Propaganda in South Africa

Southland Times, Issue 24027, 18 January 1940, Page 6

Propaganda in South Africa

TN a British Official Wireless message, printed yesterday, it was reported that the Prime Minister of South ■ Africa had sent a statement to the Legion of Truth emphasizing the danger to public opinion from the Nazi propaganda which is broadcast daily by the Zeesen radio station. New Zealanders may have wondered why it should have been necessary to establish a Legion of Truth in a British Dominion. German propaganda is neither subtle nor convincing to democratic people. Its lies have been exposed so often, and its humanitarian pretensions are so palpably confounded by events that most British listeners now treat the Zeesen broadcasts as a form of entertainment. But South Africa is not like the Pacific Dominions. Its population includes more Afrikanders than persons of British stock, and although the two peoples live together on excellent terms and are united in their ideal of South African nationalism, the Dutch and German blood is a source of conflicting loyalties in war time. The Dominion’s entry into the war was made possible only after General Hertzog (then Prime Minister), who split the Cabinet with his proposal for a complete neutrality, had been succeeded in office by General Smuts. It may be remembered that when he had resigned General Hertzog made a statement in which he referred feelingly to “poor old Germany.” If a former Prime Minister can announce his sympathies so plainly it should not be surprising if many thousands of citizens less closely in touch with affairs are even more emphatic in their support of the Nazis. A strange feature of the situa-

tion is that many Afrikanders, who are nothing if not individualists in their own country, have expressed admiration for the spirit of discipline within the Nazi regime. Their attitude may be partly an instinctive reaction to the promptings of heredity; but it has been carefully fostered by propaganda from Germany, and it is to check this tendency towards disunity that the Legion of Truth has begun its campaign of enlightenment. It should not be imagined, of course, that every Afrikander is pro-German, or even that pro-Nazi sentiment is cherished by a majority of nonBritish people. But minorities can be dangerous, and General Smuts is wisely relying on measures that are positive without being repressive. It is significant, perhaps, that the Ark Royal (which was alleged by the German radio to have been sunk) was taken to Cape Town as a practical demonstration of Nazi mendacity. One such event could do more than months of patient campaigning to reduce credulity. And as the war goes on the Germans will damage their own cause in South Africa. Such incidents as the bombing of trawlers and the machine-gunning of their crews will quickly weaken the legend of “poor old Germany.” An invasion of Holland would destroy it finally.