The Bondelswarts Rebellion of 1922

Abstract

No abstract or overview provided by the author. The following is taken from Eriksen/Moorsom's critical review in The political economy of Namibia, Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, 1985, ISBN 91-7106-234-3, p. 114

This is a thoroughly researched study of the Bondelswarts rebellion and 'native policies' in the early years of South African rule. The theoretical perspective is less developed, but the thesis benefits from extensive and careful use of the primary source material, such as the minutes of evidence and the various drafts prepared by the commission of enquiry, documents in the Transvaal Archives, the Windhoek Archives and the Prime Minister's Office. The author was also in a position to do a certain amount of field work, and among his informants are several Bondelswarts with excellent memories for detail and a deep sense of grievance at the losses suffered under German and South African rule

The first part of the thesis is essentially a descriptive account of the events leading up to the rebellion, the rebellion itself and its bloody suppression, including a detailed discussion of the conflict between liberal and die-hard conservative representatives serving on the Native Affairs Commission

The second part consists of an assessment of the evidence, concluding that the Bondelswarts originally had held great hopes for the redress of their loss of land and independence under German rule, but that disillusionment, poverty, harsh treatment at the hands of European settlers, heavy taxes and further erosion of their economic independence led to the decision to fight rather than to surrender to the claims of the South African Administration