Times' Pitso

On July 20-21 of 1909, Colonial Secretary Lord Crewe held secret talks with the official South African delegates. In his opening remarks, he made it clear that members of the government “were prepared to see the Bill through both as to franchise and as to representation.”

Thereafter, most of the discussions at the meeting centred around proposed amendments to, and clarifications about, the Schedule for the future incorporation of Basutoland, Bechuanaland and Swaziland.  A guarantee against the partitioning of the territories after their incorporation was accepted, but amendments proposed by the Resident Commissioners of Basutoland and Bechuanaland, which sought to institutionalise the status of the Chiefs and the Basutoland National Council were ruled out.