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Domestic Policies and UN Activities: The Cases of Rhodesia and the Republic of South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

George Alfred Mudge
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Extract

The oratory of the General Assembly and the Security Council and the resolutions adopted by these organs are the most obvious activities of the United Nations in the field of human rights and the features usually studied. They alone, however, give little indication of the effectiveness and the effects of the UN's actions. To investigate this one needs to go beyond New York to the national capitals. How do governments whose policies are severely criticized in the UN respond? On one level the questions can be simply answered. The alternatives are reasonably clear. They include token and substantive compliance, indifference, and defiance. But how is one alternative chosen over the others and does what goes on in New York have any impact on the political dynamics within the national framework? This article is an attempt to investigate a limited aspect of this question. It is an analysis of both the reactions within the parliaments of Rhodesia and the Republic of South Africa to UN actions concerning these territories and the possible importance of these reactions in parliamentary elections.

Type
Articles
Information
International Organization , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , Winter 1967 , pp. 55 - 78
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 1967

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References

1 Leiss, Amelia C. and McKay, Vernon, “The Issues After Two Decades,“ in Leiss, Amelia C. (ed.) Apartheid and United Nations Collective Measures: An Analysis (New York: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1965), p. 10Google Scholar.

2 On November 27, 1961, the General Assembly passed a resolution creating the Special Committee as a study group to make recommendations regarding the implementation of the General Assembly's Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (General Assembly Resolution 1514 [XV] of December 14, i960). Originally composed of seventeen members and known as the Special Committee of Seventeen, it was enlarged in 1962 to 24 members and is referred to as the Special Committee of Twenty-Four.

3 General Assembly Resolution 2145 (XXI), October 27, 1966.

4 Bunting, Brian, The Rise of the South African Reich (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1964), p. 119Google Scholar.

5 South African election results:

The figures for the popular vote are only for the contested constituencies. In 1961, when there were two candidates in only 86 constituencies, the National Party nevertheless increased its overall popular as well as its parliamentary majority. This table was compiled from Keesing's Contemporary Archives (London: Keesing's Publications Ltd.), 05 29–06 5, 1948 (Vol. 6), p. 9297Google Scholar; July 3–10, 1948 (Vol. 7), p. 9371; July 4–11, 1953 (Vol. 9), p. 13005; May 10–17, 1958 (Vol. 11), pp. 16169–16170; November 25–December 2, 1961 (Vol. 13), p. 18449; and April 30–May 7, 1966 (Vol. 15), p. 21376.

6 Ibid., April 30–May 7, 1966 (Vol. 15), p. 21375.

7 Southern Rhodesian election results:

This table was compiled from ibid., December 15–22, 1962 (Vol. 13), p. 19135; and May 22–29, 1965 (Vol. 15), p. 20747. The electoral system of the 1961 constitution divides the country into 50 constituencies and fifteen electoral districts which geographically overlap each other. Each constituency and each electoral district elect one member to the Legislative Assembly. There are two categories of voters: those on the A roll and those on the B roll. The registration requirements concerning education, yearly income, and property ownership have the effect of placing most of the European voters on the A roll and most of the African voters on the B roll. The boundaries of the constituencies and electoral districts are drawn so that there are approximately an equal number of A roll voters in each constituency and an equal number of B roll voters in each electoral district. While each voter casts two votes, one for a candidate for the seat of the constituency in which he votes and one for a candidate for the seat of the geographically overlapping electoral district, the B roll votes for the constituency candidate and the A roll votes for the electoral district candidate are subject to devaluation. The effect of these complicated provisions for two voting rolls, geographically overlapping voting districts, and devaluation of votes is that the 50 constituency members of the Legislative Assembly are elected by the overwhelmingly white A roll voters and the fifteen electoral district members are elected by the predominantly African B roll voters. The African voters may, however, influence the outcome of a close constituency election if they all vote for one candidate. For further explanation of the electoral system of the 1961 constitution see Symonds, Jane, Southern Rhodesia: Background to Crisis (Oxford: Oxford University Press [for the Royal Institute of International Affairs], 1965), pp. 25–29Google Scholar.

8 Keesing's Contemporary Archives, 04 11–18, 1964 (Vol. 14), p. 20008Google Scholar.

9 Union of South Africa House of Assembly Debates (hereinafter cited as VSAHAD), Vol. 59, 01 21, 1947, c. 10911Google Scholar.

10 Ibid., January 21, 1947, c. 10899.

11 Ibid., January 24–25, 1947, c. 11303.

12 Ibid., January 21, 1947, cc. 10907–10908.

13 Ibid., January 21, 1947, c. 10895.

14 USAHAD, Vol. 64, 08 31, 1948, c. 1287Google Scholar.

15 Republic of South Africa House of Assembly Debates (hereinafter cited as RSAHAD), Vol. 10, 04 24, 1964, c. 4011Google Scholar.

16 See the explanation of the Southern Rhodesian electoral system in footnote 7.

17 RSAHAD, Vol. 10, 04 23, 1964, cc. 4788–4789Google Scholar.

18 USAHAD, Vol. 107, 04 10, 1961, c. 4191Google Scholar.

19 Ibid., c. 4175.

20 For examples see the speeches of DrMuller, in RSAHAD, Vol. 10, 04 24, 1964, c. 4949Google Scholar; Dr. Verwoerd in ibid., c. 4903; and Froneman, Gabriel François van Lingen in RSAHAD, Vol. 12, 06 8, 1964, c. 7390Google Scholar.

21 Ibid., c. 7381.

22 RSAHAD, Vol. 10, 04 24, 1964, c. 4913Google Scholar.

23 Ibid., c. 4893.

24 Southern Rhodesia Legislative Assembly Debates (hereinafter cited as SRLAD), Vol. 49, 03 20, 1962, cc. 970–971Google Scholar.

25 Sir Edgar Whitehead addressing the Fourth Committee on October 30, 1962 (cited from Wallbank, Thomas Walter, Documents on Modern Africa [Princeton, N.J: D. Van Nostrand Co., 1964], p. 162)Google Scholar.

26 Shamuyarira, Nathan, Crisis in Rhodesia (London: Andre Deutsch Limited, 1965), p. 213Google Scholar. A major theme of Shamuyarira's analysis is the internationalization of the African nationalist movement and its consequent disappointment, frustration, and embitterment resulting from the failure of Britain and the United Nations to intervene after Whitehead's defeat.

27 Ibid., p. 230.

28 Ibid., p. 160.

29 SRLAD, Vol. 55, 11 26, 1963, cc. 202–203. In Sepember 1963 Britain vetoed a Security Council resolution requesting it not to transfer the Royal Rhodesian Air Force to Southern Rhodesia upon the breakup of the FederationGoogle Scholar.

30 lbid., December 5, 1963, c. 689.

31 Ibid., December 4, 1963, c. 651.

32 Keesing's Contemporary Archives, 11 27–12 4, 1965 (Vol. 15), p. 21094Google Scholar.

33 Ibid., p. 21095.

34 Symonds, p. 8.

35 SRLAD, Vol. 59, 10 27, 1964, cc. 405–406Google Scholar.

36 Ibid., c. 478.

37 Ibid., October 29, 1964, c. 743.

38 Ibid., c. 745.

39 Ibid., October 27, 1964, c. 420.

40 Keesing's Contemporary Archives, 05 22–29, 1965 (Vol. 15), p. 20747Google Scholar.

41 Ibid.