the Great Depression, 1936

Hello, I am Prime Minister J.B.M. Hertzog, and although, people say I have brought the economy into a “Great Depression”, I have been reelected due to my support of Afrikaner supremacy and Afrikaner ideologies. The only reason some people question my reelection is because of the economic state South Africa is in, but I feel it is just a minor obstacle in the road to creating a powerful nation. To all of those who are in question in whether I should remain in power or not, I have decided to acquire my former rival, Jan Smuts, to be my deputy Prime Minister. Together we will for a new party called the United Party. With Smuts, I feel that the unbalanced economic problem can be fixed with ease. Because Smuts and I are two very different people, both of our ideas combined will not only restore the economy, but I feel that our ideas will greatly enhance the South African Economy as well.

First, I would like to discuss to you why the economy fell apart in the first place, so all of my viewers will have a better idea on the issue. I should not be taking the blame for this minor economic collapse because world trade slumped, so demand for South African goods decreased. Therefore, it is much tougher to export goods from South Africa to other nations right now. This also destroyed the Afrikaner rural farmers, which had effect on the economy because the lack of crops and farming goods able to be sold or exported caused a large portion of the agricultural industry to result in the inability to pay mortgages on their over-capitalized farms. People suggest that my unfair taxation could be one reason for the economic downfall, but our government’s reason for raising the prices of taxes is because in a few years there will be enough money to completely restore the economy and build off of the restored economy thanks to my deputy Prime Minister Jan Smuts. He has a brilliant plan to display a mock budget to the public showing how floating the South African pound and removing it from the Gold standard, making exports more attractive to other nations, can uplift the economic problem. Many people question the command of Smuts because he does favor the British mining labor owners.

Another problem that has arisen to the public is the disease that has struck mines in South Africa, which has led to quite a few deaths. Citizens of Sought Africa are placing the blame on me as well as questioning my decision in putting Smuts in command, so another party called the Purified National Party was recently formed, led by D.F. Malan. As of now, many people are in support of this new National Party, but I know that Smuts, the rest of my newly formed United Party, and I will prevail over the Purified National Party. The fact of the matter is that the United Party has a functional economic plan that will do more than restore the economy, and the political control of two experienced, intelligent leaders will clearly succeed over one man who has never even been a Prime Minister yet. The only reason why Malan has an advantage over our United Party is because ardent Afrikaner nationalists are dissatisfied with our inability to further promote Afrikaner nationalism, which I believe is ridiculous because we clearly have put Afrikaner superiority over anything else in South Africa. It is just that the Purified National Party is willing to create rules that will entirely separate White, Christian Afrikaners from any other race or religion in South Africa.




-J.B.M. Hertzog, September 4th, 1936