DF Malan and the Rise of Afrikaner Nationalism. Lindie Koorts

      Danie Malan was a near-sighted little boy. He peered at the world through a pair of thick spectacles, and kept to himself whenever they were endangered by the other children’s rough play. His shoulders were hunched, compelling his parents to make him wear a harness to correct his posture.[1]

      His parents’ farm, Allesverloren, located just outside the town of Riebeek West in the southwestern part of the then Cape Colony, was situated on the slopes of Kasteelberg and offered him a panoramic view of the Swartland’s plains, which were hemmed by great mountains in the distance: the Elandskloof, the Groot Winterhoek and the Koue Bokkeveld ranges. In summer it would be unbearably hot, dry and dusty, forcing the inhabitants to seek refuge in the shade. Autumn turned the vineyards bright red. Winter brought rain and vibrant green wheat fields that stretched all the way to the mountains, which were sometimes capped with snow. Spring brought welcome warmth and sunshine, brightening the entire landscape, still green from the winter rains. The world there is rugged and silent, leaving the individual feeling infinitesimal. In later years, it was the Swartland’s ruggedness that Malan missed most as a student in the Netherlands’ ‘tame’ surroundings.[2]

      The Swartland’s white inhabitants, as Cape Afrikaners, formed a class of landed gentry, in contrast to their kin on the frontiers. They were not a small elite group, but instead consisted of an upwardly mobile – but relatively undifferentiated – broad mass of farmers.[3] A number of professionals belonged to this class – mainly members of the clergy, or the legal and medical professions. Generally, the Cape Afrikaners were far more involved in trade and local government affairs than were the Afrikaners on the frontiers.

      As the nineteenth century progressed, the Cape Afrikaners became increasingly anglicised and were generally tolerant of their English-speaking counterparts. Mastery of the English language was regarded as the hallmark of good breeding, seen as giving one entry into polite society. This state of affairs continued well into the 1860s. The 1870s marked a turning point.[4]

      The discovery of diamonds, and later gold, left a mark on the Afrikaners in the Cape. It transformed the existing society, not only by stimulating the Cape Colony’s economy, but also through new advances in transport and communications. The Cape Afrikaners became more aware of their blood ties to the Voortrekkers, who were locked in perpetual conflict with the British Empire, and began to realise the extent to which their own cultural traditions had been forced into the background. The region’s new-found wealth also created social stratification within the Cape Afrikaner community. A class of poor white bywoners – tenant farmers whose descent into abject poverty became increasingly rapid – stood in stark contrast to the prosperous class of landed gentry.[5]

      It was into this class of landed gentry that Daniël Francois Malan was born, on 22 May 1874. He was his parents’ second surviving child – three of their children did not survive their first days. Young Danie had an elder sister, Cinie, who was both brilliant and deeply religious.[6] His younger brother, Fanie, was the one who showed an aptitude for farming. Malan himself, always absorbed in a book, tried to avoid as much of the farm work as possible, with varying degrees of success.[7] His legendary absent-mindedness manifested itself early on in his childhood: his mother once found him, lost in thought, pulling on a third dirty shirt over the two he already wore.[8] He was prone to falling into ditches because he was either reading while he walked, or too absent-minded to look where he was going.[9]

      His father was an imposing man who made money as a successful farmer – planting both wheat and vines – and a money-lender. He was a prominent member of the local community, serving on the local church council and belonging to the Afrikaner Bond, ‘Onze’ Jan Hofmeyr’s political party. He filled his eldest son, who was his namesake, with awe – and possibly also feelings of inferiority.[10] Danie Malan was a quiet and serious child who seldom spoke. His monosyllabic replies to any questions earned him the nickname ‘Een woord’ (one word), bestowed on him by his father.[11] It may have been that he was too tongue-tied to find a longer answer. Great was his father’s irritation in later years when he bought his eldest son a new horse and found that he had not been to the stables, which were situated right next to the house, to see his gift. ‘No, you won’t do as a farmer,’ he grumbled.[12] Instead of inheriting the farm, as befitted the eldest son of an Afrikaner family, Malan would be given the opportunity to study.

      Little is known of Malan’s mother, Anna du Toit. Like her husband, she was of Huguenot stock. Malan hardly ever spoke of her, and the only surviving description of her came from a family member who, merely in passing, rather simplistically characterised the mother of such illustrious children as a ‘dear humble soul’.[13] The same family member ascribed the children’s exceptional intellectual abilities exclusively to their father’s genes. Anna du Toit has become fixed in history by the description of her as quiet, even-tempered and meticulous, but known all around as a friendly and pleasant farmer’s wife.[14]

      As was typical of Afrikaner families at the time, and beyond into the twentieth century, Malan was raised not only by his parents but also by their coloured servants, who were known to the children only by their Christian names – their surnames have faded into the colonial past. An old servant woman called Galatie carried the young Danie on her back, while another, named Nanna, who worked for the Malan family for seventeen years, was a prominent presence during his childhood.[15] There was also an old couple, Tom and Lena, who had been born as slaves. They lived in a humble, but tidy little house on Allesverloren. Malan was often invited in for tea, and he would happily accept. During these early years on the farm, with his parents’ servants forming part of an extended, albeit paternalistic, family, Malan believed that the only difference between white and coloured people was to be found in their level of education. Only later did he become convinced that racial differences were inherent.[16]

      Apart from Cinie and Fanie, Malan had another sister, Mimie, and two younger brothers, Pieter and Koos. Pieter died at an early age. When some of the Malan children went for a picnic on Kasteelberg, a boulder came rolling down the mountain and killed him. To the family, the ten-year-old boy – who always said that he wanted to become a missionary when he grew up – became something of a martyr.

      Religion played a prominent role in the Malan household, which was Evangelical Reformed, and prided itself on its Huguenot ancestry.[17] The family’s most important books were the Bible and John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. This was typical of the times, as several evangelical revivals swept across the Cape during the latter half of the nineteenth century, and the town of Riebeek West was no exception.[18] These revivals, with Andrew Murray Jr as the most prominent leader, were characterised by prayer meetings at which emotional displays of one’s faith was the norm. Saving souls from eternal doom became an obsession, and the emphasis was placed on the individual’s relationship with God.[19] The Great Revival swept through Riebeek West in the 1870s, and even Andrew Murray himself visited the town to conduct a number of Pentecostal services. Following these earlier successes the local minister, A.J. (Adriaan) Louw, organised more revival meetings in 1885 and 1886.[20] A number of school children committed their hearts to the Lord during these occasions – among them, the young Jan Smuts.[21] Another such child was Cinie Malan, who made the life-changing decision to serve the Lord at the age of seven.[22]

      Malan, although himself deeply religious, never spoke of a moment of personal conversion. As a rule, he kept his emotions to himself. Yet, from an early age, he believed that he had a special calling.[23] When he broached the possibility of studying law, his pious parents refused. Lawyers, they told him, were paid to tell lies.[24]

      Malan was a strong scholar – although he was surpassed in brilliance by his sister Cinie and her exceptionally gifted classmate Jan Smuts, with whom she vied for first place.[25] Jannie Smuts was four years older than Danie Malan, and managed to awe and annoy the younger boy. The first impression was created when the schoolmaster, with whom Jan lodged, discovered that his pupil had stayed up all night, refusing to go to bed before he had solved a mathematics