The Irrelevant R6ferendum
1Pr°111 KENNETH MACKENZIE CAPE TOWN pUTURE historians are going to look back on just this republican referendum campaign that is in finishing finishing as the most absurd political uproar South Africa's history : a battle about whether Finggei:Idtould be opened at the sharp end or the Throughout the continent people are c,1,11ting, or winning without a fight, an anti- t-,_'°nial struggle, but the Afrikaners, standing in turn last ditch here in the South, have decided to anti-imperialist their backs on all that and fight yet another nil-imperialist battle. if.r)r. VerW'oerd has explained that his republic, th it is granted to him, will be based exactly on ranted Africa Act, that the only real differ- Z-ii`e Will be that the Governor-General will be 0.;°vvn as the President. To achieve this change nomenclature he is willing to risk finding 4 6.°,11th Africa outside the Commonwealth, pos- y Without even the doubtful title she now has to rule South-West Africa. Why does he do this? It has nothing to do with ;iiiining more powers. With his present parlia- eveutarY majority he already has the power to do a eryt hit% except, in Dicey's phrase, make a man aw°Man. Republicans claim that in some magical ra: a republic will bring about unity of the white little but this also is an argument that makes ante, sense. A republic would reduce slightly the Ro.1-Nlish feelings of the Afrikaners: the re; r 41' defeat would finally be avenged. But buse'lltni"nt against English domination in the tha.inessZrand some professional fields would re- .11 in: and so would a fear of the power of the forg!Ish languag Anyway, the whole argument nos White unity' has disastrous implications : it s„ es the existence of an enemy or a threat; it "Igests a white-black conflict is inevitable. son" Ile real causes of this referenum are to be nd not in a rational desire ford constitutional reform, but in the combination of historical im- petus and political necessity. The Nationalists have always been a republican party, and it was a real and relevant issue in the days before the Statute of Westminster when Malan was quarrel- ling with Hertzog. It has lost its relevance but retained its emotional appeal. So in January (well before Sharpeville and the assassination attempt), when Dr. Verwoerd faced a determined opposi- tion attack on his Bantustan policy and the possi- bility of a split in his own party, he reached for the only weapon he had which would unite his own ranks and divert the opposition's fire. 'Let us have a republic referendum, he said.
We can now be glad it is almost over. Whatever its result, its end must increase the fluidity of the political scene, create some hope that the grip the Verwoerd fanatics have on the government may be shaken by the more sensible white par- liamentarians.
Meanwhile the non-white (mostly), non-parlia- mentarian opposition is building up its strength again. Those who were detained have not been cowed by their detention. In fact, people who have talked to large numbers of ex-detainees re- port two very disturbing developments : the anti- white temperature has risen considerably and few people are interested any more in non- violence. In unsophisticated Pondoland a new organisation has been formed to fight against the Bantu Authorities. system. Its name is simply 'Congo.'
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