TOPIC:

Here is a detail from the "Piet Joubert & Staff" photograph, previously posted by Tunguska. I don't think I would have wanted to bump into Fourie down a dark alleyway. From his build and demeaner, not a man to be messed with....



..

About a decade ago, the Zuid Afrika Huis at the Keizersgracht in Amsterdam, home to the Nederland-Zuid Afrika Vereniging, sold off its excess stock of books and magazines. These were some of the survivors from the 1984 raid on the house by radical anti-apartheid activists which saw a part of the priceless collection of antique Africana, including rare century-old manuscripts and publications, wantonly dumped in the dirty waters of the canal in front of the house. Among the items I picked up at that sale was a booklet containing a speech held by Louis Botha at a meeting on September 28, 1914.




The meeting was held was to test the constituents’ confidence in Botha after he responded positively to British requests for South Africa to join the war against Germany and in particular against the German forces occupying South West Africa (Namibia today).

The speech is surprising, to say the least. Botha, a hero of a war against the British that ended only 12 years prior, a.o refers to not betraying loyalty towards the new masters and the reliability of South Africa as a member of the great British Empire. Botha belittles the German pro-Boer role during the Boer War and even poses that the Germany had contributed to the defeat of the Boers as, so he said, the German Kaiser had suggested after the British crossed the Tugela, that they should march north through the Orange Free State. Another claim Botha made was that DelaRey had said, just prior to his untimely death (two weeks before the speech), that he would support the Botha government if it were to proceed with its proposed actions against the Germans in South West Africa. Botha further stated that if South Africa would not move against the Territory, there was a chance that Britain would send other troops to do South Africa’s work. A figure of 50.000 Indians was mentioned as well as that -perish the thought!- these people would in all likelihood be allowed to stay there.

This pro-British stance will be toe-curling to a Regte Boer and places the strong anti-Botha, anti-Smuts feelings of the day into proper context. However, in the speech, there was something else said that was remarkable and that may perhaps explain Botha’s demeanor. Botha remarks, off-the-cuff, that if the South West territory were to be conquered by the “Empire,” the chances were that it would be incorporated into the Union. Would it thus be possible that Botha (who stated to be in bad health and perhaps envisaged to leave a legacy) had territorial aspirations as the incorporation of South West Africa would have added almost 70% to the territory of South Africa? If so, this of course raises the sticky question whether the British Government had used that possibility as an enticement to Botha to join the war against Germany.

A remarkable aspect of the 1914/15 Rebellion is that the participants came off relatively lightly. The one notable exception was, of course, Jopie Fourie who in contrast to other rebel officers had failed to resign his commission from the Union Defence Force. The rank and file of the captured rebels were sent home without fines or prison terms but were barred from political office for 10 years. The leaders of the Rebellion and the officers copped prison sentences from 2 to 7 years, but all were released by late 1916. Some of the leaders were fined heavily but these fines were settled through the contemporary equivalent of crowdfunding.

As was the case during the internment in POW camps during the Boer War, some prisoners occupied themselves with the production of mementos and artefacts. The item depicted below is a 7 cm tall octagonal shaped salt jar carved from some soft stone. The sides are decorated with the names of the rebel leaders. The base is inscribed “Het Zout Der Aarde" (salt of the earth). The lid is inscribed with the names J.J. Wessels and G.J. Wessels. I presume they were brothers/family and were among the officers that were interned after the Rebellion. However, because of the high quality of the carving and given the inscription on the bottom (something you would not write about yourself) there is a possibility that the jar was produced outside a prison camp by a Rebel-sympathizer with access to professional tools.

I am not aware of the existence of a list of rebels (Elmarie?) and my search through the Bloemfontein Museum databases for Boer War participants with the surname Wessels and the initials J.J and G.J. returned too many possibilities to determine who were the men mentioned on the lid. If anyone has an idea, please feel free to chip in.