Peace Dream
Since the end of the Great African War, South Africa had been struggling against a rising tide of unrest among the blacks who were becoming increasingly resentful of the system of apartheid. South Africa began to reform its political system under the guidance of the Prime Minister, P.W. Botha, who introduced a new constitution in 1984 that invested the President with full executive powers (more along the lines of the president of the USA), a post which he then assumed. The political system was also changed significantly with the creation of two new houses of Parliament, one for the coloureds and one for the Indians (on top of the pre-existing white only house). Although many greeted Botha’s reforms with approval as they hoped it was the start of something more, many criticised him for not having gone far enough and he therefore continued by repealing many of the petty apartheid laws. When PM Msika of Zambesia introduced the September 1984 Anti-Discrimination Act to boost his flagging popularity, a law which formally prohibited segregation or discrimination in employment, public education, or a variety of other services. Calls were made in the Federation for equal treatment for blacks and whites in their civil liberties and end of the power sharing system, but Msika (well aware that his position was completely reliant on the goodwill of the UFP, who would oppose such a move) was hesitant to take such a radical step. South Africa and the Federation, each in their own way, were being forced to deal with the inequalities in their countries whether the establishment wanted to or not.
In the Federation, Msika decided to take the plunge. With the support of the left-wing of his party he called a general election in early November 1984 and began to campaign on the promise that should he be re-elected with enough support, he would begin a review of the power sharing agreement and would consider radical change. This ticket, along with his popularity boost from the Anti-Discrimination Act, made him one of the strongest contenders in the election and left the Burundian disaster of his early prime ministership all but forgotten among the majority of the populace. The UFP, although initially opposed to any change to the agreement, quickly saw the writing on the wall and changed tack, beginning to support the suggested talks and campaigning among the whites as “our representative”. In the end, only the White Rhodesia League remained utterly opposed to any such talks, a positions which made them relatively popular among the more hard-line whites. The more radical parties (UNIP and UZP) denounced Msika’s promises as empty, criticising him for not promising to simply do away with the power sharing agreement. On top of this, UNIP and the UZP decided to merge their parties into the United National Workers’ Party (UNWP) to create an alliance that would hopefully be able to carry them to victory and force through their desired reforms.
The results shook up the political landscape of the Federation, the far-right in the form of the WRL winning a third of the white seats, a level of influence the reactionaries had not been able to achieve since the failure of Ian Smith’s attempted coup. The CCA was reduced to one white seat as they rallied around the UFP and WRL to protect their interests. The centre-right took a beating, losing numerous seats as its parties were viewed as too weak on the issue of reforming the system by the majority of the black electorate. Msika did well, winning a further two seats for CAPU, but in the end it was not enough. Led by Nalumino Mundia, UNWP was swept to power with an increase of six seats, which although it left them short of a majority allowed them to come to power at the head of a coalition with only CAPU and a total of 34 seats, the only two party coalition seen since the start of the power sharing agreement. The following ‘Salisbury Talks’ were at once convened, with every party invited to send representatives as well as a number of other figures from among both the white and black communities attending. Their purpose was to bring the system created in 1963 by PM Roy Welensky under scrutiny and decide which steps to take to allow the Federation to continue moving forward and its people to prosper. Its failure would not only mean the collapse of peace, but would also bring reform in South Africa to a halt, as its people looked north with bated breath to see the fate of the whole experiment.
PM Nalumino Mundia