The Regency and the Reforms

Abstract

The Reforms of 1938 went a long way toward paving the way for parliamentary institutions: (a) they cut down the ponderous number of chiefs in the land and streamlined their responsibilities; (b) they restored a fair measure of accountability and justice in the indigenous court system. The general consequences of these results were: (1) the colonial administration assumed a greater degree of control over the chieftaincy and took up the initiative for constitutional advancement; (2) while the bahlalefi — the educated élite — emboldened by the political victory over the chiefs, in the form of the Reforms, doubled their efforts to gain more representation in the National Council and to turn it into a Legislative Council. The 1940s and 1950s would thus be characterised by rapid constitutional developments.