Thirty Years in the Making An examination of the history of the Dutch parliamentary discourse surrounding the Cultural Treaty between the Netherlands and South Africa: 1951-1981

Abstract

On May 31st 1951 “Union Day” in South Africa a treaty of cultural exchange with the Netherlands was signed. It would endure for 30 years until its unilateral dissolution by the Dutch government in June of 1981. In the thirty years in between the Netherlands saw a number of sweeping societal changes and South Africa went through several political crises. Both drastically affected the Dutch position on South African relations, yet in the official documentation of parliamentary debate regarding the cultural treaty certain ambivalences can be discovered in the position of political parties for and against the treaty. This paper will examine the debate surrounding the treaty’s ratification in 1951 and its abolition in 1981 as well as what changed in Dutch-South African relations in the intermediary years to determine what underlying causes created these blurred lines in Dutch politics regarding their estranged cousins in Africa.