Malan, Daniël François

Malan, Daniël François (b. 22 May 1874, d. 7 Feb. 1959). Prime Minister of South Africa 1948–54 Born in Allesverloren (near Riebeek West), he obtained a doctorate in divinity from the University of Utrecht (the Netherlands) in 1905, whereupon he returned to South Africa to become a minister for the Dutch Reformed Church in 1905, subsequently engaging in the struggle for the official recognition of Afrikaans as a written language. As a supporter of Hertzog, he was appointed editor of the National Party (NP) newspaper De Burger in Cape Town (1915–23), and entered Parliament for the NP in 1919. He was made Minister of Internal Affairs, of Education, and of Public Health in 1924, and became a champion of Afrikaner identity through his bills granting the Afrikaans language official status and his skilful negotiations to adopt a new flag. He opposed the NP's fusion with Smuts's South African Party in 1934, founding the Gesuiwerde Nasionale Party (Purified National Party) instead. He became leader of a reunited NP in 1940. Despite subsequent competition from the right, he managed to unite Afrikaner nationalism behind the NP, which enabled him to win the elections of 1948. Malan's attempt to incorporate South-West Africa (Namibia) into South Africa failed due to the resistance of the UK and the UN. However, he successfully strengthened the system of apartheid through the 1950 Population Registration Act, requiring everyone over 16 to be registered as White, Coloured, Black, or Asiatic, and be issued with separate identity cards. Marriage between Whites and non-Whites was outlawed, and people of mixed race (Coloureds) were denied the vote.