OF BULLETS THE PLACE OF STONES is famous for the siege in which Robert Baden-Powell defended the town of Mafeking (as the British spelt the name) in 1899-1900. Here, in outline, is the AND BOYS story of this town from its first beginnings, of its place in local African history, of Sol T. Plaatje, and of the idea which led to the worldwide Scouting Movement. The story of by Jay Heale MAFIKENG and its connection with the birth of SCOUTING The author and the South African Scout Association wish to thank Mr Geoffrey Phillips and the Mafikeng Museum for assistance during the research required for this book. Illustrations come from Chip Snaddon (front cover), the SACHED Trust graphic novel version of Mhudi and sketches by Robert Baden-Powell. © Jay Heale 1999 Published by the South African Scout Association P.O. Box 2434. Clareinch 7740. South Africa Internet edition 2003 SOUTH AFRICAN ISBN 0-947005-64-1 SCOUT ASSOCIATION Cover: Boer troops preparing to fire one of their four Schneider siege guns. The long poles were used to move the gun for aiming. he men crouched there, hiding. It was a good place to hunt. Vast herds of he was in Thaba Nchu so when Joseph Ludorf, a Wesleyan missionary, came zebra and hartebeest roamed the plains and came to drink at the river to his town Molema welcomed him gladly. Ludorf built a chapel there and Twhich flowed all year round. The rocks gave the hunters shade and taught Molema’s people. shelter. With their stone-tipped arrows and hand axes, they caught many a buck, using the meat for food and the skins for clothing. As was their custom, From his place of exile, Chief Montshioa continued to try to prevent the Boers they engraved these animals on chosen rocks. Gradually, their families grew. from moving into what he rightly considered Barolong lands. He appealed to They built shelters to rest in while they hunted. Sometimes they stayed there the British for protection. This angered the Boers, since one of the main several nights at a time. It seemed a good place. reasons they had left the Cape Colony was to escape British law and interference in their lives. In 1870 there was a conference at Buhrmansdrift. A TIME OF TWO BROTHERS The Barolong chiefs aided by missionary Ludorf met with a delegation from For long years the Barolong people lived without interference. They hunted the Transvaal Republic which included President Pretorius and Commandant game on the hard dry plains, they developed iron working skills and tended Kruger. There was no agreement between them. The dispute was referred to their herds of cattle. The Barolong grew in number, giving different tribes their Governor Keate from Natal. The boundary line he suggested was fair and own special names. One powerful clan was the Ratshidi who lived near the favourable to the Barolong, which explains why the Boers refused to accept it. rocks by the river. There were occasional fights between neighbouring tribes, But a measure of peace did return to Molema’s Town and Chief Montshioa but these were mostly a test of strength or a display of valour. Then the first decided to rejoin Molema. The two brothers met once again in November 1881 intruders arrived. They were Matabele from KwaZulu, far to the east, led by with great rejoicing, and the two parts of the Ratsbidi clan were joined. Mzilikazi, once a general under King Shaka. The Ratshidi were no match for Mzilikazi’s trained warriors and they fled to the plains near Thaba Nchu. The town already with a population of about 1000 grew even larger. Now the home of the paramount Barolong chief, it became known as Mahikeng, ‘the At about the same time pale-skinned, Dutch-speaking men came rumbling over place among the rocks’, because of the outcrops of grey boulders. Sheltered the veld in canvas-covered wagons. These Boer trekkers were looking for fresh among the trees beside the river, the little town had good views over the land and they were willing to fight for it. Their guns persuaded Mzilikazi to surrounding plain but plenty of protective cover. For this reason it was a good move further north and the Ratshidi returned to their original homes. When defensive position – as Montshioa had found when the Boers attacked. Sol their great chief Tawana died, he was succeeded by his eldest son Montshioa Plaatje noted this defensive advantage in his diary during the siege of (pronounced ‘Monsuwa’). But the Boer leaders also wanted those lands and 1899. claimed ‘compensation’ for driving out the Matabele. To them, this meant land or cattle or both. That first tribal town of Mahikeng had the layout of a typical iron age settlement. The buildings are still arranged in semi-circles (each of 10- 15 homes) round the central Kgotla, which was the chief’s living area Deciding that the Boers were raiding their villages and cattle kraals too often, and the tribal meeting place. Those more closely related to the chief the Barolong took up arms under their new Chief Montshioa and fought back. lived nearer to him. At first Mahikeng had traditional circular thatched But the firepower of the Boers was too strong. Many of huts, but when the thatched roofs were replaced with corrugated iron, the Ratshidi were forced to leave. Led by Montshioa, they the Barolong started building houses in rectangular shape, copying went north into what is now called Botswana. The year European style. was 1852. Montshioa’s brother, Molema, stayed behind and built the beginnings of a town on the north bank of THE FIRST SIEGE OF MAFIKENG the Molopo River. Starting with about twelve families, it became known as Molema’s Town. The Boers who had moved west from the Transvaal were well aware of the return of Montshioa, but they were busy setting up a new land of their own. Not all the pale-skinned foreigners brought war with They named it Goshen, as it seemed a desert-like place, perhaps similar to the them. Some brought peace and news of a new religion valley of Goshen where Moses and the Israelites had lived in Egypt. The Boers called Christianity. Molema had become a Christian while from the new Republic of Goshen made frequent attacks into Barolong land, even shelling Mahikeng with a small naval gun. This was, in its way, the first detachment of Royal Engineers. Barolong soldiers made the bricks and helped siege of the town. The local people named the rocky outcrop the Boers fired the Engineers to build a new church to replace the missionary chapel which from ‘Cannon Kopje’ and it has been called that ever since. Montshioa was had been destroyed during the fighting. increasingly forced to hand over more land and cattle to the Boers. In 1882, the forces from Goshen forced him to surrender to what they called Boer Warren’s military camp was set up in the ‘Imperial Reserve’ east of the tribal ‘protection’. Montshioa refused to sign their demands to hand over all town. A peacekeeping force, the Bechuanaland Border Police, was established Barolong land, so his signature was forged by the Goshenites who then took on the Imperial Reserve. One and a half kilometres further east was laid out the the land anyway. British colonial town of Mafeking – this anglicised name being adopted to distinguish it from the African town of Mahikeng. Montshioa would have On 31 July 1884 this conflict turned into open baffle, south of the town. The preferred the town to have been built at Rooigrond, the capital of the recent spark which set fire to the constant conflict was the theft by Boers from Goshen Republic. He did not want a British colonial town too close to his Goshen of about 3000 head of cattle from the Barolong and Bangwaketse cattle tribal town because he considered the moral standards of the British soldier posts. It remains the greatest baffle ever fought at Mafikeng, in terms of the were much lower than those of the Ratshidi. number of casualties. The name given to the baffle, ‘Tigele’, means ‘collapse’. Over 200 died in this bloody encounter – 112 Barolong, together with 67 allied The British spelt the name of the town ‘Mafeking’. Today it is known as Bangwaketse, 50 Boer Goshenites and two Englishmen. One of these was Mafikeng. To save complications, the modern spelling will be used from Christopher Bethel, who lived in Mahikeng. here on. Mr Bethell, a nephew of Sir Charles Warren, a British army officer in the In the musical The King and I, the king of Siam ponders on politics: Cape, was regarded by his relations as ‘the black sheep of the family’. Having left Cambridge university in a hurry because of the gambling debts he had “Shall I join with other nations in alliance? accumulated, he was hurried off to ‘darkest Africa’ where a post was invented If allies are weak, am I not best alone? for him as liaison officer to Chief Montshioa. In the pay of the British If allies are strong with power to protect me, government, Christopher Bethell enjoyed himself thoroughly. He married into Might they not ‘protect’ me out of all I own?” the Barolong tribe and was glad to fight on their side in the Baffle of Tigele to defend his home and wife. During the fighting he was caught by one of the It was much like that for the people of Mahikeng and Mafikeng. Their time of Goshenites who had heard how Bethell had ‘gone native’, and to demonstrate protection and peace did not last long.