Boer rebellion begins

On 15 September 1914 a crisis began in the Union of South Africa that grew into an armed revolt by part of the Boers against their own government. That day General Christiaan Beyers, commander of the Union’s armed forces, resigned in protest against the planned war with Germany. In the evening General Koos de la Rey, one of the most respected heroes of the Boer War, was shot dead by the police. The rebellion, known after one of its leaders as the Maritz Rebellion, broke out openly a few weeks later.

A war they did not want

The Union of South Africa was a British dominion, created in 1910, only eight years after the end of the Second Boer War. The government was led by former Boer generals, Prime Minister Louis Botha and Minister of Defence Jan Smuts, who had staked everything on reconciliation with the British. When war broke out, they agreed at London’s request to occupy neighbouring German South West Africa. The news that German troops had crossed the border at Nakob helped to win over public opinion. At an extraordinary session in September parliament backed the government by a large majority.

Many Afrikaners, however, thought otherwise. They remembered the concentration camps and burnt farms of a dozen or so years before. They did not want to fight for the British Empire, still less to attack the Germans, who had shown them sympathy during the Boer War. Some dreamed of using the war to restore the independent Boer republics.

Beyers’s resignation and De la Rey’s death

Beyers, who held the post of Commandant-General of the Union Defence Force, resigned on 15 September. In a published letter he explained that war with Germany was contrary to the interests of the Boer nation. At the same time General Jan Kemp, commander of the military camp at Potchefstroom, left the army.

In the evening Beyers picked up General De la Rey by car from Johannesburg. Both were travelling to Potchefstroom. That night the police were searching the area for the so-called Foster gang, a group of bandits wanted for robberies and murders. Roadblocks had been set up. The generals’ car did not stop when challenged. Near Langlaagte a policeman opened fire, and a bullet struck De la Rey in the back. The general was killed on the spot.

The death of one of the most popular Boer leaders shook the country. Many Afrikaners did not believe it was an accident and concluded that the government had had him murdered. A prophecy by the folk seer Siener van Rensburg also gained notoriety: shortly before, he was said to have seen a black cloud bearing the number 15 and De la Rey returning home without his hat. To this day it is not known what plans the two generals had that evening. The government suspected that they intended to incite the soldiers at Potchefstroom to mutiny; Beyers himself denied it.

The rebellion

Lieutenant Colonel Manie Maritz, commanding the troops on the border with the German colony in the north-western part of the Cape Province, made contact with the Germans. On 9 October he openly proclaimed a revolt and went over to their side. On 12 October the government declared martial law. At the end of the month Beyers and Kemp in the Transvaal and General Christiaan de Wet in the Orange Free State joined the rebellion. According to various estimates some 11,000–12,000 men sided with the rebels.

Botha personally led the government forces, numbering over 30,000 soldiers, most of them also Afrikaners. On 12 November he routed De Wet’s commandos at Mushroom Valley, and De Wet himself was captured on 1 December. Beyers drowned in the Vaal river at the beginning of December while fleeing his pursuers. Kemp crossed the Kalahari with a small detachment and joined Maritz on the border of the German colony. Their forces surrendered at the beginning of February 1915, and Maritz fled to the Germans and later to Angola.

Most of the leaders were sentenced to prison terms and fines, but they were released after only about two years. Only one rebel was executed, Captain Jopie Fourie, who had joined the revolt without resigning his commission in the Union army. He was shot on 20 December 1914. He became a martyr of Afrikaner nationalism.

Significance

The rebellion delayed the invasion of German South West Africa by several months. Once it had been put down, Botha led the Union forces north and in July 1915 forced the German colony to capitulate. The rift among the Afrikaners, however, endured for a long time. It strengthened the nationalist National Party of General Barry Hertzog, who became prime minister in 1924.