Evening star., 1952-04-21
Explosive South Africa

The Nationalist government of Prime Min
lister Daniel F. Malan continues to play with fire
in the Union of South Africa In adhering to its
avowed resolve to make the country's supreme
court completely subordinate to Parliament it
has deepened constitutional crisis in which
racial, religious and political tensions seem to be
mounting to point where they could conceiv-
ably explode into civil disorders Of the gravest
sort.
This situation has been brought about by
the courts recent unanimous decision against
legislation aimed at placing additional restric-
tionS on the limited voting rights Of the coun-
try's "coloreds" In South Africas strict system
of racial segregation, the "coloreds"-as distinct
from the millions of native Negroes who have
no franchise at all-are half-caste people and
Asiatics, the latter being made up chiefly of
Indians. What the court has ruled is that the
measure passed against this group is invalid
because Parliament backed it with only very
small majority, whereas the national constitu-
ton specifically requires that any such change
in the basic law must be approved by at least
two-thirds Of the members
Nevertheless, although the legal validity Of
this ruling is beyond challenge the Malan gov
ernment has boldly pushed forward with an
effort to enact new legislation designed D to
wipe out the invalidating decision and (2) to
reduce the supreme court to position in which
it could no longer review or rule out any OF
Parliament's acts Since Dr. Malan and his
Nationalist Party control majority OF few
seats, they have the strength to pass such a law.
However because they win be far short OF meet
ing the requirement Of two-thirdS vote OF
approval, the court presumably will declare the
measure unconstitutional when and If adopted.
Thus, in this executive judiciary struggle, the
outlook promises little more than continuing
impasse, though Dr. Malan has pledged that
national elections viii be held year from now
and that he will abide by whatever judgment
the voters then pass upon his policy.
The impaSse is all the more difficult to break
because the opposition groups in the minority
white population are powerful and determined.
Made up of the United Party, the Liberals and
o militant organization of war veterans called
the Torch Commando, they have formed COM
mon front for an all-out parliamentary battle.
They are not fighting against segregation itself
(they favor 1t in one form or another). The
thing they are fighting against is what they
regard as a "Hitlerite' grab for power on the
part Of the Malan government, their fear being
that that government wants to faSten single
party control on South Africa. Quite obviously,
unless one side or the other gives in or unless
new national elections can settle the issue
amicably this.is situation that can lead to the
bitterest kind Of national division and strife.
It is a situation, moreover, that the whites
even as they oppose each other-must view as q
menace to the highly privileged position they
have long enjoyed After all, they number only
2500O 900 in country Of II 100000. The remainder
of the population, which includes some. 1000 600