Our Task in Africa
Margery Perham · 2023
The British, judged by the best of their administrations, are today offering Africans an effective training in self-government. There are already signs that white rule will force the growth of a wider African nationalism. The Colonial Office, however, ranks this as only one among the desired qualifications which, according to the report of a 1930 Committee upon this question, include ‘vision, high ideals of service, fearless devotion to duty born of a sense of responsibility, tolerance, and the team spirit’. Eastern Africa presents a major problem of its own. White settlement and industrialization have not so far proved very compatible with the development of strong native local government. There are complications introduced by white settlement and by industrialization which vary in intensity. The compromise which General Hertzog is reported to be considering is on the basis of a separate electoral roll and separate representation.