TODAY is the anniversary of an event in our history that most South Africans would rather not remember. Sixty years ago, on 31 May 1961, apartheid South Africa become a republic, cutting its ties with the British Empire.
But while a ‘republic’ is generally defined as state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, this was not the case in South Africa.
The Constitution of the apartheid republic pledged allegiance to God, “who gathered our forebears together from many lands and gave them this as their own.”
It was a Constitution written by and for a racial minority, and it used faith to justify tyranny.
It outlined the administration of government, providing that only white people were eligible to vote and serve as public representatives.
It contained no Bill of Rights.
The country’s majority was relegated to a footnote towards the
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