Hidden Histories of Gordonia

Martin Legassick

Description

The Gordonia region of the Northern Cape province has received relatively little attention from historians. In Hidden Histories of Gordonia: Land dispossession and resistance in the Northern Cape, 1800–1990, Martin Legassick explores aspects of the generally unknown ‘brown’ and ‘black’ history of the region. Emphasising the lives of ordinary people, his writing is also in part an exercise in ‘applied history’ – historical writing with a direct application to people’s lives in the present.

Tracing the indigenous history of Gordonia as well as the northward movement of Basters and whites from the western Cape through Bushmanland to the Orange River, the book presents accounts of family histories, episodes of indigenous resistance to colonisation, and studies of the ultimate imposition of racial segregation and land dispossession on the inhabitants of the region. A recurrent theme is the question of identity and how the extreme ethnic fluidity and social mixing apparent in earlier times crystallised in the colonial period into racial identities, until with final conquest came imposed racial classification.

Sujets

• HISTORY
• POLITICAL SCIENCE
• Histoire
• África
• General officer
• History of Africa
• General
• Africa

Informations

• Publié par: WITS University Press
• Date de parution: 01 avril 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781868149551
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

HIDDEN HISTORIES OF GORDONIA

HIDDEN HISTORIES OF GORDONIA
Land Dispossession and Resistance in the Northern Cape, 1800-1990
Martin Legassick
Published in South Africa by:
Wits University Press
1 Jan Smuts Avenue
Johannesburg, 2001
www.witspress.co.za
Copyright © Martin Legassick 2016
Published edition © Wits University Press 2016
Illustrations © Individual copyright holders 2016
Cover image © Anthony van Tonder/Africa Media Online
First published 2016
978-1-86814-954-4 (print)
978-1-86814-955-1 (EPUB (North & South America and China)
978-1-86814-956-8 EPUB (Rest of the World)
978-1-86814-957-5 (PDF)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher, except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act, Act 98 of 1978.
All images remain the property of the copyright holders. The publishers gratefully acknowledge the publishers, institutions and individuals referenced for the use of images. Every effort has been made to locate the original copyright holders of the images reproduced here; please contact Wits University Press at the above address in case of any omissions or errors.
Project managed by Karen Press
Edited by Karen Press
Proofread by Inga Norenius
Index by Clifford Perusset
Cover design by Hybrid Creative, South Africa
Book design and layout by Hybrid Creative, South Africa
Printed and bound by Creda Communications
Dedicated to the memory of the late Aubrey Beukes, who gave invaluable assistance at the start of this work, to Alfred Gubula, for his encouragement, and to my partner Margie Struthers for consistent support and assistance.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Acronyms and abbreviations
Illustrations
Preface
Chapter 1
The prehistory of Gordonia
Chapter 2
The Baster settlement of Gordonia and its decline
Chapter 3
The will of Abraham and Elizabeth September: a struggle forland in Gordonia, 1898–2014
Chapter4
From prisoners to exhibits: representations of Bushmen of the northern Cape, 1880–1900
Chapter 5
South African human remains and the politics of repatriation: reconsidering the legacy of Rudolf Pöch
Chapter 6
The early history of the brown Afrikaners in Riemvasmaak
Chapter 7
The battle of Naroegas
Chapter 8
The Marengo rebellion and Riemvasmaak, 1903–1907
Chapter 9
The racial division of Gordonia, 1921–1930
Chapter 10
Keidebees and Blikkies locations, Upington, 1894–1974
Chapter 11
‘All my powers have been swallowed by Upington’: the life andtimes of Alfred Gubula
References
Index
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Parts of chapter 2 were first published in M. Legassick, ‘The will of Abraham and Elizabeth September: the struggle for land in Gordonia, 1898–1995’, Journal of African History , 37, 3, 1996, pp. 371–418.
An earlier version of chapter 3 was published as M. Legassick, ‘The will of Abraham and Elizabeth September: the struggle for land in Gordonia, 1898–1995’, Journal of African History , 37, 3, 1996, pp. 371–418.
Chapter 4 was first published in A. Coombes (ed.), Rethinking settler colonialism: history and memory in Australia, Canada, Aotearoa New Zealand and South Africa (Manchester University Press, 2006).
Chapter 5 is a revised and updated version of M. Legassick and C. Rassool, ‘South African human remains, Viennese museums, and the politics of repatriation: reconsidering the legacy of Rudolf Pöch’, published in German as M. Legassick and C. Rassool, ‘Gestörte Totenruhe: Dr. Pöchs Umtriebe in Südafrika und Österreichs moralische Verpflichtung zur Repatriierung’, Indaba: Das SADOCC-Magazin für das Südliche Afrika, 58, 2008, pp. 20–3.
Chapter 7 was first published as M. Legassick, ‘The battle of Naroegas: context, historiography, sources and significance’, Kronos , 21, 1994, pp. 32–60.
Chapter 9 was first published as M. Legassick, ‘The racial division of Gordonia, 1921–1930’, Kronos , 25, 1998/99, pp.152–86.
ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ANB African National Bond ANC African National Congress APO African People’s Organisation ARM assistant regional magistrate BAAB Bantu Affairs Administration Board CA Western Cape Archives and Records Service CMP Cape Mounted Police CMR Cape Mounted Rifles CNC Chief Native Commissioner CPP Cape Parliamentary Papers CT Cape Town DRC Dutch Reformed Church GSWA German South West Africa HAD House of Assembly Debates KWT Kingwilliamstown LMS London Missionary Society MP Member of parliament NAC Native Affairs Commission NAD Native Affairs Department NGK Nederduits Gereformeerde Sending Kerk Archive, Cape Town NCO Non-commissioned officer OFS Orange Free State PA State Archives, Pretoria PAC Pan Africanist Congress of Azania PMO Prime Minister’s Office PPC Paballelo Parents Committee RM Regional magistrate SA South Africa SADF South African Defence Force SAP South African Party SARG Sekretaris, Adviserende Raad vir Grondbesit SB Security Branch (of the South African Police) SGK Stadsgebied Komittee SMI Secretary for Mines and Industry SNA Secretary for Native Affairs SPP Surplus People Project TC Town clerk UCT University of Cape Town UDF United Democratic Front ULG Upington Letters to Government Unisa University of South Africa UTCM Upington Town Council Minutes UWC University of the Western Cape VMB Village Management Board
ILUSTRATIONS Title page Map of Cape Colony, 1901. Compiled under the Superintendence of Captain P.M. Du P. Casgrain R.E. Housed at the University of Cape Town Libraries. Frontispiece New and revised map of South Africa, containing Cape Colony, Griqualand, Kaffraria, Basutoland, Zululand, Natal, Transvaal State, Orange Free State, Damara Land, Betshuana Land, and other territories 1882. Compiled by T.B. Johnston, F.R.G.S., F.R.S.E. &c., Geographer to the Queen. Housed at the University of Cape Town Libraries. Figure 1.1 The Cape Colony with 1798, 1824 and 1848 boundaries. Redrawn from D. Findlay, ‘The San of the Cape Thirstland and L. Anthing’s “Special Mission”’, 1977. Figure 1.2 Dirk Vilander. Painting by Cobus Bosch based on an illustration in G. Farini, Through the Kalahari Desert: a narrative of a journey with gun, camera and note-book to Lake N’Gami and back, [1886] 1973. Figure 2.1 Land title issued by Committee of Management, 1886. Western Cape Archives and Records Service, CA SGBB31. Figure 2.2 Land occupations in Gordonia in 1889, 1910 and 1920. Compiled and drawn by E.A. Mcpherson, Department of Geography, University of the Western Cape, 1996. Figure 3.1 Abraham September’s furrow along the Orange River. Section of ‘A map of the surveyed portion of British Bechuanaland. Compiled in the Surveyor General’s Office, Vryburg, 1894’. Western Cape Archives and Records Service, CA M52 British Bechuanaland, 1894. Figure 3.2 Abraham and Elizabeth September. Photograph courtesy of the Abraham Holbors September Foundation. Figure 3.3 Partial family tree of the September family. Compiled by the author. Figure 3.4 W.R.B. Thorne (‘Doring’). Photograph courtesy of the Abraham Holbors September Foundation. Figure 3.5 Erf 38, Upington, as it is today. Photographer, Martin Legassick. Figure 3.6 The Abraham September Waterworks, serving the Abraham September Canal. Photographer, Martin Legassick. Figure 5.1 President Zuma reburies the remains of Klaas and Trooi Pienaar in Kuruman in 2012, in the presence of relatives of the Pienaars. Photographer, Martin Legassick. Figure 8.1 Jacob Marengo with fellow fighters. Namibia National Archives. Figure 9.1 Map showing the game reserve in relation to Mier and Upington. Western Cape Archives and Records Service, CA PAS3/256 C35/1 1922–1929. Figure 10.1 The growth of Upington. Redrawn from A. Nieuwoudt, ‘’n Stedelik-geografiese studie van Upington’, 1970. Figure 10.2 Group area demarcations in Upington, circa 1962 and 1965. Western Cape Archives and Records Service, CA 3/UPT 163 G15/2, CA 3/UPT 59 C/14/3. Figure 10.3 Locations in Upington: Keidebees, Extension 8 (‘ baksteen ’), Extension 12, Blikkiesdorp, Rainbow, Morning Glory, Rosedale, Paballelo. Redrawn from A. Nieuwoudt, ‘’n Stedelik-geografiese studie van Upington’, 1970. Figure 10.4 Keidebees location families removed annually, 1960–8. Compiled by the author.

PREFACE
T his book is a series of essays on the 19th- and 20th-century history of what was at the time called Gordonia (now essentially the Z.W. Mgcawu district of the Northern Cape Province, together with parts of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park). The region surrounding Gordonia – the northern part of this province – though a large land area, is marginal in South Africa. Some reports on this region estimate it as containing only 2.2 per cent of South Africa’s population in 2014, and the lowest growth rate in the country of 2.2 per cent in 2011. 1
Gordonia is a part of central Transorangia, which may be defined as ‘the region to the north of the middle Orange River mainly comprising Griqualand West and what was once called British Bechuanaland’. Gordonia proper lies north of the Orange, between Groblershoop and the Aughrabies Falls. To its west is Namaqualand – ‘the mountainous and rugged granite terrain along the escarpment south of the lower Orange… [comprising] Little Namaqualand; the area extending from the Orange River to Rehoboth in the north and from the great escarpment to the Kalahari sands… [comprising] Great Namaqualand’. 2 To the south of Gordonia is Bushmanland, which lies to the east of Little Namaqualand and shades away to the west into the Great Karoo. The Orange River cuts its way between the arid semi-desert of Gordonia to the north and Bushmanland to the south. The river valley is an elongated fertile oasis, the only historical source of permanent water and excellent grazing pasture, with rainfall progressively lessening to the river’s mouth. Between Upington and the Aughrabies Falls the valley w