THE SENATE FARCE
STANLEY UYS
Political Correspondent of the 'Sunday Times'
N o t o u r of the Houses of Parliament is c o m p l e t e without a visit to t h e famous enlarged Senate. T h e guide escourts his party to the public gallery and they peep d o w n into the C h a m b e r . He explains that t h e r e has been a big change. In the old Senate—the one w h i c h expired w i t h the passing of the Senate Act in 19s$—the 30 G o v e r n m e n t M e m b e r s used to sit on one side and t h e 18 Opposition M e m b e r s on the o t h e r . N o w the G o v e r n m e n t has 78 M e m b e r s , and they stretch up o n e length of t h e C h a m b e r and d o w n the o t h e r , leaving only a tiny c o r n e r on the P r e s i d e n t ' s left for t h e r e m n a n t s of t h e Opposition—-12 men clinging o n valiantly, like the man in the cartoon dangling over a precipice and clutching at a stem of edelweiss.
The first m e e t i n g of t h e enlarged Senate in January, 1 9 c6 was a gala occasion. O n e of the n e w c o m e r s was Senator Louis W e i c h a r d t , former leader of the Greyshirt m o v e m e n t in South Africa. " T h e G r e y s h i r t s , " he explained, " w e r e liquidated for something far superior to take their p l a c e . " This t r i b u t e , presumably, was directed at the Nationalist Party of which he had n o w b e c o m e a respected spokesman. A n o t h e r n e w c o m e r was Senator Jan G r o b l e r , o n e - t i m e m e m b e r of the Nazi-type
" N e w O r d e r , " started d u r i n g the war years by Oswald Pi row ( n o w prosecuting in the treason trial).
Of almost every enlarged Senator it could be said, " t h e r e b y hangs a t a l e " : Senator H . A. de Ridder, n o t o r i o u s for his anti- Semitism; Senator J. J. M c C o r d , English in name only and a u t h o r of " T h e South African S t r u g g l e , " sometimes distributed free to visiting n e w s p a p e r m e n to give t h e m a p r o p e r perspective of South African h i s t o r y ; M r s . Mathilda Koster, t h e Nationalist Party's only w o m a n parliamentarian—a solitary and reluctant concession t o t h e emancipation of w o m e n ; " M u s s o l i n i " van W y k , e t c . . .
T h e enlarged Senate costs £ 2 2 0 , 0 0 0 a year. At the Inst full- lenoth session (lasting nearly six m o n t h s ) , 4 Government Senators made no speeches at all, 7 made only one speech each, and 8 made only 2 speeches each. O n e Senator, beginning ''I would like to congratulate the Minister . . . " , spoke about 600 words in 7 minutes, and nothing else for the rest ot the
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A F R I C A S O U T HI)
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session. He could calculate his emoluments at £3 the spoken word, or £2 8 c the speaking minute. Commenting 011 an in- crease of £400 in the free trunk-line telephone calls made by Senators, the 'Cape Times' said: "This raises the query whether some Senators perhaps talk more on the long-distance telephone than they do on the floor of the H o u s e / '
In January this year, at the start of the Senate session, Senator J. M. Conradie, the United Party leader, moved: "That this House is of opinion that the Senate Act, 19 cc, be repealed and a new Senate constituted on a recommendation to be made by a Speaker's conference."
The motion crystallised the feelings oi the entire Opposition, and of many Nationalists too. Introducing the motion, Senator Conradie quoted ' D a w i e \ the political columnist of the Nationalist newspaper, 'Die Burger': " N o one is in love with the Senate Act. Clearly, it is abnormal machinery necessitated by an abnormal situation. When the deadlock has been resolved, naturally, it will be possible to return to normality." That was written in 19^c. In September, 19^8, 'Dawie' was still writing: " I t is no secret that, although I am a friend of various Senators, I am no friend of the Senate in its present form. As far as I am concerned, the sooner it can be reconstituted, the better.
Not only 'Dawie,' but Nationalist M.P.s too, have sniped at the Senate. At a meeting of the Nationalist parliamentary caucus this year, the Government Leader in the Senate, Senator Jan de Klerk (Minister of Labour), protested that Government Members of the Assembly were referring to their brother- Nationalists in the LIpper House in "contemptuous" terms.
The reason for this friction is well-known: having achieved parliamentary status through the medium of the enlarged Senate, the Senators have been casting covetous eyes on the more treasured Assembly seats.
The debate on Senator Conradie's motion was illuminating.
Rejecting the motion, Senator de Klerk explained that the
Opposition had "compelled us to make use of this remedy for the
sake of the continued existence of a European civilisation, for
the sake of this great and holy calling of a nation." If any
change was necessary in the composition of the Senate, added
Senator de Klerk, the Government would effect it "in its own
time, in its own way and . . . when it may be considered
necessary."
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A F R I C A S O U T HEven m o r e illuminating, was the exchange b e t w e e n a Govern- m e n t Senator and Senator Leslie Rubin, o n e of the four Senators elected by Africans.
Senator R u b i n : " I am going-to tell this House what I know supporters of t h e G o v e r n m e n t are saying, and have been saying since 19CC. They say it even in this House, M r . President, quietly, over a cup of tea. W h a t they are saying broadly reflects an a t t i t u d e towards this C h a m b e r which varies from a feeling of uneasiness about it t o o n e of d o w n r i g h t shame . . . "
Senator J. I. de W e t : "Israel calls the h o n . S e n a t o r ! "
Senator R u b i n : . . . " t h e y have failed miserably to do their duty as m e m b e r s of the highest House in the l a n d . "
Senator de W e t : " M a y I ask the h o n . Senator a q u e s t i o n ? "
Senator R u b i n : " Y e s , M r . P r e s i d e n t . "
Senator de W e t : " C a n the hon. Senator tell this House how m u c h money he and his t h r e e colleagues here have made o u t of the Coloured r a c e s ? "
Senator R u b i n : " T h a t r e m a r k , Mr. President, will bear o u t something 1 have to say a little later about the degrading depths to w h i c h t h e standards of this House have been lowered since the Senate was e n l a r g e d . "
On a previous occasion, Senator Rubin had been the object of an adolescent Nationalist boycott because he had criticised certain m e m b e r s of the police force for their lawlessness.
A G o v e r n m e n t Senator, H. J. van Aarde, had reacted by calling upon the G o v e r n m e n t side to ignore Senator Rubin for t h e rest of t h e session. W h e n n e x t Senator Rubin stood up to speak, the G o v e r n m e n t Senators rose in a body and marched o u t , scowling and m u t t e r i n g . Senator Rubin brought t h e m hurrying back, red-faced and angry, by causing t h e q u o r u m bells to be r u n g . T h e farcical boycott collapsed.
Then it was D r . V e r w o e r d ' s t u r n t o r e n e w t h e b o y c o t t . H e was t h e n Minister of Native Affairs and G o v e r n m e n t Leader in the Senate. This boycott was sparked off by a r e m a r k of Senator R u b i n ' s that, although some G o v e r n m e n t Senators w e r e still walking o u t on h i m , he was pleased to see that D r . V e r w o e r d was n o t among t h e m . Flushed w i t h annoyance, Dr. V e r w o e r d e x c l a i m e d : " I f t h a t ' s your a t t i t u d e , I shall leave the C h a m b e r i m m e d i a t e l y . " And dutifully followed by a host of enlarged Senators, t h e future P r i m e Minister stalked out of the C h a m b e r . This b o y c o t t did not last long e i t h e r .
T h e passing of the Senate Act in 1 9 cc was a significant event in
the regime of t h e Nationalist Party. It m a r k e d the end of o n e chapter in the constitutional deadlock over t h e Coloured vote
(the Malan c h a p t e r ) , and t h e start of a n o t h e r c h a p t e r (the Strijdom c h a p t e r ) ,
Malan had t r i e d , from the t i m e of the Nationalist Party's accession to p o w e r in 1948, to secure the removal from t h e c o m m o n v o t e r s ' roll of t h e remaining handful of n o n ~ W h i t e s t - some 4 0 , 0 0 0 Coloureds of mixed descent living in the Cape
Province. T h e obstacle confronting Malan was t h e t w o - t h i r d s majority—of t h e Assembly and Senate sitting j o i n t l y — r e q u i r e d by the South Africa Act. Malan never o v e r c a m e this obstacle, and he w e n t o u t of politics leaving a legacy of failures in t h e ensuing constitutional struggle.
His Bill to r e m o v e Coloured voters from t h e roll, passed by an ordinary sitting of t h e Assembly with a simple majority, was ruled invalid by the Appeal C o u r t . So was the fanciful High C o u r t of Parliament Bill, designed to constitute Parliament as a c o u r t of appeal superior to the Appeal C o u r t (for t h e p u r p o s e of revalidating t h e C o l o u r e d vote Bill). Malan t h e n sought t h e help of Opposition M e m b e r s , b u t the South Africa Act Amend- ment Bill, to repeal t h e e n t r e n c h e d clause affecting voting rights and to validate the Coloured vote Bill, lapsed when t h e t w o - thirds majority was not forthcoming. Later, the Appellate Division Bill, to split t h e Appeal C o u r t into t w o , was w i t h d r a w n by Malan when the breakaway O p p o s i t i o n g r o u p , t h e Con- servative Party, failed to solicit sufficient votes among t h e Opposition for a two-thirds majority. Finally, in 1954, t h e Separate Representation of Voters Act Validation and Amend- m e n t Bill was defeated at a joint sitting, in spite of t h e e n e r g e t i c efforts of t h e Conservative Party to p r o c u r e the vital e x t r a votes.
O n this n o t e of failure, Malan resigned from the P r e m i e r s h i p . T h e significance of his m e t h o d s was that, as he blundered from failure to failure, he gradually abandoned t h e sledgehammer for c o m p r o m i s e .
M r . Strijdom's particular c o n t r i b u t i o n to t h e s e t t l e m e n t of the constitutional issue was to c u t t h e Gordian k n o t . He thereby performed t h e first wholly totalitarian act of t h e Nationalist regime. T h e Senate Act was n o t simply u n d e m o - c r a t i c : it was fantastically, brazenly so. It was m o r e an act of violence, a physical assault, than a legislative s t e p . Malan had retreated before this decision, but Strijdom had no qualms.
He enlarged the Senate to provide the r e q u i r e d two~thirds
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A F R I C A S O U T Hmajority; and, to be on the safe side, he thought, he also enlarged the Appeal Court. Strijdom's right-hand man in those days was Verwoerd.
When the Senate was constituted by the Act of Union in 1910, it was intended as a house of elders and review. Senators had to be at least 30 years of age, and elected (not nominated) Senators had to own immovable property in the Union worth
£5^00 over and above any special mortgage. Strijdom foresaw that these qualifications would prove restrictive and he abolished them. A wild scramble followed among Nationalist Party supporters for the Senatorships, and with 48 extra seats to dole out, the Nationalist Party, faithful to the spirit of the Senate Act, charged £20, win or lose, for anyone entering the Senator- ship stakes. Thus the enlargement of the Senate was not only politically profitable for the Nationalist Party: it was plain profitable!
Originally, the Senate consisted of 48 members : eight elected by each province, eight nominated by the Government, four elected by the Africans, and two elected and two nominated to represent South-West Africa. The election of the 32 Senators by the provinces was on a basis of a proportional representation.
When the Senate was enlarged from 48 to 90 Members, the system of proportional representation was also changed to one under which the majority party in a province took all the Senate seats for that province. By this "winner-take-all"
system, the Nationalist Party emerged with $j of the 6§ seats allocated to the provinces.
The present composition of the enlarged Senate is: Govern- ment-supporting Senators of various kinds, 7 8 ; United Party Senators, 8 ; Senators representing the Africans, 4.
One of the changes brought about by the Senate Act was to
double, from four to eight, the number of Senators nominated
by the Government to represent the non-Whites. The official
phrasing, taken from the Act of Union, was that they ' 'shall be
selected on the ground mainly of their thorough acquaintance,
by reason of their official experience or otherwise, with the
reasonable wants and wishes of the Coloured races in South
Africa" (by Coloured is meant non-White). Senator Rubin
took the trouble to examine the Hansard report of the last
Senate session (19 r8) to see how these four nominated Senators
had executed their duties. He found that one of them had not
spoken once during the session; and that two others had spoken
a number of times, but that neither took part in the debate on one of the most vital Bills, namely, the Bill to increase African taxation. Senator Rubin also found that two of the nominated Senators avoided speaking on another highly contentious measure, the Native Laws Amendment Bill.
"My point, Mr. President," said Senator Rubin, "quite simply is that Hansard shows quite clearly, certainly as far as that aspect of their work is concerned, that far from these three hon. Senators having done their work, they have failed miserably to do their duty as members of the highest House in the land."
It should also be noted that a Nationalist who stood as an apartheid candidate in the African elections to the Senate, and was defeated overwhelmingly, is today a Government nominated Senator—"representing" the non-Whites.
The enlarged Senate is Parliament's constant embarrassment.
Extra benches had to be fitted in the Senate Chamber, the dining room had to be enlarged, extra office accommodation had to be found in a building already bursting at the seams. Yet in their four years of office, the enlarged Senators have performed only two noteworthy functions: they provided the two-thirds majority required to give South Africa a pure-White voters' roll, and they helped to elect their former leader, Dr. Verwoerd, into the Premiership. Some say that the vote of the enlarged Senators was decisive in Dr. Verwoerd's election. Note- worthy, but not notable, functions.
The term of office of the enlarged Senate expires next year, and agitation for its reform is starting up again. Next year, too
?the four Senators representing Africans will be abolished under the mis-named "Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Bill."
This will reduce the Opposition in the Senate to eight—all United Party Senators from Natal.
The United Party, therefore, has a remedy in its hands. If the
Government fails to abolish the enlarged Senate next year, it
can walk out and leave this grotesque institution to the National-
ists. If it fails to do this, it will no longer have the moral right
to refer to the enlarged Senate as a farce, because it will have
become part of the farce itself.
