African Journals Online
Historia

Volume 45, Issue 1, May 2000
Abstracts

In memoriam : Arthur Maidens Davey, Frank Bradlow en Willem Stals
Kapp, P.H.Grobler, J.E.H. 5-9

Abstract: Pays tribute to three great historians who passed away recently: Professor Arthur Maidens Davey, professor in history at the University of Cape Town who died at the age of seventy-eight; Dr Frank Rosslyn Bradlow who died at the age of eighty-seven; and, Professor Willem Adriaan Stals from the University of Pretoria

Die gedaante van die historiese feit op film : 'n sintese tussen waarheid en verdigsel
Van Nierop, L. 11-23

Abstract: The film making industry has always had a passion for glitter. Consequently it would seldom let truth stand in the way of a good story. In the article there is an explanation of how history has been coloured in by the film industry. A variety of themes, ranging from South African films, films dealing with South Africa, war, peace, historical figures, politics and social trends are discussed. By means of references to films, from the beginning of the twentieth century up to the present, there are indications that a wealth of historical information is hidden in the medium of film. The conclusion is made that nowadays there are attempts at recording history before it even happened. By recording the event of historical significance the film makers in fact buy the rights to that story. The question however persists: How much is true and how much is false?

Die neo-Kantiaanse historiese kennisleer van de Badenskool : Heinrich Rickert
Beyers, J.M. 25-45

Abstract: This article deals with the epistemology of Heinrich Rickert. Rickert's aim, to establish history as a science free from positivism, led to an elaboration of the ideas of Windelband and Lask. Hence Rickert formulated a theory of concept formation emphasising the unique characteristics of historical phenomena. For Rickert the main problem of historical knowledge is the distinction between significant and insignificant phenomena. In his attempt to solve this problem, Rickert invented “value relevance” as criterion for selecting significant objects from empirical reality. However, Rickert's claim that the objectivity of history is dependent on the distinction between value relevance and value-judgements is not convincing.

African reaction to white penetration : the central districts of the Transvaal in the 1870's
Bergh, J.S. 47-55

Abstract: Although there has traditionally been more accent on violence and war between black and white in South African historiography, relations in the central districts of the South African Republic (ZAR) were dynamic in their own right. In the article an analysis is made of race relations issues, particularly relative to land and labour. Documents of a little known commission of 1871 were consulted extensively for information. An outstanding feature of the dynamics of the situation was that the blacks responded in an innovative manner on the pressures that were applied on them.

African reaction to white penetration : the Hananwa of Blouberg, ca. 1886-1894
Kriel, L. 57-69

Abstract: This article focuses on the interaction between an African community of the northern Soutpansberg District and the officials of the Transvaal Government during the last decade of the nineteenth century. The reaction of the Hananwa of Blouberg to the Pretoria Government's measures to turn them into Boer subjects through the appropriation of their land, labour and taxes, is considered and compared with the reaction of the Africans in the central parts of the Transvaal almost a decade and a half earlier. Unlike the situation in the more densely (white) populated central parts of the Transvaal, white demands for African land and labour were not among the primary causes of conflict between the Boers and the Hananwa. Their reluctance to pay taxes and the activities of the local Native Commissioner, ultimately led to the Boer-Hananwa War of 1894.

The Bakwena ba Mogopa : victims of a forced removal, 1982-1984
Oosthuizen, G.J.J.Moloke, B.K.M. 71-86

Abstract: One of the major aspects of the South African government's policy of separate development was the forced removal of the Blacks. One of the communities forcibly removed was the Bakwena ba Mogopa from Mogopa to Pachsdraai in 1983-1984. A perception was created by the goverment that the Bakwena moved voluntary. The main objective of this article is thus to shed more light on the forced removal of this group and to confirm the hypothesis that their removal was not voluntary. This article deals with the origin and settlement patterns of the Bakwena ba Mogopa, the reasons for the forced removal, the execution of the removal process, attempts made by the Bakwena to resist and some consequences of the removals.

On Laburn's 'mystery' query : a prehistory of the Vaal River as water source of the Witwatersrand (1887-99)
Tempelhoff, J.W.N. 88-117

Abstract: The discovery of gold and subsequent development of Johannesburg and the Witwatersrand as from 1886 gave rise to a signficant growth in the demand for water. In a 1979 publication, R. Laburn explained that it was a `mystery' why the Vaal River was not already put to use in the nineteenth century to provide water to one of the largest industrial conurbations in Southern Africa. In the study an attempt is made at providing some answers. It appears as if practical and political considerations prevented the Vaal River - which in the twentieth century became the major supplier of water to the Witwatersrand - from being used. It was an expensive venture. There were however also a number of political factors which undermined the plans which had been made from as early as 1889.

Apartheid urban development and transitional restructuring in Pietersburg and environs
Donaldson, R.Van der Merwe, I.J. 118-134

Abstract: Effects of urban development on former homelands need to be addressed after the period of urban transition. The article focuses on the evolution of a dispersed city settlement around Pietersburg. Three aspects are covered. Firstly, an outline is given of the apartheid legacy of developing a dispersed settlement system surrounding Pietersburg. Secondly, the post-apartheid local government restructuring of Pietersburg is described. Thirdly, the above historical findings are debated in the context of `restructuring' Pietersburg after the transition to a new dispensation.

The South African Air Force and the Warsaw airlift of 1944
Moller, P. 135-148

Abstract: The South African Air Force (SAAF) played an important role in the Second World War and operated on many fronts. In the article detailed attention is given to the role played by the SAAF in the Warsaw Airlift - an operation with the objective of dropping supplies from the air to the Polish partisans in Warsaw, the capital of Poland. Statistical data is used to compare and evaluate the contribution of the SAAF in relation to that of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Polish Special Duties Flight 1586, as well as to the single mission by the Americans. Both political and military aspects of the Warsaw airlift are taken into account in the process of drawing certain conclusions. This operation was a major Allied contribution to Polish civilian opposition to German aggression during the war.

'Reform from within' : Schalk Pienaar, the Afrikaans press and apartheid
Mouton, E.A. 149-175

Abstract: Schalk Pienaar, editor of the Sunday newspaper Die Beeld (1965-1970) and Beeld (1974), was a loyal, but critical member of the National Party. He believed that the survival of Afrikanerdom could only be ensured if it was based on justice for all South Africans and urged introspection about the morality of apartheid. His journalism encouraged reforms to the apartheid system, and did much to expose hypocrisy and deceit in the Afrikaner establishment. Apart from playing a leading role in making the Afrikaans press more independent and critical of the National Party, he also paved the way for the reforms of P.W. Botha and F.W. de Klerk.

Die Anglo-Boereoorlog as stimulus vir die stigting van Afrikaanse plattelandse trustmaatskappye en eksekuteurskamers
Ehlers, A.E. 177-197

Abstract: The gradual development of a common ethnic awareness among Afrikaans speakers after 1870 was accelerated by the Anglo-Boer War, and divided the inhabitants of the Cape Colony into loyalists and republican supporters. The heightened ethnic consciousness among pro-republican Afrikaans speakers manifested itself in the Cape Colony in a growing awareness, promotion and formulation of their interests on an ethnic basis. In the economic sphere Afrikaans speakers with republican sympathies withdrew their support from businesses which sympathized with the British war effort. The withdrawal of support from the loyalist controlled businesses underlined the lack of Afrikaner controlled alternatives. Against this background, and as a further manifestation of the Afrikaners' aspiration towards greater self-reliance in all business areas, initiatives were launched in 1900 in the Western Cape to further Afrikaner involvement in the field of trusts through the establishment of trust companies and boards of executors with a predominantly Afrikaans character and dedicated to the service of the Afrikaans community. Paarl African Trust Company Limited (PAT) and African Mutual Trust and Assurance Company Limited (AMT) materialized from these efforts.

'African Gandhi' : the South African war and the limits of imperial identity
Vahed, G. 201-219

Abstract: The South African War forced M. Gandhi to reassess his political strategy and loyalty to Empire. During the 1890's Indians were subject to a battery of racist legislation in Southern Africa. When the Boer republics declared war on Britain, Gandhi saw this as a perfect opportunity to prove Indian loyalty to the Empire. Although elite Indians offered their services without pay, the Government accepted their help with great reluctance. The blatantly racist attitude of the Natal Government before and during the war, and the British policy of allowing whites to subjugate Indians politically and economically during the post-war period, made Gandhi understand the second-class status of the colonised. In response he developed his technique of satyagraha and lost faith in an empire embracing both coloniser and colonised.

The Scandinavian Corps in the Second Anglo-Boer War
Hale, F. 220-236

Abstract: The short-lived Scandinavian Corps, like so much else in the annals of the Second Anglo-Boer, was unquestionably of little military significance, yet it nevertheless merits scholarly attention as an expression of minorities within certain European immigrant groups who felt strongly enough about the republican cause to risk, and iv.in many cases, lose, their lives for it. In terms of their varied and inconsistent attitudes towards the Boers and British alike, as well as their accounts of their lives as combatants and prisoners, the Nordic pro-Boers left their mark on the ethnic and military history of the pluralistic society of which they chose to be a part. The Scandinavians in question entered the war from an oblique angle, and their saga is thus but one of the many perspectives which must be included in historians' ever-widening perception of that conflict.

Dirk Mudge : Reënmaker van die Namib, A. van Wyk ; The Russians and the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902, A. Davidson and I. Filatova ; A history of South Africa, Frank Welsh : boekresensies / book reviews
Oosthuizen, G.Gebhard, W.Tempelhoff, J. 239-250

Abstract: Reviews `Dirk Mudge : Reënmaker van die Namib' by At van Wyk : a biography which focuses on Mudge as a leader and the role he played in Namibia's constitutional freedom process,`The Russians and the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902' by Apollon Davidson And Irina Filatova, and `A history of South Africa' by Frank Welsh.