HSY2603: Assessment 5

Unique Assignment Number: 626455

Submission Deadline: 13 October 2023
Assessment type: File Submission
I Ruan Melvyn Botha ,(53739353) declare that the work hereby submitted is my
own original work. Where other people's work has been used (either from a
printed source, Internet or any other source), this has been properly
acknowledged and referenced in the declaration and plagiarism rules and
guidelines of UNISA and with the.

South African War

INTRODUCTION
The South African War cannot be regarded as a “white man’s war”.’ In this topic I
have selected I will discuss my opinion to why this was not just only a "white mans
war" but shows the experience of black people in the war, and particularly those
blacks who were detained by the British in the concentration camps in the
Transvaal and the Orange Free State, which was after the British occupation
known as the Orange River Colony. By looking at this aspect of the war, which has
thus far received only scant attention although an impression has been
perpetuated in the different historical writings that the war was not just simply
British and Afrikaner affair but had impact on all ethic groups in South Africa.
There were various names given to the South African War, such as the English
VWar, the Boer War, die Engelse Oorlog, the Second War of Independence and the
Anglo-Boer War, depict the variety of attitudes of historians who write about it.
These divergent attitudes, however, inspired me to conduct research on the South
African War from a new angle, that is the perspective of a black South African.
The start of the war and “imperial empowerment”
Theophilus Shepstone's annexation of the Transvaal in 1877 set off a chain of
events that culminated in the First Anglo-Boer War in 1880--1881 and the Second
Anglo-Boer War 1899
The South African War has been seen variously as a war to secure British
economic supremacy and a war to benefit the mining capitalists. Both
explanations are problematic. It could be argued that the Boer Republic of the
Transvaal did not need to be conquered for Britain to enjoy continued access to
gold bullion from the monetary Rand. Similarly, there is the argument that it was
not just a capitalist war. The capitalist mine ovwners had varying views of the
situation; they did not present a united front with regard to support for a British
takeover.'"(pg295) (Transformation in Southern Africa in the 19th century:
Colonisation, migration, mining and war).

However, even if one chooses an explanation for the 1st and 2nd was as more
important than the other, it is clear that there were close links between the two.
Even if it could be argued that it was not gold itself that was the issue, the
evidence is clear that Britain did want to impose supremacy over the South
Africans and did want a united South Africa loyal to the British the conflict does
indeed seem to have centred around the issue of gold. After all, as historian Bill
Nasson points out to Britain's aggressive approach.

On 9 October 1899 the SAR issued an ultimatum to Britain and two days later, on
11 October the war was officially declared between Britain and the Boers. The
British forces thought that the war would be won easily, but they were wrong. The
two Boer republics that were involved in the conflict were the Transvaal and the
Orange Free State.
The second war was the significant one, both in terms of international
participation and in terms of results. It was also the most costly war fought by
Britain in the period 1815-1914.
After this war, the consolidation of a single powerful South African state
dominated by whites was ensured, as was the control of cheap black labour for
some years to come., the Zulu kingdom was the first casualty of this process. The
Pedi were the second, and other kingdoms the Tswana, the Xhosa followed a
similar fate(pg294). (Transformation in Southern Africa in the 19th century:
Colonisation, migration, mining and war).
The Second Anglo-Boer War or the South African War was meant to be a short
war between the Afrikaners Boers and Britain “a white man's war “which was
expected to be over within six months. Instead it became full-scale war - the
closest we have come to this since perhaps the Mfecane -and it affected the lives
of all racial groups in South Africa, which is why it is considered more appropriate
to refer to it as the South African War. Black, coloured and Indian people became
participants on both sides and the war dragged on for longer than expected. It
was also the most destructive modern-armed conflict fought in our country.

Three months before war broke out, a convention of world leaders at the Hague in
Holland had decided that unnecessary suffering of combatants as well as civilians
during warfare had to be eliminated. But this did not happen. The war led to
thousands of deaths on the battlefields as well as of civilians women and children
of all races.
The war that led from October 1899 to May 1902 represents the most intense
conflict in South Africa during the colonial era. Lasting for more or less two and a
half years, the war became a costly and bloody struggle. However, the war has
thus far been mostly interpreted by historians exclusively as a 'white man's war, in
which only the interests and actions of the white communities and the imperial
power, Britain, who were the parties directly involved in the war, have been
researched in depth.
The Black peoples involvement in the South African war
Through the pages of numerous accounts of the conflict from the earliest
accounts of military operations published in 1900 to the most recent Afrikaans
and English monographs, the response of blacks to the conflict, their participation
and the impact of the war on the black community, have been passed over almost
completely However, the war involved some other groups like Zulu, Swazis,
Basotho, Xhosa and Sothos (Nasson, 2017). The war arose due to factors like
political differences on imperialism and republicanism and discovery of rich
resources The need for labour on the mines and farms also played a part.
Although few Zulu entered the mines initially, the Tsonga people did, and they had
to pass through Zulu land when they came from the northeast. The possibility that
this source of labour could be cut off was a concern to the mine owners as well as
to the emerging industrialists and commercial farmers who also wanted labour,
and was an added cause of efforts to subdue the Zulu.
Further more the occupied Black people became increasingly involved on both the
British and the Boer sides of the struggle. Although common convention at the
time was that black people should not be armed (for fear that they might use
weapons to resist white domination), there were numerous examples of black
people serving in both combatant and non-combatant roles (pg291)
(Transformation in Southern Africa in the 19th century:Colonisation, migration,
mining and wa)
Does so the British believed that the Boers would be easily defeated and that any
military collaboration from groups of Blacks would not be decisive in winning the
war. In addition, it was commonly believed by both sides that the military
methods of the Black people were more brutal than those of white people and
that white women and children would not be shown mercy by Black soldiers.
Another reason for not wanting Blacks to be given arms was the fear that this
would increase the possibility of Black resistance
In more of my research I found an extract that states the findings of concentration
camps that was mostly occupied by black ethnic groups
Transformation in Southern Africa in the 19th century:
Colonisation, migration, mining and war
• EXTRACT 6 (pg300)
In recent times, attempts have been made to find the location of concentration
camps for black people and to find out more about them. It is estimated that
there were some 66 camps for black people altogether and that at least 14 000
people died in them. Proper statistics were never kept and the figure is probably
much higher. Few written records refer to the black camps. Aerial map
photography and archaeological excavations have been important additional
sources for this research. In 1999, for example, research was started by Wits
archaeologist, Amanda Esterhuysen, in the Krugersdorp Game Reserve. The clue
to the site was an old newspaper article which recorded that the black
concentration camp had been moved from Paardekraal to the farm Waterval.
 • EXTRACT 7 pg301
Some camps renmained open even after the war. The camp near Greylingstad
remained open until 1904 as it supplied labour to the nearby coal mine In the
search for more information about the camps, archaeological research could play
a part. Excavations at sites where camps were for example, Krugersdorp and
Boksburg and the opening up of graves would at least enable tests to be done on
skeletons. The skeletons would provide information about diet, age and disease,
and the conditions inmates had to endure.

This shows the severity of the suffering the occupied black and other ethnicities
had to endure in these dark times ,there were numerous accounts where people
in these camps would receive some form of care from people such as the anti war
pacifist, Emily Hobhouse born 9 April 1860 and died in June 1926 she was
a British welfare campaigner, anti-war activist, and pacifist. She is primarily
remembered for bringing to the attention of the British public, and working to
change, the deprived conditions inside the British concentration camps in South
Africa built to incarcerate Boer and African civilians during the Second Boer War.

CONCLUSION
Although there was an unwritten agreement between the Boers and the British
that Blacks would not be armed in the war, neither side adhered to this
agreement. should be mentioned that the South African war was fought in a
region where four fifths of the population was Black and that the conflict took
place across land that belonged to the various African tribes .
Most politically conscious Blacks, Coloureds and Indian groups in South Africa
believed that the defeat of the Boers would mean more political, educational and
commercial opportunities would be afforded to them this was not the case and it
will be another 90 years before all people were united and all ethnicities would
have the same freedom and educational opportunities as the whites.
There for my conclusion remains the same as to wat was stated above and I
remain to disagree with the statement that the South African war was not only a
white mans war but a war between all different races.

Recourse and references

Nasson, B. (2017). The South African War/Anglo-Boer War 1899–1902 and
political memory in South Africa. In Commemorating War (pp. 111-127).
Routledge.THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR 1899±1902
(Transformation in Southern Africa in the 19th century:Colonisation, migration,
mining and wa) Page Nr 291 – 301
P. Warwick, Black people and the South African War, p.1.
D. Denoon, "Participation in the Boer War: people's war, peoples non-war or non