The 1908-10 campaign against incorporation into South Africa (Part 3) :: Mmegi Online

We left off on July 17, 1908 with the Colonial Secretary in London, Lord Crewe, expressing his opinion in a dispatch to the High Commissioner for British South Africa, Lord Selborne, that it might be advisable to put off the incorporation of the three Protectorates - Basutoland and Swaziland as well as Bechuanaland - until after the formation of the proposed Union of South Africa.

The Colonial Secretary further went on to suggest the inclusion in any enacting legislation for such a Union a provision for their possible future absorption, which might also further address the question of “native consent”

Lord Crewe’s favourable response to the initial protests of Kgosi Sebele I and the Basotho monarch Letsie proved to be and an important turning point. The Colonial Office’s position was further clarified in September-October of 1908. In a secret September 17, 1908 memorandum on the proposed “South African Federation”, the head of the Dominions Department, Sir Charles Lucas, proposed that they:

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