The Sand River Convention

We left off in October 1851 with Commandant-General Adriaan Standers imposing Transvaal Boer authority in the Madikwe valley. All the Dikgosi were required to supply free labour, while their ringleader Kgosi Mosielele of the Bakgatla baga Mmanaana, was further forced to hand over a party of Bahurutshe fugitives.

After this initial success the ever impulsive Stander’s wanted to immediately organise a larger force to attack Kgosi Sechele Dimawe-Kolobeng, but his superior Andries Pretorius held him back.

In January 1852 Pretorius’ patience was rewarded when he and two British Commissioners, William Hogge and Charles Owen, signed the infamous Sand River Convention. Under this agreement the British accepted the de facto independence of the Voortrekkers living north of the Vaal River.

Editor's Comment
The State apparatus must be sanitised

When the State cannot rely on its own machinery to pursue suspected wrongdoing, repairing that machinery must become a national priority.The establishment of a Special Investigations and Asset Recovery Task Force may help government respond to the immediate challenge. However, Botswana cannot afford to leave the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) and the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) struggling whilst building...

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