♄    Saturn and the Making of Modern South Africa

When does a nation define itself as such? How far back do we go and to what event? In modern America, we can look to the Civil War, the Declaration of Independence, the Boston Tea Party or the arrival of the British army in 1664. In Britain, the unification of England and Scotland, Oliver Cromwell or the Magna Carta.

For South Africa, I have chosen the Boer War of 1899 - 1902. The reasons are many and varied, which include two opposing forces, a quest for independence, vicious attacks on civilians, internment, imposed starvation and summary executions for traitors. In short, all the elements of a fight for the very soul of a land and its people.

When I researched this in the context of Saturn cycles, I was struck by the historical pattern that began to unfold. If Saturn symbolises responsibility, limitation and maturity in an individual life, can those same themes help us understand the development of a nation?

Saturn has a cycle of roughly 29.4 years. In astrological circles, we are taught to fear the infamous "Saturn Return", when everything goes wrong before our 30th birthday. This fear is grounded in part truth and part misconception of the lessons that are offered. Saturn at its core teaches us wisdom and maturity. From those qualities comes truthfulness and acceptance of responsibility

Clearly then, a lack of maturity and a failure to be honest are the sort of ‘smack in the head’ situations that we sometimes experience and blame on others, life, Saturn or just plain dumb luck. Saturn shows us the path. What we choose to do with it is our business.

In the context of countries, Saturn points to historic failures and offers us a way to look with a mature eye at correcting these. However, politics and the art of compromise always gets in the way, which is why we seldom end up with real growth for all citizens. The normal trajectory is to favour one group or another for an extended period and then over-correct in the opposite direction. Often, it's impossible to find an exact time an idea originated, but the process unfolds in its time and in its own particular way.

With this in mind, let’s consider the Boer War. It was plain nasty; the might of the British Empire came crashing down on a group of free-spirited farmers. At stake were ownership of the gold and diamond mines and control of trade routes around the Cape coast. The farmers wanted to be left alone, to work the land, to govern themselves and to read their Bibles in their own language. After three hard, long years of suffering and bloodshed, the war ended with a peace treaty. Statehood was part of the offering. A Union of four colonies, flying the British flag, accepting the British Crown. But otherwise self-governing in all respects.

So let’s move forward in time and consider events as they unfolded and interweave the Saturn Returns into it.

The agreement was signed between the two parties on 31 May 1902 in the late afternoon or early evening (history did not record the time), in Pretoria. Saturn was at 27° Capricorn Rx. The Union was declared later on 31 May 1910; the British rolled up their flag and went home, knowing that they controlled the territory indirectly at little cost to themselves.


The first Saturn Return : 1931

In the 1920s and 1930s, the United Kingdom held Imperial Conferences for self-governing colonies and dominions of the British Empire. The 1930 Conference focused on a set of legislation framed as The Statute of Westminster. This was passed through Parliament in London in Dec. 1931 and inter alia increased the sovereignty of dominions. In effect, this allowed the Union of South Africa to be almost totally independent of London, with the exception of the monarch, who was defined as the head of state. In practice, the monarch was represented by a Governor-General who took on a symbolic or ceremonial role.

By the end of 1934, the South African Parliament passed and adopted two specific pieces of legislation to correspond to The Statute of Westminster. These were the Status of the Union Act, 1934 declaring the Union of South Africa to be a "sovereign independent state" and the Royal Executive Functions and Seals Act, 1934 allowing the Governor-General to sign acts on behalf of the Crown

The first Saturn Return progressed South Africa from a territory of an empire, to a self-autonomous state still bound to its monarch but in title only.


The second Saturn Return : 1961

In February 1960, Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of the UK, gave a speech in the Cape Town Parliament which is famously referred to as the ‘Winds of Change’. In it, he made clear that Africa would no longer tolerate and accept European or white rule. Change was, in his words, coming. He warned that the South African government would be obliged to bend to this will.

The South African government certainly took heed of his warning. They very swiftly arranged a referendum on the topic of relinquishing all contact with the UK. In October of 1960, white South Africans voted by a narrow majority to declare independence as a republic and to forgo their status as a constitutional monarchy under the British Crown. Independence was declared 31 May 1961.


The third Saturn Return : 1990/1

What became clear to the white government by 1989 was that the labour-intensive economic model of the 1940s, simply was not adaptable to a modern knowledge-based economy. External and internal pressure notwithstanding, the changing world required skills and South Africa had precious little of that. The government policy of Apartheid, so effective in its early years, became an albatross that threatened to destroy the white population from within. Change had to happen and change did happen. The white government chose abdication rather than collective harikiri. A new order arose in 1994, with the promise of a new dawn.


The fourth Saturn Return : 2020

The new era of democracy began well, economic growth was up and optimism was in the air. This did not last. Corruption of a pernicious form took root in the early years and festered. By the time it was openly debated, it was already deeply entrenched. The fourth democratically elected president was openly courting bribes and his administrative officials were enriching themselves to an embarrassing level. By 2021, the Supreme Court flexed its muscles. Former President Zuma was ordered to jail.

In a battle of wills, Zuma agreed to a 15-month sentence and was released after two of them, with half of that served in a civilian hospital. Upon release, Zuma formed a new political party and is currently a major populist icon. His party currently controls 14.5% of the seats in Parliament.

Conclusion: for each Saturn Return, a period of history had to be left behind. In 1931 it was imperial dependence; 1961 was constitutional ties to Britain; 1990/1 was the fall of Apartheid; in 2020, it was the era of impunity. We are now faced with the choices of our past. Whether South Africa rises to the next stage of its development depends on our willingness to embrace the wisdom, responsibility and maturity that Saturn symbolises.