Daniel Francois Malan was born in the village of Riebeek-Wes, on the slopes of the solitary Kasteelberg (Castle mountain), which dominates the local stretch of the Berg River Valley. He studied for his first degree at Victoria College, Stellenbosch, and for his Doctorate at University of Utrecht, Holland.

In 1905 Malan was ordained as a minister of the Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk (NGK, Dutch Reformed Church) and then travelled for several years as an itinerant preacher through South Africa, the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) and Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).

Malan's election to Parliament
On his return to South Africa Malan developed an interest in politics, becoming a stalwart supporter of JMB Hertzog in 1914 when he established the National Party (NP) in response to being dropped from Louis Botha's new government. Malan's political career started in July 1915 when he joined the National Party and became the first editor of its newspaper Die Burger. The paper actively supported Nationalist causes and opposed South Africa's support of Britain in the First World War. Becoming leader for the National Party in the Cape, Malan was elected to parliament in 1918. He had also, by this time, become a member of the Afrikaner Broederbond (AB).

JMB Hertzog's National Party, in a pact with the Labour Party, came to power in 1924. DF Malan was given the post of Minister of the Interior, Education and Public Health in 1924 – a post he held until 1933. In 1925 Malan was at the forefront of a campaign to replace Dutch with Afrikaans in the constitution, and demand bilingualism throughout the civil service – this opened up a significant career opportunity for Afrikaans speakers, and was fundamental to future political developments for Afrikaner nationalism.

Also in 1925, Malan introduced a bill to the South African House of Assembly to create a national flag – Malan wanted a "clean" flag, free from the Union Jack. A compromise was reached by Hertzog and the opposition leader Jan Christiaan Smuts in October 1927 to include the Union Jack and the two Afrikaner republican flags as an integral part of the design.

Race becomes an election issue
In the approach to the 1929 general election, race was for the first time made a critical issue. Hertzog accused Smuts' party of supporting racial equality, and represented a Nationalist vote as a vote for a "white South Africa". The Nationalists won the election with an outright majority, dropping the Labour Party and the 'pact' government.

In the early 1930s, the Great Depression which swept the world following the Wall Street Crash also took its toll on the South African government. With the shock of abandoning the gold standard at the end of 1932, Hertzog's party faced a severe political challenge – brought about by Hertzog's former Minister of Justice, Tielman Roos. Roos came out of retirement and entered negotiations with Jan Christiaan Smuts, the leader of the opposition, to form a new government. Smuts however turned to Hertzog to form a coalition government, and in the general election in 1934 the new coalition won.

Malan forms his own political party and gains power
DF Malan was not happy with the new arrangement, and when Hertzog and Smuts announced the intention to form a coalition he and 19 other MP's defected and formed their own political party: the Gesuiwerde Nationale Party, (GNP, Purified National Party). When the 'fusion' of the National Party and South African Party (SAP) won the 1934 general election, Malan's GNP became the official opposition. By the end of the year the fusion government had officially joined to form the United Party.

In 1939 Hertzog and Smuts disagreed over South Africa's role in the war brewing between Britain and Germany. Hertzog wanted South Africa to be neutral, Smuts wanted to support Britain. Malan and his GNP were all for supporting Germany. In September 1939 the fusion government fractured, Hertzog departed to form a new party, the Volksparty (People's Party) with the intention of uniting Afrikaner nationalists, and immediately began negotiations with Malan to unite with the GNP. The process of reconciliation (hereniging) between Hertzog and Malan was not straightforward, neither wanting to give up the position of power, and it was eventually agreed that GNP and the Volksparty would act as a single entity in parliament under the title Herenigde Nationale Party of Volksparty (the Re-united National Party or Peoples Party) with Hertzog as leader. The relationship, however, did not last long. Hertzog once again departed in 1941 (under increasing pressure from opponents inside the party) to form the Afrikaner Party with Nicolaas Havenga. During the 1943 general election, the Herenigde Nationale Party (HNP, Re-united National Party) under the leadership of DF Malan won 43 out of 150 seats.

National Party comes to power and introduces Apartheid
World War II was a major boon to the nationalist cause. By the end of the war nearly 25 percent of all Afrikaners were members of the paramilitary organisation, Ossewabrandwag, despite its leadership being detained. In the four years following the end of the war, Smuts government suffered several political setbacks both nationally and internationally. When the results of the 1948 general election were announced, there was a sense of disbelief that the Union Party's significant majority had dwindled to the point that the HNP, in a pact with the Afrikaner Party (under Nicolaas Havenga – Hertzog had died in 1942), was able to take power. The HNP had a majority of 86 seats out of the total 150 (although it had not achieved a majority of the vote).It was the beginning of 46 years of political dominance.

Malan and the HNP had campaigned on a platform of Apartheid – white supremacy, racial segregation and the control of migrant Black workers – and during his six-and-a-half years in office the foundations of the Apartheid regime were laid. Legislation included the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act No 55 of 1949, the Population Registration Act No 30 of 1950, the Group Areas Act No 41 of 1950, Suppression of Communism Act No 44 1950, the Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act No 52 of 1951, the Bantu Authorities Act No 68 of 1951, Native Laws Amendment Act No 54 of 1952, the Abolition of Passes Act No 67 of 1952, and the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act No 49 of 1953, and the Bantu Education Act of 1953. This legislation removed the last trace of a non-white franchise and imposed segregation on almost all aspects of South African life.

In the 1953 general election the National Party's majority grew to 94 seats out of the 150. In 1954, at age of 80, DF Malan retired and handed power over to Johannes Gerhardus Strijdom. He died in 1959.