It is generally conceded that the use of Dr. HENDRIK VERWOERD violence in Palestine led to the establishment of the state of Israel, but our situation cannot be compared with this. The position of the White A LIBERAL ASSESSMENT people in South Africa and that of the British in Palestine are quite different. The White people By ALAN PATON of South Africa are to all intents and purposes indigenous; the British in Palestine were alien. DR. VERWOERD detested Liberals and Liberal­ Of course there are some South Africans ism, and said so publicly. Liberals detested the who feel so deeply and disturbedly about the policy of apartheid, and said so publicly also. injustice of the status quo that they declare that Nevertheless, the Prime Minister's death and violence is the only solution left, and they de- the manner of it shocked us. dare that a person like myself secretly wishes The killing of a public man and the suffering to preserve his own state of privilege, or is (for the second time) of his wife and family are simply a coward. I can well understand these not things that give pleasure to us, although views, but I have no intellectual trust in them. there are people who suppose that they do. If a situation seems unchangeable, there is no In any event, what change could such an act reason to believe that violence will change it. bring about? Powerful and influential as Dr. One draws back from the prospect of an un­ Verwoerd was, neither his life nor his death ending history of murders and assassinations. could change the nature of the forces that moulded even him. He could guide them, he Third reason could manipulate them, but in a fundamental There is., I think, a third reason why the sense he was their creature. violent death of Dr. Verwoerd produced such a I can remember well the first attempt at grave reaction. I ascribe this to the changes assassination, and the public reaction to it. To that took place in Dr. Verwoerd himself, par­ many people the news was exciting, to some ticularly after he became Prime Minister. I even pleasing. To this last event the reaction would have no hesitation in describing the Dr. was grave and solemn; neither political friends Verwoerd of the 'thirties and 'forties and early nor political foes regarded it as anything but 'fifties as a racialist. useless and terrible, except, perhaps those of As editor of "Die Transvaler" he poured con­ the latter who had come to hate him. tempt on those organisations that held mixed conferences, he often wrote contemptuously of Many reasons non-White people and published photographs Why is there this difference? One can think of Black and White consulting together, with of many reasons. When Dr. Verwoerd died he the intention of condemning Black and White commanded the support of a larger number of and conference and all. White South Africans than he had five years In a peculiar way he changed remarkably; in earlier. Not only had he changed, but the his later years he showed an impersonal geni­ world had changed. And in particular, Africa ality towards Black people which was entirely had changed, so that many who had thought absent in his early life. But racial consultation him dangerous now looked upon him as a bul­ remained for him a matter for group leaders, wark against danger. The swing to the Right not for persons, and he expressly warned the and the swing to Dr. Verwoerd were pretty students of Stellenbosch not to try to do in the much the same thing. field of race relations what was better done by There is another reason why the reaction is officials. Indeed, the whole machinery of the different, and that is, I believe, a growing revul­ Group Areas Act is designed to keep racial sion against the use of violence in our politics. contact to a minimum. I know that in some cases this revulsion is Nevertheless, in the last few years the public strongly motivated by a desire to preserve the impression deepened of a Prime Minister who, status quo, which means to preserve White though certainly not to be trifled with, was power and privilege. essentially benign. Innumerable smiling photo­ graphs helped to confirm this impression. Exacerbates But in other cases the revulsion is caused by Greatest feat the realisation that violence in our South Afri­ In my opinion Dr. Verwoerd's greatest can context only exacerbates the conflict. achievement was the way in which he took his

LIBERAL OPINION - DECEMBER, 1966 3 predecessor's concept of bcrasskap — that is, Town Board of Charlestown, bought a piece ot White supremacy —• and replaced it with the land and a house in that village. He set up concept of separate development, which is business as a blacksmith; most of his customers sometimes called, even more grandly, separate were the White farmers of the district. But 42 freedoms. By so doing he stilled many an un­ years later it was decided to move all African easy Afrikaner conscience, and won back to his families to Buffalo Flats, 40 miles away, with side the troubled Afrikaner intellectuals and no compensation for loss of livelihood. V,I am churchmen. On the positive side he also gave 80 years old", said Mr. Ngwenya. 'This move opportunity to many idealistic Afrikaners to to Buffalo Flats has knocked me down, and I feel that in directing soil conservation in the feel almost too old to get up again. I would reserves, in planning the new towns and vil­ rather die soon and escape this bitter ending to lages, in directing the higher education of a hard but happy life." His wish was granted. Coloured and Indian and African students, in working in the various departments of Bantu Intrinsic affairs, they were also serving their own coun­ I believe that injustices are intrinsic in any try and people. programme of separate development for the simple reason that separate development is Liberated something done by someone with power to Dr. Verwoerd liberated Afrikaner idealism someone without power. from the sterile narcissism in which it was cap­ I believe that the concept of separate devel­ tive, and by so doing strengthened Afrikaner opment is there primarily to serve the purposes progressivism, and weakened Afrikaner reac­ of Afrikaner nationalism, but that it serves tion. What had happened in himself, he was another equally essential purpose, and that is now able to let happen in others. The quality to make it possible for Nationalists, and others, of leadership which he showed in this direction to reconcile their religion with their own sell- was considerable. I myself did not venerate interest. Dr. Verwoerd, but I can understand why others did. Hypocrisy? Is the concept of separate development really Does that mean that separate development is different from the concept of baasskap? To the an hypocrisy? It certainly has hypocritical ele­ Afrikaner Nationalist, and especially to the Afri­ ments. But is is rather a gigantic self-deception, kaner idealist, they are certainly different. But so that if one believes in it one is also able to to the liberal South African, and to the politi­ believe that the Transkei, the rags and tatters cally-awakened non-White South African, the of Zululand, the rags and tatters of a dozen element of baasskap is an essential element in other places, are going in some way to dupli­ the concept of separate development. cate the extraordinary industrial development that has taken place on the Witwatersrand, in Accusation Durban, Port Elizabeth, and Cape Town, that We critics of separate development are often tremendous cities (not merely conglomerations thought churlish in our refusal to concede its of cheap houses) are going to rise there and ethical purity. We are often accused of doctrin­ that the African inhabitants of the "White aire criticism, but our criticism is based on areas" are going to return in increasing num­ harsh and unpleasant facts. bers to the homelands, until presumably White That there is an element of cruelty in baas­ South Africa is completely White. skap apartheid and separate development, seems to us incontrovertible. I often used to Not the same wonder whether Dr. Verwoerd knew that, under Did Dr. Verwoerd really believe in that kind the Group Areas Act, one could expropriate a of separate development that would lead to man's house, one could make him pay rent and separate freedoms, that is, to independence? I rates for it while withholding the purchase am prepared to believe that he did, but I am money from him, and that one could, while also sure that he knew that such an indepen­ making him pay rent and rates, deny him the dence could never be, for example, the kind of interest on the purchase price? independence that White South Africa enjoys. The independence of the Transkei was the Wish granted price which Dr. Verwoerd persuaded White I used to wonder whether Dr. Verwoerd had South Africa to pay for the right to deny the ever heard of a man like Mr. Abraham Transkeians and all other Africans any prospect Ngwenya who, in 1911, at the persuasion of the of achieving permanent residence or of attain-

4 LIBERAL OPINION - DECEMBER, 1966 ing quite ordinary freedoms of movement, em­ all, and that, therefore, being boss is a kind 01 ployment, and so on, in the so-called x* White supreme moral value after all. That is the way areas". The element of cruelty is readily ap­ General Hertzog reasoned 30 years before Dr. parent here, but it is less noticed than it used Verwoerd. to be, because Dr. Verwoerd put the separate There is another important factor to be con­ freedoms in the shop window, and kept the sidered in any assessment of the late Prime cruelties under the counters. Minister. I think history will say that he was ruthless (and by that I mean merciless) towards Whole purpose any South African who opposed vigorously the Indeed, the whole purpose of our information policy of separate development, and who be­ services is to hold the separate freedoms lieved in a common society and tried to propa­ steadily before the eyes of the world and to gate such an ideal. I think history will say he keep quiet about the ordinary freedoms. Many was ruthless to a degree not necessary even by overseas visitors who come to see me testify to his own standards. He permitted the banning the courteous and untiring attention rendered of people whose only offence was that they had by information officials and to the warm and shown a courage and tenacity equal to his own. friendly relationship that grows up between them, and to the unhappiness and embarrass­ One answer ment that are caused when the visitors ask Why was this so? Why was Liberalism, and difficult questions about Black spots, group why were Liberals, the victims of an oppression areas, job reservation, and restrictions on sport that went beyond all reason? There can be and entertainment. on]y one answer to that question, and that is Yet Dr. Verwoerd gave to the whole philoso­ that the fear of them went beyond all reason phy of apartheid an extra dimension, which also. The danger of subversion and revolution gave its exponents more room for manoeuvre. was exaggerated to a tremendous degree, He found a strong moral motive for a pro­ partly because of this fear, partly because of gramme which most of the world found im­ vindictiveness, partly because it helped to have moral, and convinced many by affirming the another enemy at hand now that Communism, morality, and denying the immorality. He — according to the Minister, had been crippled. and the changing world — made it virtually In all this Dr. Verwoerd's role is remarkable. impossible for any politician to return to the More and more he became the benign figure, baasskap of Mr. Strijdom. more and more Mr. Vorster became the terrify­ ing one, each role being congenial to the Profound effect player. But it was not Mr. Vorster who shook This finding of a strong moral motive, which the foundations of the rule of law, it was his I contend Dr. Verwoerd did not have in his master. earlier career, had a profound effect on himself, and accounted for the growing benignity. He Great man? himself said he lived at peace because he knew Was Dr. Verwoerd a great man? In the eyes he was right. of Afrikaner nationalism and White South Does one judge him for this? I don't lik# Africa, he certainly was. Will the outside world answering this question, because all or most of ever so regard him? This seems to me to be us deceive ourselves in some way or other, but highly improbable. He may be recognised as a if one presumes to assess the life and work of a man who, within the confines of his narrow man, one cannot avoid answering it. I would philosophy and narrow loyalty, was of con­ say that he was both the child and the creator siderable stature, and possessed considerable of this world of deception. He was the child of intellectual and administrative gifts. Whatever a race that wanted both to be just and to be he was, he was not small or small-minded, and boss. there can be no doubt that his rise to power and a high place in the esteem of White South Self-deception Africa enabled him to shed much of the nar­ And I think that if you want to be both these rowness of his earlier career. things simultaneously, you must indulge in self-deception. If you make your security the Opposite true supreme aim of your life, then it becomes your I cannot help reflecting that had Dr. Ver­ supreme moral value; but because you feel un­ woerd been born into a wider world, where his easy about doing that you must argue that it is gifts could have been used for the wider benefit only if you are boss that justice will be done to of mankind, he might have achieved more than

LIBERAL OPINION - DECEMBER, 1966 5 this limited greatness. Cassius found in himself, try and made many sacrifices for his beliefs. not in his stars, the fault that limited him. But Please make out cheques and postal orders to of Hendrik Verwoerd the opposite was true. He •the "Dr. E. R. Roux Scholarship" and address could have been great under different stars, but all contributions to:— he was born into a society whose definition of The Dr. Roux Scholarship Committee, greatness is not accepted anywhere else, ex­ Students' Representative Council, cept in those societies and those minds dedi­ University of the Witwatersrand, cated to the same ideals of White security, Milner Park, Johannesburg. White survival, and, inescapably, White su­ premacy, by whatever grand name they may be called. m (With acknowledgements to "The Daily News" and its associated newspapers.) THAT BILL AGAIN (some disrespectful comments by a member)

EXIT THE IMPROPER INTERFERERS . . . Dr. EDWARD ROUX ENTER THE PROPER INTERFERERS TIDINESS is one virtue we have learnt to expect SCHOLARSHIP in those who, like our rulers, are authoritarian- minded. How they love to cross the xxt's" and THE LATE PROFESSOR EDDIE ROUX was an dot the vYs" ! We liberals, who are improper active member of the Liberal Party for many interferers par excellence, were perhaps less years. At the same time he served as Chairman astonished than others at the Prohibition of of the Rationalist Association of South Africa. Improper Interference Bill. He was active in other spheres as well, and We have come to recognise and expect the was a popular public speaker. His academic psychopathic logic this Bill represents. In its achievements in the field of botany are well high-sounding moments it postulates a South known and at least one of his books on this Africa which does not exist; a South Africa of subject is a standard university textbook. His four distinct population groups merrily develop­ political history, banned in South Africa, was ing along their own lines, without let or entitled "Time Longer than Rope — the struggle hindrance to one another. How justified to of the black man for freedom in South Africa". frustrate those who would upset this chain of Professor Roux was listed as a Communist order, peace and tidiness! and as a result had to resign from the Liberal Under this froth of words, however, we see Party in the early '60's. At the end of 1964 he this Bill for what it really is — not a chain of was banned, and prohibited from teaching in orderly, peaceful coexistence, but a shackle to or entering a university. This edict of the Minis­ contain those who question the political con­ ter of Justice, Mr. Vorster, forced Eddie Roux to trollers of South Africa. relinquish his position as Professor of Botany at the University of the Witwatersrand. He retired Liberals refused to.his home in Melville, Johannesburg, where Many observers believed that the Govern­ he died a year later. ment would deal with its radical opponents less A scholarship has been set up to honour Dr. directly. The bannings and propaganda on­ Roux's service to his university and his country. slaughts on the Liberal Party had set it reeling, Administered by the Students' Representative and. so these observers reasoned, a knock-out Council of the University of the Witwatersrand, blow was unnecessary: Liberals would limp it is called the "Dr. Edward R. Roux Scholarship from the encounter. These observers misjudged in Bio-Ecology". Contributions are requested the situation because their analysis was too from Liberal Party members and the general sophisticated. public. This interference Bill is aimed as a knock-out This is a constructive way to remember a partly because the Liberals have refused to man who contributed a great deal to his coun­ leave the field and partly because the Govern-

6 LIBERAL OPINION - DECEMBER, 1966