South Africa is breaking up

Professor Koos Malan said that South Africa is an artificial state, which was created in 1910 due to aggressive British imperialism, and is now crumbling.

Malan, a Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Pretoria and Sakeliga fellow, shared his views in a Truth Report interview.

“South Africa is a very artificial state. I’ve always maintained that that is the case. Previously, it was a very radical thing to say,” he said.

“It came into existence in 1910 as a result of aggressive British imperialism and has remained in the same form until now.”

Before 1910, South Africa was not a single country. It was a shifting patchwork of independent indigenous kingdoms, European colonies, and breakaway Boer republics.

The discovery of diamonds in Kimberley in 1867 and gold on the Witwatersrand in 1886 transformed the political landscape overnight.

This sparked an aggressive British imperial push to control the region’s vast mineral wealth, which resulted in numerous wars.

Over the late 19th century, British forces waged war against and annexed independent African states.

In 1899, Britain invaded the two Boer Republics to gain control of the gold fields, which were a centre of the area’s wealth.

It was a brutal conflict where the British used scorched-earth tactics and concentration camps. The Boers surrendered in 1902.

The British Parliament passed the South Africa Act 1909, which formally merged four previously separate territories into a single unified state, divided into four provinces.

On 31 May 1910, eight years after the Treaty of Vereeniging, which ended the Second Anglo-Boer War, the unified state of South Africa was established.

The Union of South Africa was a self-governing dominion within the British Empire, which it remained until 31 May 1961.

It had four provinces: Cape, Natal, Transvaal, and the Orange Free State. Pretoria, Cape Town, and Bloemfontein were the three capitals.

South Africa is breaking up

Malan said that, despite a few changes after the 1994 democratic elections, South Africa remained the same.

“The main reason the unity of the South African state could be maintained was because of the strongly centralised Afrikaner nationalist party sitting in Pretoria,” he said.

He said that the Afrikaner nationalist party maintained South Africa’s existence and unity since 1948.

He argued that there is no such unitary force anymore. “South Africa is crumbling. That is what’s been happening,” he said.

Malan said that the African National Congress (ANC) government is fundamentally incapable of governing.

“The South African state is now crumbling after 34 years of ANC government. It is not a democratic government. It is a majority ANC government,” he said.

“They have proven that they are incapable of administering or governing a modern state, as a result of which South Africa is indeed breaking up.”

“The breaking-up process is, in a sense, very negative. Millions of people are suffering as a result, specifically the support base of the African National Congress.”