SOUTH AFRICA’S FUTURE

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 290, 7 September 1928, Page 11

SOUTH AFRICA’S FUTURE

WORK WITH ENGLAND OR HAVE A REPUBLIC? STRIKING SPEECH BY DR, MALAN Tlie South African Minister of the Interior, addressing the Nationalist Congress. said: “We can work witli England as long as we want to, not as long as England demands. . . . Whether we become a republic depends on whether it is in the interests of South Africa.” (United Press Association. —By Electric Telecra ph.—Copyright.) (Australian Press Assn.—tinned Service.! Cape Town, September 5. Dr. Malan, Minister of the Interior, who unflinchingly fathered tlie flag controversy last year, pressed tlie Nationalist Congress to-day to accept an alteration in the party’s constitution to supersede what is known as the “Republican Article.” His most striking sentence was: “We can work witli England as long as we want to, not so long as England demands. No door is closed: therefore. as a right we can have secession and a republic any day. Whether that would be practical politics Is another question. Whether we become a republic depends on whether it is in the interests of South Africa. If it is not. it would be criminal to become a repubic. Our principle is not republicanism, but fidelity to the interests of South Afrca. Tlie present mistrust is due to fear, but we need not fear the friendship of England and other members of the British Commonwealth.