Abstract: | This study examines an example that covers both provincial and national politics in the policy of the Nationalist Party towards the electorate: education, where government policy has been dictated by the so-called Christian-National Education Manifesto originally drawn up under the auspices of the Broederbond as part of the battle for the recognition of Afrikanerdom. The Manifesto's basic assumption - the separate cultural identity of each section of South Africa's plural society - has remained unaltered, but legislation governing white education has in practice had to be modified, at the expense of the narrow anti-British spirit of the Afrikaner tradition, to fit the new party image of a united white community. This created three dilemmas for the Government: how to reconcile provincial sentiment with national policy; whether to acknowledge the inapplicability of Christian-National Education, or to stand by the Manifesto; how to shift from education to be good Afrikaners to educating one white nation. These problems are analysed in this article. Reference: notes. |