President of the Senate of South Africa
{{Short description|Presiding officer of the former lower house of the Parliament of South Africa}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox official post
|post = President of the Senate of South Africa
|image =
|incumbent = None
|incumbentsince =
|department = Senate of South Africa
|style = Honourable President
|type = Presiding officer of one chamber in a bicameral legislature
|residence = Cape Town
|appointer = Elected by members of the Senate
|salary =
|first = Francis William Reitz
|formation = 1 November 1910
|last = Kobie Coetsee
|abolished = 4 February 1997
|website =
}}
The president of the Senate presided over the Senate of South Africa, the upper house of the Parliament of South Africa. The president was chosen from among the senators at its first sitting following a general election and whenever the office was vacant. The president acted as a "referee", taking charge of debates to make sure that the senators could participate freely while keeping to the rules. The president also had managerial duties to ensure that Senate runs smoothly. Each political party in the Senate elected a chief whip to run its affairs. The presiding officers, the chief whips, and the leader of government business (the person appointed by the Cabinet to liaise with Parliament) together decided on the programme of work.
The president of the Senate had a dormant commission to become acting State President of South Africa when there was a vacancy in that office, which was often the case, especially between 1967 and 1979.
The Senate was abolished for the first time in 1980, with effect from 1 January 1981, during a process of constitutional reform, and replaced with the President's Council. The Senate was briefly reestablished under the 1993 interim constitution. The Senate was abolished for the second and final time under the 1997 constitution. The office of president of the Senate was succeeded by the office of chairperson of the National Council of Provinces.
List of presidents (1910–1980 and 1994–1997)
| class="wikitable" style="width:100%; text-align:center;" |
| rowspan=2|{{Abbr|No.|Number}}
! rowspan=2 style="width:80px;"| Portrait ! rowspan=2|Name ! colspan=3|Term of office ! rowspan=2|Political party |
|---|
| Took office
! Left office ! Time in office |
| colspan="8"| Presidents of the First Senate (1910–1980) |
| style="background:{{party color|South African Party}}; color:white;"| 1
| 80px | Francis William Reitz | 1 November 1910 | 10 March 1921 | {{Age in years and days|1910|11|1|1921|3|10}} |
| style="background:{{party color|South African Party}}; color:white;"| 2
| 80px | H. C. van Heerden | 11 March 1921 | 30 June 1929 | {{Age in years and days|1921|3|11|1929|6|30}} |
| style="background:{{party color|National Party (South Africa)}};"| 3
| 80px | 19 July 1929 | 16 January 1930 | {{Age in years and days|1929|7|19|1930|1|16}} |
| style="background:{{party color|National Party (South Africa)}};"| 4
| rowspan=2|80px | rowspan=2|{{ill|Christiaan Andries van Niekerk|af|Chris van Niekerk (politikus)}} | rowspan=2|17 January 1930 | rowspan=2|18 January 1940 | rowspan=2|{{Age in years and days|1930|1|17|1940|1|18}} | National Party |
| style="background:{{party color|United Party (South Africa)}};"|
| United Party |
| style="background:{{party color|United Party (South Africa)}}; color:white;"| 5
| 80px | François Stephanus Malan | 19 January 1940 | 31 December 1941 | {{Age in years and days|1940|1|19|1941|12|31}} |
| style="background:{{party color|United Party (South Africa)}}; color:white;"| 6
| 80px | {{ill|Philippus Arnoldus Myburgh|af}} | 12 January 1942 | 31 December 1945 | {{Age in years and days|1942|1|12|1945|12|31}} |
| style="background:{{party color|United Party (South Africa)}}; color:white;"| 7
| 80px | Pieter Jurie Wessels | 18 January 1946 | 5 August 1948 | {{Age in years and days|1946|1|18|1948|8|5}} |
| style="background:{{party color|National Party (South Africa)}};"| {{small|(4)}}
| 80px | {{ill|Christiaan Andries van Niekerk|af|Chris van Niekerk (politikus)}} | 6 August 1948 | 19 January 1961 | {{Age in years and days|1948|8|6|1961|1|19}} |
| style="background:{{party color|National Party (South Africa)}};"| 8
| 80px | Jozua François Naudé | 20 January 1961 | 31 May 1969 | {{Age in years and days|1961|1|20|1969|5|31}} |
| style="background:{{party color|National Party (South Africa)}};"| 9
| 80px | Johannes de Klerk | 6 June 1969 | January 1976 | {{Age in years and months|1969|6|6|1976|1|1}} |
| style="background:{{party color|National Party (South Africa)}};"| 10
| 80px | Marais Viljoen | 23 January 1976 | 18 June 1979 | {{Age in years and days|1976|1|23|1979|6|18}} |
| style="background:{{party color|National Party (South Africa)}};"| 11
| 80px | Jimmy Kruger | 19 June 1979 | 31 December 1980 | {{Age in years and days|1979|6|19|1980|12|31}} |
| bgcolor=white
| colspan="8"| Post abolished (1 January 1981 – 20 May 1994) |
| colspan="8"| President of the Second Senate (1994–1997) |
| style="background:{{party color|National Party (South Africa)}};"| 12
| 80px | Kobie Coetsee | 20 May 1994 | 4 February 1997 | {{Age in years and days|1994|5|20|1997|2|4}} |
Timeline
{{#tag:timeline|
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Define $today = {{#time:d/m/Y}}
Colors =
id:sap value:rgb(0.07,0.62,0.82) legend:South_African_Party
id:np value:rgb(0.97,0.58,0.11) legend:National_Party
id:up value:rgb(0,0.39,1) legend:United_Party
id:gray1 value:gray(0.85)
id:gray2 value:gray(0.95)
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:01/01/1910 till:01/05/1997
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pos:(20,38) textcolor:black fontsize:M
text:"Political party:"
BarData =
bar:Reitz
bar:Heerden
bar:Kerr
bar:Niekerk
bar:Malan
bar:Myburgh
bar:Wessels
bar:Naudé
bar:Klerk
bar:Viljoen
bar:Kruger
bar:Coetsee
PlotData =
width:5 align:left fontsize:9 shift:(5,-4) anchor:till
bar:Reitz
from: 01/11/1910 till: 10/03/1921 color:sap text:"Francis William Reitz"
bar:Heerden
from: 11/03/1921 till: 30/06/1929 color:sap text:"H. C. van Heerden"
bar:Kerr
from: 19/07/1929 till: 16/01/1930 color:np text:"R. A. Kerr"
bar:Niekerk
from: 17/01/1930 till: 01/01/1934 color:np
from: 01/01/1934 till: 18/01/1940 color:up
from: 06/08/1948 till: 19/01/1961 color:np text:"Christiaan Andries van Niekerk"
bar:Malan
from: 19/01/1940 till: 31/12/1941 color:up text:"F. S. Malan"
bar:Myburgh
from: 12/01/1942 till: 31/12/1945 color:up text:"Philippus Arnoldus Myburgh"
bar:Wessels
from: 18/01/1946 till: 05/08/1948 color:up text:"P. J. Wessels"
bar:Naudé
from: 20/01/1961 till: 31/05/1969 color:np text:"Tom Naudé"
bar:Klerk
from: 06/06/1969 till: 01/01/1976 color:np text:"Jan de Klerk"
bar:Viljoen
from: 23/01/1976 till: 18/06/1979 color:np text:"Marais Viljoen"
bar:Kruger
from: 19/06/1979 till: 31/12/1980 color:np text:"Jimmy Kruger"
bar:Coetsee
from: 20/05/1994 till: 04/02/1997 color:np text:"Kobie Coetsee"
}}
See also
References
- Keesing's Contemporary Archives (various volumes)
- The South African Constitution, by H.J. May (3rd edition 1955, Juta & Co)
External links
- [http://rulers.org/safrgov.html South African ministries, etc – Rulers.org]
{{SouthAfricaSenateNCOPPresidents}}