Footprints

By David Hilton-Barber

Here is an idiosyncratic view of one of South Africa’s loveliest districts. History is certainly revealed, but the book is much more than dry-as-dust fact and chronologies. The mountains and valleys and abundant vegetation of the northern Drakensberg have inspired many people. Their stories enliven almost every page.

As Tito Mboweni states in his foreword: “This is a book about Tzaneen, the vast splendour of its mountain ranges, the historical events that shaped its history, its rich cultural heritage and, above all, the strength and determination of the many people who have left their footprints here.” Mboweni, having been born not far from Tzaneen, is one of these. Other names that enliven the pages include Dr Mamphela Ramphele; John Murray, the 11th Duke of Atoll; writers Rider Haggard, John Buchan and T.V. Bulpin; geologist Hans Merensky; and a fascinating array of current residents of Tzaneen and its majestic surrounds.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David Hilton-Barber
• Release date: Jan 16, 2014
• ISBN: 9780620595728

David Hilton-Barber

David Atherstone Hilton-Barber is a fourth generation member of 1820 settler stock. After completing his BA Hons degree at Rhodes University, he trained as a journalist following in the footsteps of his maternal great-grandfather, Frederick York St Leger, founder and first editor of the Cape Times. He later became a public relations consultant and for 15 years was involved in a wide range of programmes for the private and public sector. He retired to Tzaneen in 1989. He has written four books, a history of Tzaneen, a history of Haenertsburg, a history of the Tati Concession (the first gold rush in Southern Africa) and a biography of Len Hobson. he is presently researching two other historical projects. He also writes for local and national media on conservation and local government.

Book preview

Footprints

By

David Hilton-Barber

SMASHWORDS EDITION

*******

Published by

David Hilton-Barber

Footprints

Copyright 2014 David Hilton-Barber

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ISBN - 978-0-620-59572-8

Content

Preamble

Foreword by Tito Mboweni

Chapter 1

Tito Mboweni

The Founding of Tzaneen

Earliest Inhabitants

Missionaries

White Settlers

Gold

The Lady Trader

Chapter 2

Zeederberg

The Anglo - Boer War

The Bushveldt Carbineers

The Zoutpansberg Skirmishes Route

Bill Tooley of Kings Walden

Chapter 3

Melea Letsoalo

Love & Champagne

Dr. Botha Meillon and Malaria

Mission Education

Chapter 4

The Peaceful Pilgrims - Zion Christian Church

The Pedi Empire

Mmamathola

Chapter 5

The Tsonga – Shangaans

The Lovedu (also called the Balobedu)

Chapter 6

Lionel and Florence Phillips

Dr. Hans Merensky

Wolkberg

Hiking with Secondo

And with John Murray

Louis Changuion

Cyril Jackson

Chapter 7

Orrie Baragwanath

The Land Surveyors - Devenish and McGaffin

Flowering Cherries

Chapter 8

Ofcolaco

Gordon McNeil and his Clivia Collection

Menno Klapwyk

Dr. Mamphela Ramphele

Yoonus Moosa

Chapter 9

Sapekoe

Transformation of Sapekoe Tea Estates

Chapter 10

Hugh Merton Graham

Charles Astley Maberley

Monkeys

Jurgen Witt

Irma van Rooyen's Kaross Project

Carrol Boyes

Ina van Schalkwyk

Tom Joubert

Chapter 11

Citrus Galore

Citrus Barons - the Vorsters of Letsitele

Horst Gubitz

The ZZ2 Tomato Empire

Avocados and Westfalia

Avocados, Nino Burelli and Katope

Howard Blight

The Sweet Peppadew Story

Len Hobson and Macadamias

Papinos

Mango The King of Fruits

The founding of the Letaba Show

Dennis Thompson

Chapter 12

Pilot Extraordinaire

Cookie Leon

John de Wit and his SmallEnterprise Foundation

Fionas Choice

Guy Matthews and the Coach House

Chapter 13

Mining

Forestry

Restitution of land to the Mmamathola

Tzaneen Today

Preamble

The mountains we had crossed now loomed high above us, and Sheba’s breasts were modestly veiled in diaphanous wreaths of mist. As we went on the country grew more and more lovely. The vegetation was luxuriant; the sun was bright and warm, but not burning, and a gracious breeze blew softly along the slopes of the mountains. And indeed in beauty, in natural wealth, and in climate I have never seen its like.

H Rider Haggard, King Solomon’s Mines

The Lowveld is a sea of adventure breaking on the cliffs of romance.

TV Bulpin, Lost Trails of the Lowveld

The road from Polokwane winds up the mountain after leaving Moria, home of the Zion Christian Church, spiritual haven to over four-million members. I shielded my eyes against the morning sun that glinted off the white stones that formed the letters ZCC on the hill above the settlement. We used to warn our visitors from Johannesburg to take an alternative route to the farm over the Easter holidays to avoid the large annual influx of buses, taxis and pickups into Limpopo that caused such heavy traffic congestion all the way from Johannesburg.

Soon you are in the lee of the Wolkberg Wilderness Area where the Drakensberg meets the Strydpoort Mountains, a splendid 22 000-hectare stretch of high plateau dominated by the towering cliffs of Serala, Steilkop and the Knuckles.

From Haenertsburg there are two routes to Tzaneen. One is by way of the R528 down George’s Valley. The gorge here has recently become a magnet for adrenaline junkies with a variety of thrills – kloofing, abseiling, quad-biking, fly-fishing, tubing, horse riding, a 4x4 course and mountain biking. Top of the range is a canopy tour where you swoop between platforms built high within the upper reaches of indigenous forests and mountain cliffs.

There is a small memorial to author John Buchan overlooking Ebenezer Dam where old and young brave the icy waters for the annual Ebenezer Mile swim. Built in 1959 on the headwaters of the Groot Letaba River, the dam is one of more than 20 major dams that have been constructed in the catchment area of this major river.

The favoured route to Tzaneen takes one down the precipitous Magoebaskloof Pass which sweeps down 650m in five-and-a-half kilometres. We remember well the floods of 2000 when 3 000mm of rain fell in January/February causing extensive damage. Some 30 individual landslides and washaways occurred along a road which had to be closed for rehabilitation.

You are now in the Lowveld and the entry to Tzaneen is over a curved bridge spanning one leg of the Tzaneen Dam. The dam and the 300m-wide strip of wooded country around it comprise a nature reserve. This is a haven for birding with more than 350 bird species. There are numerous fishing spots, as well as sites for angling and water sports. When the dam was built, expectations were high that this would significantly boost Tzaneen’s tourist potential. ‘The combination of mountain scenery, flowering poinsettias and coral trees, warm sunny days and this immense stretch of water surrounded by yacht basins, marinas and smart hotels, should prove irresistible to everyone who wants to escape the cold winter weather on the Highveld. Tzaneen’s future as one of the great holiday resorts of southern Africa is assured.’

– AP Cartwright: By the Waters of the Letaba.

Shame on our ‘city fathers’ for not realising this vision!’

Tzaneen certainly is an attractive subtropical garden town with a colourful profusion of indigenous and exotic flowers and vegetation. An above-average summer rainfall and temperate climate all year round ensure that everything grows here in great abundance – fruits (especially avocados, citrus, mangoes, bananas, papaws and litchis), nuts, coffee, tea and a wide range of vegetables. The surrounding mountain slopes are heavily forested with timber plantations of pine and bluegum. Major icon of the area is the Modjadji Cycad Reserve in the beautiful Mooketsi Valley, with the largest concentration of a single species of cycad in the world (Encephalartos transvenosus).

We have a wonderful climate. But we are also subjected to torrential floods, debilitating droughts, horrendous hailstorms. Residents are concerned, some say obsessed, with the weather. We compare rainfall measurements after every precipitation. The level of the Tzaneen Dam, which has a capacity of 157.5-million m3, is a major talking point . During the great drought in the early 1990s, the dam was virtually empty. After our great leap forward in 1994, the priorities for water use were adjusted and agricultural use was moved downwards. Irrigation farmers reliant on the dam were regularly subjected to restrictions on the water available. This has had a significant impact on fruit production and on the socio-economy of the region. As Mark Twain once said: ‘Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting over.’

Maybe we won’t have to fight. New developments have recently been announced. The main component is the Nwamitwa Dam, a new major storage dam on the Groot Letaba River downstream of the confluence of the Nwanedzi River.

The proposed dam wall would be 36m high and the dam’s storage capacity would be almost equal to that of the Tzaneen Dam.

It has also been proposed to increase the capacity of the Tzaneen Dam by a third by raising the dam wall. Importantly, the dam could then be operated so as to minimise the frequency and intensity of restrictions on water allocations for the irrigation of permanent fruit orchards. Wonderful news. Hasten the day when construction starts.

Oh, this countryside, so full of histories. My memories unfold, the landscape of my mind is criss-crossed with the footprints of the people who have been here before, who have left the impressions of their presence.

I first came to Tzaneen in 1955 while I was still studying at Rhodes University. It was there I had met the young and glamorous Tana Tooley and she invited me to spend a few days at Kings Walden en route back to see my parents in Bulawayo. I was to marry Tana the following year, s oon after completing my cadet school training at the Rhodesia Herald and after a few years in Salisbury and Ndola, we were back in Tzaneen. Tana’s father had died and I felt I could help out on the farm. However, farming was not my métier and we moved to Johannesburg where I followed a career in public relations. We returned to Tzaneen in 1999 and have lived here ever since.

Tzaneen is, I suppose, no different from 100 other towns of its size – apart, of course, from its location at the foothills of the Northern Drakensberg. But it has a fascinating history encompassing a lot of the bad things that happened in South Africa but also a lot of the good things. Ordinary people often did extraordinary things. They rose above what was commonplace in their environment. They were creative, they persevered, they achieved. I have tried in these pages to pay tribute to those people, many of whom would not seek any recognition.

Foreword by Tito Mboweni

This is a book about Tzaneen, the vast splendour of its mountain ranges, the historical events that shaped its history, its rich cultural heritage and, above all, the strength and determination of the many people who have left their footprints here.

From the once mighty Pedi kingdom and the Tsonga-Shangaan empire of Gaza to Modjadji the Rain Queen; from the Swiss missionaries to the Bishops Barnabas and Egenas Lekganyane of the Zion Christian Churches; from Commandant Piet Joubert and the Makgoba campaign to Breaker Morant and the Bushveldt Carbineers – their stories unfold.

Sarah Heckford, the Lady Trader; Doel Zeederberg who opened up the coach route to the Lowveld and Mamphela Ramphele, anti-apartheid activist, academic, business- woman, medical doctor, none of whom were born here but whose presence here was significant; Hans Merensky, our greatest geologist; Orlando Baragwanath, who prospected copper in what was then Northern Rhodesia; Botha de Meillion who eradicated malaria; John Murray, the 11th Duke of Atholl, our very own aristocrat; Gordon McNeill and his clivias and the Thompson family and their famous flowering cherry trees – are all names in our past and present.

Creative souls like Carrol Boyes, Irma van Rooyen, Ina van Schalkwyk and Tom Joubert have found their inspiration in these mountains and valleys.

Farmers like Bill Tooley, the first to grow citrus here, Bertie van Zyl and his vast tomato empire, the Vorster and Gubitz families, citrus barons; Len Hobson and his macadamias, mangoes and papinos; Howard Blight and his huge macadamia nursery; fruit exporter Nino Burelli who made Katope an international brand name; likewise Johan Steenkamp and his Peppadew product – they have all left their footprints in the rich soil of Tzaneen and its environment.

The hard-working Indian community came in from the cold, so to speak, to help develop our thriving business economy, micro-financier John de Wit and his Small Enterprise Foundation brought a better life to thousands of poor people; Fiona McDonald created Choice Trust to serve the health needs of the rural community; and, at the other extreme, hotelier Guy Matthews attracted hundreds of local and international tourists to the eponymous Coach House Hotel.

Original research on the Mmamatholas of Letsitele Valley who were forced to move in the bad old days, and whose successful land claims which turned sour, is here, too. New light is thrown on the Sapekoe Tea Estates and the exciting prospects for the future.

These are stirring tales of yesteryear and tomorrow. I applaud the author for his efforts in recording something of the history of the area.

I have many fond memories myself of my childhood and formative years in this area. I was born in 1959, the youngest of three children who were raised by their loving parents in the Tzaneen area. I went to school in Nkowankowa and I am still in contact with the teachers who had a big influence on my education. I have a home in Haenertsburg to which I retreat as often as I can.

Here I can relax in the ‘land of the silver mists’. Tito Mboweni

Tito Mboweni

Chapter 1

Tito Mboweni

Mr Tito Mboweni is currently an economic adviser to Goldman Sachs, the world’s largest investment banking and securities firm. He is the chairman of AngloGold Ashanti and of Nampak. He was the eighth Governor of the South African Reserve Bank. He succeeded Dr Christian Lodewyk Stals on the August 8 1999 and was succeeded by Gill Marcus who replaced him as Governor on November 9 2009.

Mr Mboweni was born in Julesburg, a village outside Tzaneen. His parents belonged to the Apostolic Faith Mission, and the family acknowledged the contribution of the Swiss missionaries in the development of the Tsonga language. He attended the Dumela Secondary School where his teacher, Albert Machimana, remembers the young Mboweni who, at this early stage, demonstrated leadership qualities. ‘He was highly motivated and always asked critical and intelligent questions. He was very confident and challenged matric students in debating contests.’ After completing the Junior Certificate with a first class pass and distinctions in English and science, he went on to obtain his matric at Bankuna High School in Nkowankowa.

He enrolled at the University of the North in 1979 where he registered for a Bachelor of Commerce degree. However, he did not complete his studies due to his political consciousness and left the following year to go into exile in Lesotho. It was only five years later that he obtained his BA in economics and political science, followed by a Master of Arts degree in development economics from the University of East Anglia in England.

While in exile in Lesotho, Mr Mboweni joined the African National Congress and was an activist for the party in many capacities.

Tito Mboweni was Minister of Labour from May 1994 to July 1998 in President Nelson Mandela’s cabinet. Prior to this appointment, he was deputy head of the Department of Economic Policy in the ANC. He also represented the ANC on several domestic and international platforms. Tito Mboweni was a member of the ANC’s National Executive and National Working committees and was also chairperson of the National Executive Committee’s Economic Transformation Committee, which co-ordinated the development of ANC economic policies.

He became one of the World Economic Forum’s Global Leaders of Tomorrow in 1995.

In 1997, Tito Mboweni was appointed head of the ANC’s Policy Department which was responsible for managing ANC policy processes. Upon joining the South African Reserve Bank, he resigned all of his elected and appointed positions in the ANC.

He joined the South African Reserve Bank in July 1998 as adviser to the governor. In August 1999, he was appointed governor. During his tenure, he was appointed honorary Professor of Economics at the University of South Africa for 2000 to 2003. The University of Natal awarded the governor the degree of Doctor of Economics, honoris causa. The degree was conferred on him in 2001.

The governor was also elected Chancellor of the University of the North-West and was installed as Chancellor on February 23 2002.

The University of Stellenbosch appointed him Professor Extraordinary in Economics for the period April 1 2002 to March 31 2005. Stop Press: Mr Mboweni has just been awarded the honorary degree Doctor of Civil Law, honoris causa by the University of East Anglia, his alma mater.

The Founding of Tzaneen

Louis Changuion edited a commemorative album on the occasion of Tzaneen’s 75th anniversary and this publication, together with Chicot Ernst’s book, The Furrow Farmers, a Factual History of the Farm Tzaneen 538 LT, provides much of the background of Tzaneen’s early days.

Heinrich Altenroxel, who had immigrated from Germany in 1889 at the age of 22, worked for Natorp and Tamsen who owned a trading store near Warmbaths.

There he met Conrad Plange, also from Germany, and they became partners as traders, hoteliers and farmers. Their first venture was a hotel at New Agatha ut their sights were set on agriculture. he bought the farm Krawefontein (later Krabbefontein) in 1893 and named it Tzaneen. They also bought 10 adjoining farms. Altenroxel returned to his homeland to raise funds for their farming venture. He floated the Thabina Farming Association Limited with a capital of 140 000 marks and this company took over the 11 farms.

Heinrich Altenroxel

In 1895 Altenroxel and Plange bought the farm Buk-Hannie and changed its name to Westfalia. In 1899 a post office was established under the name of Krabbefontein. Mail came by coach from Pietersburg to Haenertsburg and thence by foot.

In 1905, Alfred Milner, Administrator of the Transvaal after the Anglo-Boer War, authorised the newly formed Transvaal Department of Lands to purchase these 11 farms, including Krabbefontein, with a view to establishing a proper farming industry. John Buchan, one of Milner’s ‘kindergarten’, who was at one time acting Commissioner of Lands, was instrumental in the purchase. Milner himself had personally inspected the properties. The Inspector of Lands for Zoutpansberg, PC Jones, urged the Government to act quickly as a consortium headed by Lionel Phillips was also interested in the Thabina Association farms.

Conrad Plange

All parties concerned wanted the project to become ‘a centre of instruction for students or apprentices’, to attract ‘reliable and trained men of British origin’. They would serve an apprenticeship on the farm to learn basic agricultural practice in general and the cultivation of sub-tropical crops in particular. They would then be able to work for their own benefit.

According to The Transvaal and its Mines (the Encyclopaedic History of the Transvaal) edited by LV Praagh, the intention was ‘to allot about two-thirds of the estate and some 6 000 acres of the adjoining Crown lands to suitable students, thus gradually forming a colony of settlers with central factories for the treatment of tobacco, fibre, fruit and other products, on a cooperative basis.’

The project was known as the Tzaneen Government Estate which included the Tzaneen experimental farm (Krabbefontein). In time it became known simply as Estate. Apart from the settler scheme, the Government wanted to expand the fledgling tobacco industry there. Pipe tobacco, snuff and cigars had been successfully produced since 1903 but modern machinery was needed to expand this output and to include cigarette manufacturing.

In 1904 Altenroxel, who was retained as general manager, was sent overseas to acquire the necessary machinery which he did in Germany, including an electric turbine to generate power. He went on to the United States to gather information on the tobacco industry and purchase additional machinery.

Menno Klapwijk’s book, The Story of Tzaneen’s Origin, quotes the first report of Altenroxel, submitted in 1906, which describes ‘a large, modern and fully equipped tobacco factory ,with store, fermenting, cutting, packing machines, snuff and cigarette rooms, a cigarette machine with a capacity of nearly 10 000 cigarettes per hour and a cigar department.’

The agricultural enterprise was extensive. Maize was grown for rations and animal fodder, and velvet beans for ensilage. Cotton was planted and a ginnery established. Sisal, rubber, tea, citrus, guavas, loquats, mangos, pineapples, papaws, bananas, avocados, ginger, granadillas, jackfruit and pecan nuts – all of these were cultivated on the estate.

In the forestry section, pine, eucalyptus, cedrilla (for cigar boxes) and causarina trees were planted as well as ornamental trees – camphor, kapok, flame and jacaranda.

What was, in effect, a grand idea, went into decline. Although the operation was running smoothly, it was not commercially viable and still depended on financial support from the Government. Access to markets was a problem. There was still no railway and the roads were in bad condition.

The future looked tenuous. There was an outcry from other tobacco manufacturers in the Transvaal that the Government was competing with private enterprise. Questions were asked in Parliament about the continuous losses of the estate and calls were made for its closure.

Lionel Phillips, who had already purchased the Westfalia block of farms, made an offer to buy the Tzaneen Estate but this was declined. The Forestry Department also made a bid for the property but the Government insisted that the land should be reserved for settlers.

The end came quickly. Following an unsuccessful attempt by the Government to sell the project by public tender, the estate was cut up into plots for settlers, a course of action that was proposed by the secretary of the Low Country’s Farmers Association, Johann Dicke. Two of the farms, Grenshoek and Middelkop (later to become tea estates) were given to the Conservator of Forests and the rest were leased to private farmers.

Count de Marrilac

Louis Changuion concludes:

‘Although the Tzaneen Experimental Farm in the end proved to be a financial failure, the work done there was certainly not lost to the district. There is no doubt that the agricultural research done had a great impact in opening up the Low Country to commercial farming.’

It was touch and go whether the town Tzaneen would be situated at Estate. This would have been the case if the Selati railway line had crossed the Letaba river in 1912 and established its terminal on the farm. As it happened, the town was founded on the farm Pusela, but not before some fierce competition. When the railway arrived at the latter point, some trading stores and an hotel had already been established there.

A meeting of interested persons was called at Morgan’s hotel in June 1918 attended by some 45 people from Estate, Pusela and Agatha. Despite a proposal from Fred de Marillac that the township should be located at Estate which was a healthier location and where water and electricity was already available, the decision went the other way and in October 1919 the township of Tzaneen was founded at Pusela. (Fred, whose farm was named St Julian, was a French count and clearly related to Theodore Carl Franz Marie de Marillac St Julien, born in Swellendam in 1858.)

Earliest Inhabitants

Archaeological excavations and extensive research in recent years have indicated that black communities were settled in the Letaba district as far back as 250AD. Cultural and historical sites occur throughout the escarpment and include Stone-Age sites and sites of more recent habitation. This contradicts the assumption that blacks arrived south of the Limpopo in a series of migratory waves of fairly recent origin.

Radiocarbon dating, a technique developed after the First World War, was applied by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Pretoria to shards of pottery discovered in New Agatha. Not only were they found to be similar to early Iron Age pottery found in East Africa (carbon-dated to the second century AD), but traces of seeds within the pots were identified by the Botanical Research Institute in Pretoria as a variety of millet. This provides the oldest evidence of food cultivation in South Africa.

Another interesting fact, indeed one of the mysteries of Africa, is that the Lowveld (but not in our area) is the original home of the entire world’s cotton. Woven cotton preserved in a silver jar dating back to 3 000 BC was found in Pakistan.

Sir Joseph Hutchinson, a British biologist who was honoured with a Royal Medal in 1967 ‘in recognition of his distinguished work on the genetics and evolution of crop-plants with particular reference to cotton’ deduced from the genetics of the plant material that the linting gene that enables cotton to be spun could only have come from the wild species that grows in the Lowveld. Man carried cotton up Africa, over to India and across to Peru but at its birthplace cotton never became a crop of any importance.

Thomas Chalmers (TC) Robertson, in his book South African Mosaic, records this little known information. TC was widely known during his lifetime as South Africa’s doyen of soil conservation and was regarded by many, including some of the best brains in the world, as a genius. He was indeed an ardent naturalist from boyhood, and his most significant work lay in his lifelong mission to save southern Africa’s soil and grasses.

His biographer, Shirley Bell writes: ‘No public monument of bronze or stone commemorates his achievements. Apart from the small evergreen sanctuary, the TC Robertson Nature Reserve in Scottburgh, his epitaph is written in the soil of southern Africa, whispered by the grasses and leaves, murmured by the streams, and engraved indelibly on the hearts of all who knew him.’

This African Iron Age represents a distinctive cultural advance on the Stone Age which preceded it, dating back tens of thousands of years. Stone Age people certainly lived in the Lowveld as evidenced by the hundreds of stone artefacts found in the area. They were probably small bands of hunters who roamed the countryside. After an animal was killed, the hunters would fashion simple tools from selected stones in order to crack the bones for the marrow within, to scrape the fat from the beast and to separate the skin from the flesh.

But the Iron Age people were vastly superior in their knowledge. They were immigrants from the north with no connection with the Stone-Agers. The newcomers brought with them the knowledge and techniques of mining, iron-smelting and farming. These people surely came into the area via the east coast of Africa.

There appears to be, however, a mysterious twist in continuity – 500 years or thereabouts. This is the gap between the archaeological discoveries of the first Iron Age people and the material found on the same site but which was carbon-dated to the year 1090AD.

The new material was found at a shallower depth and the design and texture of the pottery was totally different. That two different groups of people had used the same site was evident. That both groups had knowledge of iron-making was also clear. But was there any link between them? Were the third-century immigrants the ancestors of the present African people? There is not enough evidence to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

Later the Pedi kingdom was to dominate the area for many years, and the Gaza empire of the Tsonga/Shangaan people, though less dominant, also made their indelible mark on the Lowveld, as we shall see later.

Iron-working was continued right up until 1893. An almost complete iron smelting furnace was discovered on the farm Longridge in the Letsitele Valley. Hundreds of iron workers and smithies were active in the Letaba area turning out implements and weapons.

At the time of the Makgoba campaign in the 1890s, the Transvaal government ordered the closure of all smelting works still in operation, accusing the tribespeople of manufacturing assegais and arrows for Chief Makgoba and his allies.

The local black tribes in the area had already, by 1888, become openly hostile to white settlement. The trouble started with the allocation by the ZAR government of ‘occupation farms’ granted to whites provided the land was occupied. Carl Jeppe, the Surveyor-General of the Republic, had sent a group of his men to survey the area. In a period of five years they succeeded in setting up beacons and demarcating some 4000 farms in the Zoutpansberg district right up to the Limpopo river. These procedures aroused the suspicion of the native chiefs, some of whom refused to pay taxes and resorted to active resistance. This led to punitive raids by Boer commandos which culminated in the campaign against Chief Makgoba in 1893/94. General Joubert established a chain of ‘instant’ forts constructed of iron plates which could be rapidly bolted together. One, Fort Burger, was situated at New Agatha directly overlooking the domain of Chief Mmamathola in the Letsitele Valley. The Boers, with increasing reluctance, were called out year after year (except in 1896 when all commandos were mobilised after the Jameson Raid) and when the rains came, they took the opportunity to head off ‘huis-toe op oesverlof’, ostensibly for planting, but many of them were pastoral farmers and in any event the rains usually fell over a period of four months.

The chiefs complained it was their land that was being given to white farmers. When officials began to erect beacons for these farms in the territory of Chief Makgoba, his people countered by destroying the beacons and threatening the officials.

The ill-feeling was exacerbated by the government’s location policy in which the black tribes were restricted to ‘locations’ with defined boundaries. The chiefs unanimously rejected these instructions and began attacking white farms in retribution. Farmhouses were destroyed and cattle driven away. The chiefs involved were Makgoba, Modjadji, Maupa and Tsolobo, as well as the lesser tribes led by Maphita, Mashuti, Mmamathola and Magoboyo.

The white families were assembled at New Agatha and Haenertsburg for their safety. Soon, Commandant-General Piet Joubert and his commandos reached the scene and attacked the villages of Maupa and Maphita, taking their cattle as war booty, both chiefs having escaped. Modjadji sued for peace and thus avoided attack and Tsolobo surrendered. Following the Makgoba campaign, in which the chief was killed, the remnants of the tribes of Makgoba, Tsolobo, Mmamathola and Mashuti were transported to Hammanskraal near Pretoria.

Mohlohli was the chief of the Mmamathola. He surrendered to Piet Joubert on August 29 1894, having received an ultimatum on March 1 of that year, but more likely persuaded by the defeat of Maupa at the hands of the Boers four days previously – Maupa’s kraals being burned and his cattle confiscated.

Joubert accepted Mohlohli’s surrender but nevertheless fined him £5, probably the equivalent of one head of cattle, per male member of the tribe – which was an extremely heavy penalty. The firearms owned by the Mmamathola were confiscated and taken to Pietersburg where they were melted down. (The melted metalwork was discovered many years later at a smallholding and taken to the museum to form an unusual frieze).

Meanwhile, the kraals of the Letsoalo and the other rebellious chiefs were destroyed. The Letsoalo clan, according to their spokespeople, were obliged to forsake their properties due to the ravages of these ‘red ants’. They were moved up into the Highveld, settling at Gamosehle (Hammanskraal). There, their livestock was divided up among the Boer farmers.

Mohlohli was sent to prison in Pretoria, where he subsequently died, and, according to the Letsoalo people, his body was placed in the museum where it remains to this day. Mmahlola, daughter of Ramatau, assumed leadership of the Letsoalo tribespeople but she, too, was detained in Pretoria. She was eventually released in 1902 after the Anglo-Boer War and returned to the old Mmamathola Location to reassemble the tribe there.

A less auspicious introduction from foreign climes into Africa was that of the rinderpest plague. An extremely contagious airborne virus, it spreads rapidly. From its first emergence from bovine stock introduced by Italian troops into Somaliland in 1889, it spread to infect the entire continent by 1897, impeded only briefly by the Sahara Desert and South Africa’s erection of 1 600km of barbed wire from Bechuanaland to the Cape-Natal coastline. Between 90 percent and 95 percent of all cattle in Africa developed fever, listlessness and bleeding from all orifices and died over this period.

The consequences for the native society whose cattle were not only a vital source of foodstuffs and building materials, but a sign of status, authority and a store of wealth, were no less terrible. Expanses of the continent which were formerly grassland well-cropped by cattle and game returned rapidly to woods and thickets providing ideal conditions for the reproduction of the tsetse fly (Glossina morsitans).

Wild game, no longer out-competed for resources by managed herds of cattle, increased rapidly in number. These animals carry trypanosomes (parasites) in their blood to which they have evolved immunity. It was believed all over southern and central Africa, from Zululand up to Kenya, whenever white men moved into fly country with domestic animals, that the best way to control tsetse fly was to destroy the indigenous game. As a result, millions of head of kudu, impala, wildebeest, buffalo, sable and other antelope were shot.

To counter the destruction of these animals, many areas were declared game reserves early in the 20th century to provide an equilibrium in favour of the wild game populations. South Africa’s Kruger National Park was one of these, along with Hwange in Zimbabwe, Selous in Tanzania, the Okavango Delta in Botswana and Luangwa and Kafue in Zambia. But this is another story.

Fritz Reuter

Missionaries

The Rev. Fritz Reuter of the Berlin Missionary Society was the first permanent white settler in the Lowveld. In October 1881 he established the Medingen mission station near Modjadji. He was born of farming stock near Berlin, and when the Franco-Prussian war broke out, he was conscripted at the age of 20. Being a good rider, he was assigned to the elite Uhlan cavalry squadron. At the battle of Mars la Tour, Field Marshall Helmuth von Moltke ordered the cavalry to charge the main body of the French army. It was ‘mission impossible’ as the French opened fire with canon, and although the Prussian cavalry was decimated, they managed to hold the French back.

Reuter was only one of 16 cavalrymen who survived the first battle. Seeing all the North African soldiers who had been slaughtered on the battlefield, he vowed to devote the rest of his life to the service of the Lord and go to Africa as a missionary. Although his parents were Christians and well-disposed towards mission work, Fritz had to take over the family farm and it was only five years later that he was able to enter the ministry.

At that time, a wealthy German woman, Baroness von Meding, left her money to the founding of a Protestant mission in Africa. The director of the Berlin Missionary Society, Rev. Wangemann, chose a site on the northern Drakensberg and sent Reuter there. He arrived in the territory of the Balebedu, and surprisingly obtained permission from the Rain Queen Modjadji, to found the mission.

Reuter’s fiancée, Elizabeth Heese, was from Potsdam,