The Independent Party was founded in 1987 by Denis Worrall

Denis Worrall

Denis John Worrall is an academic, businessman, and former politician and diplomat. He was South African ambassador to Australia from 1982 to 1984 and then Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1984 to 1987. He resigned his post in order to return to South Africa and form the liberal...

 and Wynand Malan

Wynand Malan

Wynand Malan is a liberal Afrikaner South African politician.A lawyer, Malan entered politics in the 1977 South African election when he was elected to the South Africa's all white parliament as the National Party MP for Randburg....

. Its purpose was to protest against the National Party's shift in policy from reform to security. It contested the 1987 election

South African general election, 1987

The 1987 South African general election was held on 6 May 1987. The State of Emergency existing in South Africa at that time cast a cloud over the elections. It was once again won by the National Party under the leadership of P. W...

 as the Independent Movement and Malan, its founder, won its only seat. Disappointed by this result, Malan left to form the National Democratic Movement (NDM), and Worrall assumed the leadership.

Unlike most other legal non-racialist parties of the Apartheid era, the IP's membership was mainly composed of Afrikaners rather than English-speakers. The IP absorbed many members of the New Republic Party

New Republic Party

The New Republic Party was a South African political party. It was formed as the successor to the disbanded United Party in 1977. After the UP wound up, initially the last UP leader, Sir de Villiers Graaff served as the interim national leader of the new party, with Radclyffe Cadman as...

 after its dissolution. In 1989 it merged with the Progressive Federal Party

Progressive Federal Party

The Progressive Federal Party was a South African political party formed in 1977. It advocated power-sharing in South Africa through a federal constitution, in place of apartheid...

 (and others including Malan's NDM) to form the Democratic Party

Democratic Party (South Africa)

The Democratic Party was the name of the South African political party now called the Democratic Alliance . Although the Democratic Party name dates from 1989, the party existed under other labels throughout the Apartheid years, when it was the Parliamentary opposition to the ruling National...

 (DP), now known as the Democratic Alliance (DA). The Afrikaner support melted away, and Worrall and Malan left the DP soon after its formation.