Thursday, February 21, 2008

INFRASTRUCTURE OF SOUTH AFRICA



Infrastructure of South Africa

African Union

Several decisions were made during the summit:

  • The establishment in Somalia of a peace force of 5000 to 7000 troops to assist in the stabilisation of the country. It will be organised by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), that joins Somalia and its neighbouring countries. In the first stage, its mandate will be limited to protecting the installation of the Somalian government.
  • The deployment of a military force to disarm the Rwandan rebels, who are accused of being implicated in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, and have since then sought refuge in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Kofi Annan, secretary general of the UN has sought to strengthen the partnership between the UN and the African Union for Africa to reach the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. He declared that "Africa isn't on schedule to reach the Millennium Development Goals. But it will be able to reach these goals if the world partnership, promised a long time ago, does come together completely".The question of how to represent Africa in the best possible way in the UN Security Council was delayed, following a disagreement among the member countries of the African Union. This was referred to a committee composed of 15 countries to assemble in Swaziland from February 2005.The mandate of the current chairman, Olusegun Obasanjo, president of Nigeria, was prolonged from July 2005 to January 2006. Next summits will be held in Libya in July 2005 and in Sudan in January 2006.

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)

Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC)

The summit also touched the situation in Togo and welcomed a delegation, led by Kokou Tozoun, minister of foreign affairs. A statement was made, inviting "the international community to encourage the Togo authorities to do its utmost to establish a swift and peaceful return of the peace process in the country". Omar Bongo Ondimba, present chairman of the Cemac, yielded his chair to Teodoro Obiang Nguema, president of Equatorial Guinea.

West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA)

Tandja Mamadou, president of Niger returned to the chair of the UEMOA following the summit of the organisation in Niamey (Niger) on March 30, 2005. Different heads of state participated in the summit: Abdoulaye Wade (Senegal), Mathieu Kérékou (Benin), Blaise Compaoré (Burkina Faso), Amadou Toumani Touré (Mali), Henrique Rosa (Guinea-Bissau) and Tandja Mamadou (Niger). Togo was represented by Koffi Sama, prime minister, and Côte d'Ivoire by Théodore Mel Eg, minister for regional integration and the African Union. In a final communiqué, the UEMOA congratulated itself for "the results on price stability in the Union, following a better provisioning of the food markets" and "welcomed the actions intended to preserve the value of the common currency", the CFA franc.

Other organisations

  • A youth forum for peace and development was held from the 10 to 12 January 2005 in Conakry (Guinea). Organized by the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) in collaboration with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), it joined about fifty youngsters from Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, representatives of student's associations, executives of national youth organizations, as well as young people from the rural zones and the border areas of these four countries. These young people committed themselves to contribute to the consolidation of peace and the development of the West African sub-region, to promote the role of the young people in the process of peace and development in Côte d'Ivoire, and within the Union of the Mano River (UFM, joining Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone).
  • The evaluation meeting of the "Process of Bamako" (2000), bearing on the "institutions and democratic practice in the French-speaking countries", was organized in Dakar (Senegal) on 4 and 5 January 2005, by the Organisation internationale de la francophonie in partnership with the Haut commissariat aux Droits de l'homme et à la promotion de la Paix (High Office on Human Rights and on the Promotion of Peace) of Senegal.
  • UN : Benin, non permanent member of the Security Council since 23 October 2003 will be chair during the month of February 2005.
  • ACP countries - European Union : The 9th session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly was held from the 18 to 22 April 2005 in Bamako (Mali). During this session, the "countries of the south" requested the European Union to take concrete measures against poverty. In a declaration entitled Declaration of Bamako on the Millennium Development Goals, they ask for the cancellation of debts, measures aiming at laying down more equitable commercial rules, a more real partnership and an increase in the financial flow towards the developing countries. In parallel, the ACP countries must fight effectively against corruption, improve management of public expenditure, and reinforce the social measures, in particular regarding health and education.

Conflict and civil war

Côte d'Ivoire

  • On 11 January, Thabo Mbeki, president of South Africa, on a mission for the African Union went to Yamoussoukro, political capital of Côte d'Ivoire, to attend the Council of Ministers. The ministers of Forces Nouvelles (the rebel movement) did not attend this council. According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), their absence was interpreted to be "a sign of dissatisfaction with the conclusions of this summit, which granted president Laurent Gbagbo the right to organise a referendum to seek adoption of the revision of article 35 of the Constitution on the conditions for eligibility for the presidency of the Republic".
  • On 22 January, the United Nations Operation in Cote d'Ivoire (UNOCI) authorized the Cote d'Ivoire government to repair its air fleet, destroyed on 6 November 2004 by the French soldiers of the Operation Unicorn, without the possibility to re-arm them. Guillaume Soro, secretary general of the Forces Nouvelles considers this to be "a serious act within the peace process". On 23 January, during a press conference in Bouaké, he declared: "To be able to disarm, one needs an environment of confidence. One does not disarm in distrust, and even less when challenged".
  • South African president Thabo Mbeki received on 23 January in Pretoria a number of representatives of the opposition to discuss the peace process. Alassane Dramane Ouattara, candidate for the Rassemblement des républicains (RDR) and Lambert Kouassi Konan, vice-president of the Democratic Party of Cote d'Ivoire (PDCI) were welcomed first, before Guillaume Soro, leader of the rebel Forces Nouvelles. Alassane Dramane Ouattara shared his wish that the presidential elections, planned for October 2005, would be organized by the United Nations for them "to be undisputed by anyone".
  • The Security Council of the United Nations on 1 February unanimously adopted a resolution, presented by France, reinforcing the effectiveness of the arms embargo. This resolution 1584 authorizes the blue helmets of the United Nations Operation in Cote d'Ivoire (UNOCI) and French soldiers of the Operation Unicorn to inspect without notice planes and freight vehicles using the ports, airports, airfields, military bases and border posts. Pascal Affi Guessan, chair of the Front populaire ivoirien, the party of president Laurent Gbagbo, stated to be surprised and disappointed by this measure which he describes as "unnecessary provocation".
  • The Secretary General of the United Nations indicates, in a report of 24 March 2005 on the situation in Côte d'Ivoire, that "in spite of the commendable efforts that President Mbeki undertook in the name of the African Union and of the encouraging prospects which opens the action plan of the African Union, the country remains actually divided". He worries about the economic decline of the country, of the ongoing violations of human rights, of the non-disarmament of the militia members and the fighters of the Forces Nouvelles. Fearing a serious confrontation in the country, he declares: "There is a real danger of the situation becoming uncontroleable, which may lead to unforeseeable consequences for the Côte d'Ivoire population and for the sub-region as a whole".
  • Four political parties of the opposition, the Democratic Party of Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI), the Rassemblement des républicains (RDR), the Union for democracy and peace in Côte d'Ivoire (UDPCI) and the Mouvement des forces d'avenir (MFA), in a joint declaration, asked "the Security Council of UNO with insistence for the renewal of the mandate of the Operation Unicorn and its stay in Côte d'Ivoire until the end of the electoral process, supporting the UN Forces". They expressed their support for the mediation started by Thabo Mbeki, president of South Africa and requested the Forces nouvelles to participate in the peace process.
  • In a report, published on 31 March 2005, the human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) states that several "hundreds of recently demobilized Liberian soldiers, among whom many children under 18" were recruited by the Côte d'Ivoire government since the beginning of the civil war.
  • Thabo Mbeki, president of South Africa and mediator for the African Union for the civil war in Côte d'Ivoire assembled on 4 and 5 April in Pretoria the different protagonists of the conflict: president Laurent Gbagbo, Prime Minister Seydou Diarra, Guillaume Soro (Forces Nouvelles), Alassane Ouattara (Rassemblement des républicains), Henri Konan Bédié (Parti démocratique de Côte d'Ivoire). An agreement to end the hostilities was reached which envisages the disarmament of the rebel forces and the different pro government militia. The question about eligibility for the presidency of the Republic could not be resolved. Thabo Mbeki has given himself one week to make proposals, after having consulted Olusegun Obasanjo, president of Nigeria and of the African Union, and Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the UNO. The presidential election remains scheduled for October 2005. Laurent Gbagbo was pleased with this agreement, as was the African Union, whose commission president Alpha Oumar Konaré congratulated the mediation by Thabo Mbeki. Guillaume Soro announced the imminent return to the government of the Forces nouvelles ministers.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

  • On 10 January, the Peace and Security Council of the African Union, meeting in Libreville (Gabon), decided in favour of assistance to Kinshasa for the disarmament of the old genocide forces (Interahamwe militia and ex-FAR (Rwandan Armed Forces of the former regime), moved to the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 1994.
  • The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced on 17 January that at least 15.000 Congolese took refuge in Uganda since 11 January, fleeing the insecurity reigning in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
  • 25 January : release of the report on the Democratic Republic of the Congo by the group of experts formed according to resolution 1552 (arms embargo) of the UN Security Council.
  • MONUC, Mission of the United Nations (UN) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) announced on 2 February that the 9000 inhabitants of the area of Tché, in Ituri, are under protection of the UN, after disturbances that caused 52 deaths the days before.
  • Ituri: the Mission of the United Nations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) announced Wednesday 9 February that the prosecutor of Bunia in Ituri started legal proceedings after the attacks allotted to the militia members of the nationalists and integrationists front in the area of Tché since 19 January. These attacks caused 52 deaths, mainly women, children and elderly people. Since 29 January, more than 10.000 people sought the protection of the UN in Tché.
  • In Ituri, an area with interethnic violence that caused 50.000 deaths (and 500,000 displaced) since 1999, a group of 4000 militia members of the Forces armées du peuple congolais (FAPC) decided to depose arms and to adhere to the national disarmament, demobilization and reintegration program. The militia members who disarm have the choice between being integrated in the regular army or to join the civil life.
  • In a report published on 7 March 2005, the organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounces the fact that "less than one dozen attackers were prosecuted" whereas tens of thousands of women and young girls were violated since 1998 by the soldiers and the militia members in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
  • The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted on 30 March 2005 the resolution 1592 by which it extends, until 1 October 2005, the mandate of the Mission of the United Nations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC). It reaffirms its concern for the "hostilities that the armed groups and militia continue to maintain in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in particular in the provinces of North and South Kivu and in the district of Ituri" and requests the government to bring to justice the persons responsible for the "serious violations of human rights and of the international humanitarian law". It considers "that the presence of elements of the former "Rwandan Armed Forces" and the Interahamwe remains a threat on the local civil populations and an obstacle for the good neighbourship relations between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda" and invites the African Union to co-operate with the MONUC.

Sudan

South-Sudan

A final agreement of peace in South-Sudan was signed on 9 January 2005 in Nairobi between the Sudanese vice-president Ali Osman Taha and John Garang, leader of the southern rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), putting a term to the longest conflict in Africa (21 years), that killed 1,5 million. During a 6 year period, this agreement envisages broad autonomy for the south of Sudan which will have its own government and an autonomous army. At the end of this period, a self-determination referendum will be organized. The income resulting from oil will be shared in equal share between the south and north. In addition, the government will have 70% of the positions in the central administration against 30% for the southern rebels. Lastly, the Sharia (Islamic law) will be into force only in the north of the country, with Muslim majority. It will not be applied in the south, having a Christian and animist majority. On 10 January, thousands of Sudanese expressed their joy in the streets of Khartoum. The National Liberation Council of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) ratified unanimously on 24 January the peace agreement in Rumbek.

  • The Security Council of the UN adopted on 24 March unanimously resolution 1590 presented by the United States which envisages the sending of a United Nations Mission In Sudan (Unmis) made up of 10 000 soldiers and 715 civil police officers in order to "support the implementation of the peace agreement" in South-Sudan, signed in January 2005 by the government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) of John Garang. This mission has an initial mandate of 6 months.
  • At the donor conference which took place 11 and 12 April in Oslo (Norway), the financial sponsors promised to give 4,5 billion dollars for the reconstruction of Sudan, devastated by 21 years of civil war.
  • John Garang, leader of the former rebels in South-Sudan became vice-president of Sudan on 9 July in accordance with the peace agreement of January 2005.
  • After the death of John Garang on 30 July 2005, he was replaced by Salva Kiir Mayardit on 11 August 2005.

Darfur

  • The African Union decided to deploy a peacekeeping force in Darfur. The force should in the long term be made up of 3.320 men.
  • On 26 January an air raid took place on a village in Darfour, killing a hundred people. Adam Thiam, spokesman of the African Union declared that it was "the most serious attack performed these last months. It is more than a very serious violation of the cease-fire because it is not an isolated act". The acts of violence multiply these last weeks, a few days from the summit of the African Union which will be devoted in particular to the situation in Darfur.
  • Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the UN, invited the United Nations on 1 February to take urgent action to put an end to the massacres in the area of Darfur in the south of Sudan. In a report, submitted the day before, UNO accuses the Sudanese government and the Arab militia to have committed in Darfur "serious violations" of the international law, equivalent to "war crimes" or "crimes against humanity", referring to the generalized practice of torture, rape, murder and plundering of civilians.
  • On 13 February 2005, Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations called upon NATO and the European Union "to seriously study what they can undertake concretely to help to put an end to" the tragedy that is the war in Darfur, causing during the last two years the death of several tens of thousands and the displacement of 1,6 million.
  • In a conference at the Agence France-Presse (AFP) on 14 March 2005, Jan Egeland, United Nations Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, stated that the conflict in Darfour killed at least 180 000 during the last 18 months, an average of 10 000 deaths per month. These figures count people dieing because of deprivations and diseases.
  • The United Nations Security Council adopted on 29 March 2005 by 12 votes for and three abstentions (Algeria, China and Russia) a resolution presented by the United States installing sanctions (freezing of assets and prohibition of moving abroad) for those recognized guilty of having committed atrocities or threatening the peace process. A commission consisting in representatives of the 15 Member States of the Security Council will be charged to nominate these persons. The resolution also extends the embargo on arms and forbids the government to carry out offensive military flights over Darfur. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs esteems that this resolution, that it judges "unbalanced and inappropriate", does not take in account the "government efforts to deal with the questions related with politics, safety and the humanitarian situation in Darfur".
  • The United Nations Security Council adopted on 30 March 2005 by 11 votes for and 4 abstentions (Algeria, Brazil, China and the United States) a resolution allowing to bring the authors of exactions (murder, rapes or plunderings) in Darfour before the International Criminal Court (ICC). The United States, opposed to the International Criminal Court stated that these nationals cannot be judged there. Thus, the resolution provides that "the citizens, responsible now or in the past, or the personnel of a State non party to the Treaty of Rome on the International Criminal Court, will be subjected to the exclusive jurisdiction of this State for any act supposedly related to operations in Sudan".
  • The Peace and Security Council of the African Union approved on 28 April the reinforcement of its peacekeeping force in Darfur. Its manpower will pass from 2200 to 7700 men.

Political crisis in Togo

On 5 February 2005, president Gnassingbé Eyadéma died after having lead Togo for 38 years. According to the constitution, the chairman of the National Assembly should have been acting president until new presidential elections, to be held in 60 days. The army however decided to bring to power a son of the late president, Faure Gnassingbé Eyadéma. To endorse the decision of the army, the parliament urgently modified the constitution. The African Union, the ECOWAS, the UN, the European Union condemned what they called a "coup d'etat" and demanded the re-establishment of the constitutional order. In spite of a ban on public demonstrations issued by the government, the principal opposition parties demanded free and pluralist elections and appealed each day for peaceful demonstrations, which gathered several hundreds to a few thousand people. These were dispersed by the police, using teargas. On 25 February Faure Gnassingbé Eyadéma renounced from the position of president of the Republic, and announced to be standing as a candidate to the presidential elections, to be held on 24 April 2005. Abass Bonfoh, vice-president of the National Assembly became acting president.

Four candidates presented themselves at the election of 24 April: Faure Gnassingbé Eyadéma, supported by the Rassemblement du peuple togolais (RPT), Emmanuel Bob Akitani, candidate for the coalition of the radical opposition, Harry Olympio, candidate for the Rassemblement pour le soutien à la démocratie et au développement (RSDD, moderate opposition) and Nicolas Lawson, a businessman who withdrew his candidature on 22 April. The campaign was held in a climate of violence. The opposition denounced the conditions in which they had to prepare, and request a postponement of the election. Two days before the poll, François Boko, Minister for the Interior of the temporary government, requested the postponement of the scrutiny. In a press conference, he denounced "a suicidal electoral process". He was then forced to resign.

The election took place on 24 April. It is marked by much violence, resulting in dozens of deaths. The results were proclaimed on 26 April: Faure Gnassingbé, wins the election with 60,22% of the votes, before Emmanuel Bob Akitani with 38,19% and Harry Olympio with 0,55%. After the announcement, there was an outbreak of demonstrations in several cities of the country, denouncing the massive fraud. Clashes between demonstrators and the police occurred, involving hundreds of victims, died or wounded. Thousands of Togolese took refuge in Benin. ECOWAS, the European Union and France recognized the victory of Faure Gnassingbé Eyadema and called for the installation of a government of national unity. This was rejected by the radical opposition, that requested the cancellation of the elections because of the massive fraud.

On 8 June, Edem Kodjo, president of the Convergence patriotique panafricaine (CPP, moderate opposition), is appointed Prime Minister.

Elections

Environment

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History of South Africa

The history of South Africa is marked by migration, ethnic conflict, and the anti-Apartheid struggle. The Khoisan peoples are the aboriginal people of the region who have lived there for millennia. Black South Africans are believed to originate from the Great Lakes region of Africa in prehistoric times. White South Africans, descendants of later European migrations, regard themselves equally as products of South Africa, as do South Africa's Coloureds, Indians, Asians, and Jews.
History of South Africa
General periods

Ancient (before 1652)
(1652 to 1815)
(1815 to 1910)
(1910 to 1948)
(1948 to 1994)
Modern (1994 to 1999)
2000s (2000-)
Specific themes

Economics · Military
Social · Religious · Apartheid
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Historical nation-states of present-day
South Africa
(including Boer republics and TBVC states)

Mapungubwe (1050-1270)
Swellendam (1795)
Graaff Reinet (1795-1796)
Waterboer's Land (1813-1871)
Adam Kok's Land (1825-1861)
Winburg (1836-1844)
Potchefstroom (1837-1844)
Potchefstroom, North West (1844-1848)
Republic of Utrecht (1854-1858)
Lydenburg Republic (1856-1860)
Nieuw Republiek (1884-1888)
Griqualand East (1861-1879)
Griqualand West (1870)
Klein Vrystaat (1886-1891)
Stellaland (1882-1885)
Goshen (South Africa) (1882-1883)
Zululand (1816-1897)
Natalia Republic (1839–1843)
Orange Free State (1854-1902)
South African Republic (1857-1902)
Union of South Africa (1910–1961)
Bophuthatswana (1977-1994)
Ciskei (1981-1994)
Transkei (1976-1994)
Venda (1979-1994)
Republic of South Africa (1961-present)


Ancient history

The Bushmen

Beginning around 2,500 years ago some Bushman groups acquired livestock from further south. Gradually, hunting and gathering gave way to herding as the dominant economic activity as the Bushmen tended to small herds of cattle and oxen. The arrival of livestock introduced concepts of personal wealth and property-ownership into Bushman society. Community structures solidified and expanded, and chieftaincies developed.

The clear line between the two groups became impossible to see (prompting the use of the term Khoisan). Over time the Khoikhoi established themselves along the coast, while small groups of Bushmen continued to inhabit the interior.

Bantu expansion

Around 2,500 years ago Bantu peoples migrated into Southern Africa from the Niger River Delta. The Bushmen and the Bantu lived mostly peacefully together, although since neither had any method of writing, researchers know little of this period outside of archaeological artifacts.

The Bantu peoples had started to make their way south and eastwards in about 1000 BC, reaching the present-day KwaZulu-Natal Province by AD 500. The Bantu-speakers not only had domestic animals, but also practiced agriculture, farming wheat and other crops. They also displayed skill in working iron, and lived in settled villages. The Bantu arrived in South Africa in small waves rather than in one cohesive migration. Some groups, the ancestors of today's Nguni peoples (the Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi, and Ndebele), preferred to live near the coast. Others, now known as the Sotho-Tswana peoples (Tswana, Pedi, and Basotho), settled in the Highveld, while today's Venda, Lemba, and Shangaan-Tsonga peoples made their homes in the northeastern areas of South Africa.

Bantu-speakers and Khoisan mixed, as evidenced by rock paintings showing the two different groups interacting. The type of contact remains unknown, although linguistic proof of integration survives, as several Bantu languages (notably Xhosa and Zulu) incorporated the click consonant characteristic of earlier Khoisan languages. Archaeologists have found numerous Khoisan artifacts at the sites of Bantu settlements.

Colonization

European expeditions

Bartolomeu Dias rounding the Cape of Good Hope.

Although the Portuguese basked in the nautical achievement of successfully navigating the cape, they showed little interest in colonisation. The area's fierce weather and rocky shoreline posed a threat to their ships, and many of their attempts to trade with the local Khoikhoi ended in conflict. The Portuguese found the Mozambican coast more attractive, with appealing bays to use as way stations, prawns, and links to gold ore in the interior.

The Portuguese had little competition in the region until the late 16th century, when the English and Dutch began to challenge the Portuguese along their trade routes. Stops at the continent's southern tip increased, and the cape became a regular stopover for scurvy-ridden crews. In 1647, a Dutch vessel was wrecked in the present-day Table Bay at Cape Town. The marooned crew, the first Europeans to attempt settlement in the area, built a fort and stayed for a year until they were rescued.

Arrival of the Dutch

Painting of an account of the arrival of Jan van Riebeeck, by Charles Bell.


Shortly thereafter, the Dutch East India Company (in the Dutch of the day: Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, or VOC) decided to establish a permanent settlement. The VOC, one of the major European trading houses sailing the spice route to the East, had no intention of colonising the area, instead wanting only to establish a secure base camp where passing ships could shelter, and where hungry sailors could stock up on fresh supplies of meat, fruit, and vegetables. To this end, a small VOC expedition under the command of Jan van Riebeeck reached Table Bay on April 6, 1652.

While the new settlement traded out of necessity with the neighbouring Khoikhoi, it wasn't a friendly relationship, and the Company authorities made deliberate attempts to restrict contact. Partly as a consequence, VOC employees found themselves faced with a labour shortage. To remedy this, they released a small number of Dutch from their contracts and permitted them to establish farms, with which they would supply the VOC settlement from their harvests. This arrangement proved highly successful, producing abundant supplies of fruit, vegetables, wheat, and wine; they also later raised livestock. The small initial group of free burghers, as these farmers were known, steadily increased in number and began to expand their farms further north and east into the territory of the Khoikhoi.The majority of burghers had Dutch ancestry and belonged to the Calvinist Reformed Church of the Netherlands, but there were also numerous Germans as well as some Scandinavians. In 1688 the Dutch and the Germans were joined by French Huguenots, also Calvinists, who were fleeing religious persecution in France under King Louis XIV.In addition to establishing the free burgher system, van Riebeeck and the VOC also began to import large numbers of slaves, primarily from Madagascar and Indonesia. These slaves often married Dutch settlers, and their descendants became known as the Cape Coloureds and the Cape Malays. A significant number of the offspring from the White and slave unions were absorbed into the local proto-Afrikaans speaking White population. With this additional labour, the areas occupied by the VOC expanded further to the north and east, with inevitable clashes with the Khoikhoi. The newcomers drove the Khoikhoi from their traditional lands, decimated them with introduced diseases, and destroyed them with superior weapons when they fought back, which they did in a number of major wars and with guerrilla resistance movements that continued into the 19th century. Most survivors were left with no option but to work for the Europeans in an exploitative arrangement that differed little from slavery. Over time, the Khoisan, their European overseers, and the imported slaves mixed, with the offspring of these unions forming the basis for today's Coloured population.The best-known Khoikhoi groups included the Griqua, who had originally lived on the western coast between St Helena Bay and the Cederberg Range. In the late 18th century, they managed to acquire guns and horses and began trekking northeast. En route, other groups of Khoisan, Coloureds, and even white adventurers joined them, and they rapidly gained a reputation as a formidable military force. Ultimately, the Griquas reached the Highveld around present-day Kimberley, where they carved out territory that came to be known as Griqualandalina.

Burgher expansion

An account of the first trekboers.


As the burghers, too, continued to expand into the rugged hinterlands of the north and east, many began to take up a semi-nomadic pastoralist lifestyle, in some ways not far removed from that of the Khoikhoi they displaced. In addition to its herds, a family might have a wagon, a tent, a Bible, and a few guns. As they became more settled, they would build a mud-walled cottage, frequently located, by choice, days of travel from the nearest European settlement. These were the first of the Trekboers (Wandering Farmers, later shortened to Boers), completely independent of official controls, extraordinarily self-sufficient, and isolated. Their harsh lifestyle produced individualists who were well acquainted with the land. Like many pioneers with Christian backgrounds, the burghers attempted to live their lives based on teachings from the Bible.

British at the cape

As the 18th century drew to a close, Dutch mercantile power began to fade and the British moved in to fill the vacuum. They seized the Cape in 1795 to prevent it from falling into the hands of Napoleonic France, then briefly relinquished it back to the Dutch (1803) before finally garnering recognition of their sovereignty of the area in 1815.
At the tip of the continent the British found an established colony with 25,000 slaves, 20,000 white colonists, 15,000 Khoisan, and 1,000 freed black slaves. Power resided solely with a white élite in Cape Town, and differentiation on the basis of race was deeply entrenched. Outside Cape Town and the immediate hinterland, isolated black and white pastoralists populated the country.
Like the Dutch before them, the British initially had little interest in the Cape Colony, other than as a strategically located port. As one of their first tasks they tried to resolve a troublesome border dispute between the Boers and the Xhosa on the colony's eastern frontier. In 1820 the British authorities persuaded about 5,000 middle-class British immigrants (most of them "in trade") to leave Great Britain behind and settle on tracts of land between the feuding groups with the idea of providing a buffer zone. The plan was singularly unsuccessful. Within three years, almost half of these 1820 Settlers had retreated to the towns, notably Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth, to pursue the jobs they had held in Britain.While doing nothing to resolve the border dispute, this influx of settlers solidified the British presence in the area, thus fracturing the relative unity of white South Africa. Where the Boers and their ideas had before gone largely unchallenged, white South Africa now had two distinct language groups and two distinct cultures. A pattern soon emerged whereby English-speakers became highly urbanised, and dominated politics, trade, finance, mining, and manufacturing, while the largely uneducated Boers were relegated to their farms.The gap between the British settlers and the Boers further widened with the abolition of slavery in 1833, a move that the Boers generally regarded as against the God-given ordering of the races. Yet the British settlers' conservatism stopped any radical social reforms, and in 1841 the authorities passed a Masters and Servants Ordinance, which perpetuated white control. Meanwhile, numbers of British immigrants increased rapidly in Cape Town, in the area east of the Cape Colony (present-day Eastern Cape Province), in Natal and, after the discovery of gold and diamonds, in parts of the Transvaal, mainly around present-day Gauteng.

Difaqane and destruction

Shaka Zulu in traditional Zulu military garb.

The early 19th century saw a time of immense upheaval relating to the military expansion of the Zulu kingdom. Sotho-speakers know this period as the difaqane ("forced migration"); while Zulu-speakers call it the mfecane ("crushing").The full causes of the difaqane remain in dispute, although certain factors stand out. The rise of a unified Zulu kingdom had particular significance. In the early 19th century, Nguni tribes in KwaZulu-Natal began to shift from a loosely-organised collection of kingdoms into a centralised, militaristic state. Shaka Zulu, son of the chief of the small Zulu clan, became the driving force behind this shift. At first something of an outcast, Shaka proved himself in battle and gradually succeeded in consolidating power in his own hands. He built large armies, breaking from clan tradition by placing the armies under the control of his own officers rather than of the hereditary chiefs. Shaka then set out on a massive programme of expansion, killing or enslaving those who resisted in the territories he conquered. His impis (warrior regiments) were rigorously disciplined: failure in battle meant death.
Peoples in the path of Shaka's armies moved out of his way, becoming in their turn aggressors against their neighbours. This wave of displacement spread throughout Southern Africa and beyond. It also accelerated the formation of several states, notably those of the Sotho (present-day Lesotho) and of the Swazi (now Swaziland).
In 1828 Shaka was killed by his half-brothers Dingaan and Umthlangana. The weaker and less-skilled Dingaan became king, relaxing military discipline while continuing the despotism. Dingaan also attempted to establish relations with the British traders on the Natal coast, but events had started to unfold that would see the demise of Zulu independence.

The Great Trek

Trekboers on the karoo.

Meanwhile, the Boers had started to grow increasingly dissatisfied with British rule in the Cape Colony. The British proclamation of the equality of the races particularly angered them. Beginning in 1835, several groups of Boers, together with large numbers of Khoikhoi and black servants, decided to trek off into the interior in search of greater independence. North and east of the Orange River (which formed the Cape Colony's frontier) these Boers or Voortrekkers ("Pioneers") found vast tracts of apparently uninhabited grazing lands. They had, it seemed, entered their promised land, with space enough for their cattle to graze and their culture of anti-urban independence to flourish. Little did they know that what they found - deserted pasture lands, disorganised bands of refugees, and tales of brutality - resulted from the difaqane, rather than representing the normal state of affairs.With the exception of the more powerful Ndebele, the Voortrekkers encountered little resistance among the scattered peoples of the plains. The difaqane had dispersed them, and the remnants lacked horses and firearms. Their weakened condition also solidified the Boers' belief that European occupation meant the coming of civilisation to a savage land. However, the mountains where King Moshoeshoe I had started to forge the Basotho nation that would later become Lesotho and the wooded valleys of Zululand proved a more difficult proposition. Here the Boers met strong resistance, and their incursions set off a series of skirmishes, squabbles, and flimsy treaties that would litter the next 50 years of increasing white domination.

British, Boers and Zulus

Indians arriving in Durban for the first time.

The Great Trek first halted at Thaba Nchu, near present-day Bloemfontein, where the trekkers established a republic. Following disagreements among their leadership, the various Voortrekker groups split apart. While some headed north, most crossed the Drakensberg into Natal with the idea of establishing a republic there. Since the Zulus controlled this territory, the Voortrekker leader Piet Retief paid a visit to King Dingaan. The Zulus, accusing the Boers of conspiring to overthrow the Zulu state, captured Retief. After receiving the specified cattle ransom, they sent an army to decimate Retief's settlement, killing 280 Boers and 250 black servants. At the Battle of Itala, a Boer army's attempt at revenge failed miserably.[1] The culmination came on 16 December 1838, at the Ncome River in Natal. Though only several Boers suffered injuries, they killed several thousand Zulus. So much bloodshed reportedly caused the Ncome's waters to run red, thus the clash is historically known as the Battle of Blood River.

Zulu warriors, late 19th century


Growth of independent South Africa

The Boer republics

The farm outside of Johannesburg on the Witwatersrand - site of the first discovery of gold in 1886.

The farm outside of Johannesburg on the Witwatersrand - site of the first discovery of gold in 1886.

The Boers meanwhile persevered with their search for land and freedom, ultimately establishing themselves in various Boer Republics, eg the Transvaal or South African Republic and the Orange Free State. For a while it seemed that these republics would develop into stable states, despite having thinly-spread populations of fiercely independent Boers, no industry, and minimal agriculture. The discovery of diamonds near Kimberley turned the Boers' world on its head (1869). The first diamonds came from land belonging to the Griqua, but to which both the Transvaal and Orange Free State laid claim. Britain quickly stepped in and resolved the issue by annexing the area for itself.The discovery of the Kimberley diamond-mines unleashed a flood of European and black labourers into the area. Towns sprang up in which the inhabitants ignored the "proper" separation of whites and blacks, and the Boers expressed anger that their impoverished republics had missed out on the economic benefits of the mines.

Anglo-Boer Wars

The Relief of Ladysmith. Sir George White greets Major Hubert Gough on 28 February. Painting by John Henry Frederick Bacon (1868-1914)Boer women and children in a concentration camp.

The Relief of Ladysmith. Sir George White greets Major Hubert Gough on 28 February. Painting by John Henry Frederick Bacon (1868-1914)



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