Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope

[1] This political elite successfully began the controversial drive for Cape independence which, unusually, was attained in the end through gradual evolution, rather than sudden revolution.

The Governor opened this first parliament at his residence, "the Tuynhuys", but the House of Assembly soon relocated to the small but stately Goede Hoop Masonic Lodge buildings.

[3] Among the Cape's powerful local leaders, a radical faction under the leadership of John Molteno pushed for further independence in the form of "Responsible Government".

The universal qualification for suffrage (£25) was sufficiently low to ensure that most owners of any form of property or land could vote; and there was a determination on the part of the Government not to raise it, on the understanding that rising levels of wealth would eventually render it obsolete.

There were the early beginnings of a drive to register the many new potential voters, particularly the rural Xhosa people of the frontier region, who were mostly communal land owners and therefore eligible for suffrage.

The large gardens of the Lodge soon became a popular venue for the public, with concerts, theatre and finally the "South African International Exhibition" which Molteno sponsored in 1877.

A brief controversy arose about this need to build a more stately Parliament, as Prime Minister Molteno was not an ostentatious man, and had little interest in spending tax money on what he saw as essentially an expensive vanity project (At the time an enormous countrywide programme was underway, of building schools, public transport and communications infrastructure, and funds were consequently in tight demand).

He was over-ruled by the legislature however, and the Commissioner of Public Works, Charles Abercrombie Smith, ordered a select committee to receive designs.

Freeman's errors were compounded by the presence of groundwater, and a recalculation of the budget revealed that the actual costs would be many times the original figure that the government had allowed for.

[9] Cape Prime Minister Thomas Scanlen, and Governor Hercules Robinson led the opening ceremony in the building, declared finally to be worthy of the country's Legislature.

This racist opposition had its origins in the white Eastern Cape separatist movement who had been threatened by the political mobilisation of their Xhosa neighbours.

The Parliamentary Registration Act (1887) removed traditional African forms of communal land-ownership from the franchise qualifications, thus disenfranchising a large portion of the Cape's Xhosa population.

The result was that, by the end of Rhodes's Ministry, only a small portion of relatively wealthy, educated, urban Black Africans were still permitted to vote.

[10][11] Decades later, with the rise of Apartheid after Union, all restrictions were removed for White voters, meaning that the remaining qualifications of the Cape Qualified Franchise only applied to non-whites.

Prominent leaders were William Porter, Saul Solomon, John Molteno, Hercules Jarvis and Charles Lennox Stretch.

They tended to support the continued status of the Cape as a colony, stronger policies regarding border defence and increased expansion into the north to open up lands for white settlement.

They resented the political dominance of the more "liberal" Westerners and saw the solution to be a separate white "Eastern Cape Colony" under direct imperial control, with Port Elizabeth as its capital.

The newly elected Molteno government then brought together a broad alliance, run on liberal principles but incorporating several easterners and support from the Cape's Afrikaner and Black communities.

The new government's inclusive policies extinguished the separatist league, but the ideology and interests of the frontier settlers survived and resurfaced years later.

Saul Solomon, in spite of his diminutive size and physical handicap, was at the height of his powers and was probably the outstanding figure in the House, noted for his outspoken liberalism and his concern for the interests of Africans.

Sprigg formed a cabinet composed entirely of Eastern frontier white settlers, but contributed to a new pro-imperialist ideology that was not tied to any particular region of the Cape, or indeed, of southern Africa.

Engraving of the first opening of the Cape Parliament in 1854.
The Cape's Legislative Council.
The Masonic Lodge which served as the venue of the first Cape Parliament.
Freeman's original elaborate plan for the new Parliament.
The final Parliament building as constructed (without statues, dome or fountains)
Cecil Rhodes , as Prime Minister, did much to restrict African representation in the Cape Parliament.
On Union, the Cape (blue) was to be united with Natal (red), Transvaal (green) and the Orange Free State (orange).
The Cape Parliament today, as the South African National Parliament.
Five tomes of Appendix to Votes and Proceedings to Parliament, 1883
Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope, Blue Book 1877
The mid-19th century Convict Crisis was a question which created a (temporary) political grouping, even before the establishment of the Cape's first parliament in 1854.
1873 cartoon critical of Responsible Government, showing the sharing out of power and positions to the various factions.
1880 cartoon criticising the Afrikaners for preferring the "chaos" of independence, over the "prosperity" of being annexed and coming under direct imperial control.
Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr (Onze Jan) , long-term leader of the Afrikaner Bond .
William Schreiner (centre, seated) with South African Party leaders, and activists, including John Tengo Jabavu , Walter Rubusana and Abdurahman in the delegation which lobbied the London Convention on Union for the multi-racial franchise.