POST BOER WAR HISTORY of TWO FARMING FAMILIES IN AFRICA:
1. Matthy’s grandfather (De Kock) in South Africa and his father in Southern Rhodesia/Zimbabwe.
2. Lorraine’s grandfather (Rossouw) and her father both In South Africa.
October 11, 1899, to May 31, 1902, The Boer War between Great Britain and the two Boer (Afrikaner) Republics.
The South African Republic (Transvaal) and the Republic of the Orange Free State were two independent countries which was born out of a desire to be free of Britsh domination. The two independant republicks were recognised by the British and by the Black Africans who were living further east and to the north.
Many of the Dutch/Afrikaans speaking white Africans left the British colonies (Cape and Natal`) and settled in the two independanet Boer Republics.
Both our families, De Kock & Rossouw) chose to remain in the Cape while many other Afrikaans speaking White Africans went North to settle in the two Boer Republics. My grandparents and their six sons and one daughter lived on their farm in Malmesbury and Lorraine’s family first lived in Wellington and later De Doorns.
There was peace between the citizens of the two British colonies and the two Boer Republics until the gold was discovered in the Boer Republics. The discovery of the gold mines in the two Boer Republics was eventually the cause of the Boer War. My grandfather was one of the Cape farmers who decided to help the boers in the Republic of the Orange Free State and the SA Republic or Transvaal. He was captured and imprisoned in the Boer War Concentration Camps which were scattered all over the world. Concentration camps as far as Bermuda were used to prevent the Boers from re-grouping. Because my grandfather was considered to be a ‘Cape Rebel’ the family’s movable assets on his farm in the Western Cape was confiscated. Because of financial pressure and his early death the family was forced to sell the farm!
My grandfather (De Kock) & Lorraine’s grandfather (Rossouw) both died after the Boer War. Both our fathers were only six years old when they lost their fathers. Both of our fathers and their families thus started life from a low education and economic base.
My father, the youngest of 7 children, was 20 and 19 years younger than his two eldest brothers. His brothers borrowed money (gold backed money as it used to be before 1971 when Nixon broke the Bretton Woods Agreement) from my grandmother and bought virgin Crown Land from the British Government in Manicaland Province (East) of Southern Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. In return the two brothers gave grandmother an undertaking that they would take care of their mother for the rest of her life and that they would also finance the education of her other five younger children.
Labourers, with their families and belongings, were solicited and collected with tractors and trailors from Zimbwabwe. Mozambique & Nyasaland (Malawi).
The other five younger family members successfuly completed school. After school my father, the youngest child, then went to work in a bank during the day and attended university economy classes in the evenings. After my father graduated with his Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Economics he was offered a scholarship to study at Heidelberg University, Germany. The day before the outbreak of World War Two he was warned by a German friend to flee from Germany and return to South Africa. Back safely in the Cape of Good Hope he completed his Doctorate in Economics at Stellenbosch University. To pay off his study loans he went to work for one of his four older brothers who were farming in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. The fifth brother who was head of the Tobacco Corporation in South Africa and served on the Advisory Board of South African Prime Minister tragically died while attempting to save his two sons when they got into trouble when crossing a river in flood. Fortunately he managed to get his two sons out of the car in time.
While farming for his brothers my father decided to buy his own virgin farm (undeveloped) before returning to banking.
He pitched his tent on the farm and started clearing the fields to grow crops with labour he hired and collected from Nyasaland (Malawi) and Mozambique.
He built a small flat (living room, kitchen and one bedroom and bathroom) attached to store rooms. It was my first home before my father built a larger house.
My father however never returned to banking, as did some of our other family members, (Two of my family became Governors of the Reserve Bank of South Africa.)
He continued expanding his farming business. He built barns and houses for his workers and their families. The larger family house on the farm comfortably accommodated a total of 5 children! He later acquired more farms and also built a 12 storey retail and office building in Salisbury/Harare Central which he rented out to mainly foreign companies. With the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) he lost most of his tennants and eventually was forced to sell the building at a loss.
Lorraine’s father did not have the opportunity to study. He left school at the age of 13 and started growing vegetables to sell locally. Then he started buying fruit from other local farmers to sell in Africa and internationally. With his profits he bought a small farm with mainly ‘unfertile stoney’ land from his father-in-law in the Hex River Valley. His main purpose for the small holding was to serve as a home and a pack house from which he could export the fruit to Africa, England and Europe. In Europ[e he saw vineyards growing on hilly stoney land similar to what had on his small farm! His rew endeavour served as the beginning of the Export Grape Farming Industry in the Hex River Valley! Lorraine’s two brothers and their families are still exporting grapes to the UK, Europe and China.
Please take note that both our families paid for the land they purchased. They were also issued with title deeds registered by the lawful British Colonial Government at the time.
Both our families lived worked and played in Southern Africa at a time when unprecedented wealth and job creation and infrastructure development was taking place. At first under British management and oversight. Then later mainly under White African management and oversight.
God-fearing Good Governance was the order of the day! Roads, houses, schools, clinics and hospitals were built for all Africans (Black, White & Brown)
Our families, like many other families, lived lives which honoured and appreciated the Tri-une God, the Sabbath Day, the elderly and our parents!.
Respecting and living within the Biblical boundaries and according to God’s Biblical laws for the families, the different communities and the country was a given reality!
Six days of work well done and the opportunity to learn and to create wealth and jobs was a privilege.
One Sabbath Day to attend church and then to stay at home with the family, celelbrate a good Sunday lunch, afternoon sleep and read the Bible, Christian magazines and good books. No shopping, swimming or sport!
Cleanliness and Law & Order (Boundaries, Rules & Goals) for everything in the homes, schools, communities was a given.
Consequences for ignoring the Boundaries, Rules & Goals in the home, school, workplace, community and country were excecuted swiftly and even publically!
THE SUBSEQUENT RESULTS & THE CONSEQUENCES of hard and good work well done:
Tents and huts became houses for all.
Candle light became electricity lights. Kimberely was the first city in the world with electric street lights.
Bush communication became party line phones (many subscribers on one line), direct phone lines and then cell phones.
Dirt roads went through the phases of strip tarred roads, single fully tarred roads, double tarred roads and then to double highways.
No schooling became home schooling, church schooling and then community schools, colleges and universities for all BBW Africans
Clinics became hospitals and medical training centres available for all BBW Africans !
No transport, became bicycles, trains, busses, taxis and eventually airoplanes for all BBW Africans.
I, Matthys, am a living witness to the above.
LET US FACE THE FACTS:
Today in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Africa after independance, ‘one unqualified) man one vote’, most of the BBW Africans (Black, Brown, White) are confronted with:
1. Poor local and national governance, poor schooling, poor policing and below standard medical care.
2. No jobs, poverty, crime, corruption, rubbish on the pavements and streets, pot holes, electricity cuts, poor leadership,
3. The electricity power supplies, national airlines and local and national governent which used to be excellent and financially viable have been ‘crashed’!
4. It is very evident for all to see that the present leaders (Black White Brown) who were entrusted with the power to govern the various organisations e.g. Escom, South African Ariways, Education and also Government (Local, Provincial and National) has been very disappointing.
1. Law and Order has become Lawlessness!
2. Rape, crime, corruption, murder etc has become a daily occurrence!
3. Honouring God’s Word and Sabbath Day has become Satan’s Day of sport, drinking, raping and child abuse!
4. Good Standards of policing, education, municipal services and medical care for the poor BBW Africans has dropped significantly in most communties.
5. The Level of Income (salaries and perks) and living standards for a small elite of BBW African leaders in politics, business, the judiciary, civil service, etc has skyrocketed to disgraceful levels of greed!
6. Inflation, which is legalised theft, has undermined the buying power of the poorer people!
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
What makes matters worse is that all BBW Africans (Black, Brown, White) are living on the most geologically stable continent in the world and also the richest continent on planet earth! No continent can compete with the potential Africa has to create wealth and jobs for all it’s peoples!.
There is therefore NO excuse or reason why any BBW Africans should continue to endure the trials and tribulations we are facing in Africa today!
All BBW Africans are all suffering because of a:
1. Lack of God’s Biblical Knowledge, God’s H.O.P.E Vision and God’s H.O.P.E 5 Point Plan of Action (‘game plan’)
2. Lack of Holy Spiirt empowered implementation of God’s H.O.P.E 5 Point Plan of Action (‘game plan’) wich is required to score God’s H.O.P.E GOALS = Personal Happines & Health, Marriage Harmony, Family Unity, Financial Freedom, Work Fulfilment & Community Peace and Prosperity!
3. Lack of knowledge of the best Political and Financial Governance ‘Recipe’ on Planet Earth for more than 500 years!
May God have mercy and bless you the reader, all BBW families in Africa & all their BBW friends from across the world.
World citizens are kindly invited to visit and enjoy the friendly and helpful BBW Africans people. Come and enjoy their lovely hospitality properties, good food & wines, beaches, mountains, wide open spaces and especially the big variety of wild game in Southern Africa and the rest of Africa!
We encourage all nations to please pray for and support Africans and all World citizens to implement God’s H.O.P.E 5 Point Plan Action.
We are all living on a beautiful and amazing planet! A planet with unlimited potential to create wealth, jobs, good health and living standards. There is NO EXCUSE for unemployment, poverty, strikes, riots and violence in Africa or the rest of the World
IT IS TIME TO bring an end to all the suffering which all BBW Africans, Asians, Americans and Europeans (West & East) are experiencing because of a lack of:
1. LACK of Knowledge about God’s H.O.P.E Vision
2. LACK of Commitment and Determination to implement God’s H.O.P.E 5 Point Plan of Action (God’s ‘game plan’) so that citizens can grasp the opportunities to score Heaven On Planet Earth (H.O.P.E) Goals!
Let us take hands together across all cultural, political and financial barriers to implement and celebrate Good Godly Governance (Justice, Joy & Peace) in our personal lives, marriages, families, finances, work and communities!
Let us be committed to develop and promote CREATOR GOD’S H.O.P.E
1. Voter Education & Qualification,
2. Triple “C” Qualified Candidates and Leaders in the media, judiciary, police, army, banking, politics and economics.
Leaders who have the Character,, Comprehension & Capablity to serve all our BBW Citizens
3. Just Money (Gold, Silver & Copper backed currencies) & a Just Renumeration Scale for work well done!
May Father God have mercy on us and bless all BBW Africans
Matthys, Lorraine and The H.O.P.E Team
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A large group of British settlers arrived in 1820; this, together with a high European birth rate and wasteful land usage, produced an acute land shortage, which was alleviated only when the British acquired more land through massive military intervention against Africans on the eastern frontier. Until the 1840s the British vision of the colony did not include African citizens (referred to pejoratively by the British as “Kaffirs”), so, as Africans lost their land, they were expelled across the Great Fish River, the unilaterally proclaimed eastern border of the colony.