Die militêre, politieke en in mindere mate, die ekonomiese geskiedenis van Suid-Afrika was reeds die onderwerp van vele navorsing. Daarenteen het die geskiedkundiege ontwikkeling van bepaalde dorpe en streke min aandag geniet in die Suid-Afrikaanse geskiedskrywing. In 'n uitgestrekte land soos hierdie is streeksontwikkeling en die groei van intensief gevestigde gemeenskappe belangrik in die ontwikkeling van die hele land, en die geskiedenis van die streeksontwikkeling dus belangrik die geskiednis van die geheel. My besluit om as onderwerp van die verhandeling te neem die geskiedenis van die Kakamas Arbeidskolonie is dus gemotiveer deur die rol wat hierdie Kerk-nedersetting gespeel het in die ontwikkeling van die Kaapse Noord-Weste, in die invloed wat dit uitgeoefen het op die landbou- en irrigasiebeleid van die Staat en in die bydrae wat dit gelewer het tot 'n oplossing van die Armblanke-probleem. Die Studie omvat: (a) 'n Oorsig van die vernaamste oorsake van die agterlikheid van die Suid-Afrikaanse landbou en besproeiing teen die einde van die 19de eeu. (b) Bywoners, armblankea en die Armsorg van die N.G. Kerk. Toestande in die Noordwestelike Kaap en die aanvang van die Kakamas Arbeidskolonie. (c) Die groei en ontwikkeling van die Nedersetting. Probleme, administrasie, finansies, handel en landbouontwikkeling. (d) Opvoeding van die jeug. Kerklike, sosiale en kulturele aangeleenthede in die Kolonie. (e) Verhouding tussen die Koloniste en die Arbeidskolonie Kommissie. Die stryd om eiendomsreg en selfbestuur. Verskillende regeringskommissies en hulle verslae. Ooreenkoms tussen Kerk en Staat. (f) Die jongste grondwet. Invloed van die Arbeidskolonie op besproeiingsbeleid, ens.

Includes bibliography. / For the National Party of South Africa, Communism was simultaneously a legitimate concern and a useful concept with which to attract voters and deflect criticism. The threat of Communism was frequently allied with the threat of African nationalism in National Party discourse during the apartheid era. The alliance between the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party, and the Soviet's role in supporting various governments and opposition movements on the subcontinent lent credence to the National Party's stance. This study, believed to be the first of its kind on the subject, examined the National Party's perception of the Communist 'threat' or 'red peril' from c. 1985 until February 1990, at a time when the Communist's role on the subcontinent was changing but 'revolutionary' unrest in South Africa was escalating. The study culminated in an assessment of National Party discourse prior to and during February 1990 to decipher the influence of the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe on the decision to lift the bans on the ANC, SACP and PAC. Secondary research examined the facets of the Communist 'threat' in South Africa. Primary research used the South African Survey, the parliamentary Hansard, key journals, party and sub-national newspapers, the papers of P. W. Botha and F.W. de Klerk, and party electioneering material to analyse National Party references to the Communist 'threat'. In addition F.W. de Klerk, and his co-author, David Steward were interviewed. The analysis was necessarily qualitative, but the volume of evidence gathered enabled a number of insights to be advanced. The National Party's references to the Communist 'threat' changed during the period in response to political settlement in South West Africa/Namibia, the increased pressure from the West to abolish apartheid, and to domestic political challenges both from traditional sources of opposition and traditional sources of support. The confusion caused by the changing loci of domestic political opposition and international criticism was also evident. While the portrayal of a Soviet driven Communist threat declined in party discourse and the National Party posited a more constructive approach to socio-economic aspects of the Communist threat (in the face of Conservative Party opposition), the portrayal of a military and political threat from Communist-backed forces remained common until 1989. The discourse between 1985-89 did not anticipate the lifting of the ban on the ANC-SACP alliance who were portrayed in party rhetoric as being committed to Communism, and therefore illegitimate negotiating partners, as late as July 1989. In this context the study examined the February 1990 lifting of the ban on the ANC-SACP alliance, against the background of the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe. The study demonstrated de Klerk's misjudgement of the ANC and his belief that as a result of the collapse of Communism, the initiative could be seized at the ANC's expense, to create a new political dispensation that still 'protected' the white minority.

The idea for using Southey's letters as the basis for a study of his administration or Griqualand West was suggested to me by two historians, one South African and one American, almost simultaneously. Thus inspired, I spent many hours in the Cape Archives where I became fascinated by Southey, his friends and his numerous adversaries. Southey was a tireless correspondent, and from his detailed accounts of the day to day happenings in Griqualand West and his definite opinions on people and events, a vivid picture emerges of Southey as a man. Stubborn, irascible, protocol minded and disorganized on one hand, humanitarian and imperialistic to the point of being almost visionary in his dreams for Africa on the other. The difficulty was to present Southey in depth without drowning in detail. Certain aspects of Southey's administration I have deliberately omitted, for instance, the complicated issue of ownership of the land which became Griqualand West and the endless boundary squabbles with the OFS and the SAR. Others, such as Southey's relations with Barkly, Carnarvon and Froude I have only touched upon from Southey's point of view as they have been dealt with in great detail by Mr. Goodfellow and Mrs. Macmillan. I have concentrated on the specific issue of Southey's administration and why it tailed. Southey's attitude towards the natives, which affected his views on the arms trade, complicated the settlement of the land problem, and soured his relations with the diggers was one factor. There were others as far flung as the fluctuation of the world diamond market, and as near as Southey's inability to compromise and his knack of making both warm friends and bitter enemies.

Saul Solomon was born in 1817 and died in 1892. He was never a member of the Legislative Council, so that his political career can be said to have begun in 1854, when he was returned to the first House of Assembly as one of the four members representing Capetown. He held his seat with a break of only one year, in 1869, until 1883, when illness oompelled him to retire. To my mind, prior to 1854, he was but an 'amateur' politician, using the word in no depreciatory sense,and I therefore propose to concentrate most of my attention on his parliamentary career.

Bibliography: p. 178-192. / This dissertation uses the historical figure of Joao Albasini to explore some historiographical issues related to how people commemorate their past. Joao Albasini was a Portuguese trader who operated through the port of Delagoa Bay for a large part of the 19th Century. He was based in Portuguese East Africa in the1830's and early 1840's, and moved into what would become the Transvaal in the late 1840's, becoming a powerful political force in the region. This thesis looks at the strikingly different ways in which Albasini has been remembered by different individuals and groups. Part 1 deals with his South African family's memories of him, focusing in particular on the portrayal of Albasini in a celebration held in 1988 to commemorate the centenary of his death. This is compared with fragments of earlier family memories, in particular, with the testimony of his second daughter recorded in newspaper articles, letters and notes. This comparison is used to argue that the memories of Albasini are being shaped both by a changing social context, and by the influence of different literary genres. Part 2 looks at a doctoral thesis on Albasini written by J.B. de Vaal in the 1940's. This is placed in the context of a tradition of professional Afrikaner academic writing, which combined the conventions and claims of Rankean scientific history with the concerns of an Afrikaner Volksgeskiedenis, and which became powerful in a number of South African Universities in the early decades of this century. The text of de Vaal's thesis is examined in detail with a view to focusing on the extent to which it was shaped by this tradition. Part 3 looks at a group of oral histories collected from the former Gazankulu Homeland between 1979 and 1991, and focuses on the way in which a memory of Albasini has been used in the construction of the idea of a Tsonga/Shangaan ethnic group. One oral tradition is examined in detail, and used to argue for an approach to oral history that attempts to focus on the structure and commentary of oral history, instead of simply using it as a source of empirical fact.