Frans Hendrik Odendaal (1898–1966) (known as Fox Odendaal) was a South African politician, governor of the

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

province, best remembered for heading the commission that became known by his last name.

Odendaal Commission

In 1962 Odendaal was appointed as head of the officially named "Commission of Enquiry into South-West Africa Affairs." Over time the commission came to be popularly called the "Odendaal Commission". The Commission finished its enquiry towards the end of 1963, but its findings were formally handed early in 1964. The Odendaal Report, as it was called, contained a series of proposals (The Odendaal Plan) regarding the establishment of territories dedicated to the "separate development" of the different ethnic groups in South-West Africa (

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 ...

today). The Odendaal Plan thoroughly described the different steps needed to establish in South-West Africa

bantustan A Bantustan (also known as Bantu homeland, black homeland, black state or simply homeland; ) was a territory that the National Party administration of South Africa set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa (now N ...

s similar to those already in South Africa. The report was first rejected by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

(also known as the Committee of Twenty-four because of the number of members), and then by the

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presb ...

. Despite all this, the South African government started formal implementation of Odendaal's plan in 1968.

References

1898 births 1966 deaths Provincial political office-holders in South Africa {{SouthAfrica-politician-stub