German language daily newspaper in the territory.[3]

However, he later founded his own party, the National Union, which despite its opposition to many aspects of the apartheid policies of Hendrik Verwoerd, supported his government's decision to make South Africa a republic, although he declared that a republic would do Verwoerd himself no good.[4]

Basson was elected as MP for Bezuidenhout in Johannesburg in 1961,[5] before merging it with the United Party, for which he served as its foreign affairs spokesman.[6] Following the collapse of that party, Basson led the Committee for a United Opposition, which merged with the more liberal Progressive Reform Party to form the Progressive Federal Party.[7]

In 1980, in the wake of disagreements with the PFP over support for the constitutional reforms of the government of P W Botha, he was expelled from the party caucus.[8] This was because he had stated that he was prepared to serve on the President's Council, a body established by the Botha government to advise on a new constitution.[9] Earlier, his party had adopted a resolution rejecting the body.[10] He was appointed to the President's Council, serving as a member of its Constitutional Committee from 1981 to 1984, and on retirement from the Council, rejoined the National Party.[11]

References
  1. "Chameleon of SA politics dies". IOL. 10 August 2012.
  2. "Japie Basson". www.StellenboschWriters.com.
  3. A Glance at Our Africa: Facsimile Reprint of Southwest News--Suidwes Nuus, 1960, Dag Henrichsen, Basler Afrika Bibliographien, 1997, page 67
  4. Africa, Issues 2-24, page 68
  5. Stellenbosch Writers: Stellenbosch Authors of Books, Rosemarie Breuer, Jill Adams, Stellenbosch Writers Publishers, 2005, page 6
  6. The South West Africa/Namibia Dispute: Documents and Scholarly Writings on the Controversy Between South Africa and the United Nations, John Dugard, University of California Press, 1973, page 534
  7. The Road to Democracy in South Africa: 1970-1980, South African Democracy Education Trust, Unisa Press, 2004, page 849
  8. South African Digest, Department of Information, 1980, page 99
  9. To the Point News in Depth, Volume 9, Issues 18-35, page cxxxvii
  10. A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa, Volume 34, South African Institute of Race Relations, 1980, page 18
  11. Divided or United Power: Views on the New Constitutional Dispensation, J. A. Du Pisanie, L. Patria, 1986, page 67
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