PROPHET WITHOUT HONOUR, F.S. Malan: Afrikaner, South African and Cape Liberal

 184pp., illus., paperback, Protea Book House, Pretoria, 2011

ISBN: 9781869194147

Portrait of Francois Stephanus Malan (1871-1940), an Afrikaner newspaper editor and politician.

"The purpose of this book is not to provide a detailed account of all the aspects of Malan's life and times, but to create a portrait, focusing on the facts that reveal his personality and the essence of his career - his liberalism, religious beliefs and progressive theological views, his Afrikaner nationalism and desire to create a South African nation by reconciling Afrikaners and English-speakers, as well as his anti-capitalist views." F.A. Mouton, from his preface

Malan was editor of Ons Land, the Cape's leading Dutch-language newspaper from 1895-1908. In 1900, he was elected to the Cape Assembly for the Afrikaner Bond, of which he later became leader, and in 1908 was appointed Minister of Agriculture in John X. Merriman's government. In 1910 he was elected to the Union Parliament for the South African Party and joined Louis Botha's government, remaining in the government after Jan Smuts succeeded Botha in 1919, and acting as Prime Minister while Botha and Smuts were away at the Paris Peace Conference. After Smuts's government fell in 1924, Malan never again held government office. In 1927 he was elected to the Senate of South Africa, and was elected its President in January 1940, a post he held until his death.

F.A. Mouton is Professor of History at the University of South Africa. His books include Voices in the desert: Margaret and William Ballinger - a biography and Voorloper: Die lewe van Schalk Pienaar.