The Oubaas (Old Master) was 80 last week. Nothing showed Jan Christian Smuts's continued influence more vividly than the way his enemies tried to spoil the party. But not even his former pupil and now bitterest rival, Premier Daniel Malan, could prevent Smuts's having the most rousing reception of a long life.
Abroad, Smuts is considered a great world statesman. At home, where Malan edged him from office by a narrow margin in 1948, Smuts is a politician who stands for internationalism and relative liberalism on the race question, while Malan's nationalism and increasingly stern apartheid (race segregation) bring tension...
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