Bitterness of a Painful Past

South Africa has a painful past.

Not only for the Black races but for the Afrikaner too.

As I have mentioned before, I am a compulsive reader. I get totally immersed in that which I read and I actually live in the world of the narrator. My latest compulsion is reading about the past of South Africa as it relates to the Boer (an Afrikaans word meaning farmer, but there are deeper connotations that relate to citizen and an independence of spirit)

Their nation had to emerge through a struggle against the Anglicisation of their culture. At the time from the mid- 1800’s until the early 1900’s, England was the dominant global Empire. As was boasted, the sun never set on the Union Jack.

Please note that I am sympathetic to their cause but I am not blind to their flaws either. When England annexed the Cape, the farmers left and trekked to both the inland and Natal. Then England annexed Natal, and those Boere left Natal and crossed the massive mountains of the Drakensburg mountains. One of the Boer women even said she would cross the mountains in her bare feet to escape the English.

Then diamonds were discovered at Kimberley and that region was annexed from the Boere too.

The final straw came when gold was found in the area of Witwatersrand in 1886 which became known as Johannesburg. Tens of thousands of prospectors poured into the area, much to the consternation of the two Boer republics. Soon the prospectors (known as Uitlanders – Afrikaans word meaning outlander or foreigner) outnumbered the Boere. The disreputable Cecil John Rhodes had made a vast fortune out of the diamond fields and he lusted for the power that control of the gold fields in the Reef. He had a grand vision of extending the British Empire from the Cape to the land of the Pharaohs; as some would say from the Cape to Cairo. Rhodes used his money to conquer (murdering many thousands of tribesmen) the area known as Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and Zambia. He was disappointed to find no gold there so he knew that the Boer republics must be conquered. Of course an Empire is not created by having too many scruples. The media was under the control of Rhodes and the non-vote of the people in Johannesburg was used as the key to inflame England. Sir Alfred Milner (later a Lord), the governor of the Cape, set demands that he knew the Boer Republics could never accept as it would lead to the dissolution of their republics. Paul Kruger the Transvaal President left the meeting in tears. War was the only option.

The Boer army had defeated the British in the “First Boer War of Independence in 1880/1881”. They hoped to achieve the same again but their hopes were ill founded as there was gold involved.

After initial successes of the Boer armies in 1899, the British Empire poured over 450 000 troops into South Africa. The Boer soldiers were just farmers it must not be forgotten and their forces numbered about 70 000 soldiers. The British had superior weaponry in terms of artillery and vast resources, also their soldiers were professional soldiers and had better discipline. The long retreat began and both capitals, Bloemfontein and Pretoria were captured in 1900. The Boer armies were demoralised and many surrendered lured by promises of protection and peace, those that surrendered were known as “hendsoppers – hands uppers”, over 5000 of them later joined the British Army and were led by General Piet de Wet. Ironically his brother, General Christiaan de Wet re-galvanised about a third of the Boer armies into Commandos. These 20 000 soldiers attacked the extended British supply lines and the war was extended for another two years.

(Rhodesians leaving for the Boer War)

In desperation Lord Roberts, Commander in Chief of the British armies, turned to the infamous tactics of a scorched earth policy. All farms were destroyed, livestock slaughtered and women and children placed into poorly run concentration camps where over 28000 women and children died. This is not even considering the black people where over 20 000 also died in the same camps. However, this embittered the Boer soldiers into hardened resistance but their fight was ultimately doomed as there was no food for either them or their horses. Lord Kitchener took over command and continued the campaign until its inevitable conclusion.

(Lizzy van Zyl - an inmate)

British morale took a dreadful blow, the mightiest Empire in the world with its “invincible” armies was embarrassed by farmers. (Yet Britain learned lessons that were essential for World War One, but not enough was learned by the various global imperialists and millions would be doomed in just over a decade into the future.)

Yet the end had come, the Boer Leaders had to surrender for the survival of the people. Hardened Boer soldiers who had never shed a tear, even when burying loved ones, wept when the surrender was signed. They had to turn over their weapons and then go back to their devastated farms where no livestock was left, many of their women and children were gone, having died in the concentration camps. Their schools were forced to adopt English but they were a stubborn people who never gave up.

Yet they endured and laboured on, eventually they built their nation but the process was flawed.

Why? Because they too ended up imposing upon the Black man what they had suffered in so many ways.

The history of South Africa is hard; it is a hard land filled with hard people. Hard things were done to promote the survival of their peoples, both Afrikaner and Black. It is not an easy history to look back on as there is much pain. Yet it is only when one has the courage to look, a courage that means hatred must be put aside and honesty required, in order to heal.

The history of your land, is it painful too?