WHENCE IT CAME

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 103, 4 May 1933, Page 11

WHENCE IT CAME

AFRICAN COALITION

GROUPING OF MODERATES

FOECED BY ME. EOOS

South Africa has always been a land of political surprises, but never lias it produced anything quite so unexpected as the Coalition, or National, Government, agreed upon recently. Two leaders who have been bitter opponents for twenty years, and two parties that have exhausted the terms of invective in abusing each, -other,, have united ...to form, a new Government in the Union, writes the South African correspondent, of the Melbourne '--'Age'1 ,to that paper. > This extraordinary change-' in South African polities is the sequel to the. reappearance in public life of Mr. Tielnian Koos, who once ranked to General Hertzog among tho leaders of Afrikanderdom, lput retired to the Appeal Court Bench a few years ago. At the end of last year he suddenly resigned his position and re-entered politics with,<a, purely personal programme, calling for a Coalition Government under himself, as a cure forU-acial politics, and the abandonment of tho gold standard. His .campaign created a situation which forced the Government off the gold standard, but in the personal political side of it ha found himself left high and dry. Neither the Government nor the Opposition would agree to his terms. Tho coalition he suggested ensued, but "he has been left out of it: His plea thus seems to have been his swan song,; and it does not appear likely that he will, play- any further part in the political history of the country. It has fallen to few men to "achievb so much in so short a period, and yet* to be given no p"lace in the working out of his scheme. It is a strange end to the career of a man who' at one time was regarded as a certainty for tho Premiership. Vide effects. But the emergence -of _Mr, Boos, brief though it was, had wide repercussions. It lessened tho chance of General HertKOg's National Party gaining a majority at the General Election, due at the latest in the middle of next year.' Bad times had hit the Hertzog Government hard, and Mr. Boos threatened to draw from it a considerable number of supporters. So- General Hertzog had to do a jjreat deal of hard thinking about tho new situation which faced him. The decision he arrived at was one which oven his closest friends would scarcely have dreamed of a few months ago. '..- , :■;.:• : , -.■ , , When. Parliament met there was a debate on what.was tantamount to a vote of no confidence, during which General Smuts, the Leader of the Opposition and the head of the South African Party, extended an olive branch to his old rival tho Prime Minister (General Hertzog), and expressed his willingness to assist ;in l any plan for tho formation of a National Government to guide the country through tho critical period that seemed to.lie ahead.. '..\ '' . - ■ General Hertzog replied by issuing a manifesto,'; lii. which he set, out tho principles which he held to be essential in the carrying out of such an idea. Upon this basis there were negotiations between the Uyo 'leaders and a few followers, but the rank and iilc of the two parties jvero not taken into their (Confidence. The outcome was an agreement to form a Government of twelve members—six jfrpnr each' of the two big parties with General Hertzog as Prime Minister. Both the National Party and the South African Party are, however, to retain their separate identity. Both the party caucuses accepted this arrangement—but the Nationalists were faced by General Hertzog's threat'1 to resign, and retire from politics if his wishes were not .respected. At any rate the scheme went through. Parliament has been dissolved. A new Cabinet is to be formed on the lines laid down, and there is to bo a General ..Election in May, at which the electorate will be asked to endorse the coalition ;by their votes. FEAR FOB GOVEENMENT. General Hertzog is quite frank about the reasons which induced him to take a step which amazed niany of his supporters, and which- some of them at heart strongly dislike. Ho does not 'think his Government-could ■survive the General Election. It has been.kept in office since 1924 by a pact with a Labour Party which has in the interval become so divided and weakened that its aid. is now of no value. Ecouonuc: depression, severe retrenchment in all State; Departments, an,d the- throat of a Boos Cave. of.'Adullam, all gave General Smuts's South African Party an excellent chance of; victory. ; But what General Hertzog feats is something;*' more" than mere defeat, at the polls." He sees that General Smuts in office might- hold it only by tho votes.of the Natal section of! his party, most of which is pledged to a "devolution", policy virtually turning tho Union' into a federation *of States. ;' Natal wants this. in , order to get rid of bilingualism, and other racial clonients in , Afrikanderism. -Under such.-a system Natal might easily become a sort of Ulster. There wouldl'bo an incentive to the. other more British parts of tho Union to demand a similar liberty, and so the-whole political complexion of the country might be changed in such a way that in large, areas- the Afrikander, and the- Afrikaans language, would be in a far worse,position \than. they arc today. .This tendency, too, would destroy the spirit of nationhood which, despite all*difficulties, is slowly becoming a force in South African life. Federalism would. ease many of tho present troubles in the Union, but it might introduce conditions which would eventually break it up. Believing in the ideal of a South African nation, General Hertzog is alarmed at the possibility of a Government -coming into office which would be subjected to strong pressure in favour of moving in tho direction of federalism. SHARED BY SMUTS. The samo fear also influences G!oneral Smuts. The unitary form of the Union was his work twenty-three years ago at the National Convention, which decided the character of tho South Africa Act. Ho fought tho Federaliststhen, and defeated them. Ho was tho ■Alexander*. Hamilton of South Africa, insisting upon a strong and highly centralised Government. He does not want to be. at tho mercy of a faction which might demand the destruction of his own handiwork as tho pri'co of keeping his administration in power. For he, too, holds the ideal of a South African nation. Ho wants tho Union to' stand On its present basis as the foundation for such a nation.' He perceives the threat which federalism holds out. Because he desires a nation, ho is opposed to tUo extreme British and, to, the extreme Afrikander alikeHo has sacrificed an almost certainty oi: the Premiership, beeauso ho feels that statesmanship calls for the course arranged. For tho same reason General Hertzog is running the risk of losing the confidence of the Afrikander element which gave! him his place in politics. The coalition movement is tints an attempt to draw,.together a sufficient number of moderate Afrikanders, or South Africans, to defeat both tho ultra-British and the ultra-Afrikanders, and build up a nation truly representative of both the white races. It means that General Hertzog has ■ now dissociated himself from the idea.

of exploiting racialism in'the hope of. drawing all the Dutch into one party a and by their numerical preponderancemaking them the. permanent rulers of this country. He stands out now as a 'far-sighted Statesman, rather than' as a politician. POINT OF DANGER. Whether General Hcrtzog' can long carry all his people' with him remains to be seen. There is one section which has agreed to remain in the party with reluctance.. It is led/by Dr. Malan, tho head, of the Capo Nationalists. Tho general .impression is that it has remained only to avoid breaking the party, and that it will attempt in ti:no to win-.over the majority of the, old navrower ideas again, and defeat General Hertssog '.in the bosom ;of hisown party. This faction will, watch with suspicious eyes every act of the coalition, and it may yet cause tho Prime Minister a, great deal of trouble. Goneral Smuts will have among his followers a similar body of /extremists secretly) resentful of the aiew orientation in politics. ..-.-. : South African politics hav.o had their roots in racialism' for over a century. Parties have had their origin in, and based their programmes upon, the-clash between British ami Afrikander ideals. But there has developed on both sides a section which may be described • as South African in sentiment, and not merely British or Dutch. The coalition appeals strongly to this portion of the population, and upon its size will depend its success. .There may emerge a powerful centre party, with the extreme British on one, flank and the extreme Afrikanders on the other. It would be easy to ridicule 'the coalition by digging up from the unhappy past tho fierce controversies in which those who avo now to ■ work together wore once engaged. But that is not tho-'path of statesmanship. Whatever plan will bring the two races into closer - co-operation, if only for a time, is worthy of support. That the new political scheme will benefit South Africa can hardly be doubted. It must tend to lessen that raco antagonism which has been tho cui'sO of the country for over a hundred years. A Government representative of both races will -have an opportunity of applying a .-sound, moderate, and really national policy, and prove that public affairs need not be carried on upon racial lines. That everyono will remain on one side in politics is neither likely nor. desirable. There will emerge in titno two schools of thought, one more advauccd and bolder in Experiment than the other. But if tho dividing line in politics can bo made- something other than race, there will bo more chance of peace and prosperity in South Africa. Tho scheme, of coalition for a time may lead to this, and on that ground alone it deserves a fair and sym-. pathetic trial. :