Daniel Francois Malan born at Allesverloren, near Riebeek West on 22nd May 1874 and died at 'Morewag', Stellenbosch on 7th February 1959, statesman, church and cultural leader, was the second child in a family of four sons and two daughters. His parents were Daniël François Malan (12.6.1844 – 22.9.1908) and Anna Magdalena du Toit (5.5.1847-12.6.1893), both of whom came from the Wellington district and were descendants of the French Huguenots. After living in the Wamakersvallei they settled on the farm Allesverloren in January 1872, where they were friends and neighbours of the parents of Jan C. Smuts.*

Malan's father was a well-to-do and respected farmer and churchman and an influential sup-porter of the Afrikanerbond. His mother, from whom he inherited his more striking traits of character and appearance, was a calm, lovable woman of few words but of equable temperament and sound judgement.

He went to school in Riebeek West, where the youthful T. C. Stoffberg* taught him and exercised a profound and enduring influence on him. His progress at school was, however, hampered by myopia and physical frailty. He was an average student and attained the School Higher Certificate in 1890. Realizing that he was not destined to be a farmer, his parents in 1891 sent him to Stellenbosch, where he obtained the Intermediate Certificate at the Victoria College. After his mother's death in 1893 his father married Esther Fourie of Beaufort West, who had a notable influence upon the young M.

Education

Having obtained a B.A. degree in 1895 he decided to become a minister of religion, and in 1896 he completed the Admission Course required for entrance to the Theological Seminary. Although as a student at the Victoria College he was rather aloof and uncommunicative, he was nevertheless methodical and disciplined. He did not take part in organized sport but enjoyed walking and debating.

At the invitation of J. C. Smuts, with whom he had often come into contact on his parents' farm when they were children, M. upon his arrival in Stellenbosch became a member of the Union Debating Society, of which he was chair-man in 1897 and 1899. He was also on the editorial staff of The Stellenbosch Students' Annual. An interesting article which he wrote entitled 'Our Situation' and dealing with the disquieting materialistic spirit of the times, appeared in the society's journal, in 1896.

In the same year M. taught for a term in Swellendam, after which he began his studies at the seminary, simultaneously enrolling at the college for the M.A. course in Philosophy, a degree he obtained towards the middle of 1899. As a student at the seminary he was strongly influenced by the devout example and inspiring lectures of Professor N. J. Hofmeyr.*

In the second half of 1900 he wrote the Candidates' Examination and left for Utrecht, Holland, in September to continue his theological studies. There he was greatly impressed by Professor J. J. P. Valeton, a leading exponent of the doctrines of the 'ethical school' in Theology, which accepted the Bible as a given reality without further argument.

When President S. J. P. Kruger* stopped over in Utrecht in December 1900 on his journey to The Hague and received an overwhelming ovation, M. was also present, and in January 1901 visited him in his hotel in Utrecht.

While he was a student in Utrecht M. under-took various journeys on the Continent and to England and Scotland, and in August 1902 re-presented South Africa at the world conference of the Students' Christian Association in Soro, Denmark. He also became acquainted with the aged Dutch theologian and poet Nicolaas Beets, who had a lasting influence on him.

M. was also much impressed by the visit which the Boer Generals, Louis Botha,* C. R. de Wet* and J. H. de la Rey,* paid to President Kruger in Utrecht on his birthday on 10.10.1902. He made several calls on President and Mrs M. T. Steyn* who were staying in Germany, and a firm friend-ship arose between them. Steyn fundamentally influenced his opinions on political and cultural matters both then and later.

Political Life

From then on he kept abreast of developments in the political and cultural life of South Africa and grew concerned about the submission and conciliatory attitude of some Afrikaners towards their political opponents after the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) had ended. In April 1904 he addressed two very illuminating letters to the editor of the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant in which he expounded his view of the South African situation; he dealt in particular with the significance and power that were inherent in the Afrikaner's language and Afrikaner unity as a potential safeguard against Anglicization. These two aspects of Afrikaner identity were developed and formulated in a manner both arresting and, considering the political and cultural background of 1904, surprising. It was the first indication of M.'s extra-ordinary ability to put an idea on paper and convey it to others. These letters show that as early as 1904 M.'s views on the political and cultural situation in South Africa had assumed a definite shape.

On 20.1.1905 he became a Doctor of Divinity, with a thesis on Het idealisme van Berkeley (The Idealism of Berkeley), and in May, at the age of thirty-one, he was formally admitted to the ministry in Cape Town. At the invitation of the Reverend A. J. Louw* of Heidelberg, Transvaal, he was ordained on 29.7.1905 as an assistant preacher of the N.G. Kerk in that town, and for the first time came into contact with many people who still bore the physical and economic scars of the Second Anglo-Boer War. At the same time he became deeply aware of his bond with his people and of the necessity for them to close their ranks and stop niggling over principles, since this could endanger the preservation of the Afrikaner's identity.

After spending about six months in Heidelberg, M. having in 1905 accepted a call to Montagu was inducted on 16 2.1906, and there during his six-year stay began to apply himself to the problem of uplifting the impoverished Afrikaner. At the congregational level his main preoccupation was with mission work and poor-relief, and he maintained that the extent to which its people undertook such work determined the spiritual climate of a congregation.

It was as early as the first decade of this century, while serving the congregation of Montagu, that M. began to come to the fore as an academic, cultural and potential political leader. During the Synods of 1906 and 1909 he emphasized the fundamental importance of training Afrikaner teachers and advocated that a national educational ideal should be formulated. In August 1908, as general chairman of the Afrikaanse Taalvereniging, he made his famous plea for the recognition of Afrikaans as a written language, and in 1909 was active as a founder of De Zuid-Afrikaanse Akademie voor Taal, Letteren en Kunst (The South African Academy for Language, Literature and Art). At the Stu-dents Language Conference in Stellenbosch in April 1911 he delivered his inspiring address on 'Language and nationality'.

M. was also preoccupied with the idea of unity in the ecclesiastical field. During the Synod of 1909 he delivered a strong plea for closer links between the N.G. Kerke of the four colonies and represented the Cape Church in De Federale Raad der Kerken (Federal Council of Churches). He was the driving force behind the campaign for a church association, which, however, foundered in 1912 and became a reality only fifty years later in 1962, after his death.

The Spiritual Side

Of far-reaching importance for both the N.G. Kerk in the Union and the spiritual and cultural interests of the 'exiles', was the extended tour he undertook at the request of the Cape Church between July and November 1912. The object of this was to visit the congregations in Northern and Southern Rhodesia. The diary of his travels published in instalments in De Kerkbode and later in book form under the title Naar Congoland (infra), was extensively read and aroused widespread interest in the welfare of the Afrikaners in Rhodesia.

On 1.2.1913 M. became assistant preacher to the congregation of Graaff-Reinet, this being the year in which the estrangement between the Prime Minister, General Louis Botha, and General J. B. M. Hertzog* reached a crisis. M. was in sympathy with Hertzog's standpoint which was pro-South African in contrast to that of Botha whose policy was to conciliate Britain and the English-speaking population. He voiced his share in the church's opposition to the plans of the government, which aimed to establish an English-orientated teaching university for both language groups in Cape Town, and zealously strove to have the status of the Victoria College at Stellenbosch raised to that of a fully fledged national university. This goal was realized through legislation in 1916.

The outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 shortly afterwards led to the unfortunate Rebellion in South Africa and to unhappy division and confusion among the Afrikaners, in the ecclesiastical as well as in other spheres. M., who was staying in Pretoria during the week-end of 18 to 20 December, tried in vain as one of a six-man deputation to obtain clemency for Commandant Jopie Fourie* who had been sentenced to death. When it seemed that the Rebellion with all its attendant bitterness would cause a schism in the N.G. Kerk, M. provided powerful leadership at the critical 'Ministers' Conference held in Bloemfontein in January 1915.

In 1914 the National Party (N.P.) was founded under the leadership of General Hertzog. The need for an influential newspaper to serve as a mouthpiece for the party led to the establishment of De Nationale Pers Beperkt at Stellenbosch, and through the mediation of W. A. Hofmeyr* in particular M. was earnestly re-quested to become editor of the newspaper. After seeking the advice of prominent politicians and church leaders he accepted the post and on 13.6.1915 delivered his farewell sermon to the congregation of Graaff-Reinet. The first issue of De Burger appeared on 26.7.1915. Since at a conference at Cradock in June 1915 M. had already been elected to the executive of the National Party, in practice he combined the editorship of De Burger and the leadership of the National Party in the Cape. As editor from 1915 to 1923, his editorials, written in a graceful, dignified style, gave direction to the national aspirations of the Afrikaner. De Burger rapidly gained wide respect in the world of journalism and an unusual status, despite its unenviable role in the war situation.

The Afrikaner's republican aspirations and South Africa's right to leave the British Empire often formed the core of M.'s editorials. His views played an important part in formulating party policy; this was particularly so after his election as chairman (and thus unofficial leader of the party in the Cape) at the Middelburg congress of the National Party in September 1915. Three months after leaving the service of the church M. was not only in the thick of politics but in the midst of the crisis with which the First World War (1914-18) and the Rebellion (1914) confronted the Afrikaner.

Influential leaders within the National Party were now anxious that M. should obtain a seat in the House of Assembly as soon as possible. Although he failed twice, first in Cradock in 1915 and then in Victoria West in 1917, in 1919 he became M.P. for Calvinia and retained this seat until 1938. Thereafter he represented the constituency of Piketberg until he retired from politics.

After the First World War the leaders of the National Party, encouraged by the statements of the Allied leaders, particularly the American President Woodrow Wilson and the British Prime Minister David Lloyd George,* on 'the right of self-determination of small nations', decided to send a delegation to the peace conference in Paris; its object would be to plead that the independence of the two former Boer republics should be restored. If this failed, greater constitutional independence for the Union of South Africa would be requested. M. and Advocate F. W. Beyers* represented the Cape in the 'Freedom Deputation' of 1919, which was led by General Hertzog. When the delegation returned without having accomplished anything, M. found that there was a strong desire for reunification among the Afrikaans-speaking people and he consequently began to direct his energies to-wards realizing this ideal. The right of nations to self-determination and the resultant Nationalist claim that the Union should have the right to secede from the British Empire became the major campaign issue in the so-called secession election of 1920. It resulted in a political stale-mate, and after an abortive attempt by Smuts to form a coalition government the Unionist Party disbanded and threw in their lot with the South African Party. A new election in February 1921 gave Smuts a healthy majority, but only threeand-a-half years later his government was defeated through an election agreement between General Hertzog and F. H. P. Creswell,* leader of the Labour Party. M. saw this as a partial victory for the reunion movement to welcome all those who loved their country.

In the cabinet which General Hertzog formed as Prime Minister, M. became Minister of Internal Affairs, Education and Public Health. Although not Deputy Prime Minister (this post was first occupied by Advocate Tielman Roos* and then by N. C. Havenga*), M. nevertheless became a prominent member of the cabinet. In government circles he was regarded as a farsighted political strategist and as such he moved into the forefront. He distinguished himself as an extraordinarily accomplished parliamentarian, an indomitable fighter and an unequalled debater. As a minister he gained a reputation for competent administration and unmitigated hard work, while in the various government departments under his control he was noted for his informed approach.

Among the most important bills which he piloted through parliament in the Pact Government, and in which he was strongly supported by Senator C. J. Langenhoven,* was the amendment to the Union Constitution (1925); in terms of this Afrikaans was recognized as an official language. This decision, which was unanimously carried in parliament, represented the fulfilment of the ideal for which M. had striven for twenty years. In addition he implemented the policy of bilingualism in the public service, over-hauled the public service administration and used the opportunity of obtaining improved facilities and greater financial support for higher and technical education. Immigration from certain countries was limited by means of the quota system. As regards the Indians M. acted in 1927 as chairman of the notable Cape Town conference between representatives of the South African and Indian governments; here he insisted that South Africa should give more generous financial assistance to Indians who wished to leave the Union of their own free will. In order to overcome the stalemate between the House of Assembly and the Senate (in which the opposition was in the majority), M., aided by a joint sitting of both Houses, piloted the Amendment Act on the Composition of the Senate through parliament. In terms of this the governor-general could dissolve the Senate within twelve days after a general election.

Between 1925 and 1927 M., who was the minister responsible, also handled the very delicate negotiations over the bill on South African citizenship and a national flag. The latter was introduced by M. during the parliamentary session of 1925, but was shortly after-wards withdrawn; this was in order to obtain a greater measure of co-operation from the other party, and also because General Smuts had come out in support of the principle. The following year, on 25.5.1926, M. introduced a similar bill, but the difference of opinions between the government and the opposition appeared to be so profound that he withdrew his proposal. Meanwhile a tremendous battle was in progress over this issue both outside parliament and within the Nationalist ranks. Two groups opposed the Nationalists : one wanted nothing but the preservation of the British flag, whereas the other was prepared to accept a new flag provided the Union Jack had a prominent place in it. Even among the Nationalists themselves there were serious differences of opinion. M. was not prepared to make any concessions, while the Prime Minister, encouraged by N. C. Havenga and Tielman Roos, was willing to make concessions to the opposing party. After many discussions the matter was referred to a Select Committee in 1926 and General Hertzog now took the matter in hand himself, M. retreating further and further into the background. Many Nationalists were disappointed that the Union Jack would appear in the Union flag. M. resigned himself to the position because he did not want to cause a schism in the ranks of the National Party. Accordingly he once again submitted a bill in this connection. It was passed on 23.6.1927 and the Union flag was officially hoisted for the first time on 31.5.1928. In the flag issue M. had taken the lead in creating the generally accepted symbol of nationhood and independence, but the struggle had indicated that there was no longer complete unanimity within the ranks of the National Party. A certain amount of estrangement and even mistrust among leading Nationalists had crept in.

After the election of June 1929, which this time brought the Nationalists to power with a clear majority, M. retained his portfolios. In 1930 he played a leading role in gaining White women the vote and placing the general election qualifications on an equal footing in all four provinces.

With the decline of the Labour Party, ally of the National Party, as well as internal squabbles within the party itself, in which Tielman Roos and a republican section were particularly involved, a gradual weakening of the governing party occurred. Moreover, a world-wide economic depression hit South Africa and was accompanied by a devastating drought. When Britain dropped the gold standard in September 1931, Tielman Roos, who had been appointed Appeal Judge in 1929, stormed into the political arena once again towards the end of 1932. His avowed aim was to get South Africa off the gold standard and bring about a coalition. The government was compelled to depart from its professed policy and drop the gold standard. The National Party now entered a period of crisis in its history. Hertzog and M. refused to accept Roos, but after strenuous political negotiations behind the scenes the Prime Minister in February 1933 declared himself willing to accept Smuts's offer of a coalition government.

M. displayed little enthusiasm for this move because he feared that it would jeopardise the Afrikaner's interests. Nevertheless he stood as a Coalition candidate for the election of May 1933, in which the Coalition parties achieved an overwhelming victory, but he refused to serve in the Coalition cabinet, although he continued to support Hertzog. He was opposed to further rapprochment between the National and South African Parties, for he feared that closer co-operation between them represented a threat to the principles and policy of his party.

After the election of 1933 a nation-wide movement arose to consolidate the existing political co-operation into an enduring fusion of the two parties. Time and again M. sounded a warning note and at the Cape congress of the National Party in October 1933 he asserted: 'Reunion means bringing together those who belong together by virtue of political conviction and this rules out the fusion of parties'. M. was convinced that fusion could not succeed, since en-during unity could not be cemented while Hertzog and Smuts differed basically over principles such as the divisibility of the crown, the right to remain neutral and the sovereign status of the Union. The Cape congress followed M.'s lead and he was now diametrically opposed to Hertzog, although negotiations between them continued. However, Nationalists in the other provinces ranged themselves behind Hertzog; thus the fusion of the National and South African Parties became an accomplished fact. The United South African National Party came into being on 5.12.1934, while the Cape National Party, led by M., maintained its identity. M., with eighteen followers, became the National opposition in the House of Assembly.

The years 1934-39 constituted a low ebb in the history of the National Party, but M. enjoyed the support of most Nationalist-orientated people in the Cape and leaned heavily on the influential Nasionale Pers. In addition, he had the efficient party organization in the Cape at his disposal. In these years the strife between the Fusionists and the Purified National Party was relentlessly sharp and often heated. It was expressed in the 1937 report of a Commission on the Coloured franchise which recommended that the Coloureds in all four provinces be granted the vote and that they be placed on the common voters' roll. Raising serious objections to this M. and his party demanded the political and residential segregation of the Coloureds. Another major bone of contention was the question of a republic, which for tactical reasons Hertzog had dropped for the time being since he did not regard it as practical policy, though the National Party was gradually moving in this direction. However, on the question of whether South Africa could remain neutral if Britain were to become involved in a war, Hertzog and M. did not disagree.

In the general election of 1938 the Nationalists increased the number of their seats in the House of Assembly to a still modest twenty-seven. The 247 000 votes this party acquired, as opposed to the 448 000 of the United Party, served as great encouragement to the National Party. Moreover, M. realised that time was on its side since it was clear to him that there was already a serious rift between Hertzog and Smuts over certain fundamental issues. The year 1938 was also the year of the Voortrekker Centenary and the Symbolic Ox-waggon Trek which served as a strong stimulus to the awakening of Afrikaner nationalism. It was at about this time that cultural societies became active and the Reddingsdaadbond did a great deal for the impoverished Afrikaner. In 1938 the Ossewa-Brandwag also came into being – a cultural organization aimed at strengthening the newly awakened enthusiasm for the Afrikaner cause. However, within two years it began to enter the political arena, making propaganda for republican government and later, during the war, even for a totalitarian state.

When the Second World War broke out on 3.9.1939 and it became known that the cabinet was divided on the question of South Africa's participation, M. immediately offered Hertzog his support in writing should he adopt a neutrality stand in parliament. On the next day M. took part in the parliamentary debate on this matter, supported Hertzog's neutrality motion and declared that in terms of the Statute of Westminster and the Status Act, South Africa had the right to remain neutral. If South Africa aided Britain because she had moral ties with that country, she would, according to M., be a country of slavery which no longer had its destiny in its own hands. Hertzog's neutrality motion, supported by M. and his followers, was nevertheless defeated by thirteen votes in the House of Assembly and Hertzog resigned as Prime Minister. A few days later ten thousand anti-war demonstrators met at Monumentkoppie near Pretoria to honour Hertzog and M. who became 'reconciled' there. From this moment on M. renewed his efforts to effect the reunion of all Afrikaners who were obliged by the declaration of war to leave their party and seek a new refuge. These were Nationalists who were still his supporters, and Hertzog's United Party followers. However, mutual distrust rendered his task very difficult.

In January 1940 the 'Herenigde Nasionale Party of Volksparty' (H.N.P. of V.) came into being, in which the followers of Malan and Hertzog found a political home and in which the republican ideal was incorporated in the programme of principles. Although M. was willing to give up the leadership of the new party to Hertzog, on 6.11.1940 the latter retired from politics owing to conflicting views, and in April 1941 M. became the leader of the H.N.P. of V.

The years from 1941 to 1943 were the bitterest and most difficult period of his political career. He not only had to contend with a divided Afrikanerdom but felt, as he had done thirty years before, that it devolved upon him to restore the shattered unity; now he was in the midst of a war-time situation in which he had to endure a great deal of opprobrium from the powerful United Party and its adherents who were in favour of the war. On another front he crossed swords with fellow Afrikaners who though really of the same persuasion envisaged a different approach to the goal of freedom; for instance in 1941, under the leadership of Dr J. F. J. van Rensburg,* the bellicose Ossewa-Brandwag, which had originally supported M. as 'Leader of the People', branched out in another direction and embroiled itself in politics, eventually becoming a threat to the H.N.P. of V. Other dissentient opposition groups such as Advocate Oswald Pirow's* New Order pressed for National Socialism. After Hertzog had retired Havenga, his loyal follower and confidant, formed an organization of his own and called it the Afrikaner Party, while many Afrikaans-speaking people supported General Smuts's war effort. Afrikaners were divided in spirit and for M., to whom Afrikaner unity had become a passion, it was a dark, humiliating time. In August 1941 he found himself compelled to confront the numerically strong Ossewa-Brandwag, from which a growing stream of Nationalists resigned and supported him.

Although in the general war-time election of 1943 M.'s party gained only two more seats, the result was significant, since all the dissenting groups on the 'national' side, which had opposed M. and put up their own candidates, were completely eliminated. This meant that the H.N.P. of V. now formed a united and solid opposition in parliament. Under the circumstances it was a victory for M.'s leadership. Furthermore, the result of the by-election in Wakkerstroom a year later was of far-reaching significance to M. and his followers and a source of consternation to Smuts and his party, since the H.N.P. of V. wrested this constituency from the United Party. Marshalling its forces and improving its organization to a point of unequalled efficiency, the H.N.P. of V. now made intensive preparations for the general election of 1948. M., who realized the necessity for Afrikaner unity if the election was to be won, succeeded in 1947 in concluding an election agreement with Havenga and his Afrikaner Party. This signified the reunion of two wings of Afrikaner Nationalism which had become temporarily estranged. It also brought the hard core of Hertzog supporters back into the arena, which in itself was one of M.'s major achievements as a leader and political strategist.

He concentrated particularly on government policy and measures relating to the racial problem, Communism, the economic interests of the Union, the handling of matters such as health, food and housing and the interests of the returned soldiers. Smuts, on the other hand, was in a strong position as a war hero and inter-national political figure who had reached the zenith of his fame in 1945 and enjoyed a position of unassailable authority in his own party. In the light of the well-known difference in approach to the racial problem between Smuts and his confidant and right-hand man, J. H. Hofmeyr,* M., powerfully supported by the Nationalist newspapers, let slip no opportunity of pointing out this weakness in the government. Thus the racial question, to which M. offered 'apartheid and guardianship' as a solution, be-came the overriding factor in the election. The word 'apartheid' had already been coined by a party member, but it was M. who formulated the policy attached to the word and gave it meaning.

The outcome of the election of 26.5.1948 was a great surprise because the H.N.P. of V. gained seventy seats and the Afrikaner Party nine, a total of seventy-nine. This gave M. and Havenga a majority of five over the United Party, the Labourites and the three Native representatives combined. Smuts called the result a freak, while M. termed it a miracle of God.

When at the age of seventy-four M. became the fourth Prime Minister of the Union, every-one considered this achievement a personal triumph. He formed a cabinet which, for the first time in history, consisted exclusively of Afrikaans-speaking persons; it was, at the same time, also the first to be fully bilingual. Havenga became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.

The first five years of M.'s premiership were exceptionally stormy. He was continually attacked by his political opponents abroad and at home, particularly by the powerful opposition press. In addition the H.N.P. of V. in spite of the election results found itself in a vulnerable position, being in the minority in the Senate. M. was, however, determined to remain in power and the H.N.P. of V., aided by the deciding vote of the president of the Senate, did on a number of occasions succeed in getting its programme of legislation through. In 1949 M. achieved the measure which gave South-West Africa six members in the House of Assembly and four senators in the Union parliament. The election of 30.8.1950 in South-West Africa was won by the Nationalists in all six constituencies and the position of the H.N.P. of V. in the Senate was greatly strengthened by the election of two Nationalist senators and the appointment of another two for South-West Africa. But the closer links between South-West Africa and the Union meant that the Malan government be-came embroiled in a continual struggle with the United Nations.

The question of incorporating the British protectorates in the Union, previously raised by a South African government, was taken up again by M. but rejected by the British government.

Since at this juncture there were no real differences of principle between the H.N.P. of V. and the Afrikaner Party, M. and Havenga decided in August 1951 to fuse them. It was undoubtedly M.'s confidence in and respect for Havenga which rendered this fusion possible. Once again known as the 'National Party' (N.P.), this was the name which had served to unite those of national sentiments between 1914 and 1940, and was another milestone in M.'s struggle to 'bring together those who belong together by inner conviction'.

M. came to power at a fortunate time from an economic point of view. In July 1949, with the consent of the International Monetary Fund and the Union Treasury, the gold mines were allowed to sell a limited amount of gold at higher prices than the then prevailing sum of thirty-five dollars per ounce. On 19.9.1949 M. devalued the Union's rate of exchange, by which the price of gold in sterling rose from 172s. 6d. per ounce to 248s. 2d. The resulting economic revival and industrial expansion made the Malan regime more acceptable to the general public.

Legislation submitted by his government between 1948 and 1953 was fought tooth and nail and sometimes clause by clause by the United Party and its press. Nevertheless the government succeeded in placing various radical measures on the statute books: the right of appeal to the British Privy Council was abolished; through the Population Registration Act all people over the age of sixteen were classified and registered as White, Coloured, Bantu or Asiatic and issued with identity cards; through the Group Areas Act the government was em-powered to reserve certain parts as residential areas for specific population groups; the act which forbade mixed marriages (between Whites and Non-Whites) and the Suppression of Communism Act were adopted as had been promised in the election (this act, among other things, declared the Communist Party in South Africa an illegal organization, membership of which would be punishable by up to ten years' imprisonment); the Immorality Act was passed and in terms of the Union Citizenship Act dual citizenship (that of Britain and the Union of South Africa) was discontinued and replaced by South African only. With the passing of the Public Holidays Act, Van Riebeeck Day, 6 April, and Kruger Day, 10 October, became national holidays and through the adoption of three important Bantu acts the influx of Bantu into the urban areas was controlled, provision being made for essential services in Bantu townships.

At the Commonwealth Conference of 1949 M. made an important contribution towards gaining Commonwealth members the right to adopt a republican form of government, while the adjective 'British' was no longer used to describe the Commonwealth. In the same year M. piloted the Citizenship Act (Act 44 of 1949) through parliament. In terms of this a British subject was to reside in the Union for four years (it had previously been two) before he could obtain Union citizenship; this in any event depended on the registration certificate which the Minister of Internal Affairs might or might not issue. Four years later M. also amended the royal title attached to the Union by giving it a purely South African character, thus distinguishing it from the titles used by other members of the Commonwealth. It was to be Elizabeth II, Queen of the Union of South Africa and of Her Other Kingdoms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth.

On the series of apartheid measures introduced by the Malan government, that which was em-bodied in the Separate Representation of Voters Act in 1951 was most vehemently attacked by the opposition. In terms of this the Coloureds were taken off the common voters' roll and placed on a separate one. This legislation gave rise to a protracted constitutional crisis in which the question of the sovereignty of parliament was involved. M. attempted to solve the problem by means of legislation which would make parliament a 'High Court' for purposes of Coloured representation, but the attempt failed. His own followers were unhappy about the method employed and there was serious criticism of the measure from both the opposition and the National Party itself, while a court decision declared the method invalid as a constitutional solution. To this M. replied that he accepted the Court of Appeal decision provisionally, but that he would take the matter to the voters in the next election. Meanwhile, the apartheid and anti-communist legislation of the Malan government paved the way for a resistance movement, the 'Torch Commando', and for demonstrations and the threat of strikes, but M. refused to be intimidated.

The results of the 1953 election strengthened the government's hand considerably, since M. now had a majority of twenty-nine (excluding the Speaker) in the House of Assembly. In the light of his statement, before the election, on the decision of the supreme court, M. regarded the election results as a mandate to implement his party's racial policy.

During the first parliamentary session after the election M. tried in vain, by joint sittings of both Houses, to re-enact the Separate Representation of Voters Act, to place the sovereignty of parliament beyond all doubt and to declare the testing right of the courts invalid.

After the election of 1953 he left for London where he attended the coronation of Queen Elizabeth I.I and the Commonwealth Conference. He also paid a highly successful visit to Israel. In fact by 1953 M. was a far less controversial figure both in South Africa and abroad than he had formerly been. His stature as a statesman had increased and he compelled respect in circles other than those of his political supporters. His leadership was confirmed once and for all by the great victory won by the National Party in the general provincial elections of August 1954. After resigning as leader of the Nationalists in the Cape in November 1953, M. astonished the country on 11.10.1956 with the dramatic announcement of his intention to retire from politics altogether on 30 November. He himself would have preferred Havenga to Advocate J. G. Strijdom as his successor; this was mostly out of personal loyalty to Havenga and the fact that he was Deputy Prime Minister. But on 30 November the party caucus designated Strijdom as the new Prime Minister.

After his retirement M. settled at Stellenbosch where he began writing his autobiography, which he was unable to complete because of two strokes in 1958 which partially paralyzed him. After his death the work was completed by his friends. He died at his home after suffering another stroke and was buried in the Stellenbosch cemetery.

M. was the successor to the Generals in South African politics. Since he devoted his life to the study of Theology and Political Science his absorption in these subjects had a considerable influence on his career and outlook, and throughout his life he was the champion of Afrikaans culture and Afrikaner nationalism. His leadership and personal example were an inspiration to the Afrikaner people.

As early as 1915 it had become a passion with him to heal the schism among Afrikaners, and the political division at intervals among the Nationalists frequently placed him in the fore-front of reconciliation and reunion movements. He defined his credo for national unity in the exhortation, 'Bring together those who belong together by inner conviction'. Moreover, he considered a republic, free of constitutional ties with Britain, essential to amalgamate the two White language groups into one nationally conscious people.

While still a member of the opposition M. had a considerable influence on South African politics. His power lay in his objectivity, patience and remarkable administrative ability, added to a gift of extraordinary eloquence, which evinced itself early in his career. He had a deep, sonorous voice, his preparation was thorough, his logic impeccable. These things, added to his powers of persuasion and impressive personality on a platform, contributed to make him one of the greatest orators in South African parliamentary history. M. was a true democrat who would not act unless he was sure of the feelings of the Afrikaner people, from whose response his leadership grew spontaneously. At no stage did he attempt to force it upon them.

As a man he was imperturbable, and although outwardly he was aloof and reserved his friends and relatives found in him a warm humanity and a spontaneous sense of humour. In his public actions he seldom betrayed his feelings and moods and consequently cartoons in opposition newspapers often depicted him as a sphinx.

He was of average height and after 1920 developed a burly physique. When he was a clergy-man he cultivated a heavy, dark moustache. He went bald at an early age and wore spectacles with very thick lenses all his life.

The University of Stellenbosch, of which he was chancellor from 1941 to 1959, awarded him an honorary doctorate, as did the University of Pretoria and the University of Cape Town.

M.'s publications include the following: Het idealisme van Berkeley (1905); Naar Congoland (1913) and Afrikaner-volkseenheid (1959). A volume comprising thirty of his most famous speeches appeared in 1964 under the title Glo in 'n yolk, edited by S. W. Pienaar and J. J. J. Scholtz.

In 1926 M. married Martha Margaretha Elizabeth van Tonder (nee Zandberg), and they had two sons. She died in 1930 and in 1937 he married Maria-Anne Sophia Louw (t1973) of Calvinia. This marriage was childless, but in 1948 they adopted a German orphan girl.

The best portraits of M. were painted by G. Wylde and I. Henkel. That by Wylde hangs in the Parliamentary Buildings, while Henkel's was in the possession of Mrs Malan and hung in their home 'Môrewag' in Stellenbosch. Of the busts of him by Coert Steynberg and Henkel, Steynberg's is in the possession of the University of Stellenbosch. There are four copies of the striking Henkel bust, one of which is in the D. F. Malan Museum of Stellenbosch University and another in Parliament Buildings, Cape Town.

The D. F. Malan Museum in the Carnegie Library, University of Stellenbosch, was opened in 1967. It consists of a museum section, an exact replica of M.'s study at 'Morewag', and a well arranged archive section. When his hundredth birthday was commemorated on 22.5.1974, the D. F. Malan Centre at the University of Stellenbosch was opened.

The 1878 Voters list is is unmistakably the largest electronic database of male inhabitants of the Cape in the 19th Century. This database contains some 40 000 names as well as places of abode and in some major cities occupations are given as well.

By using this database you will be able to determine where you ancestors lived as well as indentifying other possible family members who reside in the vicinity.

Information covers the Western Cape including:  Cape Town District, Green Point, Southern Suburbs, Paarl, Stellenbosch, Worcester, Malmesbury, Piquetberg, Namaqualand, Clanwilliam, Swellendam, Caledon, Riversdale, Oudsthoorn and George.

The Eastern Cape section covers Albany, Albert, Aliwal North, Beaufort, Colesburg, Craddock, East London, Fort Beaufort, Graaff-Reniet, Graham’s Town, King Williams Town, Port Elizabeth, Queen’s Town, Richmond, Somerset East, Uitenhage, Victoria West, Victoria East + Wodehouse.

More information can be read in our Learning Centre on Voting Information in South Africa 1853 – 1970

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Betekenis: Oorspronklik het dié familie uit Deventer (Nederland) gekom. Die van het in Duitsland Von Dempter geword, wat toe weer tot Venter verkort is.

Stamvader: Hendrik of Heinrich Conrad Venter, geb. 21.4.1663 in Hamlen (Duitsland), seun van Heinrich von Dempter en Anna Sophie Kuhlemann. Burger en kleremaker op Stellenbosch; in 1704 eienaar van die plaas “Vleeschbank” aan die Bergrivier. Oorl. 2.5.1713. Trou 17.7.1690 in Kaapstad met Johanna Mostert; hertrou 9.12.1691 met Anna Viljoen (8 kinders).

Wapen: In goud op ‘n los grond ‘n gaande leeu, alles rooi. Helmteken: dieselfde leeu. Dekklede: rooi en silwer. Hierdie wapen is gegrond op ‘n lakafdruk van 1781 van Pieter Venter in die Kaapse Argief. Dit vertoon ‘n leeu wat op ‘n balkie staan.

STELLENBOSCH scientists have identified a “heart disease gene” in a South African family that has been plagued by a rare heart condition for more than 300 years.

The rogue gene – which contains a rare protein mutation – has been traced back to a Portuguese emigrant who came to the Cape from Madeira in 1694. Descendants of the man – who married a woman of Dutch descent – now live throughout South Africa.

Until recently, they were far more likely than the general population to suffer fatal heart complications.

Now, however, knowledge about their genetic status means they are forewarned and able to seek help in the form of pacemakers, which allow them to live relatively normal lives.

The medical breakthrough, soon to be published in an international medical journal, is not only a major triumph for South African research but also for a father-and-son research team, professors Andries and Paul Brink, who spearheaded the project at different times during a 35-year research quest.

Brink snr, a cardiac specialist and former dean of the Stellenbosch University faculty of health sciences, first described progressive familial heart block type I, in 1977. The disease is related to problems with the heart’s electric conduction system that cause major slowing down of the heartbeat.

Now Brink jnr, together with German scientists and a senior colleague at Stellenbosch University, has pinpointed the genetic source of the problem.

Their success owes much to major advances in genetic science, in particular the mapping of the human genome, which allows scientists to compare and contrast human DNA from different communities.

By following the genealogical line of the South African “heart condition” – now found in several families that the university declined to identify in order to protect their privacy – Brink and his team were able to identify 85 living carrier descendants of the man from Madeira.

“Prior to the ’70s, people with this condition often died. That’s why it is so important to identify the individuals at risk – so that people can live normal lives,” said Brink.

Even with access to the mapped human genome, the search for the heart-attack gene involved arduous scientific work, according to Brink’s co-researcher, Professor Valerie Corfield. “There were at least 80 genes in the area where we expected to find the rogue gene. Examining all of them was a costly and time-consuming process,” she said.

The vital clue came from German scientists whose research pointed to a particular gene linked to the electrical signals of the heart.

Source http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/article34998.ece 

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Kmdt. Henning Petrus Nicolaas Pretorius

(born 1844 in Natal, South Africa; died 1897, Farm Abrahamskloof, Albanie, Cape, South Africa) nicknamed “Skote Petoors”

When a young boy, he was nearly present when his paternal grandfather was murdered in 1865 in Moorddraai, but rode ahead to see his fiancee, and therefore was saved from being murdered too. In 1876 he became and Cornet in the Z.A.R. in the Sekukune wars. His heroic conduct during the First Boer War in Elandsfontein made him famous. He was wounded twice. In 1882 he was commissioned as a Kommandant. In 1890 he was made Acting Kommandant Generaal in place in P.J. Joubert. In 1896 he was promoted to Lt. Colonel of the reorganised Artillery Corps under the new name of Staatsartillerie. He made several improvements to the Artillery, rendering them equivalent to those of most nations at the time. He died while on a mission in the Eastern districts of the Cape, while looking for the beam on which the accused were hanged in 1816 for the Slagtersnek opstand. He was buried with full military honours at the Helde-akker in Pretoria. There is a statue of him in front of Military Headquarters in Potgieter Street in Pretoria.

Kmdt. Henning Petrus Nicolaas Pretorius

His father was Marthinus Wessel “Swart Martiens” Pretorius (1822-1864) born in Graaf Reinet and who died at the Battle of Silkaatsnek, during the First Boer War. Farmer in Welgegund, near Pretoria. His mother was Debora Jacoba Retief (1815-1900), born at Mooimeisjesfontein, in the Cape. She famously painted her father’s name on the cliff face of Kerkenberg in the Drakensberg. A sculpture of this deed is on display in the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria. Her father was Gen. Pieter Retief (1780-1838), known as Piet Retief, Voortrekker leader. Retief was born in the Cape Colony, South Africa. His family were Boers of French Huguenot ancestry, and Retief grew up on one of the vineyards established by French wine-making immigrants near Stellenbosch. After moving to the vicinity of Grahamstown Retief, like other Boers, acquired wealth through livestock, but suffered repeated losses from Xhosa raids in the period leading up to the 6th Cape Frontier War. (However, apart from such losses, Retief was also a man in constant financial trouble. On more than one occasion, he lost money and other possessions mainly through gambling and land speculation.

He is reported to have gone bankrupt at least twice, while at the colony and on the frontier. Such losses impelled many frontier farmers to become Voortrekkers (literally those who move forward) and to migrate to new lands in the north. Retief authored their ‘manifesto’, dated 22 January 1837, setting out their long-held grievances against the British government, which they felt had offered them no protection, no redress, and which had freed their slaves with recompense to the owners hardly amounting to a quarter of their value. This was published in the Grahamstown Journal on 2 February and De Zuid-Afrikaan on 17 February just as the emigrant Boers started to leave their homesteads. Retief’s household departed in two wagons from his farm in the Winterberg District in early February 1837 and joined a party of 30 other wagons. The pioneers crossed the Orange River into independent territory.

When several parties on the Great Trek converged at the Vet River, Retief was elected “Governor of the United Laagers” and head of “The Free Province of New Holland in South East Africa.” This coalition was very short-lived and Retief became the lone leader of the group moving east. On 5 October 1837 Retief established a camp at Kerkenberg near the Drakensberg ridge. He proceeded on horseback the next day to explore the region between the Drakensberg and Port Natal, now known as Kwa-Zulu Natal. Upon receiving a positive impression of the region he started negotiations with the Zulu chief, Dingane, in November 1837. Retief led his own band over the Drakensberg Mountains and convinced Voortrekker leaders Maritz and Potgieter to join him in January 1838.

On a second visit to Dingane, the Zulu agreed to Boer settlement in Natal, provided that the Boer delegation recovered cattle stolen from him by the rival Tlokwa tribe. This the Boers did, their reputation and rifles cowing the tribe into peacefully handing over the cattle. Despite warnings, Retief left the Tugela region on 28 January 1838, in the belief that he could negotiate permanent boundaries for the Natal settlement with Dingane. The deed of cession of the Tugela-Umzimvubu region, although dated 4 February, 1838, was signed by Dingane on 6 February 1838. This Dingane did by imitating writing and with the two sides recording three witnesses each. Dingane then invited Retief’s party to witness a special performance by his soldiers. However, upon a signal given by Dingane, the Zulus overwhelmed Retief’s party of 70 and their Coloured servants, taking all captive. Retief, his son, men, and servants, about a hundred people in total, were taken to Kwa Matiwane Hill in what is now Kwa-Zulu Natal, and murdered. Their bodies were left on the hillside to be devoured by wild animals, as was Dingane’s custom with his enemies.

Dingane then gave orders for the Voortrekker laagers to be attacked, which plunged the migrant movement into serious disarray. Eventually, the Retief party’s remains were recovered and buried on 21 December 1838, by members of the “victory commando” led by Andries Pretorius, following the decisive Voortrekker victory at Blood River. Also recovered was the undamaged deed of cession from Retief’s leather purse, as later verified by a member of the “victory commando”, E.F. Potgieter. An exact copy survives, but the original deed disappeared in transit to the Netherlands during the Anglo-Boer War. The site of the Retief grave was more or less forgotten until pointed out in 1896 by J.H. Hattingh, a surviving member of Pretorius’s commando. A monument recording the names of the members of Retief’s delegation was erected near the grave in 1922. The town of Piet Retief was named after him as was (partially) the city of Pietermaritzburg.

(The “Maritz” part being named after Gerrit Maritz, another Voortrekker leader.) Piet Retief married Magdalena Johanna De Wet [1782-1855; daughter of Pieter De Wet (1765-?) and Maria P Opperman (1757-?)]. Her father Pieter de Wet was in turn the son of Petrus Pieter De Wet (1726-1782) and Magdalena Fenesie Maree (1726-1770). Retief’s own parents were Jacobus Retief [1754-1821; son of Francois Retief (1708/9-1743) and Anna Marais (1722-1777)] and Debora Joubert [1749-?; daughter of Pieter Joubert (1726-1746) and Martha Du Toit (1729-1771)].

Jacobus Retief was a farmer near Wellington, his original farm was called “Soetendal”. He also bought the farm “Welvanpas”, formerly known as “De Krakeelhoek” which belonged to his grandmother Maria Mouij, of whom presently. He had eleven children. His father, Francois Retief, was the eldest son of the founding father of the Retief clan in South Africa, Hugenot emigrant Francois Retif Snr. (1663-1721). This Francois Retief fled Mer in Blois, France during the recriminations of King Louis XIV with his young sister to Holland. Since the Dutch were looking for settlers for the Cape, they joined and arrived in Cape Town in 1688. He bought a farm and called it “Le Paris” on the northern banks of the Berg River near Wemmershoek. He married Maria Mouij, (1685-?, daughter of Pierre Mouij, also of France.), 23 years his junior.

To return to Marthinus Wessel Pretorius (Swart Martiens): His father was: Councillor Henning Petrus Nicolaas Pretorius [1800-1865; son of Marthinus Wessel Pretorius (1747-?) and Susanna Elisabeth Viljoen, (1760-?), widow of J.D. Hattingh] who was a Deacon in the church and long-serving elder, as well as member of the first Voortrekker Council in Natal. He was murdered by the Sotho at Moorddraai near Harrismith with his wife, Johanna Christina Vorster [1804-1865; daughter of Barend Johannes Vorster (1771-1840) and Johanna Christina Vorster (1776-?)], two of his sons and a companion. His brother, Andries Pretorius later became the Voortrekker arch-leader and founded the capital city of Pretoria, South Africa. Barend Vorster was the son of Barend Johannes Vorster (1748-1799) and Cecilia van Heerden (1752-1789). Marthinus Wessel Pretorius was the son of Johannes Pretorius [1711-1778; son of Johannes Pretorius (1642-1694) and Johanna Victor (1640-1719)] and Johanna Bezuidenhout [1717-?; illegitimate daughter of Wynand Bezuidenhout (1674-1724) and Gerbrecht Boshouwer (1684-1772)]. Johannes Pretorius (1711-1778) farmed near Roodesandskloof with about 40 cattle and 70 sheep. His father, the elder Johannes Pretorius was born in Oudorp, Alkmaar, Noord-Holland, Netherlands and was the first to move to South Africa. His parents were: Wessel Schout Praetorius [1614-1664; son of Barend Wesselius Pretorius (1596-1668) and Aaltje Jansdochter (1596-1643)] and Josyntgen Claesdochter (1618-?). Barend’s father was Wessel Schulte (1566-?).

On the 25th of September 1804 Mr. De Mist formally laid down his authority as commissioner-general so that the governor might be more free to act with vigour. The great question of the time was how to place the Colony in a condition for defence, as no one doubted that sooner or later it would be attacked by the English. Mr. De Mist did not profess to know anything of military matters, and thought that the governor, upon whom the responsibility would fall, should have sole authority, though they had worked together in perfect concord. There are many indications that they were both too far advanced in modern opinions to remain popular in this country much longer, unless they made large concessions to the sentiments of the colonists. General Janssens was the more flexible of the two. He was already beginning to see plainly that a body of people secluded from intercourse with Europe for more than a century could not be dealt with in the same manner as men who had lived in the whirl of the French revolution.Mr. De Mist resided at Stellenburg, close to Wynberg, from August to November 1804, when he removed to Maastricht, at the Tigerberg. On the 24th of February 1805 he embarked in the American ship Silenus, and on the following day sailed for the United States. So entirely was Dutch commerce driven from the seas that there was no other way by which he could return to Europe.

In January 1805 a post for the conveyance of letters and the Government Gazette was established between Cape Town and the various drostdies. A mail bag was conveyed weekly by post-riders to Stellenbosch and Tulbagh, and to the other drostdies whenever the government wished to send despatches. In this case farmers along the lines of road contracted to forward the bag from one station to another, and the landdrosts sent the letters and papers to the fieldcomets with the first convenience.

As the northern boundary proclaimed by Lord Macartney it not include all the occupied farms, and as in one place it was somewhat obscure, on the 20th of February 1805 the council rectified it by resolving that it should thenceforth be the Koussie or Buffalo river from its mouth to its source in the Koperberg, thence south-eastward in as nearly as possible a straight line-but following the mountains-to the junction of the Zak and Riet rivers, thence the Zak river to its source in the Nieuwveld mountains, thence the Nieuwveld mountains to the Sneeuwberg, and thence northeastward a line enclosing the Great Table mountain to the Zeekoe river at Plettenberg’s beacon. The eastern boundary as defined by Lord Macartney was not changed, though it was worded differently, namely, as the Zuurberg, thence a line along the western side of the Bamboesberg enclosing the Tarka and Kwadehoek and passing along the foot of the Tarka mountain through Kagaberg to the junction of th Baviaans’ and Fish rivers, and thence the Fish river to the sea.

It has already been stated that the high court of justice was independent of the executive and legislative branches of the government. It was intended that all the judges should be appointed in Holland, and should be removable only by the supreme authorities there. The full court was to consist of a president and six members. As one of the judges had not arrived, and as there was good reason to suppose that he would never reach South Africa, on the 6th of October 1803 the commissioner-general, with the concurrence of the governor and the council, appointed Mr. Jan Henoch Neethling, a doctor of laws, to the vacant place. The office of secretary to the, council, which he had previously held, was given to Mr. Jan Andries Truter. Mr. Gerrit Buyskes, the secretary’ to the high court, who was appointed in Holland, did not arrive until two years later.

The inferior courts were remodelled by an ordinance enacted by the governor and council in October 1805.

The landdrosts were to remain, as before, the chief representative of the supreme authority in their respective districts. They were to guard the rights of the inhabitants to personal freedom and possession of their property; to encourage industry, education, the extension of agriculture, and the improvement of cattle; to maintain peace and friendship with the aborigines beyond the border; to protect the Hottentots in their rights as a free people; to preserve forests, and encourage tree-planting; ‘to keep a record of land-grants of every kind, and to prevent the alienation of vacant ground to the prejudice of the public; to receive revenue; to take preparatory examinations in charges of crime; to cause deserters and vagrants to be arrested, and to send them, together with prisoners charged with the commission of serious offences, to Cape Town for trial; and to protect slaves from ill-treatment. Their power of inflicting punishment upon slaves was limited to imprisonment for six months, the infliction of a moderate number of lashes, or placing the culprit in chains. In cases of petty crime, for which the law provided penalties not exceeding fifty rix dollars the landdrosts were left at liberty to compound with the offenders without public trial. The office of auctioneer was separated from that of landdrost, and was attached to that of district secretary. Each landdrost was to be provided with a house, a garden, and a cattle run. He was to have a salary of two thousand five hundred rix-dollars a year, and was to be entitled to specified fees for certain duties. The landdrost of Stellenbosch was to have five hundred rix-dollars a year extra salary.

In each district there were to be six heemraden, selected from the most respectable and trustworthy burghers. The qualifications of these officers were the attainment of thirty years of age, residence in the district for three years, and the possession of freehold property or the occupation of a leasehold farm. They were to receive no salaries or emoluments, as their office was to be regarded as one of honour. On the formation of a new district the heemraden were to be appointed by the governor; but at the end of each succeeding year the two who had served longest were to retire, when the governor was to select their successors from a list of four names supplied by the board. A session of the court of landdrost and heemraden was to be held monthly in the districts of Stellenbosch and Tulbagh, quarterly in the other districts. The landdrost was to preside, except in case of unavoidable absence, when the senior heemraad was to take the chair. The landdrost and four heemraden were to form a quorum.

This court had jurisdiction in all disputes concerning the boundaries of farms and the impounding of cattle, all suits connected with auction sales, and all civil cases in which the amount contested was less than three hundred rix-dollars. There was a right of appeal from its decisions to that of the high court of justice in eases over the value of twenty-five rix-dollars. The landdrost and heemraden were to perform the duties of coroners. They had charge also of the highways, and generally of such matters as were carried out at the expense of the district. In their judicial capacity they were responsible only to the high court of justice, and criminal cases -were reported by them to the attorney-general. In all other matters they were responsible to the governor.

There was a very useful class of officers, termed field – comets, whose sphere of duty other than military had only been recognised of recent years, as they had gradually and almost imperceptibly taken the place of the corporals of militia and the veldwachters of earlier times. The ordinance of October 1805 gave them a better position than they had previously occupied. Every district was now divided into wards, none of which were to be of greater extent than could be ridden across by a man on horseback in six hours; in each of these wards there was to be a fieldcornet, nominated by the landdrost and appointed by the governor. He was to be a man of unblemished character over twenty five years of age, a resident for more than two years in the ward, and in possession of freehold property or in occupation of a leasehold farm. He was to be the representative of the landdrost, to maintain order and tranquillity to settle petty disputes, to keep a register of the people, to make new laws known, and generally to promote industry and whatever might tend to prosperity. He was to be free of district taxation, and was to have a farm without rent or twenty five rix-dollars a year.

For military purposes the fieldcornets were to call out and lead the burghers of their wards whenever required by the landdrost. The burghers were divided into three classes. The first to be called upon for personal service were those between sixteen and thirty years of age, next those between thirty and forty-five and lastly those between forty-five and sixty years of age. If all the men of a class were not needed, the unmarried and those without employment were to be called out before the others. Such as were not called upon for personal service were to be assessed to supply food, horses, and means of transport. When in the field, the several divisions of the burgher militia of each district were under the general orders either of the landdrost or of a commandant appointed by the governor, and the fieldcornets often had the title of captain conferred upon them. In this manner the whole European population of the colony was organised for military purposes

During recent years reports of various kinds had reached Cape Town concerning the settlements formed by agents of the London missionary society north of the Orange river, and as some of these reports were to the effect that a community hostile to the colony was growing up there, the government resolved to send a commission to inspect the settlements and obtain accurate information. The officers chosen for this purpose were Landdrost Van de Graaff, of Tulbagh, and Dr. Henry Lichtenstein, surgeon of the Hottentot corps. In May 1805 these gentlemen left Tulbagh, and travelling by way of Karoo Poort, reached the colonial boundary without difficulty. Along the route they heard numerous complaints of depredations by Bushmen, and ascertained that the arrangements made with these people in former years had completely failed in their object.

At the mission station on the Zak river they found the colonist Christiaan Botma in charge during the reverend Mr. Kicherer’s absence in Europe. The Bushmen gathered together here had dispersed as soon as the missionaries’ means of providing them with food failed, and only about forty individuals remained, most of whom were half-breeds that had from youth professed Christianity. Botma, the teacher, was a man of great zeal, and had expended a large portion of his private property in maintaining the station; but it seemed to the commission that the principles on winch the work was being conducted were decidedly wrong. Religious services were .frequently held, and were attended by everyone on the place. But industry was not enforced, and the habits of the people formed a striking contrast to those of the residents at the Moravian institution in the district of Stellenbosch. The mission was doing no harm politically or in any other way, though it appeared to be of very little service to the few people under its influence.

Here a party of farmers joined the travellers as an escort, making the whole number up to eight Europeans, twelve Hottentots, and five slaves. On the southern bank of the Orange a horde of Kosas was met, under two near relatives of the chief Ndlambe who had wandered away from their own country.

The Orange was crossed at Prieska Drift. On its northern bank the missionaries Vanderlingen and Jan Kock were met, journeying from the Batlapin country towards the Cape. Kock, who understood the Setshuana language was easily persuaded to send his family on to the station at the Zak river, and return with the commission.

At Lauw-waters-kloof which was reached on the same day, a number of half-breeds and Koranas were found. Here two more missionaries Koster and Janssen by name were met returning from the Batlapin country, having abandoned the work there. Lauw-waters-kloof was ascertained to be one of six mission villages inhabited by half- breeds and Koranas, with several Namaquas and a few blacks and Hottentots from the Cape Colony. The other five were Rietfontein, Witwater, Taaiboschfontein Leeuwen kuil, and Ongeuksfontein. In these villages nearly a thousand people were living, many of whom were half-breeds that had been wandering along the southern bank of the Orange for fifteen or twenty years, before the missionaries induced them to settle down to receive instruction. Among them were also several individuals who had grown up in the families of colonists These had always worn European clothing, and were baptized professors of Christianity before the arrival of the missionaries.

The district in which the villages were situated – [since 1880 the colonial division of Hay] had from time immemorial been occupied by Koranas and Bushmen, who were at bitter feud with each other. The half-breeds, Namaquas and colonial Hottentots were recent immigrants who had come in with the missionaries. Smallpox in a mild form was prevalent among the people, and was said to have been brought from the north, but how or when was not ascertained. It had been unknown in the Cape Colony since 1769, and most likely had spread overland from Delagoa Bay.

At Leeuwenkuil the missionary Anderson was then residing. The travellers were greatly impressed with his devotion to his work, and with the exemplary life he was leading. He and Mr. Kramer were the only white men living in the district, the others who had formerly assisted them having retired from that field.

The commission found that nothing was to be feared from this settlement. Mr. Anderson regarded himself as subject to the colonial government, and the half-breeds, who gained their subsistence chiefly by hunting, were so dependent upon Europeans for ammunition and other necessaries that their engaging in hostilities was out of the question.
From Ongeluksfontein, the farthest of the six villages to the north, the travellers set out for the Batlapin country. Since the journey of Messrs. Truter and Somerville to Lithako in 1801, a good deal had been heard of the Betshuana, but the different accounts by no means agreed. Among those who supplied information was the reverend Mr. Edwards. This missionary, who might be supposed to know more than any other European about the Batlapin, left the Kuruman river towards the close of 1803, and visited Cape Town, where he gave the government a description in writing of the people he had been living with, some portions of which could only be regarded as fabulous. For instance, he stated that they regarded his wife as a goddess, and offered him a great number of cattle for a daughter born at Molehabangwe’s kraal. In March 1805 he wished to return, but the council declined to give him permission and shortly afterwards Messrs. Van de Graaff and Lichtenstein were instructed to include the Batlapin country in their tour.

A little beyond Ongeluksfontein the travellers met a waggon containing the families of two half-breed brothers named Jantje and David Bergover, who had been in Jan Kock’s service on the Kururman river. They had left the Kururman with a view of following Kock to the mission station on the Zak river, but had been attacked on the way by Bushmen, and the two men and one little girl had been murdered. The party from the south arrived just in time’ to rescue the other children and the women.

In the valley of the Kuruman the first Batlapin were found. The principal kraal of Molehabangwe was then only a short distance from the spot where that stream issues with great force from a cavern. The kraal was found to consist of five or six hundred huts, and to contain about five thousand people. The year after Messrs. Truter and Somerville’s visit, the Barolong under Makraki had separated from the Batlapin, and had moved away to the neighbourhood of their kinsmen in the north. This migration reduced the kraal to one-third of its former size. The commission was received in a friendly manner by the old chief Mlolehabangwe, and by his sons Mothibi, Telekela, Molimo, and Molala. There were no missionaries remaining on the Kuruman, all who had been there having left for the Colony; but it was Jan Kock’s intention to return. The commission could not ascertain that any of them except Kook had made the slightest impression upon the people, and what benefit had been derived from his teaching was in an improved method of tilling the ground, not in the adoption of Christianity.

Of the Betshuana tribes to the north – the Barolong, Bahurutsi, Bangwaketsi, Bakwena and others which have since disappeared – some information was gathered, but it was not very reliable. The existence of slavery among these tribes, which was not suspected by Messrs. Truter and Somerville, was proved beyond all doubt. In fact two boys were offered for sale to the commission at the price of a sheep each. But the abject state in which the slaves were living at a distance from the principal kraal was not made known until some years later.

The Kuruman was the farthest point reached by the expedition. During the return journey nothing occurred that was of more than passing interest, and the travellers arrived safely at Tulbagh again after an absence of three months.

Jacob Abraham De Mist, Commissioner-General, 21 February 1803 to 25 September 1804.

Lieutenant-General Jan Willem Janssens, Governor, installed 1 March 1803, capitulated to an English army 18 January 1806.

Lieutenant-General Jan Willem Janssens

In the evening the principal houses in Cape Town were illuminated, and a series of festivities followed.
The amnesty did not include the Graaff-Reinet farmers who had been nearly four years in prison, as they had been sentenced by a court of law. But they were not left long in doubt concerning their fate. Adriaan van Jaarsveld had died in confinement. The others were set free on the 30th of March.

The landdrost, secretaries, and in general all the clerks who had held office during the English administration retained their appointments. So did the collector of tithes and the wine tax, Christoffel Brand, and the receiver-general of revenue, Arend de Waal, who had succeeded Mr. Rhenius in April 1797. Mr. J. P. Baumgardt had left the country on its transfer to its old masters, and in his stead as collector of land revenue Mr. Be Mist appointed Sebastiaan Valentyn van Reenen, who had suffered heavy losses under the late administration by being detained for a long time in arrest on suspicion of having communicated with the Dutch fleet under Admiral Lucas.

The burgher senate was enlarged to seven members, but in the following year was reduced to five. Those now chosen were Cornelis van der Poel, Gerrit Hendrik Meyer, Anthony Berrange, Pieter van Breda, Jan Andries Horak, Jacobus Johannes Vos, and Jan Adriaan Vermaak. Cajus Jesse Slotsboo was appointed secretary. After the reduction in number took place, the senate consisted of a president and four members. At the end of every year one retired, when a list of four names was furnished to the governor, from which to select a successor. At the same time the governor appointed one of them to act as president during the ensuing twelvemonth.

On the 3rd of April Governor Janssens left Cape Town to visit the eastern part of the colony, and ascertain how matters were standing with the white people, the Kosas, and the Hottentots. At Port Frederick he found Dr. Van der Kemp and the Hottentots under his care, who had abandoned Bother’s farm some time before. Upon close inquiry he learned that many of these people who had once been in service with farmers had good reason of complaint on the ground of ill-treatment. He fully approved of the plan contemplated by General Dundas, of assigning a tract of land for their use, where they could be under the guidance of missionaries; and he offered for this purpose any vacant ground that was available. A commission, consisting of the commandants Botha and Van Rooyen, Mr. Dirk van Reenen, and Mr. Gerrit Oosthuizen, was thereupon appointed by the governor to act in conjunction with the reverend James Read, Dr. Van der Kemp’s nominee, in selecting a suitable place. They chose a tract of land about six thousand seven hundred morgen in extent, lying along the Little Zwartkops river, between the loan farms of Thomas Ferreira and the widow Scheepers. On the 3lst of May the governor gave his formal consent in writing to the occupation of this place by the Hottentots under supervision of missionaries of the London society, and at Dr. Van der kemp’s request named it Bethelsdorp. The permission thus given was confirmed by Mr. De Mist a few months afterwards.

One hundred and fifty men of the Waldeck regiment, under command of Major Von Gilten, had in the meantime arrived by sea, and had occupied Fort Frederick. Order could therefore be enforced in the immediate neighbourhood. The governor found it advisable to remove two farmers, who were much disliked by the Hottentots on account of their harsh conduct. Thomas Ignatius Ferreira he ordered to reside in the neighbourhood of the drostdy of Swellendam, and Jan Arend Hens he sent to Stellenbosch.

Two parties of Hottentots who had not chosen to place themselves under the guidance of missionaries were living near the Sunday River. The governor sent friendly messages to their captains, Klaas Stuurman and Boesak, the first of whom accepted an invitation to visit Fort Frederick and make his wants known. Stuurman stated that his followers were thoroughly impoverished, and most of them would be very glad to take service with the colonists, if they could be assured of peace and good treatment. He asked for a tract of land on the left bank of the Gamtoos river, where he and his people could have their homes, while those who were so disposed could engage themselves to the farmers. The governor did not immediately give a decision upon this request, as he wished Stuurman’s clan to move farther westward; but he came to a friendly understanding with the captain. The past was to be forgotten on both sides, or, if it was remembered, the misdeeds of the Hottentots during the war were to be regarded as a set-off against the ill-treatment which some of them complained of having received from colonists. The Hottentots were assured of complete protection of person and property, and it was arranged that when any of them went into service a record of the terms should be kept by the landdrost, who should see that strict justice was done.

By the governor’s directions, on the 9th of May an ordinance was published by the council, requiring contracts between farmers and Hottentots to be made in triplicate, upon certain prescribed forms, before an official of position as no notice would be taken by the courts of law of complaints against servants engaged in any other manner.

On the 19th of June the governor instructed Captain Alberti, the second in command of the garrison of Fort Frederick, to select a suitable tract of land on the Gamtoos River, and give it to Stuurman for the use of his people. A great many of these in the meantime had gone into service. The captain was then away hunting buffaloes, and the next that was heard of him was that his gun had burst and shattered one of his arms, from the effects of which he died in November. His brother David Stuurman then became captain of the clan, and in February 1804 a location was assigned to him on the Gamtoos river.

Boesak and his followers wandered about for a time, but did not molest any one, and ultimately they also settled down peaceably.

Louis Trichardt, Voortrekker leader and diarist, was born in Cango on the 10th August 1783 and died at Lourenco Marques, in October 1838. The first South African ancestor of the Trichardts (according to the Cape muster-rolls) was Carel Gustaav Tregard, who was born in Synnesby and settled in Kvidinge, near Angelholm, in South-ern Sweden, and probably arrived at the Cape in 1742, for his name appears on the muster-rolls of that year as a sailor. Later he is referred to as a flagman on Signal Hill.On 11 October 1744, he married Susanna Kuun at Cape Town and, when he died on 19 September 1767, he was a free burgher at Stellenbosch.

At the Cape the Swedish family name was rendered in Dutch in various forms such as Trigaardt, Triegaart, Tregart, Trigart, Triegard, Tregardt. The Voortrekker leader consistently wrote ` Tregardt ‘; but, round about 1882, `Trichardt’ was the form adopted by his son Carolus, because of a supposed French origin. Louis was baptised on 10 April 1785 at Paarl and the baptismal register (where the spelling was usually left to the parish clerk or the minister) records that his father was Karel Johannes Trigaart and his mother Anna Elizabeth Nel. On 4 November 1810, Louis married Martha Elizabeth Susanna Bouwer at Graaff-Reinet and their eldest son, Caro­lus, married Cornelia Bouwer. The other children were Petrus Frederik, Louis, Anna Elizabeth and Jeremias. The last died in Portuguese territory in 1838.

Trichardt ‘ s journal shows that he had had a better education than the general run of frontier farmers, so that he wrote fairly correct Dutch. For his time he was a man of wide reading, with his own small collection of books. There is no reliable picture showing his build and appearance, but it appears that he was a muscular six-footer, with dark hair, strong features and a slightly hooked nose. By nature he was calm and deliberate, although some English records state the opposite.

Perhaps he was more impetuous in his youth, as may be assumed from the fact that he was always at the outposts and was among those who crossed the frontier of the colony and penetrated far into the interior. He impressed people with his strong personality and he inspired confidence. As a boy, he knew turbulent times. His father played a leading part in the resistance against the Dutch East India Company (1792-1794) and against British rule (1795- 1800). Relatives and friends of the Trichardts were among the rebels who were hanged at Slachter’s Nek in 1816. That Louis was a supporter of the House of Orange is evident from a verse in his journal dedicated to King William I of the Netherlands.

Trichardt farmed in various parts of the Uitenhage and Graaff-Reinet districts. After his marriage in 1810 he developed his famous farm Boschberg, the site of the present town of Somerset East, where Lord Charles Somerset in 1814 laid out an experimental farm for the Eastern Province. In 1826, Louis and his son Carel (Carolus) acquired adjacent farms, Eliza­beth and Klipplaat, on the Riet River, 30 km south of present-day Bedford.

The previous year he had been made acting field-cornet of the Smaldeel ward, but he suffered under all the weaknesses of the colo­nial administration in the face of the incursions of the Xhosas, and his grievances mounted. Shortly after 1830 Trichardt sent most of his cattle (under the care of 18-year-old Carel) deep into Bantu territory. He himself followed in 1833 and settled temporarily north of the present mission station of St. Mark’ s in Tembuland. The Trichardts, however, were not alone. About 30 other farmer families also settled there and excellent relations developed between the paramount chief, Hintsa, and Trichardt. This rela­tionship was so good that on the outbreak of the frontier war of 1834 the British accused Trichardt of inciting Hintsa against the colonial government.

It was said that Trichardt had trekked north because he feared British reprisals. The idea of trekking to the north did not occur suddenly, however, although a decision was probably hastened when, in the fresh border clash, Trichardt found himself in a very awkward position. Although he had acquired right of occupation for 99 years from Hintsa, it is hard to believe that this freedom-loving man ever intended to remain permanently subject to a Xhosa chief. The date of his departure from the Eastern Province is un­known, but it can be assumed that it was about April or May 1835. He maintained his claim to farms in the Cape Colony by paying the taxes on them. These were paid up to the end of 1839, a year after his death.

Louis Trichardt

Trichardt ‘ s trek and his expedition to Delagoa Bay occupy a special place in the annals of South Africa. He was one of the earliest explorers of the Transvaal and he blazed the trail for the Great Trek. His wanderings from the Colony to Delagoa Bay took three years and he kept two journals of this epic journey. The first part, dealing with the journey to the Zoutpansberg, has been lost. The second part con­tains daily notes on the trek from Zoutpansberg to Lourenco Marques, from about July 1836 to 1 May 1838. Trichardt was the only Trek leader who kept a diary and it is one of the most valuable pieces of Africana. His clear handwriting makes a favourable impression and the reader comes to know him as a calm, level-headed man with a keen sense of humour. His ability as a leader is evident from the fact that after a trek of three years he arrived safely with his followers, animals and wagons at the Portuguese sea-port. He understood the aborigines and his tactful treatment of them enabled him to journey safely through the territories of warlike tribes.

Having acquired a reputation for fair dealing, he was often consulted about feuds between the tribes. His rela­tionship with the Portuguese district governor, Capt. Antonio Gamitto, was such that he won the esteem of the small settlement. He stayed with the governor in the fort and probably died there. He was buried beside his wife on the hill above Lourenco Marques; she had died in the fort on 1 May 1838 and his journal gives a moving account of her illness and death.

Trichardt was a pioneer and explorer without fear or hate, but he suffered from a sense of injustice, which led him into the wilds, where he sought a place where he and his people could live in peace. His journal was edited and published, with a detailed introduction, by GS Preller in 1917 and, more scientifically from a philological point of view, by TH le Roux in 1964.

Source: SESA (Standard Encyclopedia of Southern Africa)

Mrs Catherina Elizabeth Rees

Wife of David Rees, Esq., Builder and Contractor, Maquassi, T.Daughter of Jan M. Beyers, Esq.

Born at Farm Nooitgedacht, district Stellensboch.

C.P Educ. Bloemhof Girls’ High School, Stellenbosch.

Taught in the district of Smithfield, Orange Free State, and experienced the hardship of a Boer Refugee Camp at Aliwal North, during the SA War (1899 – 1902).

Taught painting for 6 years after the cessation of hostilities at Bloemhof Girls High School, Stellenbosch.
Fond of Riding and is a student of Art.

Born on the 7th December 1924 in Durban; at present (1983) in London. University lecturer in Bantu Languages and Ethnomusicology, instrumentalist and music teacher.David Rycroft comes from an exceptionally musical family. His father was an organist in Durban,and Johannesburg; his sister (Mrs Lynette Neilson) is also an organist; his cousin, Eric Rycroft, lectures in music at Stellenbosch University and is a violinist, and his uncle, Prof. H.B. Rycroft (formerly Director of Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens) introduced him to the accordion (in 1936). The next generation too, is musical – Eric Rycroft’s daughter, Anne, played the viola in the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Rycroft himself started to learn the piano when he was seven, and continued in Johannesburg under G. Barclay Donn when the family moved there in 1933. His father, who was organist of the Rosebank Union Church, taught him the organ, and by the time he was sixteen he was able to deputise at various churches. He was organist of Christ Church, Hillbrow from 1946 to 1952.

Rycroft’s interest in wind instruments, too, began in his childhood with a harmonica and a penny whistle. He advanced to the tenor saxhorn at school (Parktown High) and played in the cadet band. Thereafter he studied all the usual brass instruments and taught himself to play the flute, piccolo, recorder and oboe. He played the oboe in both his school orchestra and later in the orchestra of the University of the Witwatersrand, which he attended from 1942-1946. His studies (in Bantu languages and phonetics) were briefly interrupted by war service. At the completion of his university course he became Cultural Recreation Officer in the former Johannesburg Non-European Affairs Department and involved in many interesting aspects of music: he promoted Black cultural activities, including adult education in music, became a member of Hugh Tracey’s African Music Society and of the Bantu Music Festival Committee, and played the accompaniments to the Xhosa song recitals of Todd Matshikiza (composer of King Kong) on the SABC’s English programme (1950). In 1952 David Rycroft and his wife emigrated to England where he took up a post as lecturer in Bantu Languages and Ethnomusicology at London University ‘s School of Oriental and African studies. Since then he has frequently visited South Africa on field trips. He has published much of his research, which centres largely on the music, language and literature of the Swazi and Zulu peoples, and he has broadcast on the BBC, Radio Belgium and Radio Swaziland. He has also presented many conference papers and has lectured in the USA, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Ghana, West Germany, Belgium, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

In the meantime he has continued to be an active musician, in an unconventional way. He was a co-founder of the Guild of Gentlemen Trumpeters, which is called on to play fanfares at historic events; and he also co-founded the New Melstock Band (a name derived from the church band in Thomas Hardy’s book Under the greenwood tree). In the Band he plays period instruments such as the baroque oboe, early bassoon clarinet, serpent, ophicleide, cornet, cornopean, keyed bugle, natural horn, slide trumpet, trombones, helicon and tuba. They perform at old churches, stately homes, colleges and museums. In his spare time, Rycroft teaches brass instruments at a local school, directs pupils in a wind ensemble, and plays the accordion at village fetes or country dances when required. His four adult children have all inherited his musical talent.