repr0bus on DeviantArthttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/https://www.deviantart.com/repr0bus/art/Southern-Africa-1962-727164650repr0bus

Deviation Actions

repr0bus's avatar

Southern Africa, 1962

By
Published:
5.4K Views

Description

In 1922, the colony of Southern Rhodesia was given the choice to pursue responsible government or join South Africa as a province. In our timeline, they opted for responsible government. In this timeline, things went differently. Southern Rhodesia joined South Africa as the Province of Rhodesia, teetering the balance of power towards British settlers in what had been a Boer-dominated political climate.

With the National Party unable to garner enough power to win a majority in any election, non-Dutch immigration was NOT restricted and apartheid was never implemented. That isn't to say that the native Africans were treated especially well, but in the 1940s they were officially recognised as equal citizens in the South African Union. Britain began assigning their various colonies in southern and central Africa to South Africa until it became clear that a unitary government was undesirable. A new constitution in 1955 transformed South Africa into a Federation like Australia and Canada. Alongside the constitution was a referendum on the status of the South African monarchy. In our timeline, South Africa opted to become a republic in 1961. In this timeline, the influx of British immigrants saw the referendum strongly in favour of maintaining the Monarchy.

Although legally equal, the Union is unpopular among many of the provinces run by the native blacks. In Zambesia and Nyasaland especially, armed revolt seems to be right around the corner.

South Africa's strongest ally is Portugal and they are even in negotiations to transfer Angola and Mozambique to South African control should Portugal ever have to abandon its colonies. South Africa has also recently recognised the State of Katanga, a Belgian-backed breakaway state and a belligerent in the Congolese civil war. Many observers believe that it too will petition itself for South African provincehood should it actually win its independence.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Edit: Added a bit of texture. Looked pretty flat to me.
Image size
3680x3486px 5.38 MB
Comments8
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
FelonskiPipov's avatar

Based:

1. No apartheid

2. Monarchy still

3. Eventually equal democracy under said monarchy much like Rhodesia was transitioning to

4. No socialism, very anti communist