by Martin Redfern Reasons for the Boer War are often over simplified. A voracious and rapacious colonial administration seeking to wrest control of the gold and diamond deposits in the Transvaal from an honest, simple farming folk defending what was rightfully theirs tells only part of the story. Whilst it is true that the Cape […]
Read more >by Hannes Wessels For Guy Brooke Sumner it was just another day at the office but not a very gratifying one. Canoeing the upper reaches of the Zambezi above the Victoria Falls he was surrounded by a wild splendor which never seemed to lose its magical allure for him. But for some of his […]
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by Hannes Wessels The question of legal responsibility with regard to the Zimbabwean farmers dispossessed in the course of the state-orchestrated land seizures beginning in 2000 may never be fully resolved but there are compelling reasons to conclude that Mugabe may be at least partly correct when he insists the British government may have […]
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by Hannes Wessels Hugh Ballance and his lethal ‘Rat-Trap’. Gary Ballance When Gary Ballance was picked to play for England there were rumblings about yet another ‘foreigner’ and questions were raised about his loyalty to his adopted country. Well, just as Gary rallied to the England cause on the field of play so did […]
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by Hannes Wessels – In sub-Saharan Africa there are few river-systems as wild and wonderful as that of the Rufiji as it wends its way to the sea through the Selous Game Reserve in southern Tanzania. To add to the natural excitement it reeks of history. Up these waters the Sultan, from his seat in […]
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by Hannes Wessels For someone who well remembers the era of the ‘Red Menace’ and the ‘Total Onslaught’, reading ‘The Hidden Thread’ by Irina Filatova and Apollon Davidson was revealing in that they explain Soviet policy towards Southern Africa was not quite as simple as many of us thought. While there was much synergy between […]
Read more >by Hannes Wessels – On a continent more famous for despots and demagogues, where real statesmanship became a domain solely occupied by Nelson Mandela, we should not forget the late South African president is not alone in holding a special place in African history. There is another African who provided a rare example of a […]
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by Hannes Wessels – When the men who settled Rhodesia decided they needed a place of learning for their sons they positioned it in the harsh, dry country bordering on the Kalahari Desert and then introduced a regimen that would have pleased a Marine Corps instructor. Plumtree School became a nursery for Rhodesian soldiers and […]
Read more >by August Pointneuf Colonialist was beguiled by this beauty. A compulsion to join forever and create a mutual life of productivity and security were the drivers. There was mutual attraction, a lust for union. At marriage Colony had nothing: The prospect of riches beyond dreams, the revelations of a different personality, the attractions of a […]
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By Hannes Wessels I write as a concerned father whose daughter, like millions of other children, has recently been taught about colonialism which is subtly lumped together with slavery to create the strong but false impression the two were pretty much synonymous . The tuition followed the familiar line about this period being motivated by […]
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