Jacob "Japie" Basson (25 July 1918 – 8 August 2012) was a South African

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

who began his career with the

National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...

, but was later expelled from it, and became a forceful critic of the

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

government as a member, by turns, of the United Party,

Progressive Federal Party The Progressive Federal Party (PFP) () was a South African political party formed in 1977 through merger of the Progressive and Reform parties, eventually changing its name to the Progressive Federal Party. For its duration, it was the main parl ...

, and his own short-lived National Union. He was described as "fiery", "colourful", an "individualist", and as the "chameleon" of South African politics for his shifting partisan allegiances. He was originally elected to the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible g ...

in 1950 as MP for the constituency of Namib, in what was then South African-administered

South West Africa South West Africa was a territory under Union of South Africa, South African administration from 1915 to 1990. Renamed ''Namibia'' by the United Nations in 1968, Independence of Namibia, it became independent under this name on 21 March 1990. ...

, before leaving the National Party in 1959. In 1960, he co-founded the South West Party with Ferdinand Lempp, former editor of ''

Allgemeine Zeitung The ''Allgemeine Zeitung'' was the leading political daily journal in Germany in the first part of the 19th century. It has been widely recognised as the first world-class German journal and a symbol of the German press abroad. The ''Allgemein ...

'', the

German language German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western Europe, Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and Official language, official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switze ...

daily newspaper in the territory. However, he later founded his own party, the National Union, which despite its opposition to many aspects of the apartheid policies of

Hendrik Verwoerd Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd (; 8 September 1901 – 6 September 1966), also known as H. F. Verwoerd, was a Dutch-born South African politician, scholar in applied psychology, philosophy, and sociology, and newspaper editor who was Prime Mini ...

, supported his government's decision to make South Africa a republic, although he declared that a republic would do Verwoerd himself no good. Basson was elected as MP for

Bezuidenhout Bezuidenhout (; ) is the neighborhood () southeast of the Haagse Bos neighborhood of The Hague in the Netherlands. Bezuidenhout includes the Beatrixkwartier financial area near the Central Station and streets such as Bezuidenhoutseweg, Juliana ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

in 1961, before merging it with the United Party, for which he served as its foreign affairs spokesman. Following the collapse of that party, Basson led the Committee for a United Opposition, which merged with the more liberal Progressive Reform Party to form the

. In 1980, in the wake of disagreements with the PFP over support for the constitutional reforms of the government of

P. W. Botha Pieter Willem Botha, ( , ; 12 January 1916 – 31 October 2006) was a South African politician who served as the last Prime Minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and as the first executive State President of South Africa from 1984 until ...

, he was expelled from the party caucus. This was because he had stated that he was prepared to serve on the

President's Council The State President of the Republic of South Africa () was the head of state of South Africa from 1961 to 1994. The office was established when the country became a republic on 31 May 1961, outside the Commonwealth of Nations, and Queen Eli ...

, a body established by the Botha government to advise on a new constitution. Earlier, his party had adopted a resolution rejecting the body. He was appointed to the President's Council, serving as a member of its Constitutional Committee from 1981 to 1984, and on retirement from the council, rejoined the National Party.''Divided or United Power: Views on the New Constitutional Dispensation''
J. A. Du Pisanie, L. Patria, 1986, page 67

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Basson, Japie 1918 births 2012 deaths South African politicians People from Paarl Stellenbosch University alumni