NEW PARTY CONSIDERS VERWOERD TOO LIBERAL

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30982, 11 February 1966, Page 11

NEW PARTY CONSIDERS VERWOERD TOO LIBERAL

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) JOHANNESBURG (South Africa), Feb. 10. The appearance of a new Right-wing party is making the Prime Minister, Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd, look like the middle-of-the-road candidate in the General Election at the end of March, the “New York Times” news service reports.

Calling itself the Republican Party, it is accusing Dr. Verwoerd of being “an ultraliberal.”

The party concentrates its attacks on the Prime Minister’s policy of “ separate development,” which it takes at face value as an effort to give self-rule to black South Africans in parts of the country that have been traditionally theirs. Dr. Verwoerd, it says, is doing altogether too much for the black man. The Republicans, who are making their appeal primarily to Afrikaaners in farming communities, are calling for a return to “baasskap” (literally “boss-ship”) white supremacy, which they describe as “the traditional policy of the white man.” The Republicans show their determination to stick to the country's traditions by insisting on using the term ‘Kaffir" whenever they have to refer to black men Not In Polite Use The term—derived originally from an Arabic word for infidel —is a rough equivalent of “nigger” and is no longer used in polite society. Dr. Verwoerd and his Nationalist Party followers now always use the word “Bantu” in their public statements. This, according to the leader of the new party, Professor C. F. van der Merwe, is an insult to all whites because it infringes their right to use what he calls “the traditional South African terminology.” So far the Republicans have announced candidates to con-

test 18 of the 106 Nationalist seats. Party leaders have said that it will have as many as 30 candidates in the field. “He Is Unchristian” Recently, when asked for his view of the average black man, Professor van der Merwe

said, “he is unchristian. He has done nothing for himself —no science, no literature, no order. “Hate, destruction and Communism—these are the inevitable consequences of the black man’s nature.” The Prime Minister is also

being pushed to the middle of the road by the official opposition, the United Party, which has been attacking him for not doing enough to support. white rule in Rhodesia. Many observers believe that, far from damaging Dr. Verwoerd, this line of attack is making him appear much more respectable in the eyes

of English-speaking voters. There is general agreement that there will be only one issue before the white electorate and that is which party can do the most to preserve white rule. On this issue, most political analysts are saying, Dr. Verwoerd's party is likely to pick up 10 to 15 seats.