The Malanazis

- dream of an

African Reich

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oe c ? 3 CAPETOWN
REMIER Daniel Malan’s pro-fascist Nationalist government of South Africa has imperialist ambi--
tions in Africa. Speaking at an election meeting in South West Afnca recently, the Union’s min-—

ister of defense said he hoped in the not too far distant future on opportunity would be created for coun-

tries with interests in

‘What he had in mind was
clarified by another speech in
Which he said ‘that the South
African army was ready to
“quell any internal disturbances

and repel any attacks on ‘its |

frontiers,”

And what he means by “com-

_ Munist menace” is the demand of °

Ron.Huropean people in South
Africa for abolition of color dis-
crimination and for equal rights,
8nd the demand of the. African
People in the other African terri-
tories for an end to exploitation
8nd for national liberation.
_ Looking at a map of Africa, the
nationalists see a continent par-
_ Selled out among overseas powers,
but the country with the largest
_ Settled population—Union|of South
ca—has no colonies at all. At
3 time when Africa is beginning
clamor for independence from
the white man’s rule, they feel
this is an over-riding threat to
their own supremacy.
Moreover, the government’s
bloodless conquest of South Afri-
°a has whetted the nationalist
®Ppetite, One nationalist MP went
So far as to say recently that the
Afvikaans language has crossed
the borders of Rhodesia, Kenya
ee ka and might be-
tig the language of Africa with-
the next 75 years.

Africa to join the union in a common defense plan

As though to give official en-

couragement to this ambition, the

board of governors of the South
African Broadcasting Corporation
and the government have approv-
ed a «proposal tnat broadcasts
should be directed from the

- Union of South Africa to those

territories in Central and East
Africa where there are Afrikaans
communities.

e. ‘
e Less than 25,000 white inhabit-
ants of South West Africa have

just elected six representatives to

the South African parliament and

18 representatives to the new
“regional parliament” in an “elec-
tion” which constitutes unprece-
dented mockery of international
law and the most elementary of
human rights.

Under the Nazi-style racist laws .

of South Africa, the colored popu-
lation of South Africa—90 per
cent of all the inhabitants—were
barred from voting. What is more,
the election took place in a ter-
ritory which is not a part of South
Africa but nominally under Unit-
ed Nations trusteeship.

The non-whites will be “rep-
resented” in the South African
Senate by a senator nominated
by the Malan government for his

special knowledge of the “reason-

for “‘combatting communism.”
able wishes” of the non-European
population. :

Importance of the election on

_the domestic scene lay in the fact

that Malan had only a majoriy of
six seats, in the Lower House of

the South African parliament. It

was with the aim of increasing
his slender majority that Malan
granted voting rights to the
5,000 German inhabitants of the
colony, most of whom were fer-
vent Nazis during the war and
as such barred from any public
activitites or interned. Now they
are enthusiastic supporters of
Malan, whose ministers have re-
peatedly mourned Hitler’s demise
as “a great loss to the anti-Com-
munist front.” ;

_ Today “Sieg Heil” is the vic-
torious slogan resounding in the

German-populated districts of |

South West Africa, for it was the
5,000 German voters who swung

_ the election of all six Malan candi-

dates, thus: making the Nation-
alist party independent of the
Afrikaaner party, on whose nine
members in the Hiouse it has de-
pended for support until now, and
giving it a slim overall majority.

In Windhoek, principal town of
South West Africa, the Nazis
staged night-long celebrations in
the beer gardens of the Kaiser-

strasse following the Nationalist
election victory. ~*
®

Until the First World War,
South West Africa was a German
colony, harshly ruled and merci-
lessly exploited. After the war, it
was put under South African ad-
ministration as a mandate ter-
ritory by the League of Nations,
but without the League of Nations
taking any special notice of what
Was going on. Later it was placed
under UN trusteeship.

In the past few years the in-
tolerable conditions of the native
population have been exposed in
UN meetings by the Rev. Michael
Scott, spokesman for the oppres-
sed Herero nations,

Although the world was shocked
by these revelations, the colonial
powers aligned themselves with

_ the South African representatives

in the UN to prevent an inter-
national investigation of racist
brutality. American representa -~
tives cooperated in this conspir-
acy, despite opposition from Am-
erican public. opinion, after: the
French and British representa
tives threatened them demagog-
ically with an exposure of racial
oppression in the United States
itself.

Direct inclusion of South West
Africa in the South African Union
was a main plank of Malan’s el-

ection program and he publicly
announced his intention of carry- |
ing this out. immediately after the
election which brought him to
power.

The question was brought be-
fore the International Court at
the Hague, which decreed that
South West Africa was still re-
garded as territory under United
Nation’s truste¢ship, but Malan
refused to abide by this decision.
Now he has followed up his de-
fiance of the UN with a fascist-
style seizure of the territory.

Se

In London recently, E. S. Sachs,
secretary ofthe Garment Work-
ers’ Union of South Africa, declar-
ed in an article published by the
Tribune that Malan’s aim “Is to
establish an African Third Reich
which will be named the Christian
National Republic, and will be as
Christian and as national as Hit-
ler’s Third Reich.”

Opinion, among _ progressive
South Africans is that Malan, now
he has secured a majority in par-
liament, will strive to complete
the fascist program he has al-
ready imposed upon the country
with his “apartheid” (segration)
racial laws and his notorious
‘Suppression of Communism” Bill.

, And among the first Europeans to

suffer will be the British living in
South Africa.

. Gold Coast

LONDON

HOUSANDS ‘of members of
the Gold Coast Convention

People’s Party gathered at Ku-
masi, capital of Ashanti, to
broaden the plans in their cam-
paign for self-government. Ear-
lier, 63 Gold Coast chiefs held
a meeting at which they de-
nounced the British colonial
government for its continued re-
fusal to consult African peoples’
representatives before making
ministerial appointments. |

Thousands of African workers,
including trade union, political
and even religious leaders, are
imprisoned by the colonial ad-
ministration for their participa-
tion in the national liberation
movement. Strikes are outlawed
but forced labor is legalized.
The people’s newspapers are
suppressed and their editors
jailed.

On August 3, Owuya Quarshie,
of the Accra Evening News, was
found guilty of “sedition” and
fined £200. His “crime” was the
publishing of an article repro-
duced from an American paper
which was entitled “Africans
Seek Freedom”.

The editor and publisher of
the African Labor Spokesman
are also held on sedition char-

ges.

Inflation is rampant, but the
profits for the imperialists have
reached the highest point in his-
tory since the government in-
creased the price of gold by 43
percent following devaluation of
the pound,

An eyewitness describes the
housing facilities for the Afri-
can people in the capital city of

i
?
me
3
5
5

What Malan fears

« ed last May, bringing the life of

Accra as follows: “I doubt if |

ments built of petrol tins and
corrugated iron, without sanita-
tion or roads or water supplies,
and in utter, abject poverty.”

Since the general strike last
January which paralyzed the }
colony until broken by troops, |
the numbers of the British
troops garrisoned on the Gold
Coast have been increased. Brit-
ish civil servants and Europeans
have been supplied with rifles
and revolvers, It is illegal for

an African to possess firearms. | _

East Africa |

HE East African Trade
Union Congress, undeterred

by arrest of its leaders and out-
lawing or its organizations, has
launched a new program of |
struggle for. civil and union —

rights. The program combines
a demand for the immediate re-
lease of Congress President |
Fred Kubai, General Secretary

Makhan Singh and other lead-|

ers, with the fight for higher
wages and the abolition of racial
discrimination. me

The Congress. leaders have
been in jail since May 15 be-
cause they refused to dissolve
their trade union as demanded
by British colonial authorities.

The African workers of Nai-
robi took spontaneous and unan-
imous strike action when their
trade union leaders were arrest-

the capital to a standstill. The
strike was broken only after the
entire apparatus of the state
was thrown against the workers,
including armed troops and
tanks. . 2

Negro workers in East Africa,
like their brothers in South Af-
rica, can only travel from one |
part of the country to another
with special passports issued ‘by
the colonial government. The }
Congress is demanding the abol- |
ition of the “pass law” and all |
other discriminatory measures, |