The 1909 Peoples' Delegation
Jeff Ramsay | Monday June 21, 2021 17:09
In his letter to Gerrans, Sebele had observed: “Knowing that you are always desirous to help the natives in any just cause, we desire you if possible to speak for us to the English people and ask them not to give us and our country over to the South African Government. We are still happy and well contented under the Imperial government and we have no desire to be under any other.”
Based on the above Bathoen and Sebele each provided Gerrans with letters accrediting him to represent on their behalf the “chiefs and people” of the BP while in London.
To further strengthen their position, Sebele wrote to Khama in April, referring to their 1895 partnership and warning him of the need to take more active measures. This coincided with reports by the Serowe Resident Magistrate that the Phuti was becoming increasingly disturbed by the implications of the Union. But, Khama was subsequently reassured by the Resident Commissioner’s confirmation of previous assurances and did not become actively involved in Gerran’s efforts.
Before leaving for the UK, Gerrans contacted W.P. Schreiner, the liberal former Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, and thereafter became a full member of his “Coloured and Native People’s Delegation.” Schreiner had, himself had been first approached to join the delegation by among others Sol Plaatje, acting on behalf of the Barolong dikgosi, and Letsie.
The Delegation’s twin aims were to convince the British Parliament to withhold its approval of the proposed Union of South Africa Act unless it was amended to include a non-racial franchise and also prevent the involuntary incorporation of the Protectorates.
In addition to Gerrans and Schreiner, its two white members, the Delegation united for the first time prominent non-whites from across South Africa. Its other members were: Walter Rubusana, Daniel Dwanya, and Thomas Mapikela of the South African Native Convention, John Tengo Jabavu of the Cape Native Convention, Pixley Seme and Alfred Mangena of the Transvaal Native Congress, and Abdul Abdurrahman, D.J. Lenders, and Matthew Fredericks of the, predominately Coloured, African Peoples Organization.
Natal activist, John Dube, and three Natal/Transvaal Indian Congress representatives, M.C. Anglia, Mohandas Gandhi, and Haji Habib, travelled separately but worked with the Delegation upon their arrival in London, as did Ismail Abdurahman, D.D.T. Jabavu, and Richard Msimang, who were then studying in Britain.
While Bathoen and Sebele allowed Gerrans to join the Delegation they, along with the other traditional rulers of the Protectorates, turned down invitations to attend the March 1909 inaugural meeting of the South African Native Convention in Bloemfontein. They were, however, informally represented by Silas T. Molema who had helped move a resolution stating that there be no change in the status of any of the Protectorates “without its consent, expressed by its chiefs, councillors, and people assembled in open Council.”
The London arrival of the People’s Delegation, in early July 1909, coincided with the simultaneous disembarking of a nineteen-member “official” delegation made up of leading white South African politicians. At least some of the later party came prepared to press for a firm guarantee that Bechuanaland and the other protectorates would soon become part of the nascent Union.
Also shipped in, was a secret dispatch by the commanding officer of British forces in South Africa, General Methuen, “on the subject of the fighting strength and resources of the Basuto.” This report, which was widely circulated among the South African officials as well as within the Colonial Office, must have made for sober reading to any inclined to simply dismiss Basotho, and by extension Batswana and Amaswati, concerns:
“...The Basuto nation could probably put about 60,000-80,000 fighting men in the field. About 50 percent of these would probably possess breech-loading rifles...about half of the remainder would have firearms of some sort, and for close quarters they would have knockberries and battle axes or assegais. The leading feature of the Basutos as an enemy would be that every man would be mounted and well mounted. Probably they would fight as mounted infantry, dismounting and using their rifles, but they are a nation of horsemen, and quite capable of acting as units.
...At the start of the war, they would almost certainly hold some of their historic strongholds or even assemble in force to besiege Maseru or one of the other Residencies. If merely driven away then they would probably retire to their mountain fastnesses and adopt guerrilla tactics, which would be exceedingly difficult to put down...”