SOUTH AFRICA: The New Man Speaks

The new Prime Minister of South Africa, gimlet-eyed Johannes Gerhardus Strydom, 61, presented his first program to Parliament last week. It was pure Malanism. Strydom asked Parliament to reduce the authority of South Africa’s highest courts, which for three years have thwarted old Daniel Malan’s attempt to disenfranchise 50.000 Cape Colored (mixed blood) voters. He was less extreme than his enemies had feared (he did not yet demand, for example, that South Africa sever ties with Britain), a fact which gave his program almost the appearance of moderation. But moderation, Strydom style, includes recommending legislation which would:

¶ Require non-white servants to leave white-populated areas each night; ¶ Outlaw labor unions with mixed white and non-white membership; ¶ Give police the right to attend private meetings of more than three persons, for purposes of political investigation.