The National Convention (Dutch: Nationale Conventie, Afrikaans: Nasionale Konvensie), also known as the Convention on the Closer Union of South Africa or the Closer Union Convention, was a constitutional convention held between 1908 and 1909 in Durban (12 October to 5 November 1908), Cape Town (23 November to 18 December 1908, 11 January to 3 February 1909) and Bloemfontein (3 May to 11 May 1909). The convention led to the adoption of the South Africa Act 1909 by the British Parliament and thus to the creation of the Union of South Africa. The four colonies of the area that would become South Africa - the Cape Colony, Natal Colony, the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal Colony - were represented at the convention, along with a delegation from Rhodesia. There were 33 delegates in total, with the Cape being represented by 12, the Transvaal eight, the Orange River five, Natal five, and Rhodesia three. The convention was held behind closed doors, in the fear that a public affair would lead delegates to refuse compromising on contentious areas of disagreement. All the delegates were white men, a third of them were farmers, ten were lawyers, and some were academics. Two-thirds had fought on either side of the Second Boer War.

By the end of the convention, the delegates had drawn up a constitution that would, subject to some amendments by the British government, become the South Africa Act, which was South Africa's constitution between 1910 and 1961, when the country became a republic under the Constitution of 1961.

Background

The first attempt to establish a union of the colonies of Southern Africa was in 1858, when burghers of the Orange Free State sent a petition to Sir George Grey, the then Governor of the Cape Colony, requesting the formation of a "compact union" including the Free State, the Cape, and Natal (but excluding the Transvaal). The Volksraad of the Orange Free State followed up the petition with a resolution requesting the State President, Jacobus Nicolaas Boshoff, to communicate with Grey and proposing a conference. When Grey communicated this to the Colonial Secretary, Edward Bulwer-Lytton in London, Lytton replied that the British government was not prepared to resume sovereignty over the Free State, which it had previously controlled as the Orange River Sovereignty between 1848 and 1854.

In 1871, the Cape House of Assembly passed a resolution approving of the idea of union, and in 1872 the House of Commons similarly resolved that it would be "desirable" for a confederation between the colonies and republics of South Africa to be established. In 1874, Lord Henry Carnarvon, who had introduced the British North America Act, sent James Anthony Froude to report on the situation in the region. Froude's presence was, however, resented, due to the South Africans' desire "that union should come from within, not dictated by Downing Street". Froude's report led to the British Parliament passing the South Africa Act, 1877, "for the Union under one Government of such of the South African Colonies and States as may agree thereto". It would have modeled the South African union on the Canadian model, but "South Africa had hardly been consulted" in its promulgation and no Cape parliamentarians were willing to sponsor it locally. The Act expired in August 1882, without being implemented.

The First Boer War (1880 to 1881) intervened in the journey toward union, and it was not until 1889 when a customs union was formed between the Cape and the Free State, which were joined in 1899 by the other territories with the exception of the Transvaal. The Second Boer War (1899 to 1902), which the British won, led to the formerly-independent Boer republics becoming British colonies. The customs union was renewed in 1903, now including the Transvaal.

In 1907, the High Commissioner for Southern Africa, Lord William Selborne was tasked with preparing a report on the disunion of the colonies, titled Review of the Present Mutual Relations of the British South African Colonies, described as an equivalent of the Durham Report. The report regarded the disunion in the region as artificial, and noted the shared "Native problem" and fiscal and economic matters. At this time the white population of the four colonies stood at around one million, with natives numbering five million.

In May 1908, the Intercolonial Customs and Railways Conference met to discuss the issue of union as well as railway and customs. Frederick Robert Moor, Prime Minister of Natal, was chosen as chairman of the conference. Each of the four self-governing colonies had three representatives: John Xavier Merriman, Jacobus Wilhelmus Sauer, and Francois Stephanus Malan representing the Cape Colony; Moor, Charles O'Grady Gubbins, and Charles Hitchins representing the Natal Colony; Louis Botha, Jan Christiaan Smuts, and Henry Charles Hull representing the Transvaal Colony; and Abraham Fischer, James Barry Munnik Hertzog, and Alfred Ernest William Ramsbottom [af] representing the Orange River Colony. Rhodesia and the Portuguese province of Mozambique participated on the understanding that their delegates could not vote on or discuss anything that did not concern their territories directly or which they were not legally competent to address. Lewis Loyd Michell, Francis James Newton, and EC Baxter represented Rhodesia; and TAG Rosado and BM d'Almeida represented Mozambique. The conference unanimously accepted Smuts' motions, which read as follows:"(a) That in the opinion of this Conference the best interests and the permanent prosperity of South Africa can only be secured by an early union, under the Crown of Great Britain, of the several self-governing Colonies;(b) that to the union contemplated in the foregoing resolution Rhodesia shall be entitled to admission at such time and on such conditions as may hereafter be agreed upon;(c) that the members of this Conference agree to submit the foregoing resolutions to the Legislatures of their respective Colonies, and to take such steps as may be necessary to obtain their consent to the appointment of delegates to a National South African Convention, whose object shall be to consider and report on the most desirable form of South African Union and to prepare a draft constitution;(d) the Convention shall consist of not more than (12) twelve delegates from the Cape Colony, not more than (8) eight delegates from the Transvaal, not more than (5) five delegates from Natal and the Orange River Colony respectively, and it shall meet as soon as convenient after the next Sessions of all the Parliaments; provided that as soon as at least two Colonies shall have appointed their delegates the Convention shall be considered as constituted;(e) the Convention shall publish the draft constitution as soon as possible, and shall, in consultation with the Governments of the self-governing Colonies, determine the further steps to be taken in reference thereto;(f) in the Convention the voting shall be per capita and not by States. A Chairman shall be elected from the members who shall have the right of speaking and voting, and in the event of an equality of votes shall have a casting vote."At this time public opinion was in favor of a union between the colonies, with the business community and especially the mining houses being convinced of the financial and economic benefits union might entail. Disunion was widely blamed as a cause of much of the region's social and economic woes. The Closer Union Society was founded in Cape Town in mid-1908, with former Cape prime minister William Philip Schreiner as its president. The Society's aim was "to encourage the formation of similar societies throughout Cape Colony and South Africa and to disseminate information on all aspects and systems of closer Union", with several closer union societies being established across the colonies. It published The Framework of Union in 1908 which explained the constitutional structures of the United States, Canada, Australia, Germany and Switzerland, with a view to propagate the idea of union among South Africans. Mahatma Gandhi spoke at an event of the Transvaal Closer Union Society on the topic of immigration law.

Delegates

The delegates to the National Convention were:

Cape of Good Hope (12) John de Villiers - Chief Justice and President of the Legislative Council (President of the Convention) John Xavier Merriman - Prime Minister and Treasurer, and South African Party MP for Victoria West and Stellenbosch Jacobus Wilhelmus Sauer - Commissioner of Public Works and South African Party MP for Aliwal North and George Francois Stephanus Malan - Secretary for Agriculture and South African Party MP for Malmesbury Leander Starr Jameson - Leader of the Progressive Party and MP for Kimberley and Grahamstown Edgar Harris Walton - Progressive Party MP for Port Elizabeth and owner-editor of the Eastern Province Herald Thomas Smartt - Progressive Party MP for Fort Beaufort Col. Walter Ernest Mortimer Stanford - Independent MP for Tembuland John William Jagger [af] - Progressive Party MP for Cape Town Hercules Christiaan van Heerden - Chairman of the Afrikaner Bond and South African Party MP for Cradock Gysbert Henry Maasdorp - South African Party MP for Graaff Reinet Johannes Hendricus Meiring Beck - South African Party MP for Worcester Natal (5) Frederick Robert Moor - Prime Minister and Minister of Native Affairs, and MP for Weenen Col. Edward Mackenzie Greene - Minister of Railways and Harbours and MP for Lions River Thomas Hyslop - MP for Umgeni Charles John Smythe - MP for Lions River William Boase Morcom* - MP for Pietermartizburg Thomas Watt* - MP for Newcastle Transvaal (8) Gen. Louis Botha - Prime Minister and Het Volk MP for Standerton, Chairman of Het Volk Gen. Jan Christiaan Smuts - Colonial Secretary and Het Volk MP for Wonderboom Henry Charles Hull - Colonial Treasurer and National Association MP for Georgetown George Herbert Farrar - Leader of the Opposition and Progressive Association MP for Boksburg East James Percy Fitzpatrick - Progressive Association MP for Pretoria South Central Henry Lill Lindsay - Progressive Association MP for Troyeville Gen. Schalk Willem Burger - Het Volk MP for Lydenburg South Gen. Jacobus Herculaas de la Rey - Het Volk MP for Ventersdorp Orange River (5) Abraham Fischer - Prime Minister and Colonial Secretary, and Orangia Unie [af] MP for Bethlehem Martinus Theunis Steyn - former State President (Vice-President of the Convention) Gen. James Barry Munnik Hertzog - Attorney-General and Minister of Education, Orangia Unie MP for Smithfield Gen. Christiaan Rudolf de Wet - Minister of Agriculture and Orangia Unie MP for Vredefort Albert Browne - Constitutionalist Party Member of the Legislative Council Rhodesia (3) William Henry Milton - Administrator and President of the Executive and Legislative Councils Charles Patrick John Coghlan - Member of the Legislative Council Lewis Lloyd Michell - former Minister without Portfolio, Cape Colony* Thomas Watt replaced William Boase Morcom at the National Convention on 11 January 1909.

Contentious issues

The main areas of contention at the National Convention were the following, with the first three being the most controversial:

Whether South Africa would be a federation or a unitary state. What the franchise of the new union would be, with particular regard to the status of the black and coloured races. How South Africa would be divided into administrative divisions, especially the provinces. The status of the two dominant European languages, Dutch (later Afrikaans) and English. Where the capital city would be located.