Dan O’Meara’s Volkskapitalisme: Class, capital and ideology in the development of Afrikaner nationalism 1934-1948, first published in 1983, provides a fascinating insight into the thinking of Afrikaners when they were planning to rebuild themselves following defeat by the British in the Anglo-Boer War of 1899 to 1902. Having almost been decimated by the British, Afrikaners set upon the arduous task of making themselves relevant. Underlying all the problems that Afrikaners faced was their almost total exclusion from control in any sector of the economy except in agrarian agriculture. A mindset change amongst Afrikaner folk was, therefore, required.
The Broederbond, formed in May 1918 by four Afrikaner intellectuals H.W. van der Merwe, Rev. Jozua Naude, Henning J. Klopper and Daniel H.C. du Plessis, sought to change the fortunes of Afrikaners who were largely illiterate and spoke only their mother tongue by catapulting them into mainstream economic activities then controlled by English speaking whites. Therefore, the Broederbond was a policymaking and coordinating body. It determined fields of action and their parameters without itself directly implementing policy. This was left to the front organisations and individual members. Indeed, the Broederbond ran a well-oiled and expansive machinery.
Crimes against non-white groups aside under the policy of apartheid, vividly memorialised by amongst others Sol Plaatje’s Native Lives in South Africa, there are interesting lessons to be observed in relation to our Reset Agenda. Even the African National Congress’ Youth League in a May 2007 policy paper to its mother body titled Perspectives from The ANC Youth League Policy Dialogue called for a “black Broederbond” to advance the interests of Black Africans in acknowledgement of the successes that Afrikaners had achieved under their own programme.
Thus, O’Meara informs us, that in the 1930s came what was to be known as Volkskapitalisme or “People’s Capitalism” driven primarily by the Broederbond and Sanlam “which sought to benefit every single member of the volk” through the mobilisation of Afrikaner capital power (Kapitaalkrag) and other resources. Let us keep in mind that the five pillars of the Botswana’s Reset Agenda are (a) Saving the nation from COVID-19, (b) Reforming the public service, (c) Accelerating digitalisation, (d) Value chain development and (e) Mindset change. The similarities with what the Broederbond was grappling with are stark.
Following defeat of the Boer republics in 1902, northern agriculture in South Africa underwent a process of transition to capitalist agriculture. The Broederbond strove to break the economic dependence of the lower middle class on other classes and burst open the doors of economic advance now barred to them by the use of their mother-tongue. This proletarianised many white farmers on the one hand and saw the gradual emergence of a class of capitalist farmers on the other. According to O’Meara, Afrikaner farmers had to be weaned from the hoary myth that “the Afrikaner is no businessman and could accomplish nothing in the business world.” This script is familiar here.
Of all the Broederbond’s activities over 90 years ago, the economic movement had the greatest significance. But this was easier said than done. The mobilisation of Afrikaners was fine in theory and made a lot of sense but the difficult part was precisely the mobilisation of such financial capital. That is why for the Afrikaner, the reawakening really took off with the intervention of Sanlam which sought to secure a market for itself by partnering with the Broederbond as the latter had cemented itself in all aspects of Afrikaner life. The Sanlam-Broederbond collaboration began in 1937, when the enactment of the Marketing Act sought to make available potentially large sums of latent-capital in agriculture to be centralised in credit institutions.
Sanlam exploited this development “eager for expansion out of the narrow field of insurance.” In the Ekonomiese Volkskongress of 1938 held on the 100-year anniversary of the Great Trek the strategy was “to transform the position of the Afrikaner petty bourgeoisie within South African capitalism. Therefore, this was elevated to the status of a great national movement under the joint direction of the Broederbond and Sanlam.
One of the proponents of Volkskapitalisme from Sanlam recognised that “this involved three sorts of changes. Given the widespread belief that the ‘Afrikaner can never be a businessman,’ it required a major ideological offensive- a ‘transformation of economic consciousness’… Secondly, alongside the gathering ideological offensive in the 1940s, there developed a complex organisational structure to direct and mobilise all classes of the volk for the economic struggle…Thirdly, and finally, the mobilisation of capital required the establishment of new forms of credit institutions” per O’Meara.
A shibboleth of Volkskapitalisme is that it was clearly a long-term programme, not one done in fits and starts or tied to an individual and thus bound to disappear once he or she is out of the way. Presidents have come and gone with their personal blueprints for the country and therein lies the risk. The clearly inspired Reset Agenda seems to be inextricably linked to His Excellency the President Dr. Mokgweetsi E.K Masisi because it is always referred to as “The President’s Reset Agenda/Lenaneo la ga Tautona la Tlhomo Ntsha” in news bulletins and other fora which consequently undermines its positioning as national policy. The Reset Agenda must become national policy and outlive for the foreseeable future the current and successive Governments. This will provide sufficient time for the creation as well as rooting of an officially defined culture that is free of negative thoughts about the self and others.
Afrikaner economic consciousness was transformed not simply by intellectuals elaborating new economic ideas but through directly involving Afrikaans speakers of all classes in various types of new organisation where their daily lives and activities were structured by such fresh values. Only through organisation could the ideals and schemes of the Broederbond intellectuals become embedded in a transformed popular consciousness. In this, the Broederbond played a critical role. Its major tasks were to make Afrikaans-speakers ‘economically conscious’ predicated on a vigorous cultural and ideological offensive.
O’Meara says “certainly, its activities were wide-ranging and affected all classes. Emphasis was placed on cultural activities. They organised traditional dances, plays, concerts, and art contests. They set up travelling libraries, handicraft schools, discussion groups etcetera. Through the reddingsdaadbeweging or RDB, as the economic movement was known, a cultural mesh was woven around the local Afrikaner community in which all cultural activities were controlled by the RDB, and all were encouraged to take an active part in such activities. At a national level, a film division produced films with ‘Afrikaner themes’ and organised film competitions. A number of ‘national’ home-made games such as Slagveld (battlefield)- a variation of snakes and ladders, were developed and sold.”
These efforts to involve the volk in the economic movement went beyond cultural activities. The Broederbond simultaneously combined the intense cultural mobilisation of Afrikaans speakers of all classes with various activities catering directly for their economic interests through affordable assurance policies underwritten by Sanlam, burial schemes, loans for further studies, secretarial training schemes and a vocational guidance centre.
The Reset Agenda has similar echoes but, in this case, an easier one of pulling upwards a diverse group of Batswana, from an ethno-linguistic point of view but fortunately anchored in Setswana and English as linguae francae, which have helped make the nation an organic unity. Commendable current developments indicate that Government policy towards various matters has become pragmatic in conception thus providing fertile ground to yoke the energy of Batswana towards success with the only requirement for this being unity.
So, even in respect of the Reset Agenda, a cultural and ideological knot must be weaved around the nation coordinated by the Vision 2036 Council. Vision 2036 is anchored on the five national principles of Democracy, Development, Self-Reliance, Unity and Botho which seem to have been on a hiatus. According to its booklet, “effective mechanisms to drive, coordinate and monitor implementation across a wide range of stakeholders” will be implemented supported by a communication strategy to “inspire citizens’ attitudes and mindsets to be in line with the vision.” The nation is yet to be favoured with this programme of action but what is clear is that this is not a part time job. It is ad vitam or at the very least, generational. Vision 2016, despite repeated mention of its pillars in speeches, publications and elsewhere since it was launched by former President Sir Ketumile Masire in 1996 appears not to have met its objectives because it lacked actual, consistent programme of activities to entrench them into the cultural brickwork of Botswana and improve it as desired.
Even though the Reset Agenda seems only to be apotheosized in Presidential and other addresses, it does not contradict Vision 2036. Therefore, it might well be embedded into Vision 2036 by updating the policy document. Vision 2036 is critical for answering the economic, social and political questions of the day to prepare the nation for the future. An Ipelegeng worker, for example, should be able to understand what the Reset Agenda is and live it.
There should be a clear programme of action to embed it through societies, Business Botswana, kgotla meetings, farmers associations, school curricula including radio and television lessons, village development committees, churches, cultural activities and games with the innovative Motswedi Board Game by local entrepreneurs coming to mind, official Government activities, in the private and parastatal sectors, through television/radio programmes and dramas, national events, social and traditional media campaigns etcetera. The aim is to direct Batswana in the Reset Agenda movement through cultural and other activities as well as to educate and guide the business community thus shaping and forming their interests persuading all groups in the process that their commonalities can only be realised within the framework of the country. By the way, the current school curricula is overly theoretical and not fit to help advance the Reset Agenda. It has reached its sell by date.
The Vision 2036 Council must also develop core messages on the Reset Agenda around which various stakeholders can build their own or be guided by. In all attempts to transform the consciousness of Batswana and to forge unity, they must occupy a key position. The cultural and ideological mobilisation of Batswana is a conditio sine qua non to the success of the Reset Agenda. There should be a laid down general direction for coordinated, organised action to embed it in society and ensure long term ideological cohesion.
Lastly, the overarching message the Broederbond teaches us is that the transformation of any nation is wrought not by simple ideological exhortation but through an extensive network of cross-cutting organisations which come to structure the everyday activities of very large numbers of people. As a result of this approach, the spirit of the Broederbond extensively percolated into commercial thinking and popular consciousness of Afrikaners to actualise the required mindset change. For our part, there seems to be more yet to be done.
*These are personal views.
