OFFICIAL RECORDS PERTAINING TO BLACKS IN THE TRANSVAAL, 1902- 1907 by TLOU ERICK SETUMU Submitted as partial requirement for the degree MAGISTER ARTIUM in HISTORY (Coursework) in the Faculty of Humanities University of Pretoria 2001 Supervisor: Professor K.L. Harris Co-supervisor: Professor J.S. Bergh © University of Pretoria ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. I would like to thank and dedicate this thesis to my dear mother. Her hardships always inspired me to work harder in order to achieve success which I hoped would soothe her and make her feel proud and happy. My love for my two beautiful daughters, 'Makwena and 'Maphuti, and their loving mother, Nape, helped to lessen the strain of the long hours of research work. I know that they have been deprived of my full attention during my study period, but I hope they'll appreciate its worth. My younger brother, Kwena, and Mmane (aunt) Selina, have been very supportive, and I thank them. I received valuable support and encouragement from my friends Nkgapele Monyepao, Mmaphuti Matlala, Kgabo Mahwai and particularly Mapoko Mashele. Mr. S.M. Mochosa has always been my source of inspiration and I want to thank him as well as all my ex-colleagues at Raleledu High School. For this study, my sincere gratitude goes to my supervisor, Professor K.L. Harris. I don't think I will ever have enough words to be able to describe what Professor Harris did for me. After lecturing me at UNISA at junior degree level, she warmly welcomed me at the University of Pretoria and with her courage, generosity and patience, she guided me through. I literally owe everything to her because she did not only look after my academic interests, she also took a keen interest in my welfare. I also want to thank Professor J.S. Bergh, head of the Department of History, UP, for guidance and giving me valuable assistance with his extensive knowledge and experience in my field of study. I also thank everybody at the Department, especially Lize Kriel, who always cheered me up and was always ready to assist me. Mrs Charlotte van Niekerk was also very helpful. Professor Greg Cuthbertson of UNISA also assisted and helped me to believe in myself and remain positive and optimistic. © University of Pretoria Official records pertaining to Blacks in the Transvaal, 1902 - 1907. TABLE OF CONTENTS. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................................................... 2 SUMMA.RY .................................................................................................................................... 3 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 5 2. HISTORIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................. 12 3. OFFICIAL RECORDS. 3. 1. Commissioners' records ............................................................ 52 3.1.1. Records from the office of the Commissioner for Native Affairs ......... 52 3.1.2. Records made by the District Commissioners and Sub-Native Commissioners ............................................................... 64 3.2. Documentation of the South African Native Affairs Commission, 1903 - 1905 .............................. 75 3.3. Publication of the Transvaal Department of Native Affairs: Short History of the Transvaal, 1905 .............................................................................. 85 3.4. Publication of the British War Office: The Native Tribes of the Transvaal, 1905 ............ 98 3.5. Publication of the British War Office: Native Strongholds and Locations of the Transvaal, 1907 .............................................................................. 105 4. CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................... 112 5. BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................... 116 1 © University of Pretoria LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. ANC -African National Congress. ANPU - African Native Political Union. BMS - Berlin Missionary Society. EC - Executive Council. Gov. - Governor. LD - Law Department. PWD - Public Works Department. SANAC - South African Native Affairs Commission. SANNC - South African Native National Congress. SNA- Secretary of Native Affairs. TAB - Transvaal Archive Depot. TBC - Transvaal Basotho Committee. TNC - Transvaal Native Congress. TNVA - Transvaal Native Vigilance Association. ZAR - South African Republic. 2 © University of Pretoria sUMMARY. Historians use different types of sources when reconstructing the past. Of the two major categories of sources, the primary sources are of major importance for attaining information, as they are contemporary to the period which is being researched. They are often more reliable than the other category, namely secondary sources, which are literally second-hand information. However, all possible sources, both primary and secondary, must be approached critically so as to obtain a balanced version of the past. In the South African situation, for an extensive period of time, most of the historical writing on the early periods was based on the records which were made by the European­ originated Whites who had the advantage of being able to put their accounts in writin~. This led to the European-White perspective dominating and monopolising the historiographical stage for quite a long time. The perspective of the indigenous inhabitants of South Africa had been overshadowed owing to their inability to read and write. The written sources on the Blacks in South Africa date back to the time when the first Europeans set foot here. The early European travellers (traders, hunters, natural scientists, etc.) came into contact with the Black communities and they made records on them. Obviously these travellers based such records on their own interests and also wrote from a Eurocentric position, with cultural differences as well as racial prejudices and superior attitudes towards the Blacks. The missionaries, who were mostly of European origin, also made records about the Blacks among whom they worked. The missionaries also had their own agenda, although different from that of the travellers. The records which they kept mostly reflected their "fight" against what they thought were barbaric and backward ways of the Blacks' lifestyle. In addition to the records made by the early travellers and missionaries about the Blacks, there were records which were made by the Boer and British government officials. In this study the official records pertaining to the Blacks in the Transvaal between 1902 and 1907 are discussed. Firstly, a historiographical overview is presented and secondly, the official records themselves are analysed and evaluated. The importance of those records as sources of information on the Blacks in the Transvaal, especially the Northern Sotho, is evaluated by using different criteria, including the Principle of internal criticism. There are numerous flaws and limitations found in these records about Blacks such as cultural differences, subjectivity, prejudice, bias, etc. However, even though these records contain such flaws, they are still important sources of information. Their most 3 © University of Pretoria important value is that they form the basis and point of departure from where historical reconstruction is made. Research, even in future, would still heavily depend on these records as sources of information. But, as already pointed out, the information obtained in them has to be tested by different criteria in order to detect the limitations, so that a more balanced reconstructions can be achieved. 4 © University of Pretoria 1. INTRODUCTION. There is a lot of research which still needs to be done on the South African Blacks in general, and the Northern Sotho chiefdoms in particular. The writing of the history of the Blacks in South Africa has been disadvantaged by various factors. According to historian K. Smith, before World War II, those who wrote histories of Africa based their accounts almost entirely on written materials. As a result, they only concentrated on the activities of the Europeans in Africa and to them "African societies were seen as static and 1 unchanging, they had no history" • And again, the scarcity of documents about African societies strengthened these writers' resolve to neglect the history of Blacks. However, this situation was corrected in the last couple of decades when the artefacts that have long interested archaeologists, together with oral evidence, were brought into the historian's fold. The historians' use of oral evidence and other disciplines such as archaeology, anthropology, sociology and linguistics, led to the uncovering and reconstruction of the pre-colonial history of Blacks. This was also done by adding the accounts of early European travellers and missionaries. This reconstruction of the history of Blacks was done by Whites and they inevitably wrote from their own Euro-centric perspective. According to another historian, C. Saunders: Until very recently, there were no professional Black historians. Had Blacks had the same opportunities to write about the South African past as Whites, the body of historical literature we possess would almost certainly 2 have been different • The end of the 19th century tensions between the Boers and the British, which resulted in war in 1899, almost overshadowed events concerning Black communities. This is reflected in historical literature