DF Malan and the Rise of Afrikaner Nationalism. Lindie Koorts
in the Union Debating Society. In 1895 Malan became the society’s secretary,[114] and by 1897 he was appointed as its president.[115] During that same year he became the editor of the society’s publication, the Stellenbosch Students’ Annual. Under his direction, the publication was such a success that it became a quarterly.[116] He occupied a position that enabled him to speak to his fellow students, and he did his best to inspire his followers to a higher purpose by exhorting them to abide by the following principles:
Be in the first place a member of the society with a distinct object in view. The aimless man never attains to eminence of any kind … aim high. Let your ideals be lofty, let your aspirations be high … they will allure you, will haunt you, will form the driving power of your life … resolve to reach your ideal at any cost. Difficulties, many and great, will come in the way … but the man who thinks dares to speak, and struggles, invariably makes progress, and will triumph at last.[117]
It was still a few years before Malan would formulate his own objectives, but the need to do so was ever present in his mind. As the relations between Milner and Kruger broke down, and war was declared in October 1899, Malan found himself saying goodbye to his Free State and Transvaal friends who were leaving Stellenbosch to fight in the war.[118]
Years later, his political opponents would try to capitalise on Malan’s absence from the war. Why did he not take part? Was he a coward? Did he flee to Holland? The question that one should ask is this: was joining the war the obvious course of action for a young, well-educated Cape Afrikaner such as D.F. Malan? After all, there were Cape rebels who took part in the war. Why did he not join them?
The Cape rebels hailed from the northern districts of the Cape Colony that bordered the Free State Boer Republic. There was no organised Afrikaner uprising in the Cape and, as a rule, the rebels only joined the Republican forces after Boer commandos had occupied their districts. In the districts that were not occupied there was strong sympathy for the Boer Republics, but this sympathy did not go beyond moral support.[119]
The first invasion of the Cape Colony began on 12 October 1899, the very day after war was declared. By mid-1900, it had run its course. One of the invasion’s principal aims was to gather recruits from among the Cape Afrikaners. The Boer commandos, after occupying a town, would proclaim the area Free State territory, institute Republican magistrates, and command the local population to join their commandos or face confiscation of their property and banishment from the area. In some districts, the locals were threatened with a hefty fine if they refused to join. Those who possessed the money generally paid these fines, while the poorer members of the community were compelled to join the commandos. Landowners, as a rule, did not join the Republican forces.[120]
D.F. Malan, in Stellenbosch – and the landowning Malan family, in Riebeek West – was far away from the northern Cape where these events were taking place. The communities in which they lived chose to make their views known through loyal resistance. Instead of taking up arms, they organised meetings and drafted motions in the hope of influencing British public opinion. In Riebeek West, D.F. Malan Sr chaired a meeting that drafted the following motion:
Whereas we, the loyal subjects of Her Majesty the Queen, are of opinion (i) that this deplorable and unjust war is the demand of a propaganda of misrepresentations by which the people of Great Britain had been guided, and (ii) that the Republicans are only fighting to retain their independence and liberty, and that (iii) should Her Majesty’s Government succeed in conquering the Republicans they could never be subjugated or forced to become loyal subjects. We humbly pray that a speedy stop should be put to the war and upon such a basis that the Republicans retain their independence heretofore.[121]
In Stellenbosch, a similar meeting was held and a similar motion drafted.[122] The Stellenbosch Students’ Quarterly of February 1900 carried tales of Boer heroics on the battlefield and a defiant essay which avowed that Milner’s stated mission to ‘Break the Power of Africanderdom’ would never be achieved.[123] The next issue published both an essay and a poem that expressed sympathy for Afrikaner kinsmen to the north in no uncertain terms.[124] In the wake of these vociferous articles, Milner’s aides declared that the Stellenbosch Students’ Quarterly was disloyal to the British throne.[125]
In the midst of this tense atmosphere was a young man who had reached the end of his studies and needed to decide on his future. ‘It is very awkward to be so undecided as to the course to be taken, and so very much may depend on the choice,’ he confessed to Nettie. ‘But I firmly believe that in all this God’s hand will guide me aright. In everything He can be trusted.’[126]
The reasons for D.F. Malan’s decision to pursue further studies in the Netherlands are unknown. What is known is that both he and his younger brother Koos left South Africa on 19 September 1900.[127] Koos would attend the University of Edinburgh to study medicine, while Malan went to the University of Utrecht, the alma mater of his theology professors.
One would expect a young man who was about to see a new continent and a new world to be excited about the prospect. Not Malan. Just as he regarded times of uncertainty as a threat to Afrikaner society, on a personal level he seemed rather gloomy at the prospect of entering the unknown. ‘Well, goodbye,’ he wrote to Nettie, ‘don’t forget me so very soon. I hope that one day I’ll see you again.’[128]
2 (1900-1905)
THE FOREIGN STUDENT
It was on a sunny Wednesday afternoon in September 1900 that Malan boarded The Briton along with his brother Koos and eight other young Afrikaners – all of them bound for Europe to pursue their studies. The ship remained moored in Table Bay for another hour, waiting for the mail to arrive from Natal. When it arrived, Malan received a telegram from his friends with these words from Deuteronomy 33:27: ‘Underneath are the everlasting arms.’ It comforted him as he wrote in his diary: ‘Farewell friends, everyone, Stellenbosch, who will always remain dear to me, and beloved, sunny South Africa.’[1] At half past four, the ship steamed out of the harbour.[2]
At first, the voyage was pleasant. The weather was warm and sunny, and even though he was aware of his stomach, Malan was happy that he did not become seasick. He even started a diary – the only one he ever kept, which revealed a young man of intense personal piety – and spent most days on deck, reading The Sign of the Cross and pondering the similarities between contemporary society and the declining Roman Empire. ‘A new moralising and civilising force … in a living, active Christianity’ was the solution, he decided. ‘May God help us,’ he wrote.[3]
But his fellow South Africans, and especially his brother, soon shattered his moralising bliss. ‘For one educated in a pure and Christian home, the language heard and the acts seen on the ship are simply loathsome and sickening,’ he noted in his diary. ‘May God preserve us.’ But it became even worse: ‘The most depressing fact is that the majority of our Africanders on board take the lead in swearing, drinking and using filthy language,’ he lamented. ‘Oh God: have mercy on our poor people and our young men studying abroad.’[4]
At least he was not completely alone. One of the other young Afrikaners, whom Malan simply called Van Schalkwyk, shared his piety. Together, they held devotions in their cabin, which they shared with Koos and another young Afrikaner, Rousseau.[5]
The latter two must have found their cabin-mates rather stuffy, since they soon moved to another cabin.[6] The next few days were quiet and pleasant enough. By this time the ship was sailing through the tropics, but they were able to cope with the heat. Malan befriended a West Indian – with whom he played quoits and draughts – as well as a Russian officer, with whom he could talk politics.[7] By the end of the week, the peace was shattered. Malan was probably writing about Koos when he lamented to his diary that it was ‘A very unpleasant and sad day. I never knew he too would go in for the sweepstakes. May the merciful God have mercy upon him and us. A big row.’[8]
Mulling over the temptations of the world and the uncertain future ahead of him, he stood on deck and watched a lighthouse on the shores of Cape Verde. He could not help but see some symbolism in the lighthouse on the dark shores of the Atlantic Ocean as he prayed: ‘May God be the light of