Hello Hivers and Book Clubbers,
Back again with a new book review. Although the book isn't quite that new, which often is the case with my reviews. The book I'm writing about today is simply titled 'Hofmeyr', written by Alan Paton. The book itself, first published in 1964, seems to have fallen out of print. I stumbled upon an PDF-version scouring the Internet for another book, and ended up adding this one to my reading list. The book is originally written in English, and amounts about 550 pages of story. It is thus somewhat lengthy, but the tempo is quite decent.
Boy genius between two worlds
The book is a biography of Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr (1894-1948), and it adheres to a strict chronological order. So the story starts in 1894, with Hofmeyr's birth in Cape Town. A somewhat sickly child, he pulled through and quickly turned out to be an absolute genius.
I personally feel like the term 'gifted' or 'genius' gets thrown around way too easily these days, but it seems warranted that Paton used it for Hofmeyr: he graduated from the South African equivalent of High School at age 13 (!), and started his first university courses at that age. He got his first degree at age 16, and received a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford. His mother, who ended up raising him alone since the father had died at age 3, considered him too young, and he ended up going at age 18 to Balliol at Oxford. He studied a variety of subjects, but mostly Classics.
I used the term 'between two worlds' as the subtitle in reference to the two language and ethnic groups of white South Africa; the English and the Afrikaners. As the last name suggests, Hofmeyr was an Afrikaner; a descendent of the first settlers of the Cape and its environments from 1652 onwards. A lot of Afrikaners in the Cape, however, were quite Anglicized in the late 19th century.
The British had ruled the Cape Colony since the fall of Napoleon in 1815, and their English-language administration and schools were having its effects on Cape Town especially. Hofmeyr ended up being truly bilingual, with perhaps a slight preference for English. This ended up estranging him from many Afrikaners, which would colour his later political career.
Principal, Administrator, Politician
He would break some more 'youngest ever' records in South Africa: he would end up as principal of the South African School of Mines (later the Witwatersrand University) at Johannesburg in 1919, at age 25.
His career in Academics would be somewhat short, however, also due to the tough internal politics of the School of Mines. He was often courted by both political parties of South Africa, the South African Party (SAP) and National Party (NP). He would say 'no' to both for some years, even though he was quite outspoken on political issues.
He would start his career in politics by becoming Administrator of the Transvaal Province in 1924, at age 30. The job of Administrator could be compared somewhat with that of United States Governor, though one did not have to be affiliated with party politics in South Africa at the time. This was perfect for Hofmeyr, who was unwilling to commit to either party at the time, though he leaned towards Smuts' United Party.
Political administration turned out to be one of his many talents; througout the entire book he is described as a hard worker, and very knowledgeable in his field. Though the pull of politics would not leave him alone: being appointed by Smuts and the SAP in 1924, he would end up having to serve the National Party that same year, when they, led by Hertzog, would win the election.
Here his conciliary approach between English-speakers and Afrikaans-speakers would be scrutinized quite often by the National Party, who always advocated the Afrikaans-speaking option whenever possible. Hofmeyr's leaning towards the SAP soon became reality when the two parties fused in 1931.
Smuts's right hand man
South African Fusion is such a remarkable event in politics. The two main political parties of South Africa, in a time of economic crisis and societal discord, end up blending together into one. Hofmeyr was a proponent of this, once again in line with his own bi-lingual past and outlook.
Of course there were people who disagreed, both on the English and Afrikaner side. Colonel Stallard would split from this United Party (UP) by forming the Dominion Party (A reference to South Africa being a British Dominion). D.F. Malan, Afrikaner Vicar turned politician and editor, would split with the UP, once again forming a new National Party (NP).
Hofmeyr would end up as a minister in this newly-formed UP; he would first hold the ministry of Internal Affairs, Health and Education. Yes, these three departments were just one ministry. The balancing act of keeping this United Party together would last for six years. In 1939 World War II would change things.
Worked to death
WWII would split the United Party, mostly across ethnic lines. Smuts saw it as South Africa's duty to declare war on Germany along with the British. Most Afrikaners disagreed; Malan and the NP were advocates of neutrality. So, it turned out, was ex-Nationalist Hertzog and many Afrikaners within the UP. The Volksraad (parliament) ended up declaring war by a majority of 13. Because of this, Prime Minister Hertzog resigned, and Smuts became Prime Minister.
Hofmeyr would be made Minister of Finance, a job he did not like, but he did it out of a sense of duty. He also ended up as acting Prime Minister on six separate occations, when Smuts was out of the country, which was quite often. He also filled in when other minsters were ill or otherwise indisposed.
Hofmeyr's health, never really great, started to suffer under the strain of his work, but he considered it his duty to carry on. This also continued once the war ended. He would end up having no ministry in 1948, but not because he stepped down; it was taken from him.
In 1948 the impossible seemed to have happened: the NP had won an outright majority, and Smuts and the UP were defeated. Hofmeyr ended up in the opposition. This seemed to lighten his work-load, yet he immediately tried to fill it with writing editiorals and wanting to start an Afrikaans-language newspaper.
It was not to be: he suffered a heart attack late in 1948, and his chronic kidney issues did not help. On the 3rd of december 1948, he died at the quite young age of 54. Ostensibly the heir of Jan Smuts, Smuts would survive him by four years. His mother, age 85, would survive him also, and would blame Smuts for basically working him to death. Reading the biography, there is a kernel of truth to this assertion.
Conclusion
If you want to get to know more about South African politics, this is a great book for you. Paton knew Hofmeyr personally, and many of his sources are things people around him told him in person as well. Because of this, the book is not overly academic, though it also cites a lot of parliamentary debates when relevant.
As mentioned, this one can be downloaded from the internet; I was not able to find a physical copy of it on any of the big booksellers in the Netherlands. Always a shame when good books go out of print. There's a lot of garbage that is not out of print, unfortunately.
I'll be back in the future with more reviews. I'll see you all then.
-Pieter Nijmeijer
(Top image taken from https://kaiserreich.fandom.com/wiki/Jan_Hendrik_Hofmeyr)
A very interesting review! I would agree too from the little that I've read that Hofmeyr's bad health and death stemmed from his numerous duties and responsibilities to the Smuts. I'm in awe that he got his first degree at 16! This biography is worth reading. Thanks for sharing.
!PIZZA 🙂
$PIZZA slices delivered:
@kemmyb(2/5) tipped @pieternijmeijer
Very interesting review, thanks!