-Caveat Lector-
5Political Triumph - the 1948 Election Victory
The Broederbond played a decisive role in the unexpected Nationalist victory
of 1948, which placed South Africa on a totally new course. The Brocdcrbond
supplied the political leaders to make the victory possible. Virtually all
the members of Dr D F Malan's Cabinet were also members of the
Super-Afrikaner
society. They were imbued with the same idealism and determination to ensure
an Afrikaner victory at the polls.
They masterminded the symbolic oxwagon trek of 1938, which united
Afrikaners emotionally and facilitated the later political unity (see
Chapter 4).
They supplied the National Party with the policy of apartheid or
separate development, which became a powerful political slogan in contrast
to General Smuts's indecisive attitude to racial matters (see Chapter 3).
They united Afrikaners politically, in spite of sharp differences of
opinion and approach between, for instance, the Ossewabrand-wag and the
National Party. They took over the Mineworkers' Union, which swung six vital
seats on the Witwatersrand and enabled the National Party to win the
election with a majority of six seats.
Soon after the emotion of the oxwagon trek had died down, the shadow
of the Second World War also fell over South Africa - and Afrikanerdom. Even
the emotional unity experienced at Monument Koppic was shattered, and
division in Afrikaner ranks became deeper then ever. Smuts won the vote in
Parliament supporting the war, and Hertzog had to resign as Prime Minister.
For a short while he and Malan were reconciled but that, too, was to be
shattered. Smuts called for volunteers to go and fight and, according to F A
van Jaarsveld,' "a great percentage, if not the majority, of the white
military forces consisted of Afrikaners."
In the anti-war emotion characterising a strong section of
Afrikaners, a new militant organisation, the Ossewabrandwag, thrived. It
soon had 300 000 members, held military parades and
108
rallies, cheered British setbacks and Nazi triumphs. Sporadic sabotage
occurred, and some members of the organisation were interned without trial
by the Smuts Government. Among those jailed at Koffiefontein, but never
proved guilty of anything, was young Advocate John Vorster, then an OB
general, and later Prime Minister of South Africa, Hendrik van den Bergh,
later to become his security adviser, and P J Riekert, his economic adviser.
The confusion, division and political impotency in Afrikaner ranks
had hardly ever been greater, says van Jaarsveld. "It was a condition which
reminded one of the period of civil war in the Transvaal from 1860-1864."
Apart from Malan's National Party and Hans van Rensburg's
Ossewabrandwag, there was also the Afrikaner Party, made up mostly of
Hertzog followers and led by Klasic Havenga.
I
The Broederbond's first attempt to heal the breach in Afrikanerdom
came after the split between Hertzog and Malan in 1940. The reason for the
split, a smear story in Nationalist ranks that Hertz
He was collaborating with the Freemasons, was investigated by a
committee of Nationalist Members of Parliament, headed by the chairman of
the Broederbond, Professor J C van Rooy of Potchefstroom.
The commission found that the Freemason story could not be regarded
as "the primary reason" for the break, but that it created confusion and
mistrust and "indirectly affected detrimentally attempts at reunion."2 It
exonerated the Free State Nationalist leaders, Dr NJ van der Merwe and
Advocate C R Swart, from blame for the Freemason gossip story. As the reason
for the break, it cited a misunderstanding on General Hertzog's part as to
the form of the party he and Malan had tried to establish.
General Hertzog was obviously being written off as a force in the
political war that was to come. In spite of his stature, he was regarded as
too soft on Republicanism and too conciliatory on English-Afrikaans
co-operation.
Because the Ossewabrandwag did not have a specified role in the
Afrikaners' political and cultural life, negotiations between the militant
organisation and the Herenigde Nasionale Party took place. At the Cape
Congress of the party held at Cradock in 1940, Dr Malan announced that
agreement had been reached: although the two organisations would co-operate,
the party would be active politically and the Ossewabrandwag in
non-political areas such as the economic, moral and religious advancement of
the Afrikaner
109
nation. The Ossewabrandwag would work for Afrikaner unity and refrain from
underground revolutionary activity.3
The anticipated new unity was shattered in January 1941 when a group
of Hertzog supporters split off and formed the Afrikaner Party under the
leadership of General E A Conroy, (later replaced by Havenga) with 12 other
members of Parliament supporting him. This would become the political home
of many OB members.
The Broederbond entered the struggle again in June 1941, realising
that only a combined Afrikaner vote had a chance of defeating Smuts.
Representatives of the Broederbond's cultural and economic front
organisations, the FAK and Reddingsdaadbond, negotiated respectively with Dr
Malan and the Ossewabrandwag. The organisations found common ground, and a
unity committee, under the chairmanship of Professor L J du Plessis, former
Broederbond chairman, was formed. The committee put the following motion to
the Union Congress of the HNP in Bloemfontein:
"The Congress declares that the Herenigde Nasionale Party or
Volksparty, is the only organisation representing nation-orientated
Afrikanerdom in the field of political leadership.. . Congress, therefore,
makes a serious appeal to all Afrikaners in this hour of South Africa's
decision of destiny, to work enthusiastically and actively together, and to
close our ranks. . ." This motion was carried unanimously and Professor du
Plessis said: "When Dr Malan talks in future, it will not only be on behalf
of the Party, but on behalf of Afrikanerdom."4
But only a month afterwards the Commandant-General of the OB, Dr
Hans van Rensburg, made a veiled attack on the party at a speech at Elsburg.
Professor du Plessis declared that Dr van Rensburg "undermined, rather than
supports the party."5 The OB also distributed 100 000 pamphlets, setting out
the kind of republic it wanted, and Dr Malan demanded their immediate
withdrawal, because this was interference in politics - the party's sphere.
Once again the Broederbond-controlled unity committee intervened, and the
pamphlet was withdrawn. The position between the two oganisations kept on
deteriorating, until Dr Malan said he could no longer ask members of his
party to be members of the OB as
well. Those who wanted to leave the OB were free to do so. An increasing
number of HNP members followed his advice, but it did not bring unity.
110
The 1943 election was round the corner, and Dr Malan had 41 MPs. In
spite of the divisions in Afrikaner ranks, the HNP improved its position
slightly, to return 43 MPs against General Smuts's 89 who also had the
support of two Independents, the Labour Party (9) and the Dominion Party
(2).
In its annual report the Federal Council of the HNP said: "This
victory is only as temporary as the war - if not shorter - and the task
resting on the HNP, South Africa's only alternative Government, is bigger
than ever."6
The sights were, therefore, firmly set on the 1948 election,
although the HNP and Broederbond leaders realised a small miracle was needed
to defeat Smuts's massive majority. The Broederbond was working hard on
shaping the apartheid policy (see Chapter 12), which became an HNP trumpcard
in the election. It was also pressing the HNP to come out more firmly for a
republican form of government - another policy which appealed strongly to
Afrikaner voters. The Broederbond's policy of mother-tongue education became
a national issue, once again receiving wide support from Afrikaners.
The OB was dying as the emotionalism of the war effort wilted, and
in 1944 when Dr van Rensburg further undermined the HNP all the party's
congresses decided that members must resign from the OB. The party emerged
strengthened from the conflict because more and more Afrikaners realised
that victory through the ballot box - something the OB sneered at - was the
only way of getting power.
The last objective, unity between the HNP and Mr Havenga's Afrikaner
Party, now had to be achieved. Before the 1948 election on March 22 1947,
Malan and Havcnga announced that an election pact had been made whereby the
parties would not oppose each other but allocated a certain number of
constituencies to each other to avoid splitting the Nationalist Afrikaner
front.
On another front the Broederbond was feverishly working to swing the
Afrikaner workers on the Witwatersrand in favour of the HNP before the
election.
Dr Piet Meyer and Dr Albert Hcrtzog, the longest-serving member with
20 years on the Executive of the Broederbond, took the lead in this drive.
Joining the battle on their side were two prominent Brocders, Frikkie de
Wet, Faas de Wet, Paul Couzyn and, later, Daan Ellis. They concentrated on
the Mineworkers' Union which had a membership of 22 000. With their families
they held the balance of power in a number of vital Witwatersrand seats. The
Broeders decided the leadership of the union must be taken from "foreign
elements" and put in the hands of Afrikaners who could influence the
members "positively" in the coming political battle. On October 4 1936 the
Broederbond arranged a meeting at which Dr Hertzog, Dr Meyer, Frikkie de Wet
and Professor Nice Diederichs formed the National Council of Trustees "to
establish right-minded trade unions which must serve as links with the
Afrikaner nation."'
The National Council was financed by the Broederbond. Several
prominent Broeders including Professor Dr J D du Toit (To-tius), Professor
Joon van Rooy (Chairman of the Bond), I M Lombard (Secretary of the Bond)
and Mr J J Bosman (founder of Volkskas and the Broederbond's Christiaan de
Wet Fund) served on the committee.*
Because the struggle ahead demanded substantial funds for
organisational purposes, the Broederbond could contribute to only a limited
extent at that stage - more sources had to be tapped. Mrs Jannie Marais,
widow of an Afrikaner leader from Stellenbosch, was approached by Dr Hertzog
and she contributed L2 000.
On November 24 1936 Dr Hertzog, Dr Meyer and Faas de Wet
addressed a meeting of mineworkers in the Krugersdorp City Hall and formed
the Afrikanerbond of Mineworkers. Faas de Wet became its first organiser.
When a closed-shop agreemeent was
granted to the Mineworkers' Union in April 1937, under which only their
members could work in mines, the position of the Afrikanerbond became
impossible. They had to change tactics - to take over the Mineworkers' Union
from within. With that aim in mind the Afrikanerbond became the "Reform
Organisation in the Mineworkers' Union" in February 1938.
At the same time, the Broederbond leaders also launched a drive to
get the clothing workers' trade unions into Afrikaner hands. Dr Hertzog made
repeated trips to the more affluent Cape farmers, collecting money for the
struggle. He also formed Kqkrq through which people could get discounts on
purchases, a commission being retained by the organisation. Koopkrug later
became a huge success in Pret0ria.s An Afrikaner philanthropist, Mr
Frederik Ziervogel, donated a huge amount for the establishment of the
Johanna Ziervogel Fund. The interest was to be used for the struggle of the
Afrikaner worker, and especially the women in clothing factories. The fund
is still under Dr Hertzog's control
112
today. Hertzog also persuaded a rich Stellenbosch farmer, Mr Pieter
Neethling, to donate his estate to a trust to be used in the interests of
the Afrikaner. The Pieter Neethling Building in Pretoria today houses the
Hertzog network, and he is in control of the trust. When the battle for
power in the Mineworkers' Union was finally won by the Broeders, the Pieter
Neethling Fund had contributed f23 519 to the victory.
It was a bitter struggle during which Mineworkers' Union leaders
changed the constitution, delayed elections, and even used false-bottomed
ballot boxes in order to keep the Reformers out. But the tide was turning
against the United Party Government which appeared to be in collusion with
the Mineworkers' Union leaders, desperately clinging to power, and the
Chamber of Mines which also feared a takeover. The Reformers were making
constant progress and forming the Afrikaner mineworkers into a political
force which had major influence in the marginal Witwaters-rand seats.
Although the final takeover took place only in 1949, the swing towards the
HNP was almost complete among minework-ers when the election took place on
May 26 1948. "Where the Nationalists had only two Reef seats before the
election, they now gained six. In all these constituencies the mineworkers'
vote was
decisive. Those six constituencies brought the Nationalists to
power."g
De Klerk" observes: "With almost nothing to raise expectations that
the Government was in danger, the country went to the polls in May 1948. The
rhetorical confidence which had been a feature of the planning of
intellectuals like Diederichs, Meyer, Cronje and others, suddenly,
astoundingly, proved to be of substance. The Herenigde Party, under D F
Malan with 70 seats, supported by the Afrikaner Party under N C Havenga with
nine seats, had a majority of five over the United Party under Smuts with
65, the Labour Party, under Madeley with six, and the three Native
Representatives."
It was, indeed, the Broederbond's hour of greatest triumph. A small
band of brothers in 1918, they were now the group with political control of
the whole country. Never would they let power slip from the hands of the
Super-Afrikaners. They would reform the country politically and socially on
racial lines, with a zeal never witnessed before in the world. The campaign
they had planned so painstakingly over the years to build up their secret
structure had finally given them the biggest prize of all - absolute
control. Not a
113
day, not an hour, could be lost in putting their stamp on everything.
The world would look in wonderment at a secret society that gained
political control and transformed a sophisticated country almost beyond
recognition. It must surely rank as one of the most fascinating political
stories of our time.
1. Van Jaarsveld, F A, Van Ricbwrk tot Verwoerd, p 247.
2. Malan, M P A, Die Nasionale Party van Staid-Ajika, p 202.
3. Brochure: Ons Party EM die OB, p 3.
4. Ibid. p 4.
5. Malan, M P A, Dir Nasionale Party van Suid-Afiika, p 206.
6. Ibid. p 214.
7. Naude, Louis, Dr Albert Hertzog, die Nasionale Party WI die Mynwwkcrs, p
27.
8. Ibid. p 100. 9. Ibid. p 239.
10. De Klcrk, W A, The Puritans in Afvira, p 224.
114
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