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- This page refers to the Afrikanerbond or Afrikaner Broederbond''. For the political party formed in 1881 by Rev S.J. du Toit, see Afrikander Bond. There is a publishing company in Europe called Broederbond but it has absolutely nothing to do with the secret society described here).
The Afrikanerbond or, as it has been known throughout most of its history, the Afrikaner Broederbond (or simply Die Broederbond), is a fraternal organization dedicated to the promotion of the interests of Afrikaners. The society was active during the rise to power of the Afrikaner nationalists and during the apartheid years most government ministers and many influential Afrikaner churchmen, academics, professionals, military officers and policemen were members of this very successful and tightly-knit secret society ). It was often alleged and always denied that the important decisions of the South African State in those years were mandated by the then very secretive Broederbond. The organization has in modern times opened itself to public scrutiny and little resembles the omnipotent "hidden hand" of the middle years of the 20th Century. In its heyday, the Broederbond was one of the most watertight and successful secret societies in history. Infiltration by outsiders was insignificant.
History
The creation of the Broederbond was an important development in the history of the Afrikaners, of the National Party and of South Africa in general. Roughly translated from Afrikaans, the group's official name, "Afrikaner Broederbond", is "league of Afrikaner brothers" or "Afrikaner brotherhood". The origins of the group lay in the defeat of the Boers by Britain in the Second Boer War, during the earliest years of the century. Influential and far-sighted Afrikaner leaders, while conceding that they had lost the war, were certain that they could win the peace. The Broederbond was created in 1918 by a group of disaffected Afrikaners on the basis of what was known in Afrikaans as "baasskap" or "domination" (also more literally translated as "boss-ship", or alternatively as "mastery"- the notion that Afrikaners as a race were superior to blacks and destined to rule South Africa). The Broederbond's aims were to promote Afrikaner nationalism in South Africa, to maintain and promote Afrikaner culture, to develop a broader Afrikaner economy (hitherto largely rural) and to attempt to take control of the South African government. The secret society restricted membership to white Afrikaner men and maintained a rigorous selection process. Over the next decade or so the power of the Broederbond grew quietly and its members slowly infiltrated the South African political scene *.
However, in 1934, the Prime Minister of the National Party, Barry Hertzog, agreed to merge with South African Prime Minister Jan Smuts in order to form what became known as the United Party). This merger was extremely unpopular among Afrikaners, resulting in a group of radicals, composed mostly of Broederbond members, to break off from the newly formed United Party and continued to maintain the National Party (NP) under the leadership of Daniel Malan. Radical members of the NP broke away from this coalition party to form the Herenigde Nasionale Party (HNP – "Reunited National Party") with Malan as its leader. The Broederbond fully supported the HNP, and Broederbond members soon constituted the majority of the new party, most notably in the Transvaal and Orange Free State where Afrikaners were heavily concentrated. Shortly after the HNP's creation, World War II broke out. Despite the fact that the governing United Party, led by General Smuts, fully supported the allied cause in the war against Nazi Germany, there was significant dissent amongst Afrikaners, many of whom were of German ancestry.
These sentiments aided the National Party in garnering support for the next election in 1948, which they won to the shock and dismay of Nelson Mandela and many others. Despite the fact that the Afrikaners made up a minority of the population, the Broederbond had gained enough power to carefully manipulate the election into a Nationalist victory.
By 1947 the Broederbond had control of the South African Bureau of Racial Affairs (SABRA), and it was within this select group that the concept of total segregation for South Africa was developed. This concept became apartheid, consolidating, extending and formalising the racial discrimination already practiced in South Africa. Changes were made to electoral boundaries, with constituencies favoring rural areas – with the result that although the United Party received a greater share of the votes in the 1948 elections, the National Party (with the assistance of the Afrikaner Party) had the greater number of electoral constituencies, and hence gained power. The Nationalist campaign had centered around swart gevaar (the black danger), in addition to pledging to solve what was known as "the poor white problem".
Every prime minister and state president in South Africa from 1948 to the end of apartheid in 1994 was a member of the Afrikaner Broederbond. Indeed, nearly every prominent Afrikaner in any field was a member of the Broederbond. Only "Mr. Rugby", Danie Craven, and heart surgeon Dr. Christiaan Barnard were prominent Afrikaners who were not members.
Lifting the veil of secrecy
The Broederbond made an important policy shift in 1993 as apartheid was in its death throes, deciding it was time for the secrecy to end and for them to promote Afrikaner culture by other means. It formally changed its named to the Afrikanerbond and made an important policy change which permitted Afrikaans-speaking women and members of other races to join the society. The Afrikanerbond's official website states that its present aims are to:
"(a) mobilize the best talent and leadership available in the Afrikaans-speaking community;
(b) be of service to Afrikaners, also in the interest of all South Africans;
(c) help protect and in general promote the interests of the Afrikaans community, and
(d) promote justice, honesty, lawfulness, loyalty and the ethical values, emanating from the organization, in South African society."
Its long-time affiliation with the National Party of South Africa has ended (as has the party) and the Afrikanerbond's official political stance is that it "does not participate in party politics and does not align itself with any political party." Its official language continues to be Afrikaans.
External links
Fraternal and service organizations | Political organizations | Secret societies | South African society | Apartheid in South Africa
"Afrikanerbond"