In a silver & gold Johannesburg hotel room one day last week, ex-Royal Air Force Ace Adolph Gysbert ("Sailor") Malan, 40, presided over the first National Congress of his newly formed War Veterans Action Movement. On the wall behind him hung a tiny stucco dancing girl; in front sat 85 sturdy ex-servicemen, ranging from white-mustached former brasshats to fresh-faced youths.
The delegates represented some half-million supporters in all parts of South Africa, roused to resistance against the increasingly severe racial segregation policies of 77-year-old Prime Minister Daniel Malan,*a distant cousin of handsome, pipe-smoking Sailor Malan.
Last week the veterans quickly buckled...