Grim Picture Of South Africa Under Malan

Chronicle (Levin), 13 January 1949, Page 9

Grim Picture Of South Africa Under Malan

Prtess AssocUttion) \

(Per

, ; WELLINGTON, JaiL 12. ! A land of hiinous politics, bf a Sfiarp colour line and a land where politics, weather and uninstructed and under ■ privilegea people combine to destroy the very land itself, was a picture given by; Mr. Herbert Ross when he returned to New Zealand after almost 40 years in the Union of South Africa as a ihissionary among the compeund boys, as a specialist nurseryman and as a fann and estate mahager in three provinces — Cape Provinfce, Natal and Transvaal. Restiess and bitter as South Af rlcan politics have been for mahy years, Mr. Ross sees worse bitt'erness and civil strife inevitably ahead hnless oia hatrcds are allowed to die instead of being. whipped up by Dr. Malan, Prime Minister since May and by the Broeder.bond, the secret society, about which there is no secret,' to which Dr. Malan and his party leaders belong with the avowed determination to cut ties with Britain and re-establish a Republic. Dr. Malan, he said, had gained power uiainly througli the old a'nd tragic colour question, by raising again the bogey tliat the colour ed section wouid swamp the white racesi- His party lield on by a slender margin and might hbt, in fact, hold on long.but it liad worked t'ast in half a year. The old coniraandoa had been reyived anjj Tifles and amniunition distributed through the baek veldt wliere. the- fires had heverj been permitted to •sihoulder out. ■ The reajmipg of - these back „v.eldt farmers is / explained ;by . them as a neeessity to meet foree with fdrce "in the event of a' eoloured- rising, so riiles and amxnunition are '' distributea throughout the country, said Mr. Ross. It is a fact that' there is grave discontent among the'natiyes and eoloured people , but what are' they, going to rise with? Sticks and assegais — no more.Dangerous. Consequences. Dr. Malan-s oppo'nent's see more dangerous consequenco .'still from the re: establishment and -drilling of the eommandos, in' the faster fanning of old fires towards civil. strife over the. stiil deeper issue of the breakaway - from Britain and the proclamation of a new South African Republic. Answering this, Dr. Malan aud speaker's for the Broedorbond say th'at that will be done constitutionally, that there will be no need for strife. They hfiive even named thoir next Presideht," General j. -J. Strydom. . ' . , . Another actidn which caused! amazenient and' alarm was fho f rc'eiug.'of s'ome prO-GermSn priso'ners eonvzcted urid.er the Smuts .Government of 'criines agaihst South Africa's t^ar effort. (Joineidentally, said Mr. "Ross; .agfeement with- Britain under wliich South Africa was tp take in mahy im-. . migrants from Britain, was eancelletl, tfAfculiiaap^i^dyanced being. that hougingi, could ziot Ijo fou'iid". ' Politics phs.tr oy l^and. .. In a curious but. Wondrous cerrain way, colour bar .politics were actually! dcstroying the eountry-:physieaily^haid; Mr. Ross but that -began many years! ago jvhcn, by the Natf-ve Lands . Aet of" 1913 and later ,Acts, fhe native peoplesJ* ! way of life was disrupted « and they; eould not produce enough food to main- ; tain tiieir families. The story was Idng, and complex but the posi.tion today Was. that the 10,000,000 natives were gener--aTly denied land ownership except ,ih thoir native rcservations but these were hopclessly ihadequate ' in af ea and f ertility to feed the natives. There were 1 two consequences. /"The native. peoples ■ flocked, of neeessity to /the eities and • ] townp and built their abominable shanty towns, or to mining town com- ' pounds, or they retired to the reserva- ( tions and higher country that the ^ farmers did not want as farmers. These \ native peoples are, as a rule, very incflicient. They plough. and work up

A ' their bits of hillside and yalley without f.egard. to erosion. dangers in ,a country of violent storms. They b'urn off' and leave hill lands open for erosion_.to wreak liavoci • • They • know" . nothlng about contour pioughing and eould not egntour plough if ''they did. It is coid m the high country in the South. African winter so' they have stripped their lands' of trees. so it is that vast.areas Of this country, which even in its virgin state was of far lower fertility fhan New Zealand, are pouring dowu to the sea. There are no clear rivers in South Africa. As the result of a two .years' survey, 23,000,000 morgen, about. 50,000,000 acres, have been declared eroded lands. Another official es.timate is tliit one-quarter of the total, soil fertility has gone and 200,000 morgen are, being totally destroyed every.year. Unrest in politics can obviously disrupt a cou*try'i3 wellbeing. Here poli-f tics afe helping to destroy the land itself. -