THE TORCH COMMANDO

THE TORCH COMMANDO

By: David Rilley-Harris, Curator, DITSONG: National Museum of Military History (DNMMH)

Photograph from a Torch Commando Rally with signs reading “They plan a fascist republic” and “They oppose free unions”.
(Picture: www.samilhistory.com/tag/the-torch-commando/page/2/).

In 1941, during the Second World War, service members of the 9th Recce Battalion of the South African Tank Corps joined with the Soldiers Interests Committee and the Union of Soldiers, both from the First South African Infantry Brigade. They formed the Springbok Legion, largely out of debating societies, to provide a voice and resource for any soldiers who wished to join. Harry Oppenheimer established a trust to provide funding for their activities. Their manifesto was anti-fascism and anti-racism. The Springbok Legion included members who would eventually join the ANC. Having lost thousands of fellow South Africans in the war against fascism, the Springbok Legion were horrified to witness the shock election of 1948, which brought to power a political party that had absorbed, in part or largely, pro-fascist South African movements that had been active during the war. These included the Ossewebrandwag (OB), The Broederbond, and the New Order. The Nationalist Party victory presented the threat of fascism being installed in South Africa only three years after our soldiers had died helping to defeat fascism in the rest of the world.

By 1951, the Separate Representation of Voters Act had begun removing coloured voters from the voters’ roll in the Cape Province. The 1948 election had been won by the Nationalist Party only due to the constitutional voting system, despite the majority of votes going to the United Party. The line had been fine enough that the popular vote could be seen to have been swayed in the United Party’s favour by the coloured vote. The Springbok Legion responded by forming the War Veterans’ Action Committee, which later evolved into the Torch Commando. This group vowed to defend constitutional democracy and freedom for all. Their name was inspired by the “Steel Commando” initiatives during the war, which were held to inspire recruitment into the war effort. The Torch Commando was led by the celebrated air force veteran, “Sailor” Malan, and their 250,000 strong membership amounted to nearly 10% of white South Africans at that time. Another of several prominent members was Commandant Dolf de la Rey, a Boer veteran of the Anglo-Boer War. His prominent leadership brought a significant Afrikaans element into the Torch Commando. Sailor Malan explained, “The Torch Commando was established to oppose the police state, abuse of state power, censorship, racism, the removal of the coloured vote and other oppressive manifestations of the creeping fascism of the National Party regime”.

Membership grew rapidly, with branches emerging in places such as Pinetown, Paarl, Umtata, Amanzimtoti, Eshowe, Dundee, Colenso, Eliot, Strand, Fish Hoek, Sunday’s River Valley, Bedford, and Ficksburg. By the end of January 1952 there would be over 350 branches. One distinguished member was Lt Gen George Brink, CB, CBE, DSO, whose name adorns the first hanger in the DITSONG: National Museum of Military History. Mass marches and protests soon followed where torches were carried to symbolise the fight against darkness and oppression. The first protest on 21 April 1951 was by the War Veterans Action Committee at the Johannesburg Cenotaph where a national flag was laid over a coffin to suggest the death of the South African constitution. In early May 1951, at a meeting attended by thousands of members, it was formally resolved that “This meeting condemns the present government for violating the liberties for which the wars of 1914-1918 and 1939-1945 were fought and for disregarding the moral undertakings enshrined in our Constitution. We pledge ourselves to continue the struggle to ensure we and our children live in true democracy”. In October 1951, the Torch Commandos organised the El Alamein Commemoration as a massive protest. Forty thousand protestors gathered in Johannesburg, 20,000 in Cape Town, 10,000 in Durban, and 6,000 in Pretoria. Bonfires symbolising torches were lit across the country on mountains above Barberton, at a peak in the Drakensburg, six in Pretoria, and hundreds in a chain around Kimberley. Smaller groups also gathered in Benoni, Krugersdorp, Vereeniging, Port Shepstone, and Empangeni. Overall, with an estimated 150,000 participants, this was the largest protest action South Africa had ever seen. With prominent members including generals and judges, the Torch Commandos had presented a real prospect for a quick end to the new Apartheid system.

21 April 1951 Johannesburg Cenotaph protest symbolising the death of the South African constitution.
(Picture: www.samilhistory.com/2023/08/19/the-steel-commando/).

The initial strength demonstrated by the torch commando military veterans who were applying military efficiency in their protests shocked both the Nationalist Party and even the opposing United Party. The Nationalist Party claimed that the scale and fervour of the protests was evidence of a planned rebellion. The United Party worked to absorb the Torch Commandos in an effort to broaden their base and bring the veterans under control. Whatever association the Torch Commando allowed with the United Party also hampered the Torch Commando’s ability to widen their own support with anyone who did not trust the United Party. The Nationalist Party went about actively suppressing them through a campaign of erasing their leaders’ legacies and even diminishing the legacy of all the South African volunteers who had fought against the Axis powers. The Nationalist Party attempted to censor the broadcast of the El Alamein Commemoration protest and banned a repeat of the protest in 1952. Torch Commando members who relied on government salaries were threatened with losing their livelihoods. “Sailor Malan”, recognised worldwide as one of the most successful combat pilots of the war, was the victim of Nationalist Party propaganda, which portrayed him as being in service to Jewish mine bosses. By the end of the 1950s these pressures, including violent repression, had all but dissolved the Torch Commandos. Many of its members continued their efforts as members of the African Nationalist Congress or Communist Party. Others joined more moderate political organisations in opposition to Apartheid.