(New) Under Smuts's Rule - Bongani Ngqulunga
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Description
'Under Smuts’s Rule: Jan Smuts and His Impact on Black South Africans' by Bongani Ngqulunga is a historical study of the political decisions and policies of Jan Christiaan Smuts (1870–1950), examining their consequences for black South Africans. The book traces Smuts’s involvement in the 1902 Treaty of Vereeniging and the negotiations that led to the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, before examining his policies as a government minister and during his two periods as prime minister, from 1919 to 1924 and from 1939 to 1948. Drawing on letters, speeches and historical documents, Ngqulunga investigates Smuts’s views on political representation, segregation and the suppression of dissent. He also considers the perspectives of black South African leaders, including Sol Plaatje, John Dube, D.D.T. Jabavu, Z.K. Matthews and A.B. Xuma, as well as later figures such as Albert Luthuli and Nelson Mandela. The study follows the development of Smuts’s thinking and his eventual recognition that segregation had failed, while examining why the reforms introduced during the 1940s proved insufficient to prevent the expansion of racial discrimination under the National Party after 1948. Offering a critical reassessment of a statesman often celebrated for his international standing, the book explores the gap between Smuts’s global reputation and the realities experienced by black South Africans under his political leadership.
Condition
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Filed under: (Auto-)biographies, South African History