Skip to content

D.F. Malan: A Political Biography

Literature › Works

Korf, Lindie (2010). D.F. Malan: A Political Biography. PhD (History) thesis, University of Stellenbosch (supervisor: A.M. Grundlingh). University of Stellenbosch.
Type thesis
Scope Wider apartheid literature
Method archival narrative
Period studied 1874–1954
Regions Western Cape, Transvaal, Orange Free State, Netherlands, Rhodesias and Congo
Themes origins segregation, politics ideology elections, business and state, inequality poverty unemployment, bantustans removals influx, labour markets wages, resistance social movements
Citation key korf2010

Argument

A revisionist political biography of D.F. Malan, the first apartheid-era Prime Minister, that tries to dismantle the 'dour dominee' myth and the picture of a united Afrikaner nationalism. It argues that Malan's racial policy was fluid and tied closely to his concern for the poor whites, and that his constitutional views on empire and republic were fluid too. Nationalist politics were driven by regional, generational and personal power struggles (Hertzog, Roos, Strijdom, the Ossewabrandwag). Malan's nationalism, drawn from his Utrecht education, German idealism and Valeton's ethical theology, was cultural and religious first. 'Apartheid' was for him a re-labelling of Hertzog-style segregation, and his government implemented it haphazardly. The argument is a chronological narrative built on private papers, with Malan's own perceptions kept at the centre.

Evidence and method

Archival: Malan's private collection (Stellenbosch, DFM) and the private papers of contemporaries (Geyer, Weber, Swart, Strijdom, Hertzog, Havenga, Verwoerd, Van der Merwe). Also the Cape National Party minutes and the Free State, Cape and Pretoria archives. Printed sources include Malan's speeches, Hansard, Die Burger, his 1913 travel book, his 1913 lecture on socialism, and his memoirs. Interview notes from the Thom collection are also used. Secondary literature is used mainly for reference.

Place in the debates

Findings

  • The thesis defines itself as a revisionist reinterpretation of archival material rather than a study of the movement through one man. (p. 10)

    This biography is a revisionist work in the sense that it treads a path that, in some respects, has been trodden before, but seeks to provide a new interpretation of archival material.

  • Earlier Malan biographies are criticised as uncritical and static. (p. 14)

    The book can only be described as hagiographic, especially since Thom went to great lengths to justify Malan’s actions.

  • From his student days Malan was anti-capitalist and saw capitalism as the source of inequality that bred socialism. (p. 32)

    To Malan, capitalism was an evil that plundered the local population and destabilised it by creating economic inequality, which would necessarily lead to socialism and anarchism

  • In 1912 Malan tied the poor white problem to race relations: white degradation, rather than African numbers, threatened the racial hierarchy. (p. 116)

    The Black Peril would not exist if it were not for a White Peril that is a hundred times greater, which undermines and destroys the black’s respect for the white race.

  • Malan's 1912 writings already anticipated the later Bantu-education logic of labour-oriented, separate African schooling. (p. 119)

    It was 1912, and yet Malan already envisioned the Verwoerdian system of Bantu-education that was to be implemented by his government in 1953.

  • After the Carnegie Commission report (1932) the NP treated all people of colour as a threat to poor whites in the labour market and in housing, a 'sea change' in Malan's racial policy. (p. 365)

    The implication was that all people of colour were a threat to the poor whites, and it would mark a sea change in Malan’s approach to racial policy.

  • The NP's 1938 platform already contained the segregationist programme later enacted, including industrial and residential separation and a colour bar. (p. 380)

    The NP therefore promised to introduce legislation that would provide for separate residential areas, labour unions and, if possible, separate workplaces.

  • By 1938 Malan saw African education as a danger, reversing his 1912 stance. (p. 384)

    Malan now regarded the education of the Africans as a threat to the white population.

  • The 1938–39 centenary petition shows the mass appeal of the segregation and poor-white campaign. (p. 386)

    When Malan submitted the petition to Parliament on 1 June 1939, it had been signed by 230,619 white adults

  • The word 'apartheid' entered Malan's vocabulary in 1943 as a rebranding of residential segregation. (p. 426)

    The word ‘apartheid’ first appeared in one of his election speeches, in which he lobbied for residential segregation

  • In 1943 Malan's economic programme echoed the 1920s Pact government's state-interventionist policy. (p. 423)

    Malan pleaded for an economic system that bore striking similarities to the Pact-government’s policy in the 1920s.

  • Apartheid implementation under Malan was unsystematic. (p. 443)

    Apart from these measures, however, the implementation of apartheid was hardly systematic.

  • Editor Phil Weber noted the contradiction between the government's industrial expansion and its claim to stop African urbanisation. (p. 452)

    He witnessed an accelerated process of industrialisation under the Nationalist government, which created a glaring contradiction to its apartheid policy: African urbanisation was on the increase, not the reverse.

  • Weber argued that economic integration undermined the logic of apartheid, and that Malan did not respond. (p. 453)

    You cannot give the natives education, good employment and a high standard of living, and then say that they cannot become citizens of this country due to the colour of their skin.

  • Malan measured apartheid's benevolence by state spending on Africans, citing a rise in non-White education expenditure. (p. 454)

    Since 1947/48 the Government has increased its expenditure on non-White education from £3,665,600 to an estimated £8,190,000 for the financial year 1953/4.

  • Malan's anti-capitalism and his call for the nationalisation of the mines faded once he held power. (p. 470)

    in some of his political speeches, Malan went so far as to call for the nationalisation of the mines.

Evidence ledger

Sources used

Source Kind Period How used
D.F. Malan collection (DFM), J.S. Gericke Library Document Centre, University of Stellenbosch (letters, diary, speeches, sermons, press cuttings, memoranda, unpublished MS 'Op die Wagtoring') state archives 1874-1959 Main backbone of the biography: Malan's perceptions, private correspondence and speeches reconstruct his views and actions.
Private collections of Malan's contemporaries (C.R. Swart, J.G. Strijdom, N.C. Havenga, J.B.M. Hertzog, N.J. van der Merwe, A.L. Geyer, P.A. Weber, H.F. Verwoerd, F.C. Erasmus, M.P.A. Malan, P.W. Botha papers etc.) at INCH, SAB, VAB, KAB state archives 1930s-1950s Used to show the behind-the-scenes power struggles within the National Party and to counterbalance gaps in the Malan collection.
A.L. Geyer collection, A 1890 (Cape Archives Repository): 'Persoonlike Herinnerings uit die Koalisiestryd' memoirs and diaries state archives 1933-1953 Insider diary and memoir account of Fusion, the Hertzog break, OB conflict and Malan's later years.
P.A. Weber collection (296.K.Ge series), Stellenbosch University Library: Weber–Geyer correspondence state archives 1951-1954 Evidence on Malan's premiership, Cabinet tensions, doubts about apartheid's coherence and the 1954 succession.
Cape National Party collection, PV 27 (INCH): congress minutes, programmes of principles, Erasmus–Laubscher correspondence union or movement records 1914-1952 Party constitutions and congress minutes establish evolution of racial and republican policy and Malan's congress speeches.
Interview notes and notes prepared for H.B. Thom (H.B. Thom collection 191.M.1 etc.) and INCH Sound Archive PV 193 interview with Danie Malan interviews oral history 1976-1980 Family and associates' recollections used for Malan's private life, marriage to Maria and relations with stepsons.
Letters between Malan and Maria Louw ('Addition to D.F. Malan collection', unclassified) state archives 1933-1941 Recently added private correspondence reconstructs the 1937 courtship and engagement.
Hansard (House of Assembly debates), e.g. 31 May 1950 cols 7938-7946; 26 May 1952 parliamentary debates 1924-1953 Used for Malan's account of the Graaff-Reinet residential segregation scheme and Suppression of Communism debate.
Newspapers and periodicals (Die Burger, De Burger, Ons Land, Cape Times, Argus, Stellenbosch Students' Annual/Quarterly, Die Transvaler, The Star, De Kerkbode) newspapers periodicals 1892-1959 Used for events, student-era debates, reactions and editorial lines.
Report of the National Conference on the Poor White Problem, Kimberley 1934 (P. du Toit) and Carnegie Commission findings commission or official report 1934 Establishes the poor-white framing that shifted Malan's and the NP's racial policy in the 1930s.
Report of the Sauer commission on the Coloured community (1945) and Kleurvraagstuk-Kommissie report (1947), DFM 1/1/2211 and 1/1/2256 commission or official report 1944-1947 Source of the party's formal apartheid proposals on Coloured, African and Indian policy.
Election returns: Weide and Weide, Die Volledige Verkiesingsuitslae van Suid-Afrika 1910-1986; vote tallies reported by Coetzer & Le Roux and Hancock election returns 1938-1953 Used to analyse the 1938, 1943, 1948 and 1953 election outcomes and Malan's constituency results.
Ossewabrandwag/Afrikaner organisation records: Cradock Agreement, AEK minutes (INCH J.D. Jerling PV 158, D.J. Potgieter diary PV 107, DFM) union or movement records 1940-1941 Documents the HNP-OB rivalry and Malan's moves to subordinate Afrikaner organisations.
Malan's published works and speeches: Naar Congoland (1913), Socialism (1913), Afrikaner Volkseenheid (1959 memoirs), Glo in U Volk speech collection other 1900s-1959 Malan's own writings used as direct evidence of his views on race, poor whites, socialism and political events.
Unpublished Malan manuscript 'Op die Wagtoring' (incl. 'Die Kleurvraagstuk' and 'Waarheen gaan Suid Afrika?'), DFM 1/7/2 state archives 1946-1947 Source for Malan's articulation of apartheid ideology, Social Darwinism and anti-communism.
Secondary datasets/compilations: Coetzer & Le Roux, Die Nasionale Party Deel 4; Coetzer Deel 5; Giliomee; Hancock Smuts; Selections from the Smuts Papers secondary literature compilation 1910-1950 Used for party-political data (votes, structures, document quotations) where the author did not duplicate prior coverage.
Census statistics of 1921 as used in Malan's Die Groot Vlug (1923) population census 1921 Malan's scrutiny of census data on white urbanisation is said to have shifted his view of poor whites.
Petition to Parliament of 1939 (230,619 signatures) and NP election manifestos (1938, 1948) union or movement records 1938-1948 Establishes the NP's segregationist programme and its later realisation in apartheid legislation.

Inference

Quantification: Illustrative figures.

Chronological narrative political biography built from close reading of private papers, correspondence, diaries and speeches; claims about Malan's views are inferred from his own words and associates' testimony, cross-checked against other collections and secondary studies. Little systematic quantification beyond votes and some government expenditure figures; interpretation via Weberian charisma and Victorian/Idealist influences.

Key claims

Claim Basis Strength
Malan's racial policy was fluid and subordinate to his concern for Afrikaner nationalism and poor whites, shifting with context (Coloureds, Indians, African education). (p. 357) DFM speeches, Naar Congoland, NP programmes of principle across 1914-1937, Carnegie Commission conference reports. Partial data
Afrikaner nationalist unity was a myth; the movement was riven by internecine power struggles (Hertzog, Strijdom, Roos, the OB). (p. 459) Private collections of Strijdom, Swart, Geyer, Weber, Hertzog and party minutes. Partial data
Malan's nationalism was shaped by his Dutch education, Valeton's ethical theology, German Idealism and Theal's history. (p. 71) Letters and diary from Utrecht years in DFM; Valeton lecture text; Malan's later speeches echoing it. Illustrative or anecdotal
Malan's brief anti-Semitism and rejection of Greyshirt cooperation were opportunistic, not attraction to Nazism; he consistently rejected totalitarianism. (p. 362) Erasmus–Laubscher letters drafted by Malan (INCH PV 27, Weichardt collection), Die Burger 1933, 1941 congress speech. Partial data
Malan defeated the OB and consolidated Afrikaner opposition in the HNP through party reorganisation and congress management in 1941-43. (p. 409) Geyer diary, Potgieter diary, congress minutes, DFM correspondence with Van Rensburg and Du Plessis. Partial data
Apartheid under Malan was haphazard and mostly negative; Malan lacked oversight of his Cabinet and judged policy by expenditure figures, ignoring contradictions with industrialisation. (p. 445) Weber and Geyer letters, Schoeman memoir, Malan's letters citing expenditure, survey of Hansard and DFM. Partial data
The 1948 Nationalist victory resulted from the constituency system despite a minority of votes, aided by a well-oiled party machine and a race-centred campaign. (p. 430) Hancock's vote figures, Coetzer's party histories, Malan's 1948 manifesto. Systematic data

The author's caveats

Author acknowledges the sources reflect Afrikaner nationalists' preoccupations: documents on Africans and African resistance are almost absent from the archives consulted, so they are excluded; private collections were prioritised over official party and government records; Malan's memoirs are vague and his M.A. thesis and many letters have not survived; dates on the Maria letters are inferred from postmarks; no evidence of the RSB could be found.

Gaps in the evidence

The study rests almost entirely on elite correspondence and Malan's own words, so claims about policy effects (African urbanisation, expenditure, implementation of apartheid) lack the government records, Native Affairs files, Cabinet minutes and statistical series that could test them. Census, labour and budget data were available at the time and in the Archives now and would allow checking Malan's claims on poor whites and expenditure. African, Coloured and opposition sources are absent, as are Cabinet records, limiting independent verification.

Replicability: Data described but not public.