D. F. Malan

D. F. Malan

Malan returned to South Africa, where he was ordained as a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church and served for six months as an assistant-minister in Heidelberg, Transvaal. He was an ardent fighter for the acceptance of Afrikaans, which was an emerging language fighting against Dutch and English, and was a founding member of the Afrikaanse Taal- en Kultuurvereniging (ATKV, 'The Afrikaans Language and Cultural Society'), which was established in 1930. He was stationed in Montagu from 1906 to 1912 and thereafter in Graaff-Reinet until 1915. He also undertook a journey on behalf of the Dutch Reformed Church, visiting religious Afrikaners living in the Belgian Congo, Northern Rhodesia, and Southern Rhodesia.[3]

Malan with J. B. M. Hertzog

Malan's involvement in National Party politics began shortly after the NP's formation in 1914. In those years, political parties had affiliated newspapers that served as their mouthpiece. However, Nationalist-minded Afrikaners in the Cape had no such outlet and therefore, in 1915, decided to found De Burger, which later became known as Die Burger. They persuaded Malan to become the editor of the new newspaper and he used it as a springboard for entry into parliament.[4] As he was worried about the Afrikaners' political position in the aftermath of the 1914 Rebellion, he relinquished his position as a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church to accept the position. The Cape branch of the National Party was founded in 1915 and Malan was elected as its provincial leader. In 1918, he was elected to Parliament for the first time as MP for the seat of Calvinia in the House of Assembly. He held that seat until 1938 when he became the MP for Piketberg.

When the National Party came to power for the first time in 1924 under Prime Minister J. B. M. Hertzog, Malan was given the post of Minister of the Interior, Education and Public Health, which he held until 1933. In 1925, he was at the forefront of a campaign to replace Dutch with Afrikaans in the constitution and provide South Africa with a new national flag.

After the 1933 election, the United Party was formed out of the fusion of Hertzog's National Party and the rival South African Party of Jan Smuts. Malan strongly opposed this merger and, in 1934, he and 19 other MPs defected to form the Purified National Party, which he led for the next 14 years as the opposition.

Malan opposed South African participation in World War II. South Africa's participation in the conflict was unpopular among the Afrikaner population, and in 1939 that led to a split in the governing United Party. The defectors united with the National Party, dramatically strengthening Malan's political position, and he consequently defeated Smuts and the United Party in the 1948 general election.

The first Malan Cabinet in 1948. Left to right, first row : J. G. Strijdom, Nicolaas Havenga, D. F. Malan, E. G. Jansen, Charles Swart. Second row : A. J. Stals, Paul Sauer, Eric Louw, S. P. Le Roux, Eben Dönges, Frans Erasmus and Ben Schoeman.

During Malan's tenure as Prime Minister, South Africans lost the right of appeal from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London under the terms of the Privy Council Appeals Act, 1950.

J. G. Strijdom, Prime Minister D. F. Malan and Paul Sauer in Pretoria after the 1953 South African general election victory.

The foundations of apartheid were firmly laid during Malan's six-and-a-half years as prime minister. On 24 February 1953, Malan was granted dictatorial powers to oppose black and Indian anti-apartheid movements.[5] Malan resigned in 1954 at the age of 80 with the hopes of Nicolaas Havenga being appointed as the prime minister. However, Havenga was defeated by J. G. Strijdom.[6]