Lecture 11

Industrialisation and exploitation #3

But the Jameson Raid was a precursor of the Second Anglo-Boer War (11th October 1899 – 31st May 1902)

There were three parties opposing Kruger:

1) Rhodes and the Rand mining magnates who were discontent with the high taxation Kruger had imposed on the mining industry;

2) the Uitlanders, that is, the foreign workers - both White and Black - who were denied all democratic rights in the Boer Republic;

3) the British Government.

The second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902)

The result of this collective discontent was the second Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902.

This war saw the two colonial masters of black South Africans, one English-speaking and the other Afrikaans-speaking, locked in a bitter struggle for colonial supremacy.

The Boers had the sympathy of most countries in the world, including Germany, France and Russia, but Britain's sea-power was supreme.

The Boer War was a war fought by Europeans on African soil.

As such, it was a precursor of the Great War (1914-1918) that was fought largely on European soil.

By the end of 1900, the Republic capitals of Bloemfontein and Pretoria had fallen.

The Orange Free State and the Transvaal were under British occupation.

The ending of hostilities was confirmed in the Treaty of Vereeniging which was signed in Pretoria on the 31st May 1902.

The main signatories of the Treaty:

For Great Britain: His Excellency Lord Milner, and High Commissioner and Field Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener ("Kitchener of Khartoum”).

For the Government of the South African Republic: Messrs Schalk W. Burger, F.W. Reitz, Louis Botha, J.H. de la Rey, L.J. Meyer, and J.C. Krogh.

For the Government of the Orange Free State: Messrs C.R. de Wet, J.B.M. Hertzog, C.H. Olivier and W.C.J. Bebner.

The text of the Treaty of Vereeniging, signed at Melrose House, Pretoria, just before midnight on 31st May 1902.

http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/library-resources/online%20books/soul-of-nation-constitution/treaty-of-vereeniging.htm

The Peace of Vereeniging ended all hostilities.

The Treaty made the South African Republic and the Orange Free State colonies of the British Empire.

The Boer republics agreed to come under the sovereignty of the British Crown.

Paul Kruger went into exile in Holland and died in Switzerland in 1904.

The terms of the Treaty of Vereiniging dealt with the following:

- The repatriation of the prisoners of war.

- A general amnesty with a few exceptions.

- Limited protection of the Dutch language in the courts.

- Various economic safeguards such as the maintenance of property rights.

- Honouring of the republican war debt to a sum of £3 million.

- Generous relief for the victims of war.

Promise of eventual self-government and an agreement that no decision would be taken regarding the franchise of Black people until after the introduction of responsible government.

The terms of the Treaty of Vereeniging were extremely generous, and amounted in effect to an abdication of British responsibility for the protection of Black rights.

The treaty put into doubt the fundamental question of Black franchise rights.

In effect, despite their military defeat, the Boers were getting exactly what they wanted: self-government, equality for the Afrikaans language with English, and the right to dominate the Blacks as they pleased.

The British government gave the Boer colonies self-government.

On 31st May 1910, the Act of Union passed by the British parliament, which established the Union of South Africa, the Union of South Africa was created.

Consolidating the precedents established in the Treaty of Vereeniging, the four colonies – Cape Colony, Orange Free State, South African Republic (Transvaal) and Natal - were for the first time unified under a common flag and a common king, King Edward VII, who became King of South Africa.

King Edward VII

Herbert John Gladstone, 1st Viscount Gladstone, was the Governor-General of the Union of South Africa from 1910 to 1914.

Lord Gladstone, the new governor General, offered General Louis Botha, the Boer War hero, the opportunity to form a Cabinet.

In this way, political power in the Union was virtually handed over to the Afrikaners and the democratic rights of franchise for the country's majority were by-passed.

General Botha held the office of the first Prime Minister of South Africa from Spring 1910 – Summer 1919.

By 1910, therefore, power of the two colonial masters in South Africa was divided in two ways:

- the Afrikaans-speaking Whites controlled the political arena;

- the English-speaking Whites controlled business and commerce.

This was to be the situation in broad terms until the end of apartheid in 1994, eighty-four years later.

It should be recalled at this point, too, that in Namibia, formerly South West Africa, German colonisation was having a devastating effect.

It should be recalled at this point, too, that in Namibia, formerly South West Africa, German colonisation was having a devastating effect.

The first Imperial Commissioner of German South West Africa was Heinrich Ernst Göring (1839-1913), the father of Reichsmarschall Herman Göring.

The German subjugation of the peoples of South West Africa is well-documented and is recognised as one of the most vicious of all colonial occupations.

In a precedent for the extermination of six million Jews in the Second World War, the indigenous Herero and Nama peoples were systematically exterminated, with the remnants of their civilisations being forced eventually to flee into exile in Botswana, despite valiant attempts at resistance led by the Herero leaders, Samuel Maharero and Hosea Kutako, and the Nama leader, Hendrick Witbooi.

Thus, South West Africa, today called Namibia, was to remain from the end of the 19th century up to its independence in 1990 the victim of powerful colonial authorities, first the Germans and later the South Africans, in spite of United Nations mandates and international pressure to reverse the situation.