The Labour Party of South AfricaMinutes of the Labour Party of South Africa () was a South African political party founded in 1969 and led for many years by Allan Hendrickse. Although avowedly opposed to apartheid, it participated in the Coloured Persons Representative Council.Allan Hendrickse's obituary in The Guardian. It opposed the guerrilla struggle of Umkhonto we Sizwe and the call for international sanctions against South Africa. The party later dominated the House of Representatives in the Tricameral Parliament from its foundation in 1984 until 1992, winning 76 of the 80 seats in the 1984 elections and 69 in those of 1989. When the National Party of F. W. de Klerk decided to admit non-White members, however, a substantial number of members of the House of Representatives who had been members of Labour crossed the floor to join the Nationalists. In 1992, a group of 36 such former Labour members led by Jac Rabie engineered a vote of no confidence in Hendrickse's Labour government.South Africans of Mixed Race in a Political Shift. Christopher Wren, The New York Times, 9 February 1992. Losing influence at the polls, Hendrickse concluded that the Labour Party had fulfilled its uses, and the party was disbanded in 1994, with Hendrickse and his followers joining the African National Congress.Recipients of the Order of the Baobab in Silver. The Presidency of South Africa.
The name of the New Labour Party of Peter Marais was meant to evoke Hendrickse's Labour Party. It is not to be confused with the earlier South African Labour Party, which had represented White industrial workers.
Electoral history
Coloured Persons' Representative Council elections ElectionParty leaderSeats+/–Position1969Allan Hendrickse 26 2nd1975 9 1st
Notes In 1984 the House of Representatives was created as part of the Tricameral Parliament and replaced the Coloured Persons' Representative Council
House of Representatives elections ElectionParty leaderVotes%Seats+/–Position1984Allan Hendrickse200,79174.5% 76 1st1989 171,93065.0% 2 1st
References