South Africa (1983: Doomsday)

Following the destruction of much of southern Africa, the remnant of the Afrikaaner nation moved back to the Cape, which had been relatively unscathed. South African Prime Minister PW Botha's National Party eventually managed to reconstruct a viable government. In early 1984 they began rescue missions to the Netherlands and Germany, aiming to rescue the remainder of the Dutch and German populations and bring them to the safety of the Cape. This mission was completed in 1986. While the South African government was reconstructing their administration, most of the Anglo African people had regathered to the east, around the city of Port Elizabeth. On November 11th 1984 they proclaimed a new state, the Kingdom of Rhodesia, with Elizabeth II as Queen. The subsequent election to the Rhodesian parliament, was a contest between two parties, The Rhodeisan Liberal Party, led by Garfield Todd and the Conservative party, which was led by Ian Smith until the arrival of former UK Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, who immediately became leader. Thatcher won the election by a landslide and went on to win three elections. Rhodesia remained out of the new Union of South Africa which came into being in September 1984. This new Union was made up of six states: The (Afrikaaner) Republic of Orania, Griqualand, Deutsche Suid West Afrika (DSWA), Transkei, Boputhatswana, and Zululand. The Union Treaty was signed in Cape Town by PW Botha (Orania), Hans Diergaardt (Griqualand), Helmut Schmidt (DSWA), Nelson Mandela (Transkei), Lucas Mangope (Boputathswana) and Mangosotho Buthelesi(Zululand). The Union of South Africa ended Apartheid and gave each remaining nationality equal rights and freedoms in their own homeland. Initially Mrs. Thatcher was in favour of union, but as the negotiations continued and the nature of the proposed union became evident she withdrew from the talks. This was necessary, she said, to preserve what was left of the British people as a nation. An independent Rhodesia offered the best hope of achieving this. In the late 1980's the nations of southern Africa began to emerge from the devastation of doomsday and rebuild their economies. There was little contact with the outside world. Eventually the Union came to be dominated by an axis of Orania and DSWA, and Mrs. Thatcher became more strident in her opposition. In September 1988, she angered many of her neighbours, by declaring in a speech in the Cape winelands town of Stelenbosch that as long as she was Prime Minister Rhodesia would never accept membership of the Union "We have not successfully recreated a new Rhodesia from the ashes of doomsday and rolled back the frontiers of the state, only to see them re-imposed at a south African level, with a South African super-state exercising a new dominance from Cape Town". This speech led to the resignation of her defence secretary and former Rhodesian PM Ian Smith, who had assumed that he would be the natural choice to lead the country in 1984 and had harboured resentment ever since that his position had been usurped. Smith was becoming increasingly exasperated by the PM's preference for all things Australian, as opposed to South African. This conflict remained at the heart of Rhodesian politics until 1993 when Smith mounted a leadership challenge when the PM was in Canberra. Thatcher retired from poitics and ironically moved to Cape Town to be near her son Mark. She now resides in Constantia, an affluent suburb of the Oranian capital.

On January 18th 1989 PW Botha suffered a stroke from which he never fully recovered. He stood down as President of the Union of South Africa, and as Prime Minister of Orania. The Afrikaaner nation elected FW DeKlerk as PM, and under his administration, the balance of power in the Union shifted. The relationship between Orania and DSWA was no longer so close. DeKlerk had a good relationship with Transkei PM, Nelson Mandela, and these two leaders became the new powerhouse of the Union. By 1993 the old German/Afrikaaner axis was no longer so important and this led many in Rhodesia to re-evaluate their opposition to membership. Following Margaret Thatcher's departure from office, the new PM, Ian Smith advocated closer co-operation between Rhodesia and the Union. A referendum in 1996 rejected Rhodesian membership, and a similar proposal by John Redwood, following a major U Turn by the Redwood government was also rejected by a huge majority. Joining the Union was never seriously considered by the Hague government, and the current PM is strongly opposed to membership. In November 2008 the Prime minister ruled out Rhodesian membership "forever", concentrating instead on the Special Relationship with Australasia. In 1999 Transkei elected Thabo Mbeki as Prime Minister. He was replaced in 2007 by Kgalema Petrus Motlanthe. In the same year, elections in DSWA gave that country it's first woman PM, Angela Merkel. FW DeKlerk's National Party was defeated in the 2008 elections in Orania by the conservative Freedom Front, led by Pieter Mulder. All southern African countries felt the effects of a world economic downturn in late 2008 and early 2009.