![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Over a period of nine months in 1896-7, African men (including armed men), women and children sheltering in caves were blown up with dynamite, when it was clear that many were being killed. Wars were fought in 18-7: unbridled use was made of the Maxim gun cattle were looted by the Company and its agents on a large scale in the 1896-7 war, grain stores and crops were appropriated or destroyed over a sustained period as a deliberate strategy many Ndebele soldiers were shot in flight supposed rebels were sentenced and hung or shot without due process of law. In respect of Zimbabwe, 1890-97, Rhodes and his Company were responsible for extreme violence against African people. To a limited degree a pragmatist in Cape politics, prepared to work with a range of people who would be useful to his interests, Rhodes was a deeply committed British imperialist, intent on white, specifically British, authority and committed to the idea that ‘the natives’ should be a ‘subject race’ (Samkange, 1982, 15 Vindex, 1900, 159). Rhodes was involved in the beginning of coercive compounds for black workers and other racially restrictive practices as an employer. He was increasingly in favour of segregated urban ‘locations’ and rural districts. He had some power to influence an alternative political direction in the Colony but advocated a racially restrictive franchise, punitive racially-based Masters and Servants legislation, a labour (poll) tax for African people only, a segregated local government system and segregation in the South African cricket team. With respect to the Cape, the evidence shows that Rhodes made a number of important decisions, or supported developments, that intensified racial segregation in the late nineteenth century. This memorandum focusses on two key questions that have been central in debates following the Rhodes Must Fall protests in 2015-6: whether Rhodes contributed to racial segregation in the Cape Colony and how to characterise the violence in the conquest of Zimbabwe in the 1890s. It is extraordinary that he was allowed to hold all these positions while Prime Minister but also some indication of the range of activities in which he was engaged, his influence, and his ability as politician, mining magnate, businessman and empire-builder. He was simultaneously: chairman of De Beers diamond company, which monopolised production after 1888 joint managing director of Goldfields of South Africa one of the richest men in South Africa and managing director of the British South Africa Company, which colonised Zimbabwe and areas to the north from 1890. At this time, Rhodes, in his late 30s and early 40s, was at the peak of his power. He was the second longest-serving Prime Minister of the Colony and would have been in office longer if he had not staged the Jameson Raid (1895-6, see below). ![]() Rhodes became an increasingly influential member of the Cape parliament and served as Prime Minister from 1890 to 1896. In that year he won election to the Cape Legislative Assembly and completed a degree at Oriel College, following irregular visits to Oxford over an eight-year period. By 1881 he had bought up sufficient claims to be one of the largest diamond producers. Born in England, he arrived in South Africa in 1870, gained a little experience with his older brother on a farm in Natal, but soon migrated to the Kimberley diamond fields in 1871. Hugely ambitious and driven, he made an impact in many different spheres. Cecil Rhodes did an extraordinary amount in his short life (1853-1902). ![]()
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