SOUTH AFRICA TODAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 83, 4 October 1940, Page 4

SOUTH AFRICA TODAY

THE RACIAL PROBLEM

The attiiude of South Africans towards the/ war and the political position in tfftat part of the Empire were dealt wi£h by Professor J. Y. T. Greig in a le'_ture given last night at Victoria IJniversity College. The lecturer is Professor of English at the University of the Witwatersrand, and is at present on a visit to New Zealand.

Tl-le- speaker sketched -the careers and/ views of the prominent South Afr/ican politicians, and contrasted the different outlook of the Afrikaans-: spiking and the English-speaking South Africans. The former always thought of themselves as belonging absolutely to South Africa, while the fatter always tended to think of themselves as "colonials" who might at any time return "Home." There was a fundamental difference in outlook and ; sentiment running through all phases of South African life, which difference in language intensified.

There was not a shadow of doubt, said the lecturer, that General Smuts was wholly sincere in his belief that only by remaining and co-operating within the British Commonwealth could South Africans, whatever their language and traditions, enjoy the full and free life which they desire. Most of the Afrikaners, however, distrusted him, saying that he had sold himself to the English and that without the English-speaking South Africans behind him he would be nobody. Men followed General Hertzog from an overmastering affection. Some disagreed with him on radical issues, but could not bring themselves to leave the party he leads. A coming Prime Minister was Mr. Jan Hofmeyer, one of the most remarkable men in the country, now back in office with General Smuts.