The Herstigte Nasionale Party (Reconstituted National Party) is a

South African political party The South African Political Party (SAPP) is a minor South African political party based in Mmabatho, North West province. It contested the provincial elections in the North West in 2009, 2014 and 2019, failing to win a seat and suffering a red ...

which was formed as a

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

splinter group of the now defunct National Party in 1969. The party name was commonly abbreviated as HNP, evoking the Herenigde Nasionale Party, although colloquially they were also known as the Herstigtes. The party is, unlike other splinter factions from the National Party, still active but politically irrelevant.

History

Formation

The HNP was formed in 1969 by

Albert Hertzog Johannes Albertus Munnik Hertzog (; 4 July 1899, Bloemfontein – 5 November 1982, Pretoria) was an Afrikaner politician, cabinet minister, and founding leader of the Herstigte Nasionale Party. He was the son of J. B. M. Hertzog, J. B. M. (Barry ...

(son of former Prime Minister General

JBM Hertzog General James Barry Munnik Hertzog (3 April 1866 – 21 November 1942), better known as Barry Hertzog or J. B. M. Hertzog, was a South African politician and soldier. He was a Boer general during the Second Boer War who served ...

) in protest against the decision by Prime Minister

B.J. Vorster Balthazar Johannes "B. J." Vorster (; also known as John Vorster; 13 December 1915 – 10 September 1983) was a South African apartheid politician who served as the prime minister of South Africa from 1966 to 1978 and the State President of Sou ...

to authorize the presence of Maori players and spectators during the tour of

New Zealand rugby union team The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

in South Africa in 1970. He was also against Vorster's re-establishment of diplomatic relations with

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...

and that country's appointment of a Black ambassador to South Africa.Howard Brotz, ''The Politics of South Africa: Democracy and Racial Diversity'', Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 45 The name was chosen to reflect the initials of the earlier Herenigde Nasionale Party (Reunited National Party), the name used by the National Party in the election of 1948. Seeking a return to

Calvinism Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Cal ...

as the basis of South Africa, the party advocated complete

racial segregation Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...

and the adoption of

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

as the only official language. The bulk of the membership of the new party was made up of rural and small town working and lower middle class Afrikaners who resented what they saw as the National Party devoting their attentions to the concerns of urban Afrikaner elites. The

Afrikaner Broederbond The Afrikaner Broederbond (AB) or simply the Broederbond was an exclusively Afrikaner Calvinist and male secret society in South Africa dedicated to the advancement of the Afrikaner people. It was founded by H. J. Klopper, H. W. van der Merwe, ...

denied membership to any HNP member. The party contested the 1970 general election although its campaign was the subject of government crackdowns and attacks. The party's 78 candidates were all defeated, including its four Members of Parliament, all of whom had been National Party members before defecting to the new HNP. The party also contested 50 seats in the 1974 general election but failed to make an impact in an election where reformists advanced. During this election the HNP boycotted the English language press, as the party opposed the use of the language. It also contested three by-elections in 1975 and 1976 and enjoyed some growth, taking second place ahead of the United Party in the two seats that that group contested. The HNP captured 3.3% of the vote in the 1977 general election before increasing to 14.1% in

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

as right wing disenchantment with the NP grew, but on no occasion did it win any seats and its newly acquired voters soon shifted their support to the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

Eugène Terre'Blanche Eugène Ney Terre'Blanche (, 31 January 1941Terre'Blanche's year of birth is alternately given as 1941 or 1944. The majority of sources indicates 1941; sources that claim 1944 as his year of birth includ''The Star''Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging. He also differed from the HNP in his belief in the establishment of a white homeland in South Africa, something the HNP rejected as unnecessary.Carole Cooper, Jennifer Shindler, Colleen McCaul, Frances Potter, Melanie Cullum, Monty Narsoo, Pierre Brouard, ''Race Relations Survey 1985'', Johannesburg: South African Institute of Race Relations, 1986, p. 17

Emergence in the 1980s

Under the leadership of

Jaap Marais Jacob Albertus Marais (2 November 1922 – 8 August 2000) was an Afrikaner nationalist thinker, author, politician, Member of Parliament, and leader of the Herstigte Nasionale Party (HNP) from 1977 till his death in 2000. Marais is the longest ...

, the former deputy leader who replaced the retiring Hertzog in 1977, the party emerged as a force amongst white South Africans. In 1979 the evidence of its potential was demonstrated in a series of by-elections when it seemed to threaten the position of the ruling party. In a near-breakthrough focused on right-wing Afrikaners dissatisfied with the Botha government, it obtained 14.1% support in the 1981 general election. In the constituency of Rustenburg, the HNP candidate came hundreds of votes from besting the incumbent National MP, but to no avail. In October 1985 the party's general secretary Louis Stofberg won a by-election in

Sasolburg Sasolburg is a large industrial city within the Metsimaholo Local Municipality in the far north of the Free State province of South Africa. Sasolburg is further sub-divided into three areas: Sasolburg proper, Vaalpark (a more affluent cluster o ...

on a campaign based on the presence of a mixed couple in the constituency and opposition to the tax system, in which the wealthier white population paid more tax than the other ethnic groups. The victory came in the midst of a failed electoral alliance between the HNP and the Conservative Party that had been established earlier that year, with Andries Treurnicht claiming it was a first step to merging the HNP into the Conservatives, something the conviction-oriented Marais firmly opposed. With the CP not filing a candidate, Stofberg represented the constituency for two years as a sole voice attacking the NP from the right. From 1987, the CP captured the role of official opposition under Treurnicht with strong support from Afrikaner voters and so the electoral basis for the HNP was drained. The HNP effectively remained the chief voice of the uncompromising far-right, however, particularly in 1989 when both the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging and the

Boerestaat Party The Boerstaat Party ( en, Boer State Party) is a Boer nationalist South African political party founded on 30 September 1986 by Robert van Tonder. It was never officially registered as a political party because it was unable to rally 500 person ...

declared their support for Marais over Treurnicht, who despite his stances was considered a pragmatic opportunist, with a long background in the NP under Vorster's and Botha's leadership. Its only previous contact with other parties had been in 1985 with a brief co-operation with the

to oppose the repeal of the

Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, Act No. 55 of 1949, was an apartheid law in South Africa that prohibited marriages between "whites" and "non-whites". It was among the first pieces of apartheid legislation to be passed following the Nation ...

and the Immorality Amendment Act by

P.W. Botha Pieter Willem Botha, (; 12 January 1916 – 31 October 2006), commonly known as P. W. and af, Die Groot Krokodil (The Big Crocodile), was a South African politician. He served as the last prime minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and ...

, both part of a cosmetic reform programme aimed at improving the picture of apartheid South Africa, which Treurnicht decried as "multiracialism". Although the AWB did not set up an official political wing and did not officially endorse the HNP, its long-time leader Eugene Terre'Blanche had previously run for office under the HNP banner.

Network with other organisations

On the international stage, the HNP built up a number of contacts with far-right groups in Europe and for a time during the 1980s it was responsible for funding the United Kingdom-based League of Saint George. It was also closely associated with the

South African National Front The South African National Front, also known as the National Front of South Africa (SANF) was a neo-fascist organisation in South Africa formed in 1977. It was an initiative of John Tyndall of the British National Front; sister organisations wer ...

(SANF), an overseas branch of the National Front in the United Kingdom. Between 1980 and 1987 the party bankrolled the English-speaking far-right journal ''South African Patriot'', edited by SANF members John Hiddleston and then Alan Harvey.

Post-apartheid

The HNP joined the Afrikaner Volksfront of General

Constand Viljoen General Constand Laubscher Viljoen, (28 October 1933 – 3 April 2020) was a South African military commander and politician. He co-founded the Afrikaner Volksfront (Afrikaner People's Front) and later founded the Freedom Front (now Fre ...

in 1991, but the front collapsed in 1994 when many of the members refused to participate in South Africa's first non-racial elections. The HNP drifted away from Viljoen and did not join his Freedom Front party. As a result, it has become something of a marginal force in contemporary South Africa, arguing for the self-determination of white

Afrikaner Afrikaners () are a South African ethnic group descended from Free Burghers, predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: ...

s and a return to Verwoerdian apartheid. The party motto is now "This land is our land" ( af, Dié Land is ons Land). It re-emerged in 2004, when the party lodged an official complaint against the

SABC 3 SABC 3 (stylised as S3) is a South African free-to-air public television network owned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). It carries programming in English and, few in other South African languages. It has a number of its own re ...

television channel when it broadcast a play entitled ''ID'', which satirised the killing of Hendrik Verwoerd. Although the HNP argued that it portrayed Verwoerd and his supporters unfairly, the complaint was rejected by the

Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa The Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) is a string complaints authority established by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) to enforce a Code of Conduct for television and radio broadcasts in South Africa. The Co ...

died in 2000, and was replaced as leader by

Willie Marais Willie Marais (10 August 1928 – 26 December 2007) was an Afrikaner nationalist and the leader of the far-right South African political party, the Herstigte Nasionale Party, from 2001 until his death. In 1969, when he was MP for Wonderboom, he ...

. Willie Marais died in December 2007, and was replaced as by Japie Theart. The present leader is Andries Breytenbach. Two splits have occurred from the party over ideology and tactics: the Afrikaner Nationalist Movement in 2004, and the Afrikaner Volksparty in 2008.

Ideology

When founded, the HNP emphasised above all its

identity, attacking immigration, seeking to downgrade the importance of the English language, and endorsing apartheid. The party also launched an attack on the materialism that it felt was taking over South African society and thus sought to present itself as the voice of working class Afrikaners. It frequently attacked the "liberalism" of the National Party regime, arguing that it was gradually diluting apartheid and offering too many concessions to non-Whites. The party rejects the idea of a separate Volkstaat specifically for Afrikaners, claiming all of South Africa for Afrikaners instead. It believes that the interests of the black population will be sufficiently met in the former black

homelands Homelands may refer to: * Homeland, native lands * Homelands (festival), British dance music festival. * Homelands (Fables), mythical lands in the comic book series Fables. * Homelands (Magic: The Gathering), MTG expansion set. * Bantustan, part ...

. The HNP has no clear plan for how a return to Verwoerdian South Africa could be achieved. The party also emphasises the importance of

to the South African identity. The party does not recognise the new order in South Africa and, as part of its policy of resistance, encourages people not to vote. That makes it impossible to determine the exact level of support the party has.

Namibia

While South Africa administered

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

until 1988, the party was active in the country in opposition to independence and black rights. It contested the first multi-ethnic election in 1978, capturing 1.8% of the vote, or 10% of the White vote. The election resulted in a landslide win for the

Democratic Turnhalle Alliance of Namibia The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), formerly the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), is an amalgamation of political parties in Namibia, registered as one singular party for representation purposes. In coalition with the United Democratic ...

, albeit with the main black opposition parties, the South West Africa People's Organization and the

Namibia National Front The Namibia National Front (NNF) was an alliance of nationalist but moderate parties in Namibia. It was formed in 1977 as a merger of the Namibia National Convention (which had been marginalized after SWAPO's departure from it) and the Namibia N ...

, excluded from the ballot.'Elections in Namibia'
/ref>

Election results

Leaders

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1969 establishments in South Africa Afrikaner nationalism Afrikaner organizations Anti-communist parties Boer nationalism Christian political parties in South Africa Conservative parties in Namibia Conservative parties in South Africa Far-right political parties Nationalist parties in South Africa Organisations associated with apartheid Political parties established in 1969 Political parties in Namibia Political parties in South Africa Political parties of minorities Protestant political parties White nationalism in Namibia White supremacist groups White supremacy in South Africa White nationalist parties