On this day in history: The full citizenship of Coloured people is called for

During apartheid, the term “Coloured” was used to refer to group of people generally considered to be of mixed race origin. Coloured people, throughout the course of South African history, have been regarded as neither white nor black, and their ability to exercise their political rights have been dependent on the attitude of government at the time.

Under the government of the Union, Coloureds had similar rights to whites, but by 1930, their political rights were restricted to the election of White representatives. The National Party victory in 1948 saw Coloureds completely disenfranchised, with their final removal from the voter’s roll in 1956.

By 1958, a Department of Coloured Affairs was established, followed by a Union for Coloured Affairs in 1959.  The Coloured Representative Council (CRC) was established in 1968, in which all Coloureds over the age of 21 were compelled to vote for their own representatives. The first election of the CRC was held in 1969, and was contested by a number of Coloured political parties on the basis that the CRC was completely subordinate to the South African parliament, and therefore had no actual political power.

By 1974, J.A. Rabie, the Deputy Chairman of the CRC, called for the extension of full citizenship to Coloured people, with the inclusion of a separate voters’ roll to elect 60 Coloured representatives to Parliament and the Provincial Councils. It was clear from these, and other recommendations, that changes with regard to the political rights of Coloureds had to be implemented.

The Apartheid government attempted these changes through the establishment of the Tricameral Parliament in 1983, which granted Coloureds limited political rights. The full recognition of Coloureds as South African citizens and the realisation of their political rights would only be achieved with the advent of democracy in South Africa in 1994.