Politieke woelinge in Natal 1910 - 1915

English: British Natal, clinging desperately to her socalIed "picturesque individuality" and British identity, entered Union in 1910 with strong indications of reluctance. Fearing that her very existenoe might be endangered in a political union with the Afrikaners of all four provinces, she allowed her politics to be dictated by her Britishness and her imperial passions South Africa as the home of a new-born nation entered into her frame of mind only in so far as it was seen as an extension of the Empire, in body and spirit. This attitude already became evident at the time of the National-Convention and was further stressed by Natal the only of the former British colonies having to put the question of entering Union to the vote in a referendum. Although the outcome was overwhelmingly in favour of Union, there remained a vociferous minority unreconciled to the new political developments. To safeguard their Britishness in the Union the Natalians demanded a bestmen form of government in 1910, for in that way alone would they secure for themselves and their compatriots in the other provinces political co-partnership with the numerically stronger Afrikaners. The rejection of their demands, together with their political inexperience, made them reluctant to join the political parties formed outside Natal. along rather foolishly. Consequently they bungled Neither Natal's 17 Members of Parliament, nor her lively Press, could succeed in creating some kind of local party political unity, for they failed to salvage themselves from the ranks of the Bothaists, Unionists, Independents and Labourites all of whom received a measure of support. To these four was added a fifth group with the formation of the Federal League in 1913, the outward expression of a desire to secede that was to haunt Natal politics until the early sixties. Instigated by newspapers like The Natal Witness and The Natal Advertiser they compensated for their political incapacity by a malicious campaign against the Afrikaners, whom they regarded as backward and whose language and culture they despised. In Gen. J.B.M. Hertzog they recognised the living symbol of all that they found hateful in the Afrikaner: his strong-minded insistence on maintaining and developing his own heritage, rather than to submit to the all-powerful British culture. On him and "Hertzogism" they vented their wrath in an attempt to destroy both. However, their attack had the opposite result, for Hertzog enjoyed strong support among the Natal Afrikaners. Even leading personalities, like Adv. E.G. Jansen, an enthusiastic supporter of the co-mingling of Afrikaner and Englishman, revolted under the constant attack and became an upholder of the Hertzog faith. Together with men like J.J. Muller and Adrian I.J. Nel he helped in hoisting the standard of the National Party in Natal, thereby firing the first shots in the erupting battle between Afrikaner nationalism and British imperialism. Present in embryo form at the time of Union, this struggle became vicious at the outbreak of the Great War. While the Afrikaner minority remained divided in its loyalty to Gens. Louis Botha and Hertzog, the English majority of Natal found itself for the first time since .Union forged into an imperial partnership that scored a resounding victory at the polls in 1915. Thus the first trial of strength between the two different brands of nationalism, as represented by Afrikaner and Britisher, ended in a defeat of the former. But the struggle was to continue. While Englishman and Afrikaner were having their tug-of-war, the Blacks were sitting on the sideline; for, although the two White sections were furiously fighting for political mastery among themselves, they were heartily in agreement that White supremacy was to be maintained at all cost. Neither of the two had any love for their Black neighbour.