About this site

This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. It is the product of almost two decades of research and includes analyses, chronologies, historical documents, and interviews from the apartheid and post-apartheid eras.

Conservative Party (CP)

A markedly right-wing political party, it was formed by Andries Treurnicht and a group of 22 members of parliament who broke away from the ruling National Party* (NP) in 1982. It became the official opposition in 1987 and subsequently won 31 per cent of the white vote in the 1989 election. Its largest support base was from lower-middle class whites, many of them Afrikaans-speaking, who lived in the rural areas. After F.W. de Klerk's announcement that there were to be negotiations with the ANC*, the Conservative Party refused to participate in many of the planned talks. It became largely marginalized and boycotted the 1994 elections.

This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. Return to theThis resource is hosted by the site.