This directive had been communicated in the context of the British having successfully goaded President Paul Kruger of the South African Republic (SAR/Transvaal) into issuing a 48-hour ultimatum on October 9th 1899 demanding the withdrawal of the British colonial troop concentrations then menacing his borders.
With the lapse of the ultimatum, on October 12, 1899 Boer Commandos of the Orange Free State as well as SAR went on the offensive at various points across the region. These initial actions included the launching of incursions into Gammangwato and Gammalete, in order to cut the telegraph line in the vicinity of Mahalapye and Otse. In direct response the Dikgosi of eastern Botswana wasted no time in calling their mephato up for duty. Batswana, along with the mostly Basotho members of the paramilitary Protectorate Native Police (PNP), were thus engaged in armed operations from the first week of the conflict, underscoring the fact that it was never a “White Man’s War”.
