The Pact Government

The Success of the Pact Government's First Term.

The Pact government came to power in 1924 with JBM Hertzog as the Prime Minister. The Pact government was an alliance between the Labour Party under Cresswell and the Nationalist Party under Hertzog. During their first Term of office, the Pact made significant developments and achieved most of their aims and can therefore be regarded as very successful.

On being elected the aims of the Pact Government were to stimulate the economy in all sectors, stimulate Afrikaans Nationalism, to greater independence for South Africa and to make South Africa safe for the white people.

In the area of economic development the Pact Government made a great contribution to the development of the Union. Most people working in the agricultural sector were Afrikaans and by putting effort into stimulating the sector, he also stimulated the advancement of the Afrikaans nation. An export marketing body was set up in order to extend the Market oversees. The "dumping" of products such as sugar and butter from other countries was prohibited and a Land Bank was introduced which provided loans with low interest rates for the farming community in order to help them in the drought situation. Water rates and State Assistance for irrigation schemes was overhauled and various control Boards established to regulate quotas and to fix prices to attempt to ensure that all farmers got a fair return for their products. The government's attempts to help the farmers were immensely successful and did help to alleviate many of the problems the farmers faced although the problems of Poor Whiteism and Black Labour were still prevalent. The stimulation of mining and industry helped to solve these.

Mining was already very prosperous and although the Pact Government were antagonistic towards the Gold Mine Owners because of their support for Smuts in the 1922 strike, the Government were sensible not to harm the industry and instead increased taxation on the enormous profits in order to finance other schemes especially in agriculture and industry. More Diamond and platinum reserves were uncovered to diversify the Gold Mining which had become a "wasting asset". The focus in the mining sector was the worker. Compensation for workers suffering from Phtithis and in 1926 the Colour Bar Act was introduced. This declared that a certificate of competence was required for the more skilled and better paid jobs on the mines. Africans and Asians were precluded from gaining these certificates. The higher Paid jobs were reserved for whites. These few developments in turn helped to solve the Black Labour and Poor White problems and was a reasonable success.

In the field of Industry was where the Pact Government made the most impact. From the outset a policy of "Civilised Labour" was implemented designed to protect the thousands of impoverished whites. A conscious policy was adopted thereafter to encourage the employment of whites in all economic spheres, both in the public and private sectors. A government subsidy was paid to those who employed the more expensive white labour. This was one of the government's ploys to cope with the poor white problem in the cities and a way of limiting Asian and African aspirations, rendering them super-exploitable. Cresswell boasted that in just one year he found jobs for 12000 whites. In 1925 the wage act was introduced where a wage board set the minimum wages for the unskilled labourer. Wages for White workers were higher than those for non-white. The 1927 Old Age Pension Act was also introduced giving security to only white workers. This was extremely beneficial for the White Worker. The Customs Tarrifs and Excise Duties Act was introduced in 1925 where heavy duties were placed on imported manufactured goods therefore encouraging people to buy cheaper local goods. This resulted in many new factories being built and a huge rise in profits. In 1927 the proposition for the development of "Iscor" a Government owned Iron and Steel Corporation which went into operation in the 1930's was an important factor in South Africa's industrial development. More money was also spent on public projects and taxes were cut putting more money in the consumers pocket. The economic development of the Union was very Successful and finally the South African economy was Prospering. This was all due to