General Smuts's Opponents
General Hertzog, recently Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa, so far from accepting his defeat on the war issue by General Smuts, is now endeavouring to con- solidate the forces of opposition against the new Prime Minister. He announced last Saturday that he had assumed the leadership of a " reconsolidated Afrikaanerdom," with Dr. Malan, the Nationalist leader, serving under him. He is embarking on a bitter and violent campaign against General Smuts, endeavouring to play to the utmost on Nationalist feeling. He adopts the line that South Africa has no interest in the war, that her participation in it prejudices her independence, and that if she is not governed as an independent country she will not stay long in the British Commonwealth. His colleague, Mr. Pirow, formerly Minister of Defence, challenging General Smuts's promise to give aid if asked to do so to British terri- tories elsewhere in Africa, affirms that this goes beyond the terms of the Defence Act. General Smuts's reply is that the promise was first given by Mr. Pirow himself, and that he will not repudiate this honourable obligation. The suggestion that the Union's participation in the war involves any loss of independence will scarcely bear examination in view of the substantial backing which General Smuts had from Afrikaan as well as English- speaking Members of Parliament. Reports of German activities in endeavouring to promote risings and sabotage will not strengthen General Hertzog's argument that the Nazis are wholly innocuous.
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