The Anatomy of a South African Genocide by Mohamed Adhikari

Author:Mohamed Adhikari [Adhikari, Mohamed]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General, Social Science, Violence in Society, Africa, Anthropology
ISBN: 9780821444009
Google: C_JHBAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Ohio University Press
Published: 2011-09-16T01:41:43+00:00

1 The British occupied the Cape in 1795 after the outbreak of the French revolutionary wars in a pre-emptive move to prevent the colony from falling to France. Ambivalent about the merits of retaining the colony, Britain handed it over to the Batavian government in 1803, but took permanent control in 1806 after the onset of the Napoleonic wars.

2 I make an analytical distinction between the intentional extermination of a social group (genocide) and the suppression of a culture (ethnocide). The two are not commensurate — unless the latter is accompanied by large-scale killing. Because British policy toward the San was ethnocidal in its broad conception, however, does not mean that its implementation could not have genocidal consequences. In reality, the colonial state continued to perpetrate violence against the San and prosecuted the colonial project in a way that was inimical to the continued existence of San society. Although some frontiersmen supported British ‘civilising’ initiatives, many continued to hold exterminatory attitudes and continued to inflict violence on San. It is the intention of perpetrators, not simply that of the state, that counts.

3 Macartney’s proclamation can be found in the Cape Archives (CA), First British Occupation (BO), 174, Original Placaat Book, 24 July 1798.

4 See Brody (2000: 217–18) for the difficulty missionaries usually had communicating Christian teachings to hunter-gatherer communities.

5 LMS mission stations specifically for San were established at Blydevooruitzicht Fontein (1799–1800), which was moved to the Sak River (1800–06), Toornberg (1814–17), Hephzibah 1816–17), Ramah (1816–18), Konnah (1816–18), Philippolis (1823–26), Caledon River (1828–33) and Bushman Station (1839– 46). For the location of these stations, see map on p 35.

6 For a discussion of the enclosure movement in the Cape countryside, see Van Sittert (2002).

7 For a study of these processes at work in the Colesberg region, see Neville (1996: 230–44).

8 Discrepancies in these tallies suggest poor record-keeping and understatement of San casualties during this period.

9 For some sense of the increase in the numbers of sheep in the northern Cape during this period see (G 20-1866, xi; Nel, 1998: chs. 3, 5; Thom, 1936: 321).

10 Although much of the evidence he collected was second hand and circumstantial, there is little reason to doubt the general accuracy of Anthing’s claims of atrocities against the San.

11 For details of these controversies, questions around Anthing’s behaviour and his dismissal, see Findlay (1977: ch. 4). It seems as if Anthing may have been involved in illicit trading, and he incurred considerable government debt at a time of fiscal stringency.

12 Even as well informed a commentator as Sandy Gall, the British journalist who authored the highly sympathetic Slaughter of the Innocent, repeatedly refers to the pre-colonial San as ‘lords of the desert’ (Gall, 2001: front flap, 96, 135).

13 Tobias (1970: 618) put the number at 20. He later estimated that about 25 ‘unmixed’ San still lived in the northwestern Cape and on the shores of Lake Chrissie near Ermelo (1978: 12–13).

14 See also www.san.org.za/sasi/home.htm, accessed 10 September 2009; Hitchcock, 1999: 176; Smith et al, 2000: 65; Sharp & Douglas, 1996: 323.

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