1st World Republic of South Africa

[Marius]

Re industrialisation - perhaps some sort of POD that makes SA bigger (with S Rhodesia, SW Africa and Botswana) then maybe either generate a bigger industrial base from that fact alone, or create the political conditions for a large import substitution programme that forces mass industrialisation

Yeah, that's not a bad idea. But, remember South Africa is already pretty industrialised, by African and global standards.

Maybe, getting rid of the 2nd Boer War somehow, may lead to a more prosperous South Africa. No war will lead to less animosity between the Afrikaners and English Saffas, and perhaps lead to increased immigration. Immigrants will be likely to support the more forward thinking Jan Smuts and his South African Party, than the Nationalists. This may also lead to butterflies, leading to a qualified franchise perhaps.

 

[Marius]

Yeah, that´s true. In fact, the Alaskan gold wasn´t enough to retain people there. We would need more than gold and diamonds

The climate in SA is slightly better than that of Alaska.

 

[Julius Vogel]

Yeah, that's not a bad idea. But, remember South Africa is already pretty industrialised, by African and global standards.

Maybe, getting rid of the 2nd Boer War somehow, may lead to a more prosperous South Africa. No war will lead to less animosity between the Afrikaners and English Saffas, and perhaps lead to increased immigration. Immigrants will be likely to support the more forward thinking Jan Smuts and his South African Party, than the Nationalists. This may also lead to butterflies, leading to a qualified franchise perhaps.

The industrial point is well taken, but what I was referring to is really that unlike in NZ/Canada or Australia there isn't much scope the creation of a large rural settler population, so the alternative is a large urban population that would require more industrialisation.

Re your second point - perhaps a different iteration of the Jameson Raid - something that ends with a Cape Dutch/British supported pro British regime in the Transvaal would do it. Perhaps one could could create a POD where the rich utilanders formed some sort of alliance with a Afrikaner faction instead of the Raid or War - a Transvaal version of the relationship in the Cape. If you then have a pro British Transvaal, Natal and Cape Colony, along with S Rhodesia to the North then the Orange Free State is going to have fall into line with any type of association or federation that would be OTL version of the Union