In contrast to some extremist groups the Greyshirts did not split along linguistic lines, but rather sought to work with both the Afrikaans and the English-speaking populations.
[2] The Greyshirts struggled to maintain unity and spawned a number of minor splinter groups, such as Johannes von Moltke's South African Fascists.
Most of these groups united under Daniel François Malan's aegis when he formed his 'Purified' National Party, although the Greyshirts did not take part and contested the 1938 election alone.
'[4] Jewish immigration from Nazi Germany to South Africa grew significantly during the 1930s and the Greyshirts launched a campaign calling for an end to the practice.
A ship was chartered by the Council for German Jewry, a UK-based group, to bring as many Jews as possible to Cape Town, leading to the Greyshirts organising a mass protest against the move.