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The Will of Abraham and Elizabeth September: the Struggle for Land in Gordonia, 1898–1995

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

Martin Legassick
Martin Legassick
Affiliation:
University of the Western Cape
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Extract

This article is concerned with the loss of their land to the whites by the September family and their struggle to regain it. Abraham (‘Holbors’) September, an exslave, was a member of the Baster community of the Gordonia settlement (1880–89) where he was the first person to lead water from the Orange River to irrigate land. The article traces the estabishment of the Gordonia settlement and the granting of land in it, and its government as part of British Bechuanaland (1889–95) and the Cape Colony (1895–). It discusses the historiography of the loss of land by Basters to whites, testing explanations of land loss by subsequent historians against written records and oral tradition, with attention to the role of ‘land lawyers’. Abraham September died in 1898. The remainder of the article focuses on the September family as a case-study of land loss. It deals with the administration of his estate – in the course of which his land was ‘sold’ to whites – from the different points of view of the official record and of oral tradition. It then outlines correspondence in the archives from 1920 through to the 1960s protesting against this land alienation as a failure to implement the will of Abraham September and his wife Elizabeth. It concludes with some comments on sources. Is the official record or oral tradition a more accurate reflection of what happened to the land of the September family?

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 37 , Issue 3 , November 1996 , pp. 371 - 418
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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References

1 Cape Parliamentary Papers [henceforth CPP], G60–1888 Reports and Correspondence relating to affairs on the Northern Border of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, 7Google Scholar. I should like to express warm thanks to the Beukes and Strauss families for their hospitality and for indispensable assistance with interviews; and to Mike and Revinia Abrahams and Cecil Prinsloo for transcription of interviews; and Mr Elsworth Macpherson for drawing the maps.

2 Cape Times, 18 02 1956.Google Scholar

3 In 1913 a Canadian traveller wrote, after visiting the town: ‘The agricultural history of Gordonia may be said to date from the building of the Upington Irrigation Furrow by a Dutch missionary, the Reverend Mr Schroeder, with the aid of Bastards’. (Macdonald, W., The Conquest of the Desert [London, 1913], 59)Google Scholar. Theal describes the ‘wonderful change’ that took place in the area in the years following the defeat of the ‘untameable robber clans’ in 1879–80: ‘A missionary, the reverend Mr Schroeder, designed a plan of a canal to lead the water of the Orange out to irrigate a large tract of rich land on the northern side of the stream, and induced a number of the mixed-breeds from the nearest colonial districts to carry out the scheme under his supervision. The government supplied the necessary tools and powder for blasting, and the largest work of its kind in South Africa at that time was successfully completed.… A marvellous transformation then took place. The rich soil was cleared and planted, and very shortly Upington, as the place was named, was producing all that was needed for the comfortable maintenance of men and domestic animals … where neither shelter nor food other than flesh was to be had, within a quarter of a century became a busy hive of industry, where grain, and fruit, and vegetables were grown in abundance for the supply of the graziers and others to a great distance around’. History of South Africa, from 1872 to 1884, Vol. 2 (1919 ed.), 38.Google Scholar

Later ‘frontier’, local, and church histories have repeated and elaborated the theme. A version presently on sale in the Upington museum states: ‘On 15 Augustus 1883 Eerw. Christiaan Heinrich Willem Schroeder dug the first sod in the building of the Upington canal. This undertaking … was the start of a project which would become known as the Orange River project many years later. On 18 November 1966 Mr B. J. Vorster pushed the button which set the R500 million project in motion’. Cornelissen, A. K., Langs Groot Rivier (n.d., ?1980s), 19Google Scholar. See also [Malan, S.], Geskiedenis van Upington en Distrik Gordonia, (CA, Ts, Oorhandig aan Poskoets te Upington op Donderdag 28 Februaraie 1952), 3–4Google Scholar. The same is echoed in more general accounts. The Standard Encyclopaedia of South Africa (Pretoria, 1975)Google Scholar records that: ‘Upington owes its prosperity mainly to agriculture and the development of irrigation along the Orange River. Here, at Upington, Schroeder as missionary among families of mixed European and other blood designed the first irrigation canal of the lower Orange River, a scheme so successfully applied at Kakamas in later years’.

The story is also firmly entrenched in the iconography of the town. The Upington museum consists of three buildings, two of them Schroeder's original mission church and residence. Within the latter is a prominently displayed composite photograph of some 36 leading men in the town in 1910. At the centre-top of this is a (larger) photograph of Schroeder, inscribed ‘The Founder of Upington’.

4 CPP, G60 – 1888, 7.Google Scholar

5 Theal, , History, ii, 38.Google Scholar

6 Cape Archives [Henceforth CA] MOK, 1/1/27 DR 8950, Estate of Abraham September, he died on 5 July 1898, his age ‘unknown but supposed to be over 80’. On the nickname, see interviews with Gert September, 20 July 1993, 4 Apr. 1994, Upington. (All tapes and transcripts of interviews in possession of author.)

7 CA MOK 1/1/27 DR 8950. She died on 1 Apr. 1918 aged about 100 years.

8 The area in which they were living (if within the Cape Colony) formed part of the Beaufort (from 1818) or Worcester district (from 1824 to 1837, when the Clanwilliam magistracy was formed from part of the Worcester district). In 1847 the Cape boundary was extended to the Orange river, and in 1855 the magistracies of Calvinia, Fraserburg and Victoria West were founded. Carnarvon became a magistracy in 1874. The records of the Rhenish Missions at Schietfontein and Amandelboom – birth, marriage registers and so on – do not appear to have survived, though there are letters and reports from the missionaries at the society's headquarters in Germany and in the society's Berichte of which copies may be found in the Faculty of Theology Library, Stellenbosch. The name September does not appear in the Minutes of the Schietfontein Management Committee, 1862–1877 (NG Sending Kerk Archive, Cape Town, G8 1/1).

9 CA, NBC 3, Signed by Abraham September, ‘his mark’, with two witnesses, Drift, Olyvenhout's, 10 03 1880Google Scholar to J. H. Scott, Special Commissioner, Kenhardt.

10 For these wars, waged by ‘Oorlamized’ Kora, Xhosa, Griqua, San etc. against the Colony, see Strauss, Teresa, War along the Orange (Centre for African Studies, UCT, Communications No 1, 1979)Google Scholar; Ross, R., ‘The! Kora wars on the Orange river, 1830–1880’, J. Afr. His. XVI (1975).Google Scholar

11 The most comprehensive account of this mission is Steenkamp, J. A. J., ‘Die Christelike Sending langs die Benede-Orange, met besondere verwysing na die werk van die N. G. Kerk in Korannaland’Google Scholar (Theol, M., University of Stellenbosch, 1953)Google Scholar. Representatives of the Baster community petitioned Scott at Kenhardt in July 1879, and 150 Baster men met at Olyvenhout's Drift in September to choose a delegation (consisting of David Van Rooi, Albert Louw, Marthinus Jansen and Jakobus Kotzee) to speak to representatives of the N. G. Mission Church in Amandelboom in October. If the petition were signed by all the Basters north of the Orange river with Schroeder before 1878, it would indicate whether Abraham and Elizabeth September were there or not. The petition has not however been traced. See CA NGK collection, 85/2/164, Schroeder, to Scott, , 31 07 1879Google Scholar; Schroeder, to Neethling, , 31 07 1879Google Scholar; Zamenspreking, … Amandelboom, 11 10 1879.Google Scholar

12 Gordonia was formally a part of British Bechuanaland from its establishment on 30 Sept. 1885, but not administered as such until Apr. 1889. For further detail on the history of the settlement see Legassick, M., ‘The founding of Gordonia: the rise and fall of the Baster settlement’ (unpublished).Google Scholar

13 CPP A30 – 1880, Bright, to Scott, , 7 01 1880, 19–20.Google Scholar

14 ‘van geheel wit tot geheel zwart’: CA, NGK, S5/2/164, Schroder, C. H. W., Godsdiensverslag, 31 08 1886Google Scholar. Later he wrote of ‘different nationalities’: ‘Whites have Baster wives, White Basters, other coloured and kaffers’ (‘Welke nationaliteiten’ – ‘zeer verskillend, Blanken die Basterd vrouwen hebben, Blanke basterds, andere gekleurden en kaffers’): Godsdiensverslag, , 25 09 1894.Google Scholar

15 Proclamation 60 of 1889; Proclamation 106 of 1891; Proclamation 120 of 1891; Proclamation 123 of 1891, Ward, D. (ed.), British Bechuanaland Proclamations (Cape Town, 1893).Google Scholar

16 NG Sending Kerk, Upington, , Notule boek, 5 10 1883–1825 03 1921Google Scholar. This, and other records of the church quoted here, are now lodged with the NG Sending Kerk archives, Cape Town.

17 NG Sending Kerk Lidregister, Upington. This was consulted only up to 1890.

18 This Abraham September, son of Niklaas, is the father of Gert September, born in 1916, and interviewed by myself in Upington. The record next to his name in the baptismal register states ‘afgegee 5 July 1935. D. H. de Villiers’, indicating a transfer to another congregation.

19 NG Sending Kerk, Doopregister, (consulted only up to 12 1889).Google Scholar

20 NG Sending Kerk, Notule boek, 5 10 1883–1825 03 1921Google Scholar. For a partial genealogy of the September family, see Figure 1.

21 ‘Hy was ʼnn growwe, vreeslik growwe geslag … Hy was ʼn vreeslik kwaai man gewees … daar het hy met sy os sweep gesit, dan as my pa-hulle in die erwe werk … hulle moet inspan, gee hy so ʼnn klap hieruit dan sit hy daarvandaan heeldag op daai klip.… Die vier osse moet sleep, hulle moet werk.… My klein kêrel moet werk … en daar sal hy nou sit en as hy voel dis nou uitspan tyd dan waai hy nou vir ouma Betjie. Hy wil weet of die kos klaar is dat die volk kan kom. Dan sê ouma ‘ja’, nou dan sal hy opstaan en dan vat hy sy sweep, nou klap hy, dis nou vir twaalfuur. En as hulle weer inspan, dan loop die ou daar na die klip toe (die sweep lê daar) dan klap hy die sweep, ‘span in’. So was dit, daar, … net voor die kanaal … Hy was ʼnn kwaai ou gewees, maar hy was nooit onregverdig en onbillik gewees nie. Nee, hy net altyd iets eerlik gehad.

Huisdiens het my oupa gereeldelik smôrens, in die oggende, voor jy loop vuur brandmaak het en die kos maak. Daardie tyd is hierdie elektriese goed nie daar nie, dis mos hout … en as jy klaar kerk gehou het, dan kan jy loop en vuur maak, dan kan jy die melk kry’ (Interview with Gert September, 4 Apr. 1994, Upington.) Some of this may be mingled with his experiences of his father and grandfather.

22 CPP G60–1888, 7–8.Google Scholar

23 British Parliamentary Papers [Henceforth BPP], C5897, 52–3.

24 The census was taken on 5 Apr. 1891. The figures are from Public Record Office [PRO] C0417/61/16480, Newton, F. J. to Secretary Vryburg, 18 07 1891Google Scholar, enclosure 1 in Despatch 255E, 20 July 1891. My thanks to Sean Milton for this reference. See the reference to it in BPP, C6829, 1892, 17Google Scholar; C6857, 1894, 8, 24–34)Google Scholar. The figure is taken from Steenkamp, , ‘Die Christelike Sending’, 91–2Google Scholar and [Malan, S.], Geskiedenis van Upington, 5Google Scholar. See also CPP. G19 – 1905 (Cape census), xxiv which refers to the partial census in 1891 in British Bechuanaland, excluding the ‘native reserves’, which counted 5,211 ‘Whites’ and 67,525 ‘Coloured’.

25 CPP, G19–1905. In 1896 the population of Keimoes, second largest urban concentration, was estimated at 400, of whom 100 were white: CA 1/UPT 5/1/5 Scholtz, to Secretary, Law Department, 29 01 1896Google Scholar; Scholtz, to Colonial Secretary, 10 03 1896.Google Scholar

26 BPP, C5897, 26.

27 See CA 1/UPT 5/1/2, C. Bam to Secretary, Vryburg, , 21 04 1891Google Scholar, recommending 3 white and 1 Baster field cornet; 1/UPT 5/14, Ashburnham to Secretary, Vryburg, , 4 02 1895Google Scholar; 1/UPT 5/1/5, Scholtz to DC(?) Vryburg, , 19 09 1895Google Scholar; Scholtz, to Secretary, Law department, Cape Town, 28 11 1895Google Scholar; Scholtz, to Colonial Secretary, 15 01 1896Google Scholar; 1/UPT 5/2/2, Scholtz, to Colonial Secretary, 9 04 1897 (wholly white field-cornets).Google Scholar

28 CA 1/UPT 5/1/1, C. Bam to Secretary, Vryburg, , 19 09 1889Google Scholar; 1/UPT 5/1/4, Ashburnham, , ‘Return of Local Boards …’, 22 08 1894Google Scholar; ‘Report for 1894–5’, 17 04 1895Google Scholar; 1/UPT 5/3/1, Scholtz, , Notice, 7 07 1897.Google Scholar

29 CA 1/UPT 5/1/4, Ashburnham, , ‘Return of Local Boards …’, 22 08 1894Google Scholar; ‘Report for 1894–5’, 17 04 1895Google Scholar; 1/UPT 5/2/2, Scholtz, , Notice, 28 07 1897Google Scholar; Beer, Maria de, Keimoes en Omgering: ʼn kultuurhistorisse verkenning (Cape Town, 1992), 25–7, 92–3.Google Scholar

30 CA 1/UPT 5/1/2, Bam to Secretary, Vryburg, , 24 03 1894Google Scholar. See also Bam, , ‘Report on Gordonia’, 10 10 1891Google Scholar; BPP, C6829, 1892, 40–1Google Scholar; C6857, 1894, 52–3Google Scholar; C7629, 1895, 42Google Scholar; CA 1/UPT 5/1/4, Ashburnham, to Surveyor General, 16 08 1894Google Scholar; 1/UPT 5/1/5, Scholtz, to Superintendent General of Education, 10 01 1896, 24 01 1896Google Scholar; 1/UPT 5/2/1, Scholtz, to Secretary of Agriculture, 23 09 1896Google Scholar; 1/UPT 5/3/1, Scholtz, to Strauss, J., 23 02 1897Google Scholar; to Undersecretary for Agriculture, 12 Mar. 1897; to Strauss, , 26 04 1897Google Scholar; Schierhout, to Secretary, Public School Committee, 27 08 1897Google Scholar; [Malan, S.], Geskiedenis van Upington, 8Google Scholar. The school appears to have begun in 1897.

31 CA NGK, 85/2/164, Schroeder, to BZC, 24 03 1893.Google Scholar

32 The Upington canal had been extended further westward in 1894.

33 An earlier canal (known as the A-canal) had been built by Basters at Keimoes in 1882–3; see CA 1/UPT 5/1/3. Bam to Surveyor-General, Vryburg, , 18 01 1893; 22 03 1893Google Scholar. The one mentioned in this quotation is known as the B-canal.

34 CA 1/UPT 5/3/2, O'Connell, , ‘Report’, 7 10 1898.Google Scholar

35 For population figures see Roussouw, P. J., ‘Die Arbeidskolonie Kakamas’, in Archives Yearbook for South African History, 11 (1951), pp. 370, 441Google Scholar. For Baster opposition to Schroeder's appointment, see Steenkamp, , ‘Die Christelike Sending’, 100–1, 111–12.Google Scholar

36 The first list of these farms is in CA 1/UPT 5/1/1, ‘List of payments made by owners of farms in the district of Gordonia on account of survey’ [n.d. c. 07 1889]. forGoogle Scholar

37 State Archives, Pretoria [Henceforth SA], JUS 49, 25199/10, Magistrate's Report, Upington, 1910. See also Macdonald, , Conquest of the Desert, 13–14Google Scholar. evidence on the date of their allocation see Legassick, , ‘Gordonia’.Google Scholar

38 The automatic grant of a ‘dry erf to owners of water-erven seems to have fallen away after annexation of Gordonia by British Bechuanaland: see, for example, SGBB, Goodyer to Surveyor General, Vryburg, , 17 02 1892Google Scholar; Bam, to Surveyor General, Vryburg, 9 03 1892Google Scholar; Bam, to Surveyor General, 6 04 1892Google Scholar; Bam, to Surveyor General, 12 04 1892Google Scholar; van Wyk, A. J. to Surveyor General, 4 05 1892.Google Scholar

39 See, as an example, Figure 2.

40 Duncan, A. H. F., Surveyor-General's Report, 14 09 1889Google Scholar, BPP. C5897, 1890, 31Google Scholar. See also 1/UPT 5/1/1, Bam, to Crewes, , 28 06 1889Google Scholar; SGBB 31, Watermeyer, F. S., Minute No B428, 19 09 1894Google Scholar. Marias, J. S., Cape Coloured People (Cape Town, 1937)Google Scholar, 95 writes of the Gordonia settlement, ‘The Government made no attempt to prevent Bastards selling their agricultural land, which they held on individual tenure, to Europeans’. He here conflates the pre-1889 and post-1889 situations.

41 On this survey see, for example, G60–1888, 5; G6 – 1888, 21; 1/UPT 5/1/1, Bam to Surveyor General, Vryburg, , 28 06 1889Google Scholar; Bam, to Crewes, , 28 06 1889Google Scholar; 1/UPT 5/1/2, Bam to Surveyor General, Vryburg, , 13 11 1889; 31 01 1890; 12 03 1890; 2 09 1890.Google Scholar

42 See CA SGBB 20, Goodyer, to Surveyor General, 22 02 1892Google Scholar; BPP C6829, 1892, 21–4Google Scholar; C6857, 1894, 21–34Google Scholar; C7629, 1895, 14–19Google Scholar; C7944, 1896, 13–16.Google Scholar

43 CA/SGBB 20, Bam, to Surveyor General, 7 03 1892Google Scholar. It was then numbered C43; it was renumbered as erf 38. The date of its formal granting was 15 July 1893. See also 1/UPT 7/3/4, Village erven 1890–91; 1/UPT 7/1/4/1, Farms and erven 1890–1898; 1/UPT 5/1/2, Bam, to Surveyor General, 24 04 1890Google Scholar; 1/UPT 5/1/3, 527.

44 CA SGBB 20, Goodyer, A. to Surveyor General, 3 04 1892.Google Scholar

45 CA 1/UPT 7/1/3/1, Land Register, 1894–1932 (from internal evidence, first compiled around 1917).

46 Marais, , Cape Coloured People, 95–6.Google Scholar

47 For example Fischer, E. (author of De Rehobother Bastards und das Bastardierungsproblem beim Menschen (Cape Town, 1913)Google Scholar, quoted in UT 41 – 1926, Report of the Rehoboth Commission, 65Google Scholar; Strydom, C. J. S., ‘Die verdediging van die Noordwestelike Gens van die Kolonie’ (MA and thesis, UNISA, 1929), 46ffGoogle Scholar. ‘Die Kaap Kolonie, 1899–1902: skadevergoeding en die rebelle in ere herstel’ (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Cape Town, 1932), 226. Both Marais and Strydom quote the following (from CPP, G31 – 1899, 59): ‘The Bastards who originally owned all the landed property in the district are going backward year by year, and ere long they will have disposed of all the landed property they now possess and again have become the servant of the white man. This result has been brought about by their own indolent and improvident habits. There are a few exceptions and a few Bastards still own unencumbered farms and large stocks of cattle and sheep’.

48 Personal observation. See also ‘Verklaring Eeufees 1892–1992 – Uitkomst’ (Ts, my possession), a history of the farm owned by the Jansen family.

49 See the revisionist historiography on South African agriculture, especially Keegan, T., Rural Transformations in Industrializing South Africa (Johannesburg, 1986)Google Scholar and ‘The making of the rural economy: from 1850 to the present’, in Konczacki, Z. A. et al. , (eds.), Studies in the Economic History of South Africa, Vol. 2 (London, 1991)Google Scholar; Beinart, W., Delius, P. and Trapido, S., Putting a Plough to the Ground: Accumulation and Dispossession in Rural South Africa, 1850–1930 (Johannesburg, 1986)Google Scholar; Murray, Colin, Black Mountain: Land, Class and Power in the Eastern Orange Free State, 1889s–1980s (Edinburgh, 1992).Google Scholar

50 Marais, , Cape Coloured People, 96Google Scholar, n. On Kakamas see Loots, F. J., ‘Die Arbeids-Kolonie, Kakamas’ (MA thesis, 1949)Google Scholar; Roussouw, , ‘Die Arbeidskolonie Kakamas’Google Scholar, University of Cape Town. There were protests from the inhabitants at not owning their land from after the First World War, and they eventually acquired it after the Second World War: see Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa (Pretoria, 1972)Google Scholar, ‘Kakamas’. There is evidence that Schroeder intended to establish a similar settlement for Basters on the farms Rooiberg and Keikaries, on the north bank of the river opposite Kakamas, but this was never achieved: see Steenkamp, , ‘Die Christelike, Sending’, 131–3Google Scholar. In the 1920s Eksteenskuil became a settlement for Coloureds in the islands near Keimoes, and a state settlement for Coloureds after the Second World War. In the 1930s, through the efforts of its minister Saul Damon, the Congregational Church established settlements for Coloureds on farms along the river upstream from Keimoes: see Steenkamp, ibid. 162–4; Beer, de, Keimoes en Omgewing, 206–10Google Scholar; Iooste verjaardag van Saul Damon (n.d., 1990)Google Scholar; Saul Damon papers (held by Jessie Strauss, Keimoes), Damon, S., ‘Memoranda oor aankoop van grond vir lede van die Congregational Kerk’Google Scholar (n.d.). None of these received the financial support that Kakamas had enjoyed.

51 CPP G6–1888, 21,. See also CA 1/UPT 5/1/1, Bam, to Kotze, Lewis, 9 01 1888Google Scholar, writing ‘That the Commission [of management] is doing its best to protect the Basters against the white people; but that some among the Burghers are making difficulties for the Commission, by continually making applications to be able to sell land to whites’ (‘Dat de Commissie [of management] haan best doen en gedaan heeft om de Bastaards teen de blanke menschen te beschemmer; maar dal van de Burgers het moeijelyk voor de Commissie maken, door altoos [verniemende?] applicaties om hun grond aan blanken to mogen verkopen’).

52 ‘Wat de toekomst donker maak, is de vrees voor trekken naar noordwestelyke rigting … Myn vrees is dat zy [de Basterds] kun tydelyk eigendom aan blanken zullen verkopen, gelyk eenigen gedaan hebben, en verder noordwestwaards trekken naar een vryerleven. Ik doen myn best de Basterd gemeente aan te sporen, met dankbaarheid het voorregt te behouden het, welk zy thans nog hebben in Gordonia. Wie naar Groot Namaqualand wil trekken, moet Namaqua worden, of zich voor vechten gereed maken’. CA NGK, S5/2/164, Schroeder, to BZC, 17 11 1887Google Scholar. See also Steenkamp, , ‘Die Christelike Sending’, 87, 91, 98Google Scholar. In ‘Great Namaqualand’ of course, was the Rehoboth Baster settlement, established in 1872 by kin of the Gordonia Basters, with a common origin in ‘Bushmanland’.

53 Scott, J. H., ‘Historical account of the Northern Border’, CPP, G20 – 1881, 86Google Scholar. This is cited by Marais, , Cape Coloured People, 95Google Scholar, n., from its reproduction in UG 41 … 1926, 29.

54 This was one of the conditions agreed between the Basters and the NGK for the re-establishment of the mission in Gordonia: see CA NG, S5/2/164, ‘Zamenspreking … Amandelboom, 11 10 1879’.Google Scholar

55 CA 1/UPT 5/1/2, Bam, to Secretary, 28 03 1890.Google Scholar

56 BPP C6829, 1892, 10–extending the provisions of proclamation 64 of 1889. See CA 1/UPT 5/1/2, Bam to Secretary, Vryburg, , 15 04 1891Google Scholar, not wanting to grant a hotel licence until the Basters were prohibited from buying drink; Bam, to Keimoes, W. Frank, 1 09 1891.Google Scholar

57 CA NBC 16, Scott, to Colonial Secretary, 23 02 1884Google Scholar (describing the situation regarding liquor licences); NBC 17, Scott to Distributor of Stamps, Carnarvon, , 2 07 1885Google Scholar; Scott to Chairman, Licensing Board, Carnarvon, , 30 07 1885Google Scholar; 1/UPT 5/1/1, Bam, to Merrington, , 18 11 1890Google Scholar; 1/UPT 5/1/2, Bam to Secretary, Vryburg, , 28 03 1890Google Scholar; Bam to Secretary, Vryburg, , 1 04 1891.Google Scholar

58 CA 1/UPT 5/1/2, Chalmers, to RM Kenhardt, , 9 10 1890Google Scholar. The licence was not renewed by the Kenhardt magistracy in April 1891, but regranted, with Bam's approval, in December because the Basters had been ‘protected as far as possible’ by proclamation 113: see Bam to Secretary, Vryburg, , 1 04 1891Google Scholar; Bam to Secretary, Vryburg, , 2 12 1891.Google Scholar

59 Cf. CA 1/UPT 5/1/2, Bam to Coghlan and Coghlan, Kimberley, , 31 10 1889Google Scholar; Bam to Secretary, Vryburg, , 22 05 1890.Google Scholar

60 CA 1/UPT 5/1/3, C. Jay to Registrar, Chief Magistrate's Court, Vryburg, , 6 06 1894.Google Scholar

61 CA 1/UPT 5/1/1. Bam to Secretary, Vryburg, , 1 03 1892Google Scholar; 1/UPT 5/1/2, Bam re Gordonia Licensing Court, 4 11 1891Google Scholar; Bam, , Report on Licensing Board, 2 12 1891Google Scholar; 1/UPT 5/1/3, Bam, to Preuss, , 24 08 1893.Google Scholar

62 CA 1/UPT 5/1/3, Bam to Secretary, Vryburg, , 24 08 1893Google Scholar; Bam to RM, Kenhardt, , 24 08 1893Google Scholar; Bam to Registrai, Chief Magistrate's Court, Vryburg, , 7 12 1893Google Scholar. In 1889 W. Frank was granted a lease on the outspan at Olyvenhout's drift on condition that he did not sell liquor: 1/UPT 5/1/1, Bam to RM, Kenhardt, , 16 08 1889.Google Scholar

63 BPP, C7944, 1896, 45–6Google Scholar; CPP, 05–1896, 69–70.Google Scholar

64 SA JUS 49, 25199/10 Magistrate's Report, Upington, 1910.

65 ‘Upington is echter geen Zendingstatie meer, maar een dorp met ses winkels, een hotel en twee kantienen … Waar de blanken in het land, eertyds bewoond deur gekleurden, intrekken, daar gaan de gekleurden zeer snel achter uit. De meesten behouden hun vast eigendom niet, zy nemen geld op, maken schulden, worden aanzienlyke sommen aangebooten alzoo verliezen zy hun vast eigendom. Sommigen vertrekken noordwaarts, ander zwerven rond, of moeten dienen’. CA NGK, S5/2/164, Schroeder, to BZC, 24 03 1893Google Scholar. See also his anticipation of this, to Neethling, , 11 02 1884.Google Scholar

66 ‘Allerlei verdefelyk en schadeylk invloed werken mede, als ook voorbeelden. Schulden maken, plaatsen en erven in pand geven, en later geheel verliezen … Waar blanken en gekleurden terzamen grondeigenaars zyn, daar gaat het met de gekleurden steeds achteruit. Ik onderwys, vermaan en waarschuw byna by elke ouderling zamenkomst met Avondsmaal dagen’, CA NGK, 85/2/164, Schroeder, , Godsdiensverlag, 25 09 1894Google Scholar. See also Schroeder, to Neethling, , 24 08 1897.Google Scholar

67 See, for example, CA NGK, S5/2/164, Schroder, , Godsdiensverlag, 26 03 1892Google Scholar; 24 Mar. 1893; 15 Mar. 1894; 25 Sept. 1894; 27 Mar. 1895; 5 Aug. 1897.

68 On the redefinition, see Bundy, C., ‘Vagabond Hollanders and runaway Englishmen: white poverty in the Cape before Poor Whiteism’Google Scholar, in Beinart, , Delius, and Trapido, (eds.) Putting a Plough to the Ground, 119–23Google Scholar. On Schroeder and Kakamas see Loots, , ‘Die Arbeidskolonie’Google Scholar; Roussouw, , ‘Die Arbeidskolonie kakamas’Google Scholar; CA NGK, 85/2/164, Schroeder, to Murray, and Marchand, , 4 04 1895Google Scholar. Schroeder was already under criticism from ‘enemies of the Mission’ in Gordonia for placing land under church ownership and other matters: see Steenkamp, , ‘Die Christelike Sending’, 100–1Google Scholar; CA NGK, S5/2/164, Schroeder, to Neethling, , 22 07 1892; 15 03 1894.Google Scholar

69 ‘Te Keimoes zyn de meeste tuinerven reeds in het bezit van den blanken man. Te Upington zyn 30 blanken en 40 gekleurden tuinerf eigenaars’. CA NGK, S5/2/164, Schroeder, to BZC, 24 03 1893.Google Scholar

70 ‘Van 77 tuinerven eigenaars zyn nog maar 33 gekleurden en 44 blanken te Upington. Te Keimoes is het erger’. CA NGK, S5/2/164, Schroeder, , Godsdiensverslag, 25 09 1894.Google Scholar

71 On the Waterworks Company, founded in Aug. 1883, see British Bechuanaland Proclamation 69, 14 08 1889Google Scholar, Ward, , British Bechuanaland Proclamations, 157–63Google Scholar; CA 1/UPT 5/1/2, Chalmers, to Schroeder, , 8 12 1890Google Scholar; 1/UPT 5/1/1. Bam to Surveyor General, Vryburg, , 7 01 1891Google Scholar. See also CA NGK, S5/2/164, Schroeder, , Godsdiensverlag, 24 03 1893Google Scholar: ‘I must, to prevent conflict or friction between white and coloured, remain as superintendent of our canal’. (‘Ik moet, om botsing of wryving tusschen blank en gekleurd voor te komen, het hoofdbestuur van ons watervoor blyven behouden’.) There are indications that the water-erven had initially been distributed to poorer Basters; Schroeder, , Godsdiensverslag, 31 08 1886.Google Scholar

72 1/UPT 5/1/2, ‘List of watererven at Upington’, 12 06 1890Google Scholar; ‘List of owners of watererven at Keimoes in Block A and Block B’, 22 May 1890. See CA 1/UPT 5/1/1, Bam to Surveyor General, Vryburg, , 7 01 1891Google Scholar: ‘as, however, it was simply impossible for me to show on that list [of Upington water-erven sent last June] all the different transfers that had taken place from the original grantees, I made up a list of the present legal owners, the validity of whose claims I am positive will not be disputed … the custom in vogue here was for purchaser and seller to appear personally before the Chairman of the Water Committee [Schroeder] and declare to the transaction … Between the ist July 1888 and the 31st December 1889 several such transfers were so improperly made’; Bam to Surveyor General, Vryburg, , 12 01 1891Google Scholar, ‘I proceeded to Keimoes and calling all owners of erven together made a complete list of all the then owners of the erven. At Upington I made up the list with the aid of the books of the Waterworks Company, which were very primitively kept, so that the transfers prior to my making the list do not appear in the register’. For an example of the complex transfers pre-annexation of a water-erf, see 1/UPT 5/1/3, Bam, to Surveyor-General, 16 10 1893.Google Scholar

73 Names have been compared with NG Sending Kerk material. The undoubtedly ‘white’ owners at Keimoes at this time are F. Bowers, G. de Juy, 2 van Rensburgs, Rose, Moller, and W. Frank, owning 14 erven out of 83 among them. Among the white owners at Upington are van Niekerk, Strauss, Pearson, Burger, Murphy, Bam, Lutz, Dyason, Schroeder, Brussel and Voskule, and de Villiers.

74 Regarding the record-keeping in Gordonia, an incoming magistrate wrote to the Surveyor-General ‘I find some difficulty in gathering from available records proper information as to land questions connected with this district’. The land register ‘consists of a list of farms and erven written in a cash book in the midst of statements of Revenue and Expenditure, Burger lists, Licenses, Fines, etc. The register does not appear complete (e.g. I can nowhere find a list of more than 65 water erven whereas you have forwarded titles in favour of the Upington Water Works Company to over 70 erven), important information has been jotted down in pencil and is almost obliterated and – even with the assistance of various scraps of paper and a book purporting to contain lists of Upington and Keimoes erven … with voters lists and various VMB matters – I find it difficult to get a correct idea of the somewhat complicated land questions connected with this district’, CA 1/UPT 5/1/3, Ashburnham, to Surveyor General, 17 07 1894Google Scholar. See also 1/UPT 5/1/4, Ashburnham, to Receiver General, 24 01 1895Google Scholar (there was no complete list of ownership of dry erven until he compiled one); to Surveyor General, 29 Jan 1895 (lack of records on dry erven]. More concentrated research on the land registers and records in the archives of the Vryburg Deeds Office might give a fuller picture of the Baster-white alienation of water-erven, the dry erven associated with them, and the Upington (and later Keimoes) township erven. The water-erven were held in freehold and do not therefore appear in quit-rent land registers.

75 Standard Bank Inspection Report, 17 08 1908Google Scholar. (Thanks to Norma Craven for her assistance with research on these reports.) These water-erven of 4–5 morgen were originally (in 1883–5) valued at £100 each. At Upington one was valued at about £150 in 1894; see 1/UPT 5/1/4, Ashburnham to Secretary, Vryburg, , 24 08 1894Google Scholar; 1/UPT 5/2/1, Scholtz, to Under Secretary for Agriculture, 23 09 1896Google Scholar. In 1894 Keimoes water-erven were valued at from £3 ios to £15, 1/UPT 5/1/4, Ashburnham, to Surveyor General, 18 12 1894Google Scholar; 17 June 1895.

76 SA JUS 49 25199/10, Magistrate's Report, Upington, 1910.

77 See CA 1/UPT 5/1/3, Bam, to Surveyor General, 11 01 1894Google Scholar; Jay, to Surveyor General, 4 05 1894Google Scholar; Jay, to Receiver-General, 15 06 1894Google Scholar; Jay, to Surveyor-General, 5 07 1894Google Scholar; 1/UPT 5/1/4, Ashburnham, to Raasenhagen, , 1 11 1894Google Scholar; Ashburnham, to Surveyor General, 24 01 1895Google Scholar; Ashburnham, to Surveyor General, 15 03 1895Google Scholar; Ashburnham, to Kotze, , 23 03 1895Google Scholar. Compare, for optimistic prognoses, 1/UPT 5/1/2, Bam to Surveyor General, Vryburg, 6 03 1890Google Scholar; Bam, to Registrar General, 1 06 1891.Google Scholar

78 CA 1/UPT S/1/1, ‘List of payments made by owners of farms in the district of Gordonia on account of survey’, n.d. c. July 1889; 1/UPT 7/3/1, Land Register 1894–5; 1/UPT Land Register, 1894–1932 (from internal evidence, first compiled around 1913/1917). See also 1/UPT 7/4/1, Land Register (c. 1894–8); Quit-Rent register, 91. Between 1889 and 1912 there were a further 104 farms defined and allocated, almost exclusively to whites, in many cases land companies (Standard Bank Inspection Report, 9 11 1912)Google Scholar. See also the map in Macdonald, W., Conquest of the Desert, 197Google Scholar. See Figs. 3, 4 and 5.

79 Among the white owners are F. Loxton, R. Frier, G. Panizza, G. de Juy, G. Pearson, F. ter Blanc (all married to Baster women), H. M. Steyn (née Frier), D. Turner, J. H. Lutz, L. Stock (traders), C. Schroeder (missionary), and F. Harper, J. Foster, J. D. Moller, Andries Burger and W. le Roux (later arrivals).

80 As early as 1890 L. Abt had a right of ‘refusal’ on a number of these farms: CA 1/UPT 5/1/2, Bam to Surveyor General, Vryburg, , 12 03 1890Google Scholar. See also SGBB 31, Leopold Abt Co., Carnarvon, , to Surveyor General, 2 07 1894Google Scholar; 1/UPT 5/1/2, Chalmers, to Abt, L., 20 01 1891Google Scholar; 1/UPT 5/1/3, Jay, to Surveyor General, 13 07 1894.Google Scholar

81 For example the Jewish A. Nurick became an important landowner, and trader, in the area: see also de Beer, , Keimoes, 76, 150.Google Scholar

82 Standard Bank Inspection Report, 17 10 1907.Google Scholar

83 UG 41 – 1926, 46. He added, ‘Things went on in this manner till all the old people who had done this had died, then the young children discovered that the old people had no right to sell the ground. Then they complained to the Government’. The first collective reaction I have traced to land alienation is a petition, signed by 259 Basters, presented to parliament in May 1921: SA LDE 3953 File 11106.

84 Cape Argus, 9 03 1923.Google Scholar

85 See also Steenkamp, , ‘Die Christelike Sending’, 91, 204–6Google Scholar for details of the purchase by J. H. Lutz from the Baster John Ross of Cnydas East, nearly 30,000 morgen, for £135 payable in stock.

86 ‘Maar toe die witman kom, het hy beginne nou sy stelsel van belasting … op eiendom, het baie van die mense beginne agter raak op hulle gronde. En hulle't baie van hulle sy gronde gepan … Kyk as ek nou ʼn plaas het dan is die plaas aan die 10 seuns verdeel. En ek verkoop aan ʼn witman. En nou kom die witman en hy kamp die eerste gedeelte af en hy gee nie vir my ʼn betredingsreg op sy grond nie. En die gevolg is dat ek nie uitkom kans het na ʼn dorp toe nie. En ek ontvang alle onsmaaklikhede, ek moet later my gronde uitruil … De witman het dan die grond vir hom geneem … … op Kurrees, die manne het vir hom ʼn huurkontrak gevra en hy het werklik geteken op ʼn koopkontrak … En die Basters kon gesuip het. En dan was hulle nie geleer om hulle name … te skryf nie’. (Interview with Orange, Andrew, aged 45, 22 07 1993, Upington.)Google Scholar

87 Interview with Beukes, Piet, aged 86, 22 07 1993, Upington.Google Scholar

88 ‘Hier's baie gronde veral hier in Gordonia wat nie verkoop is nie. Dit is wettig nie verkoop nie. Is op ʼn oneerlike manier wat die grond gevat is. Party sê die mense het dit gekoop. Ek het daar [gesien] in sekere skrift wat baie blankes geskrywe het “die grond is vir ʼn appel en ʼn ei weggegee”. Is nie verkoop nie. Nou kom sê die man hy huur die grond, dan's dit al die tyd koopbrief. En al daai goed so ver as wat ek moet dit deurgegaan het, onstaan in tyd van Koppenhagen. Dit was die groot dood van ons mense hierso’. (Interview with Daries, Jonas, 22 07 1995, Upington.)Google Scholar

89 ‘Waar die blankes ingekom het … hier word gekoop, ek meen gehuur vir 5 jaar. Vorms word omgekeer. Hier as jy nou geteken, die ou man moet nou kom teken, dis ʼn S jaar kontrak vir huur. Dan word dit net omgekeer dan is dit ʼn koopkontrak wat klaargemaak is. Maar dis nie kaart en transport nie, dis net ʼn koopkontrak. En ek glo so wat hier in die Noord-kaap het geen blanke kaart en transport nie. As hulle hom het, is dit vals’. (Interview with Brand, Andrew, aged 68, 22 07 1995, Upington.)Google Scholar

90 ‘hulle het bietjie skuld gehad, by die winkel in Keimoes … Toe kom die prokureurs … Wat hulle toe gebelowe het vir die prokureurs weet ek ook nie. Maar in elk geval … die prokereurs het vir hulle papiertjies gelaat teken hulle sal die geld betaal … Vir die oordrag van die grond naturrlike, nou ja … Maar hulle weet nie diet is eintlik oordrag van die grond nie … toe hulle dit ontdek, toe't hulle die plase geverkoop. Toe moet hulle ontrium die plase’. (Interview with Kotzee, Sara, aged 73, 22 07 1995, Upington.)Google Scholar

91 ‘Ek het navrae gedoen en toe gee hulle my die ou kêrel se testamentnommer en toe doen ek navraag by afdeling daar. Daar het iets verkeerd gewees. Die ou kêrel se testament het gelei dat as hy of die vrou een van hulle twee wat eerste sterf, die lewende van hulle twee mag nie verkoop nie … maar dit was verkoop’. (Interview with Daries, Piet, aged 64, 24 07 1993, Upington.)Google Scholar

92 See [Malan, S.], Geskiedenis van Upington, 17Google Scholar; CA 1/UPT 5/1/3, Bam, to Schroeder, E., 17 01 1894.Google Scholar

93 Peires, J., ‘The legend of Fenner-Solomon’, in Bozzoli, B. (ed.), Class, Community and Conflict: South African Perspectives (Johannesburg, 1987), 65–92.Google Scholar

94 Ibid, 67.

95 He was replying to the Surveyor General of British Bechuanaland, who had advised him to ‘keep quiet’ on the fact that farms issued by the Gordonia committee of management were outside the (then) declared territory of British Bechuanaland: ‘I may state, that there are so many “sea-lawyers” in these parts, that it is very difficult if not impossible to keep quiet on any matter. People formerly enjoying the “protection (such as it was)” of the committee of management were now “left to the mercy of designing persons”’: CA 1/UPT 5/1/2, Bam, to Duncan, , 12 03 1890.Google Scholar

96 Ashburnham, J. in BPP, C7944, 1896, 45–6Google Scholar. Also in CPP, GS – 1896, 69–70.Google Scholar

97 One interviewee asked me ‘I am talking about the Cape … I am asking … about Bushman drawings which are found there on Table Mountain … did Bushmen live there? … where is the white man's land’ (Alexander, William, 10 09 1993, Upington).Google Scholar

98 CA MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Death notice of Abraham September.

99 Interviews with Gert September, 4 Apr. 1994, Upington; van Wyk, Thomas, born 1900, 21 07 1993, 6 04 1994Google Scholar, Keimoes; Video interview with Thomas Van Wyk (by Jane Davids, Jannie Van Sitters, Barbara Brown, UWC Taalgeskiedenis course, 1993).

100 CA MOK 1/1/45, No. 43, Document enclosed in J. S. Allison, Resident Magistrate, Upington to Master of High Court, Kimberley, , 10 06 1909Google Scholar. This document, inter alia, summarizes the will. A photocopy of the original will (obtained from the September family) also stipulates that the land shall not be hired out because of debt by the sons. Similar wills were made, apparently at the instigation of C. Schroeder, by other Basters: see, for example, CA MOK 1/1/92, D6896, Will of Nicholas, and Bok, Rachel, 30 03 1891.Google Scholar

101 ‘Daar was nie baklei nie, daar was ook nie stry nie, daar was niks. Is net gesê pak op en gaan weg’. Q: ‘Wie dit toe kon sê?’ A: ‘ʼn Ou van Koppenhagen, Willie Koppenhagen, en Holmes … En hulle het van onse mense net hulle gevat en in die tronk gesit, en toe hulle daar uitkom toe moet hulle meer oppak want hulle ken nie tronk nie …’; Q: ‘Toe waarvoor is hulle tronk toe?’ A: ‘Oor die plaas, want hulle wil nie loop nie. Toe moet hulle loop, oppak, en onse osse inspan en trek … [tot] bo in die Langeberge … duskant Olifantshoek … maar van die een bos tot die ander bos … Klein Abraham was in die tronk, [oompie] Jurie Steeneveld was in die tronk, dis my pa se suster se kind, en Hendrik Beukes … net ʼn week in die tronk’. (Interview with Gert September, 20 July 1993, Upington.) Thomas Van Wyk, also living on the farm, remembers that one of his aunts had 500 Afrikaner sheep which were taken and put in a kraal in Upington, but when they were released there were only 200. The rest had died of hunger. (Video interview, Thomas Van Wyk, UWC Taalgeskiedenis course, 1993.)

102 CA 1/UPT 7/1/3/1, Land register 1894–1932 (from handwriting evidence, first compiled around 1913/1917).–

103 CA MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Abraham September, RM, Upington to Master, High Court, Kimberley, 8 08 1898 and 31 08 1898Google Scholar; Master of High Court Kimberley to Elizabeth September, Ouap, Gordonia, , 1 06 1900.Google Scholar

104 CA MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Abraham September, E. Schroeder to Master, High Court, Kimberley, , 27 07 1900Google Scholar (two letters). On the same day he wrote to the Master suggesting that he should in future write to the lawyer employed by the executor of estates rather than direct to the executor. ‘People are rather ignorant in this part of the world and they think after the death notice has been signed the Attorney has entirely to see the rest of the work’. Perhaps an innocent request; perhaps a desire by him to exercise ‘control’ over the executor.

105 CA MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Abraham September, Arthur Solomon to Master, High Court, Kimberley, , 23 08 1900.Google Scholar

106 Interview with Gert September, 20 07 1993, Upington.Google Scholar

107 The valuation of the farm and the lot in Upington was undertaken by J. W. van Coppenhagen.

108 CA MOK 1/1/45, No. 43, ‘Succession duty statement of the late Abraham September’, dated 25 01 1907 and filed 15 06 1907.Google Scholar

109 CA MOK 1/1/45, No. 43, Document enclosed in J. S. Allison, Resident Magistrate, Upington to Master of High Court, Kimberley, , 10 06 1909.Google Scholar

110 CA MOK 1/4/45, No. 43, Schroeder and Coppenhagen to Coghlan and Coghlan, Kimberley, , 3 04 1907Google Scholar, presumably enclosing statements by Bet September 26 Jan. 1907, Beukes, Katarina 25 01 1907Google Scholar, van Wyk, Johanna Maria 25 01 1907Google Scholar, which are in the same file.

111 MOK 1/1/45, Affidavit by Van Coppenhagen, J. W., 17 04 1907Google Scholar (in respect to Uap). Though dated subsequent to Schroeder and Van Coppenhagen's letter of 3 Apr. 1907, it is referred to as enclosed within that letter. There is a similar affidavit from Van Copenhagen, , dated 8 06 1907Google Scholar, in respect of the township erf.

112 This was thus sworn subsequent to the drawing up of the succession duty statement (25 Jan.), subsequent to Schroeder and van Coppenhagen forwarding it to Kimberley (3 Apr.), but before it was filed (15 June).

113 CA MOK 1/1/45, Affidavit signed by A. P. S. September on 4 06 1907.Google Scholar

114 Elizabeth September's declaration would presumably have been sent to the Deeds Registry office in Vryburg, but correspondence connected with property transfers is not contained in the deposited records of this office in the Cape Archives.

116 CA DOV 6/1/4, Registry of property transfers, 1904–1913, Nos. 4518–4520, 15 July 1907.

115 CA MOK 1/1/45, No. 43, Document enclosed in J. S. Allison, Resident Magistrate, Upington to Master of High Court, Kimberley, . 10 06 1909.Google Scholar

117 CA MOK 1/1/45, No. 43, Document enclosed in J. S. Allison, Resident Magistrate, Upington to Master of High Court, Kimberley, , 10 06 1909Google Scholar. See also DOV 6/1/4, Register of property transfers 1904–1913, No. 4543, 10 Sept. 1907. Thorne, W. R. B. served in the police in Upington from 05 1888 to 06 1907Google Scholar, when he was pensioned off at the age of 47 as unfit for duty: a medical certificate of 23 April 1907 notes ‘stock or grain farming … would be almost an impossibility for him!’ CA CO 8346 and 8443.

118 MOK 1/1/45, No. 43, Succession duty statement of the late Abraham September, filed 15 June 1907.

119 In 1908 the average price of a river farm was reported by the Standard Bank to be 5/- a morgen. £5000 for a farm of 9134 morgen was thus a relatively high price (Standard Bank Inspection Report, 17 08 1908)Google Scholar. By 1911 the average price of river farms was reported as 5/- to 10/- a morgen (Standard Bank Inspection Report, 5 12 1911).Google Scholar

120 Corbett, M. et al. , The Law of Succession in South Africa, (Johannesburg, 1980 ed.), 335–6, 351ffGoogle Scholar. Thanks to Robert Petersen for this reference. I should also like to thank Mrs T. Brits, Law Faculty, University of the Western Cape and Henk Smith, Legal Resources, Cape Town, for their advice on these questions. I am responsible for the interpretation, however.

121 Sande, , ‘Commentarius de prohibita rerum alienatione’, Opera Omnia Juridica (Groningen, 1683), 3, 4, 2Google Scholar quoted in Corbett, et al. , Law, 352–3.Google Scholar

122 Corbett, et al. , Law, 352, 354–5, 357–63.Google Scholar

123 Quoted from Sande, in Corbett, et al. , Law, 272.Google Scholar

124 Corbett, et al. , Law, 352.Google Scholar

125 Ibid. 378ff.

126 See, for similar cases taken to and tested in court at the time, the applications of Rachel Bok, applying for mortgages on Kousas and Boksputs, which, because of the will, required the consent of her heirs: CA KSC 2/5/1/143, Application of Bok, Rachel, 7 10 1909Google Scholar; KSC 2.5.144, No. 5510, Petition of Bok, Rachel 18 03 1910Google Scholar; or the petitions of the heirs of Robert Frier to mortgage Friersdale and Brakboschkolk, and to transfer a share of the two farms, when the will said the properties were not to be alienated until the youngest heir reached the age of 30: KSC 2/5/1/140, No. 5273, Petition of Bothma, E. C. etc., 15 08 1908Google Scholar; KSC 2/5/1/144, No. 5511, Petition of Fraser, Catharina Sophia, 21 03 1910.Google Scholar

127 Strauss, Du Plessis v., 1988 2 3A 105 (A)Google Scholar. Equally, 1965 regulation prohibits maintaining land in the family by such means for more than two generations.

128 Elizabeth's usufructuary possession is confirmed by the Deeds of Transfer from the estate to Gert, Abraham and Niklaas (in possession of family). As usufructuary heir, her consent would have been necessary to any sale by the sons: the Deed of Transfer to Thorne has not been examined to see if this was the case.

129 MOK 1/1/45, Undated note in pencil re estate late Abraham September, with, appended to it ‘Letter sent original receipts and affidavit by ASP September 21 Apr. 1909’. Cf. MOK 1/1/27, Telegram: Deeds Vryburg to Master of High Court, Kimberley, , 21 04 1909Google Scholar ‘Your telegram … farm ‘Ouhap’ transferred to heirs in estate during July [1907?]. Erf 38 Upington not transferred’ with appended note ‘letter to RM Upington informing him of above and asking him to ascertain in whose possession deeds are at present 22 Apr. 1909’. The Upington magistracy records in the Cape archives do not contain incoming correspondence for this period.

130 MOK 1/1/45, No. 43, J.S.Allison, RM, Upington, to Master, High Court, Kimberley, 10 06 1909Google Scholar. This refers (see note 50) to the Master's letters of 21 and 22 Apr. 1909. This letter is not contained in any outgoing correspondence from the Upington magistracy preserved at the Cape archives. The declaration of sellers in connection with the transfer of Uap to Thorne is also not available in the records of the Vryburg Deeds Office in the Cape Archives.

131 MOK 1/1/45, No. 43, J.S.Allison, RM, Upington, to Master, High Court, Kimberley, 10 06 1909.Google Scholar

132 See however DOV 1/1/1/8, F. J. Croxford, Attorney, Vryburg to Registrar of Deeds, Vryburg, 12 06 1908Google Scholar requesting, on behalf of an attorney of the Supreme Court, the issue ‘for judicial purposes only’ of a certified copy of the deed of transfer of Uap to Thorne, W. R. B. on 10 09 1907Google Scholar. Thomas van Wyk recalled that ‘his grandmother’ [i.e. Elizabeth September] and ‘Hottie’ [Klein Abraham] went several times to Kimberley by ox-wagon. ‘Then my grandmother went … to the Master, to Kimberley … and they came before the High Court … Granny won that case and gave them [the sons?] three water erfs’. (Video Interview with Thomas Van Wyk, UWC Taalgeskiedenis course, 1993; Interview with van Wyk, Thomas, 21 07 1993Google Scholar, Upington.) I was also informed by Upington lawyer Jan Moller, in possession of Schroeder and Van Coppenhagen's remaining papers, that there is a note on the title deed of Ouap that grazing rights on Elizabeth's usufruct were determined in a court case (18 July 1995).

133 CA KSC, 2/5/1/145, No. 5562, 5/9/1910, ‘Petition of Roelof Mouton’. The petition was granted, and M. J. Jansen, his son-in-law, appointed as Bonis, Curator, though on 7 08 1912Google Scholar Daniel Mouton was reinstated in control of his affairs. The petition may well have been used merely as a means of repudiating the document signed by Daniel Mouton. In another case, Schroeder and van Coppenhagen persuaded the creditor on a mortgage to refuse to release it, despite its repayment, until the mortgagee had paid debts to other creditors. This was contested in court, with the lawyer for the mortgagee saying ‘I verily believe that this is merely a device on the part of Plaintiff's attorney to secure collection of the claims of some of their other clients’: KSC, 2/2/1/38, No. 1598, Matter between Bean, J. H. and Fraser, C. S., 10 03 1910.Google Scholar

134 ‘die 15 Julie is 'n derde deel van die plaas aan ʼn sekere Thorne, W. R. B.verhuur deur die drie seuns vir ʼn bedrag geld aan hom verskulding (vir 5 jaar rente vry) …Google Scholar volgens my mening en volgens testament ontwettig was mits testament heroep is … Erfgename will weet wat die 5 jaar gebeur het. Volgens erfgename het Thorne in besit gekom van die hele plaas wat hulle self nie weet hoe dit gebeur't nie’. CA MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Abraham September, D. D. Jacobs to Assistant Master, Supreme Court, Kimberley, , 4 04 1965.Google Scholar

135 ‘Ses morges is … wat hulle gehuur het. Dis Doring [Thorne] se erwe.’ Q: ‘Aan wie't hulle diet toe gehuur?’ A: ‘Hulle het hulle gehuur aan my oupa … Abraham Holbors se seun, Klein Abraham … Toe is ou Groot Abraham toe gesterwe …’ Q: ‘Wie't toe by hom gehuur?’ A: ‘Die Doring, dit was ʼn Engelsman … Huur het vir vyf jaar … In die vyf jaar se tyd is toe wat die ding vir … ons moet maar net trap …’ (Interview with Gert September, 20 July 1993, Upington.)

136 ‘die een oom, die jongste oom Abraham … hulle het geld geleen by meneer Holmes ene, £500 … oom Hottie het vir horn ʼn wa gekoop met die £500 … my oom is daai tyd wewenaar … ouma't so ʼn trommel gehad, toe haal hy die kaart en transport daaruit en toe loop gee hy dit vir Holmes hier op Upington …daardeur het ons nou die plaas geverlor … in 1910/11 toe sien ons mar hier die mense vlae opstoot en meet … die drie ooms is nou so kwaad maar hulle't vir hulle ingeloop … Toe't hulle drank was mos toe, toe kry hulle drank en daardeur het hulle geteken na die blanke. So het drank gemaak dat hulle daai uit die plase uit is … So het hulle die bruinmense se plase almal onder hulle uitgekoop’. (Video interview with Van Wyk, Thomas, UWC Taalgeskiedenis course, 1993.)Google Scholar The remainder of the quotation from interview with van Wyk, Thomas, 21 07 1993Google Scholar, Keimoes. If this explains the original sale, it should be Thorne and not Holmes from whom the money was borrowed.

137 MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Abraham September, Telegram, Deeds Vryburg to Master of High Court, 21 04 1909.Google Scholar

138 CA MOK 1/1/45, RM, Upington to Assistant Master, Supreme Court, Kimberley, , 19 04 1921Google Scholar. Cf MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Elizabeth September, Asst Master to RM, Upington, , 15 04 1921.Google Scholar

139 CA DOV 8/2/5, Land registry: Upington, erven. Township erf No. 38 granted to Abraham September 15 07 1893Google Scholar. H 252/25 is most likely filed in the records of the Lands Department.

140 ‘Oor die jare heen was daar gedurig narvrae en moes hierdie kantoor steeds daarop wys dat die betrokke plaas [Ouap] gedurende Julie 1907 aan die erfegename oordra was en dat hulle dit na bewering aan ene Thorne verkoop het’. CA MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Abraham September, Asst. Master to T. R. Jacobs, PO Box 356, Upington, , 5 12 1968.Google Scholar

141 Interviews with Gert September, 4 04 1994Google Scholar, Upington; van Wyk, Thomas, 21 07 1993, 6 04 1994Google Scholar, Keimoes; Video interview with Van Wyk, Thomas, UWC Taalgeskiedenis course, 1993Google Scholar. Gert September remembers Thomas's mother having ‘vyf erwen grond’ on Ouap.

142 DOV 6/1/4, Register of property transfer, 1904–1913, Nos. 5727, 5728, 25 Oct. 1911.

143 See Standard Bank Inspection Report, 30 11 1909Google Scholar; Macdonald, , Conquest of the Desert, 61Google Scholar. The Holmes had been in the area, as general dealers, and running the ferry, since the early 1890s, were involved in the establishment of the ‘European school’, and served on the Village Management Board. Both purchased township erven in Upington in January 1894. See CA 1/UPT 5/1/3, Bam to Secretary, Vryburg, 24 01 1893; 4 04 1893Google Scholar; Bam, to Surveyor, , 8 06 1983Google Scholar; ‘Sale held 2 Jan. 1894, Upington Township’; 1/UPT 5/1/4. Ashburnham to Master, Vryburg, , 7 08 1894Google Scholar; Ashburnham to Surveyor-General, 16 08 1894Google Scholar; Ashburnham, to Holmes, W. J., 21 09 1894Google Scholar; 1/UPT 5/1/5, Scholtz, to Controller of Licenses and Stamps, 17 12 1895Google Scholar; 1/UPT 5/3/2, Herbst, to Secretary, VMB, 25 11 1898Google Scholar. It appears that they dissolved their partnership in May 1910: CA, KSC 2/1/1/199, No. 6406 (withdrawn 14 Dec. 1910).

144 MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Death notice of Elizabeth September.

145 J. J. Steeneveld, mentioned above by Gert September as the child of an aunt of his, was a cripple: ‘hy kon nie regop geloop ne, het inmekaar getrek bene’: Interview with Gert September, 20 07 1993Google Scholar. See also interview with van Wyk, Thomas, 6 04 1994Google Scholar (‘the one that used to walk on his knees … his legs were pulled up … his hand was also pulled up’); CA MOK 1/1/27, Abraham September, Steeneveld, J. J. to Master, 1 07 1920Google Scholar, ‘ik kan ook nie recht op loop nie’.

146 CA MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Abraham September, Steeneveld, J. J., Ouap, to ‘Master of die Supreme Cord, Kimberley’. 22 01 1920.Google Scholar

147 CA MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Abraham September, J. J. Steeneveld, Ouap, to Master of the Supreme Cord, Kimberley, . 1 07 1920Google Scholar. See also ibid., Steeneveld, J. J. to Master, 5 07 1920Google Scholar; DR 8950, Elizabeth September, A. P. S. September to Master, 9 09 1920Google Scholar; A. P. S. September to Master, 21 10 1920Google Scholar; A. P. S. September and Steeneveld, J. J. to Master, 11 11 1920Google Scholar; Steeneveld, J. J. to Master, 20 12 1920.Google Scholar

148 CA MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Elizabeth September, A. P. S. September, Ouap to Master, 9 09 1920Google Scholar. See also A. P. S. September to Master, 26 08 1920.Google Scholar

149 CA MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Elizabeth September, A. P. S. September to Master, 21 10 1920Google Scholar. There is a lack of clarity here. There were only four sisters: Maria Magdalena Helena; Elizabeth; Katarina Jacoba; Johanna Maria. See also A. P. S. September and Steeneveld, J. J. to ‘Master of Suprimi Coort’, 11 11 1920Google Scholar; Steeneveld, J. J. to Master, 20 12 1920.Google Scholar

150 CA MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Elizabeth September, Master to Steeneveld, J. J., 1 02 1921Google Scholar. There was earlier correspondence from the Master regarding the copy of the will: see DR 8950, Abraham September, Assistant Master to Steeneveld, J. J., 9 07 1920Google Scholar; Telegram, Steeneveld, to Master, 3 08 1920Google Scholar. For the letter from the Upington magistrate see DR 8950, Elizabeth September, RM. Upington to Assistant Master, 29 Dec. 1920: ‘from information received from Messrs Schroeder and Van Coppenhagen … the deceased Elizabeth September left no estate and died a pauper’. See also RM Upington to Assistant Master, 11 Oct. 1920 enclosing Schroeder, and Van Coppenhagen, 6 10 1920Google Scholar, concerning the filing of the estate of Abraham September; RM, Upington, to Assistant Master, 4 02 1921Google Scholar requesting a copy of the inventory of Abraham September's estate.

151 MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Elizabeth September, Matt. J. Fredericks, Gen. Secretary, APO, 14 Dundonald Street, Woodstock, to Master, 17 02 1921.Google Scholar

152 MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Elizabeth September, Document appointing J. J. Steeneveld of Uitkomst as executor, signed with the mark of Gert, Niklaas, Helena and Elizabeth September, and signed by A. P. S. September, 24 03 1921Google Scholar; Jansen, C. to Asst. Master, 28 03 1921Google Scholar; Telegram Steeneveld, J. J. to Master, 12 04 1921Google Scholar. Cf. Matt. Fredericks, J. to Master, 11 04 1921.Google Scholar

153 CA MOK 1/1/27, Elizabeth September, Asst. Master to Fredericks, M. J., 15 04 1921Google Scholar. On the same date the Assistant Master wrote to the Upington magistrate enquiring what had happened to township erf no. 38 (see footnote 138).

154 CA MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Elizabeth September, Fredericks, M. J. to Asst. Master, 21 04 1921.Google Scholar

155 CA DOV 9/1/2, Index of Purchasers and Sellers, Land Registry, Gordonia, 1905–1926, Nos. 10270–2, 27 May 1921; DOV 6/1/5, Property Transfers, 1913–1921, Nos. 10270–2, 27 May 1921. Here the three buyers are recorded, with £5000 as the price for the top one, and two dittos after it. Does this indicate a total price of £5000, or a payment of £5000 each ? If the latter, it represents a tripling of the price since the previous two sales in 1907 and 1911.

156 ‘So vir wie het Koppenhagen toe die grond gegee ?’ A: ‘Vir … Jan Bekker, ou Daantjie van der Walt, Johannes van der Walt’. (Interview with Gert September, 20 07 1993, Upington.)Google Scholar

157 Interview with Gert September, 20 07 1993, Upington.Google Scholar

158 ‘die testament was met listigheid van een van die erfegename gevra deur een zekeren agent (lawyer) en deur Mnr Holmes en ik glo Mnr Kopenhagen Major en ook wettelyke agent van Upington Gordonia District. Wel al die autoriteite personen en nog ander mense hulle was prospectors en hulle was uit om op die plaas [Ouap] Diamantipijpen te vinden soos Kimberley Mines en andere edele en onedele mineralien daar te vinden. Met Diamonden glo ik was ergeen hoop, zoo hebben huile maar Copper gevinden en Copper Piritos. Dit heeft een goed gaan, later verstaan ik was dit nie betaalbaar, en ik kenner nog dat in die eerste goeie tyd van die koppermine was hulle zoo onverschaam – tegen die familieleden op die plaas en heben hulle grootvee en kleinvee, wagens en alles wat op die plaas was eenvoudig gevat en goederen vernield en die stoves uitberoven en in die einde die geheele volk uit hulle plaas met die Police uit Upington verdreven en hulle onder die Police bewaar. U moet die dingen van die erfgename self verneem. Daar was groot besproeingsvelde, vir Lucern, Koren, Mais, etc. Mnr Holmes was vroër voor die seif in die Police … en zoo lieft hulle met die myne wette voorgee, na dat hulle die testament in hande meet zoo listiger manier uit hulle die een erfgenaam zyn hande gekrij het, meen hulle testament en volk zoo te sê alles tot niets te maak en hulle is dan Baas oor alles, een hemelschrewende onregd!’ CA MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Abraham September, Faber, R., Windhoek, , to Master, 1 09 1945.Google Scholar

159 ‘in die slaghuis … ek was waiter in die hotel … ʼn skaapwagter, ek het al wat ʼn werk was het ek gedoen. Koeie melk ook, perde ry. Dis my werk gewees vir my leeftyd tot laat ek nou te swak word. Kan nie meer ry nie’. (Interviews, Gert September, 20 07 1993; 4 04 1994, Upington.)Google Scholar See also note 180.

160 CA MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Elizabeth September, Schroeder, and Van Coppenhagen, to Asst. Master, 21 08 1926Google Scholar; Asst. Master to Schroeder, and Van Coppenhagen, , 24 08 1926Google Scholar; Schroeder, and Van Coppenhagen, to Asst. Master, 21 10 1926.Google Scholar

161 Cf. CA MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Elizabeth September, Schroeder, and Van Coppenhagen, to Asst. Master, 17 12 1926Google Scholar. They reported that they had ‘done everything in their power’ to try to get Klein Abraham to sign, ‘without any success’. So they sent a statement by one Stuart Smith, Commissioner of Oaths in Louisvale (dated 3 Dec. 1926): ‘In my presence Abraham September stated he is the brother of Maria Magdalena Visagie, born September, and that he knows her to be entitled to a certain inheritance in the estate of the late Abraham September.’!! By now the lawyers were reporting that ‘all brothers and sisters’ save Maria and Klein Abraham were dead. According to Gert September, Klein Abraham later went to Knysna ‘with the Griquas’ and died there: interview, 20 July 1993, Upington. Almost certainly this was as a participant in the land settlement scheme of the well-known Griqua nationalist A. Le Fleur: see Lewis, Gavin, Between the Wire and the Wall: A History of South African ‘Coloured’ Politics (Johannesburg, 1987), 153.Google Scholar

162 CA MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Elizabeth September, J. J. Steeneveld, c/o M. J. J. de Bruin, Louisvale, to Asst. Master, 24 05 1927Google Scholar; Steeneveld, J. J. to Asst. Master, 06 1927Google ScholarSteeneveld, J. J. to Asst. Master, 5 08 1927Google Scholar. The Assistant Master replied (8 Aug. 1927) ‘die Transport Akte van die plaas Oab nie in die Kantoor is nie. U moet skrywe aan die Registrateur van Akte, Vryburg’.

163 Thomas van Wyk recalls J. J. Steeneveld bringing Abraham September's will to him and his family when he (Thomas) was living in Louisvale: interview, 21 July 1993. According to Schroeder and Van Coppenhagen, Thomas's father and mother (Adriaan van Wyk and Johanna Maria September) had died by 1926: see CA MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Elizabeth September, Schroeder, and Van Coppenhagen, , 29 10 1926.Google Scholar

164 CA MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950. Abraham September, Rulf September (mark), to Asst. Master, 8 04 1931Google Scholar; R. September to Asst. Master, 15 04 1931Google Scholar. Also R. September to Asst. Master, 13 05 1931Google Scholar where he speaks of Abraham Holbors's father as living (or dying?) ‘somewhere about Langvlei or in Worcester district’.

166 CA MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Abraham September, R. September to Asst. Master, 8 June 1931. The Assistant Master replied, referring him to the Vryburg Deeds office, mentioning the telegram from the Deeds Office of 21 Apr. 1909 reporting the transfer to the heirs, and continuing ‘It would however appear that these heirs sold the farm in town to one Thorne of Upington’ – information available to the Master's office only from the ‘statement’ sent by the Upington magistrate in 1909.

166 CA MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Abraham September, Private Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture to Faber, R., Keetmanshoop, , 15 05 1935Google Scholar. Faber also apparently received a letter from the Master of the Supreme Court in Kimberley at the same time.

167 CA MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Abraham September, R. Faber, Windhoek, to Master, 1 09 1945Google Scholar. He also reported that Mrs Pietersen and Mrs de Bruin had taken the matter up with one ‘Mr Damans … maar die man is gestorven’. It is possible that this refers to the Revd. Saul Damon, Congregational Church Minister in Upington, much concerned with land rights for ‘coloureds’. In which case Faber was misinformed that he had died: Damon died only in the 1990s.

168 CAMOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Abraham September, Bruin, J. J. de to Master, 12 09 1944Google Scholar; Asst. Master to Bruin, J. J. de, 16 06 1945Google Scholar; Bruin, de to Asst. Master, 16 06 1945Google Scholar; Asst. Master to Bruin, de, 22 06 1945Google Scholar. See also Faber, to Master, 1 09 1945.Google Scholar

169 ‘hulle is almal verarm en in hulpelozen toestand en hulle doen aanvraag aan u om tog met die regeering die geheele zaak deur te drijve zoo dat huile naam te red en hulle goed en plaas weer in hulle bezit kan terug kom. Daar moet nog gelden in die bank weez, wat die geheele jaare since die testament bestaan en voordiet in die bank lê!’ CA MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Abraham September, Faber, to Master, 1 09 1945.Google Scholar

170 CA MOK 1.1.27, DR 8950, Abraham September, Jacobs, D. R., Upington to Asst. Master, 14 12 1953.Google Scholar

171 CA MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Abraham September, Asst. Master to Jacobs, D. R., 18 12 1953.Google Scholar

172 ‘wil ook weet of dit [Thorne's ‘purchase’] deur die hof besluit is. Efgename will weet wat gebeur het want volgens hulle was plaas nie verkoop maar ʼn derde deel verhuur. Erfgename wil weet wat van die res van die plaas geword het en of hulle dan geen reg op enige oordeelde deel van nalatenskap het nie. Wat volgens testatment hulle wettige eiendom was’. CA 1/MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Abraham September, Jacobs, D. D., Rivier, Eerste, to Asst. Master, 4 03 1965; 4 04 1965Google Scholar. He adds ‘I will supply you later with a letter which I got in a file which has something to do with the sale of the farm’. This letter does not appear to have been sent. See also Asst. Master to Carolus September, 21 Nov. 1959, another supplicant, whose letter does not appear in the files.

173 ‘Ek is nie bereid om enige opinie uit te spreek omirent hierdie verkoping, maar stel aan die hand dat u ʼn prokereur te Vryburg aanstel om navraag te doen omirent hierdie verkoping, en die oordrag aan die koper. Ek kan u nie verder behulpsaam wees nie omdat my kantoor nie meer toesig hou oor eiendom wat alreeds aan erfgename oorgedra is’. CA MOK 1/1/27, DR 8950, Abraham September, Asst. Master to Jacobs, D. D., 14 04 1965Google Scholar. See also Asst. Master to Jacobs, T. R., 5 12 1968Google Scholar, similarly cautious, and enclosing a copy of the Asst. Master's letter of 14 Apr. 1965.

174 I first learnt that a lawyer was still investigating the case from Gert September: interview 27 July 1993.