THE GROWTH OF RACIALISM IN SOUTH AFRICA
[We published lately an article from.a South African correspondent who gave a reassuring account of General Hertzog's Government. He said in effect that the Government was doing better than its opponents had expected—that the reality had upset anticipation in about the same degree as anticipation had been upset by the Labour Government in England. The following article from another South African correspondent takes a far gloomier view. We do not guarantee the accuracy of the writer's statements; but we think they are of sufficient interest to justify publicaticn.— ED. Spectator.] " ACIALISM has taken a tightened grip on South Africa." In these words Sir Abe Bailey has answered all the foolish whitewashing upon which Parlia- mentary and other Empire delegates have been recently doing overtime in the ingenuous belief that pious senti- ments are more real than brute facts. The ex-Member for Krugersdorp has torn away the veil of pretence which has so far hidden from the rest of the Empire the actual situation in the " Union " of South Africa. It is the purpose of this article to give a short sketch of what lies behind this portentous declaration.
. Since the advent of the Nationalist regime under General Hertzog the Civil Service has been terrorized. In the old days it made no difference whether a candidate for any post was British or Dutch. The best man or the next in seniority was appointed without question. It might have been thought that the unparalleled magnani- mity of the British authorities in holding the balance equal would have generated at least some recognition on the part of their former enemies. But just as in Egypt the hope that " playing the game " would induce the other side to follow suit proved false, so it has proved false in this country.
Highly placed officials have been dismissed for no other reason than to make jobs for the new Government's supporters. Where there is no successor capable of filling the post it is split up and the work divided amongst two, or, as just recently, amongst three Government supporters. In the Cape Province it is said that about forty Sheep Inspectors, politically suspect, have been replaced by " faithful " Nationalists. In every Government Depart- ment to-day consternation reigns amongst the unfortunate British-born officials. No one knows whose turn it will be next to take the road in order to make room for a Government nominee.
If it should happen that circumstances prevent this ruthless racialism from having its pound of flesh in every fresh appointment the angriest passions are aroused, meetings are called, and perfervid resolutions are passed, calling on the Government to make a clean sweep of the remaining administrative heads who are known to be out of active sympathy with the Nationalists.
. An ounce of fact is worth a ton of mere general state- ments. Let us take the recent case of the appointment of a new Director of Education in the Transvaal.
Under Sir John Adamson the Transvaal Education Department became second to none in efficiency. Perhaps no country in the world has such a standard either in administration or in the actual work of teaching. On his retirement there was only one man who could efficiently carry on the work, viz., his chief lieutenant, Mr. H. S. Scott, who had been Sir John's right hand in the building up of the Department. The tremendous wire-pulling of the Nationalists resulted in a tie between Mr. Scott's supporters and the Nationalists, and the Administrator of the Transvaal, Mr. H. J. Hofrneyer, ex-Principal of the Witwatersrand University, saved the situation by giving his casting vote for Mr. Scott, to the huge satis- faction of the teaching staffs in the Transvaal, but at the cost of his personal influence amongst the dominant Afrikanders.
- Immediately -a howl of resentment went up. At a big public meeting in Johannesburg, with a predikant in the chair, the appointment was described as " a shame, an insult, a humiliation, and worst of all, a taunt to the Afrikander people." One of the principal Dutch ministers in the town went on to say : " The time has come when we must declare a boycott against Afrikanders Who still send their children to English schools. We have the majority and the majority must rule." The meeting closed- after passing resolutions against Mr. Scott's appointment as " an abominable insult " to the Afrikander educationists and people and calling for a revision of the law so as to make anything but mother- tongue (sic) instruction impossible.
Such is the temper of the dominant party in the Union to-day. Is it any wonder that British-born citizens should rub theia eyes in amazement ? For how long has it been possible to regard British- nationality as a crime, an " abominable insult " to other peoples ? Do the people at home lmow what is happening here ? Do they know that the Police Force, once mostly British, is now 80 per cent. Dutch ? Have they heard of the recent dismissals of Commanding Officers from the Union Defence Force, not because they are of retiring age, but because they opposed the rebellion in 1914 ? One of the finest units in the Force at the last Training Camp, the Durban Light Infantry, was under the command of Col. Molyneux, D.S.O. His dismissal has recently been followed by the firing of two other distinguished soldiers. Col. Henry Wood-Gush, D.S.O., M.C., after splendid ser- vice, was summarily commanded to relinquish his com- mand without even the conventional word of thanks. Similar treatment has been accorded to Major Uys, of the Lands Department, presumably because he was instru- mental in helping to crush the 1914 revolt, and took an active part in the pursuit of the rebel, General Beyers. There is no assignable reason other than this for the victimization of an acknowledged efficient and popular officer.
The most deplorable side of this agitation lies in the fact that it is nursed by the great Dutch Churches. The predikant is the driving force of the local Nationalist organizations, and all the fervour of the religious sentiment is being harnessed to political bigotry.
One of the most popular celebrations in the Union amongst the older inhabitants is known as " Dingaan's Day," now a public holiday for the whole community. It purports to be a religious commemoration of the destruction of the Zulu menace to the Dutch pioneers. In reality it has become a Nationalist Demonstration. The last occasion, barely a month ago, was marked by an outburst on the part of that liberated rebel, " General " Maritz. The speech was reported in the English papers and caused great resentment. Perhaps greater pain was caused by the fact that prominent Dutch pastors were associated with a man of his record on a public platform, and at an ostensibly religious gathering. But much deeper resentment and disgust followed upon the verbal reports of those present as to the spirit and substance of the speeches made by the predikants themselves. According to all accounts they surpassed in bigoted racialism the frothy rubbish of the " General himself.
There is a very notable comment on all this—a comment not of words, but of present fact. The British population in the Union is dwindling, not only in proportion to the Dutch. and other whites, but in actual numbers. Last year the returns show that 2,400 more whites left the Union than came into it. These all British ! When it is remembered that these numbers only represent the surplus of emigrants over immigrants the actual position is much worse. For a very great proportion of the immi- grants were foreigners. So that the actual decrease of the British population amounts to a much higher figure. Everyone knows that all over the Union the British are being squeezed out. What is the meaning of the con- spiracy of silence ? Is this great country whose possi- bilities were only developed by British enterprise and British capital to be silently abandoned to disaffection ? WilLthe Empire stand by whilst that monument of British statesmanship, the Union of South Africa, moulders to
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