GERMANY IN AFRICA
Commonwealth and Foreign
[To the Editor of TIM SPECTATOR] Sin, One of the very few things on which South Africans of both races, and whatever their politics, are agreed is that South West Africa, formerly German South West, must remain an integral part of the Union. Any South African Government, whether of the Right (the Dominionites), of the Left (the Republicans), or of the present Centre United Party, will oppose to the utmost limit any move to restore Germany to our western border.
But while there is this unusual unanimity in the particu- lar case of South West, the same cannot be said of the general issue of Germany's return to Africa as a colonial Power. The Nationalist-Republicans under Dr. Malan, for reasons of domestic politics, parade a vigorous pro- Germanism as a counter to the pro-British sentiment of most of the rest of the country. Ever since the colonial question came to the fore Dr. Malan has been saying as provocatively as possible that the Union should " help to redress the crime of Versailles" by insisting on African colonies being given to Germany. In recent months Dr. Malan has become more definite and has been insisting that Tanganyika in particular should revert to German rule.
On the other wing the Dominion Party has been careful not to commit itself. It tends to the extreme Conservative view of " no bartering of the Empire " but will probably endorse whatever official policy is adopted by the British Government. From the information available here the British Government seems to have fluid ideas on the subject and the Dominionites are solving their dilemma by indicating vaguely that it is an impertinence on the part of South Africa to interest herself in these matters of high policy at all.
But the results of the recent Provincial elections have shown that both the Nationalists and the Dominionites now count for little in the South African scheme of things.
Dr. Malan in addition has weakened his position and made himself look a little foolish by being unable, for reasons of practical politics, to advocate the return of South West to Germany. By urging so enthusiastically the return of Tanganyika he has laid himself open to. the obvious retort that he is being peculiarly generous with other people's property. South Africa's views on the colonial question will be formulated for a long time to come by the Fusion Party.
What the present views of the Fusionists are is not easy to define. By tradition and for reasons of race a very large number of South Africans sympathise with and admire Germany. There is a wide body of sympathy for Germany's colonial aspirations, and Mr. Pirow, as spokesman for the Government, has committed the country to the general principle that Germany should again become an. African Power. Mr. Pirow's pronounce- ment has, on the whole, been well received, but we have not got much beyond the generalisation. On his return from Europe Mr. Pirow declared that the development of air-power has put Tanganyika on the Union's borders, and that therefore the Union could no more acquiesce in Germany returning to Tanganyika than it could in Germany returning to South West. With unimportant exceptions public opinion has rallied to this view as well. But, with South West and Tanganyika ruled out, pro- found mystery surrounds the question where in the Afri- can sun Germany is to be given a place, and Government spokesmen have been singularly uncommunicative. There Cope Town, October 5th. has been much scrutiny of the map of Africa, and the only conclusion most people have been able to come to is that Mr. Pirow must have had in mind the French and British mandated territories in the Cameroons or Togoland.
The immediate future of South West Africa is as obscure as ever. At present it is under a constitution of its own, which has practically broken down, and the territory is nearly bankrupt. A highly competent com- mission which went into the matter recently produced a most informative report, but unfortunately its distin- guished members were unable to achieve unanimity in their recommendations. With the exception that there is no suggestion of return to Germany, the report reflects the differences which exist in the territory upon its own future. The Commission's revelations of Nazi intrigue in South West and the fear that Nazism may spread to the Union—we already have a semi-Nazi movement complete with hells, shirts, swastikas and anti-semitism- has given a fillip to the view that South West must become a fifth province of the Union. The Government has given no hint of its intentions, but there is a lot of support for the fifth province idea. If this comes about South West will be given the same status as the Cape Province or the Free State, with its own provincial council and representation in the House of Assembly and the Senate.
The blow which the prestige of the League has received at the hands of Italy has profoundly upset calculations in this country as far as external relations are concerned, of which Germany's colonial ambitions are only a part. While the League was a force there was a ready-made solution of the latent conflict in the Government Party between those who maintain that the Union should have a completely unfettered and individual foreign policy and those who fear a policy which might drop out of step with the rest of the Empire. It was the League which solved the thorny constitutional problem of the right of neutrality and made it entirely an academic matter. Both General Smuts and General Hertzog have been able to avoid awkward constitutional queries by saying that war and peace were matters to be deter- mined by Geneva and that South Africa was bound to follow the League. The League canalised our foreign policy and made it non-contentious.
The eclipse of the League threatens to alter all this and to throw foreign affairs back into the party arena, The Dominionites will be able to rage at any signs that the Union is not blindly following Downing Street, and the Nationalists will make the most of any sign that the Union is being subjected to control from Britain. It is this underlying conflict in our domestic politics, the desir,e to keep foreign affairs out of party strife by setting up the League as an over-riding authority, which accounts to a large extent for the vigour with which the Union Government has been advocating the carrying-out of the League Covenant in the letter and the spirit. It will be this factor, as much as the profound influence wielded by General Smuts and his faith in the League, which will govern the Union's attitude at Geneva. Our delegate, Mr. Te Water, has said before, and I think he will say many times again, that the fault at Geneva lies not in the Covenant but in the signatories to the Covenant.—I am, &c.,
YOUR SOUTH AFRICAN CORRESPONDENT.
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