Wild Boers
Sir Robert Birley's review of The Afri- rs (8 November) was admirably just lever Mr Fisher may say. The only flaw Sir Robert's assertion that 'some Church sters, some writers and a tiny gi-oup of ents in the Afrikaner universities' are best hope' for the future of South Africa. ese words echo very closely those of the Hofmeyr in his classic liberal k on the disfranchisement of the Cape cans in 1936: 'the tide of reaction will • • .. I base that belief on what I know hat is going on in the minds of some at of the younger people in South Africa, Tally in the universities. I believe that is also a rising tide of liberalism in h Africa . . . the younger people are in forefront of the tide' and more to that t. Hofmeyr believed that these young odians of the future' would decide the ate issues and perhaps this was his se for failing to seek a way towards a racial future for South Africa.
e custodians of South Africa's future Its best hope, are in fact the African unity in South Africa who contrary to held propaganda and in spite of the e's long campaign to divide, suppress deceive them are totally opposed to ter's 'separate development' and are in of its ultimate downfall. It is the ans we should work with, as Sir Robert if has so signally done in the educa- I field, if we wish to see a sane South
The 'tiny few' Afrikaner dissidents should not be succoured morally or in any other way as if to indicate that they have the right to unlimited time for working out South Africa's future, while the vast mass of their black compatriots live out their lives as de- personalised 'labour units' in the apartheid scheme of things.
Randolph Vigne 3 Macartney House, London SE i 0 Sir: I owe Mr Fisher (Letters, 22 November) an apology. The comments I made (8 November) on his treatment of the legend of the Voortrekkers in South Africa and on the place of the Broederbond were undoubtedly too absolute. I felt that his treatment of the influence of the story of the Great Trek on the Afrikaner today was perfunctory. It seems to me to play a very great part still. But, as I showed in an example I quoted about the church in Pietermaritzburg it is not easy to assess its importance. I should have mentioned that Mr Fisher dealt quite fully with the origins of the Broederbond. What I had hoped for when I read his book was some assessment of its influence today. This is not an easy subject, but there is some evidence.
Robert Birley 38 Trinity Church Square. London sEl
Previous page
