On this day in history: White women achieve suffrage in South Africa

The roots of white women’s suffrage in South Africa began with the founding of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in 1899. This organisation was the first to campaign for White women’s right to vote in South Africa.  They had realised that without political influence, their temperance would be ignored so they set a franchise department six years after the founding of the organisation.

Just like Britain, the first organised advocates for women’s suffrage were middle class reformers. For them the suffrage was a means to an end with regard to influencing legislation and not connected primarily with the status of women.

The first Women’s Enfranchisement League (WEL) in South Africa was established in 1902 in Durban. Subsequently chapters of this league were established in other South African cities, and this group became known as the Women’s Enfranchisement Association of the Union (WEAC).

While WEAC did much to change the perception of women in the period after the South African War, the issue of giving women the vote was overshadowed by a number of issues. One was their stance on equality for black people. These issues successfully delayed the granting of the vote to White women in South Africa up until 1930 when the Hertzog election platform promised to raise the issue of granting the vote to white women in parliament, on condition that they supported his re-election.

After his re-election, Hertzog made good on his word and on the 19 May 1930, Their plight was seen as self-serving as many of them never identified with the struggle of black women or black majority’s right to vote.