Pact Government The Six Aims example essay topic

Basic Outline Notes: Pact Government - The six aims and how Hertzog achieved them Background: Pact consisted of two parties', the Labour Party ruled by Creswell and the National Party (NP) ruled by Hertzog. Hertzog and the NP was the senior member in Pact. Pact gained support from the Afrikaner farmers, small white business owners, Afrikaner intellectuals and working class Afrikaners. Pact was strongly opposed to Smuts and the SAP, who looked after the mine owners, and supported British Imperialism.

Pact rather looked after the white worker, who was the majority of the voting population. The main reason why pact won the 1924 election was because of their wide white worker support. Pact was interested in expanding the economy and looking after the white working class, Pact then introduced six aims to enforce these ideals. The Six Aims The Economic Aims: O Protect the white working class: Introduced the civilized Labour Policy; which was meant to benefit the white workers at the expense of black workers. Thousands of blacks employed in the state sector lost their jobs, and were replaced by 'poor' whites at civilized rates of pay. These were rates paid to persons who would maintain a tolerable standard of life.

Wage act; the wage board set a minimum wage for all workers, which would encourage the mine owners to employ more whites, as the blacks weren't as cheap anymore O Diversify the economy: Create Secondary industries; South Africa was too reliant on Gold, so Hertzog decided to concentrate on secondary industries. Focus more on manufacturing our own goods and exporting it for more money than raw materials. O Promote Agriculture: Pact recognized that white farmers practiced poor methods of farming. Thus government provided large scale credit to farmers, and provided them with seed and equipment. Irrigation schemes were developed, and in 1925 the Hartebeespoort Dam was opened. The Land Bank gave low interest loans to farmers, commercial farming saw a great boost in South Africa. S. A First: O Foster Afrikaner Nationalism: South Africa got her own flag in 1928, the Union Jack was no longer used.

Afrikaans replaced Dutch as the official language in South Africa. O Weaken the Imperial Link Pact wanted South Africa to grow towards a Republic, and in order to do that the ties with Britain should be defined and weakened. Discriminatory Policies: O The Native Bills; 1. Remove Africans in the Cape from the common voters roll 2. Establish a native representative council 3.

Add slightly more land to the reserves 4. Confirm and extend franchise rights of coloured men.