9. Jan Smuts, Albert Xuma, and the Struggle for Racial Equality in South Africa, 1939-1948

This chapter discusses the approach followed by Jan Smuts to address the ‘Native problem’ during his second premiership from 1939 to 1948. Rather than deal with the central issue of granting political rights to Africans, Smuts chose to improve social welfare services for Africans. This approach received criticism from the African Nationalist movement under Albert Xuma, which insisted on full citizenship rights for all South Africans. The assertive approach adopted by Xuma and other moderate leaders of the African National Congress (ANC) reflected the changing political sentiment inside the African Nationalist movement itself, brought about by an increasingly restive urban African working class, as well as the emergence of the Congress Youth League (CYL). Although it took almost five decades before the cause for racial equality was won, its seeds were planted in the 1940s during Smuts's second premiership. Smuts's steadfast refusal to take initial steps towards racial justice for black people remains a major blot in his outstanding career in public life.