Last Bastion

By democratic process, the Union of South Africa last week became a state headed for authoritarianism. In a final debate the Senate voted itself into helplessness, leaving legislative and administrative power securely in the hands of a fanatical Nationalist Party committed to disenfranchise all citizens of mixed blood.

Democracy has always been rather shallowly rooted in South Africa, but one of its bastions was the Senate, a review body with power to bring about a joint session of Parliament to reconsider bills deemed by the Senators to be unwise. For four years the Senate held out against Nationalist attack. But the Nationalists of tough, gimlet-eyed Prime Minister Johannes Gerhardus Strydom, in control of the Assembly, were able to enlarge and pack the Senate with their nominees and rob the review chamber of its powers.

In a last-minute effort to fight the bill, United Party Opposition Leader Strauss tried to win support among more moderate Nationalists by declaring that if his party should get power again, he would not guarantee to restore the vote to colored citizens. The announcement merely split his own party. Quietly and remorsefully the Senate debated its own death sentence. One by one Senators rose to make their last speeches. Natal's Edward Brown seemed near to tears as he spoke his own political requiem: "This is a rape of the constitution. The country is at the mercy of the Nationalist Cabinet. It's no longer Volkswil [i.e., the will of the people] but Natswil." Then, slumping back into his seat, he said: "This is the last speech I shall make until the country returns to democracy."

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