UNION’S FUTURE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20137, 5 January 1940, Page 2

UNION’S FUTURE

S. AFRICA’S POLICY WAR AGAINST NAZISM GEN. SMUTS SUPPORTED WAVE OF CONFIDENCE DURBAN, Nov. 22. South Africa’s endorsement of the attitude taken up by General Smuts in supporting Britain and France in their war against Nazism was given at the first by-election held in the Union since the outbreak of war. They were two, both to elect members to the Provincial Councils, and they were of great significance, since one was in a Transvaal industrial area, Brakpan, and the other in the Free State, the stronghold of General Hertzog. Both seats were previously held by the Hertzog-Smuts Party, but there was a possibility that the recent breach between the two leaders would result in one or both of the seats being captured by the Republican Nationalists. Clear-cut victories for Smuts have sent a wave of confidence throughout the Union and further satisfaction is provided by a declaration by Mr. N. C. Havenga, formerly Minister of Finance in the United Party Government and a devout supporter of Hertzog, that he and the majority of Hertzog’s followers are opposed to an Afrikaner bloc and question the wisdom of agitating at the present time for the establishment of a Republic. The National Will “While we have the constitutional right to alter the form of our Government,” he said, “such a step would not be wise unless the absolute conviction exists that the change would rest on the broad national will. “It does not appear to me to be a great practical question that should drive us apart when \ye discuss the matter of future co-operation. The position in our country to-day is that practically all the English-speaking people will not support the change, and a great proportion of Afrikaansspeaking people, for various reasons, will also not support it. The broad national will, therefore, does not exist to-day and a great deal of conversion work would be necessary to obtain it.” The re-alignment of political parties in South Africa is being followed with intense interest. Efforts are being made by Dr. Malan and General Hertzog to effect a rapprochement between their followers but there are deep cleavages of opinion dividing the two parties, notably the declared policy of Dr. Malan to strive for an Afrikaner bloc and a republic, and the oft-re-peated assertion of General Hertzog that South Africa is not ripe for a republic and that he will never again lead a party that is not broad-based on the equality and co-operation of the two principal white races. Consolidating Empire Link Shrewd observers of the political scene in South Africa hold the view that, despite Mr. Oswald Pirow’s statement that abandonment of neutrality has “brought Republicanism 1000 per cent nearer,”' the war may actually consolidate the Union’s link with the Commonwealth. The incursion of a strong element of “wild young Afrikaners" from the Transvaal into the Nationalist ranks is disturbing the equanimity of the more conservative rural section that has its roots in the Cape and the Free State and whose prosperity rests on generations of intelligent husbandry. The new recruits to Republicanism * are drawn largely from the ranks of the dispossessed and the disgruntled, and their demands are for radical changes of a Socialist character. The first manifestation was a general attack on gold-mining profits and on abstract Imperialism, _ leading to an attack on capitalism itself and an identification of the British Empire with the “capitalist system.” Then, from this violent move to the “left,” there was a sudden divergence to the Nazi “right.” Republicanism thus took on a new significance. It was no longer merely a movement in favour of a form of government to which Afrikaans-speak-ing people have a traditional attachment. Among at least a section of Dr. Malan's followers it became an onslaught on the first stronghold of the established economic order, a necessary pi'eliminary to more sweeping changes. Many of the symptoms of Nazism hegan to appear, envy assuming the cloak of race purity and the even more transparent veil of anti-Semit-ism. Conservative nationalism has begun 1o lose control. Many Imaginary Ills The result was that men like Mr. 1 Havenga, who recognised that the scarcely-veiled Socialism of such schemes as nationalising the gold mines and the wholesale taking over of farm bonds by the State would be destructive'of the very basis of economic sediirity, are now drawing back. Since the declaration of war tempers have had time to cool and heads to clear, and many of Hertzog’s followers are now asking themselves if the largely-imaginary ills they have are not to be preferred to the ills they know not of.

• It is-possible that'Herizog and Malan may thrash out a working contract for partnership, but it will only be on such conservative lines as to destroy for years the hopes of the wild Nazi-cum-Socialist elements. And, taking a long view, that might not be a bad thing.