The War in South Africa, Its Cause and ConductDoyle, Arthur Conan
History
The War in South Africa, Its Cause and Conduct
Doyle, Arthur Conan
South African War, 1899-1902; South African War, 1899-1902 -- Causes
Case of Two Natives near Hopetown.--On August 22, 1901, Private C. P.
Fivaz, of the Cape Mounted Police, along with two natives, was captured
near Venter Hoek, Hopetown district, by a force under Commandant Van
Reenan. He had off-saddled at the time, and the natives were sleeping in
a stable. He heard Van Reenan give his men an order to shoot the
natives, which order was promptly carried out in his presence as regards
one man, and he was told that the other had also been shot. The resident
on the farm, A. G. Liebenberg, who warned Fivaz at 5 A.M. of the
approach of the enemy, buried both the bodies where he found them--viz.,
one about forty yards from the house and the other about five hundred
yards away. His statement is corroborated by his son, who saw one of the
boys killed.
Case of John Makran.--John Makran and Alfius Bampa (the witness) are
unarmed natives living near Warmbaths, north of Pretoria. On the evening
of September 17, 1901, Andries Van der Walt and a party of Boers
surrounded Makran's house. Van der Walt told the boy to come out, and
when he did so two men seized him. While two men held Makran's hands up
Van der Walt stood five yards behind him and shot him through the head
with a Mauser rifle. When the boy fell he shot him again through the
heart, and then with a knife cut a deep gash across his forehead. Both
these boys formerly worked for Van der Walt.
Case at Zandspruit.--On the night of October 1, 1901, about 11.30 P.M.,
a party of Boers surrounded a native house at Dassie Klip, near
Zandspruit, and killed four natives in or about the house. The party
consisted of twenty-four, under the following leaders: Dirk Badenhorst,
of Dassie Klip; Cornelius Erasmus, of Streepfontein; and C. Van der
Merwe, of Rooi Draai. The witnesses in this case are all natives
residing at Dassie Klip, who knew the assailants well. In one case a
native called Karle was endeavouring to escape over a wall, but was
wounded in the thigh. On seeing he was not dead, Stoffel Visagie, of
Skuilhoek, drew a revolver and shot him through the head. The charge
against these natives appears to have been that they harboured British
scouts.
Case of Jim Zulu.--On or about October 18, 1901, V. C. Thys Pretorius
(presumably of Pretoria), with seventy men, visited Waterval North, on
the Pretoria-Pietersburg line, and practically murdered two natives,
wounding three others, one of whom afterwards died. The witnesses state
that on the morning of October 18, 1901, Pretorius came to a colliery
near Waterval North and called for Jim Zulu, and on his appearance shot
him through the face. Three days later this native died of his wounds.
At the same time he and another man, named Dorsehasmus, also shot three
other natives.
Here is a further list, showing how systematic has been this brutality.
I reproduce it in its official curtness:
Report of Resident Magistrate, Barkly West, January 28, 1900.--Native
despatch rider shot and mutilated.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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