Die Volkeregtelike Status van die Afgevaardigdes dan die Boererepublieke by die Vrede van 31 Mei 1902

Abstract

OPSOMMING

Die Anglo-Boereoorlog van 1899-1902 met sy kern Boer teen Brit betree teen middel 1900, met die Britse anneksering van die Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek en die Republiek van die Oranje Vrystaat, ’n tyd van guerrilla-oorlogvoering deur die Boere. Hierdie oorlog eindig met vredesluiting op 31 Mei 1902. 

Die “nagenoeg” 20 779 Boere (vgl. Pretorius, 2001:21) wat in hierdie fase aan Boerekant geveg het, dra die naam Bittereinders. Hierdie Boere wat tot die einde van die oorlog – hulle het onder mekaar gepraat van die bittereinde – met verset teen die Britse imperialisme sou volhard, sou daarna ʼn aantoonbare invloed op die historiese verloop van staatkundige sake in Suid-Afrika hê. In oorleg met lord Kitchener, opperbevelhebber van die Britse magte in Suid-Afrika, het die Boere ’n beraad van 60 vegtende Boere of Bittereinders vir die laaste twee weke van Mei 1902 op Vereeniging gereël wat oor ’n vrede onder omstandighede vir die Boere moes besluit. Die verteenwoordigers op hierdie Boereberaad is deur die vegtende burgers as stemvolk aangewys. 

Aan die begin van die beraad het die 60 Boere aanvaar dat hulle uit ’n volkeregtelike hoek die status van gevolmagtigde verteenwoordigers van die burgers “te velde” gehad het wat namens die twee republieke oor vrede met Brittanje moes besluit. Dit het beteken dat hulle die gees onder hulle genote moes verreken, maar ook eie insig kon gebruik in die hantering van dit wat hulle by medeafgevaardigdes, kommando’s en ander mense in die oorlog gehoor het. Hulle was gevolmagtigde gesante wat op ’n sinvolle vrede vir die Boere in die omstandighede moes besluit. Sekere faktore sou hierdie status bevestig. 

Die beraad moes finaal oor die moontlikheid van vrede vir die Boere besluit. ʼn Kommissie van 10 uit die 60 wat die regerings van die twee republieke verteenwoordig het, het die Vrede van Vereeniging soos deur die beraad aanvaar, geteken. Daardeur het die vredesverdrag wat op die Britse voorstelle gebaseer was, ’n bindende ooreenkoms vir Boer en Brit geword: ʼn ooreenkoms wat die republieke deur die beraad van 60 aanvaar het en hulle deur handtekening en erewoord gebind het. 

Die aard van die vredesverdrag was betekenisvol. Milner het die ooreenkoms soos aanvaar deur die Britse regering in Londen vir die tien Boere wat sou teken as ʼn “Act of surrender” aangebied. Generaal Jan Smuts het hierdie opskrif by ontvangs gesien en onmiddellik gewysig na “Act of peace”. Kitchener en Milner het nie hierteen beswaar gemaak nie. Die republieke het selfstandig oor die vrede besluit en was daarvoor nie van Brittanje se goedkeuring afhanklik nie. As gevolmagtigde verteenwoordigers was die 60 Boere as ’n wettige en verkose liggaam instrumenteel in die republieke se aanvaarding van die ooreenkoms. 

Die Vrede van Vereeniging is aanvaar deur die 60 Bittereinderboere wat dit met ʼn meerderheid van 54 – 6 goedgekeur het. Die Britse anneksasie van die Republiek van die Oranje-Vrystaat op 24 Mei 1900 en die Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek op 1 September 1900, het geen rol op konferensie gespeel nie. Die Bittereinderboere het selfstandig besluit oor – op hulle voorwaardes – die einde van die bittereinde. 

ABSTRACT

The status of the Boer delegates according to the law of nations at the peace talks in May 1902 after the Anglo-Boer War 
Peace talks after in the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) between Great Britain, the South African Republic (ZAR) and the Republic of the Orange Free State (Rep. OVS), took place in the final two weeks of May 1902. At that stage, the Anglo-Boer War had been lasting for about two years and eight months.

The British High Commissioner in South Africa, sir Alfred Milner, who is on record for precipitating the war, anticipated that the Anglo-Boer War would last only three months and end in a British victory. The war started on 11 October 1899 after Britain had refused an ultimatum of the ZAR, which felt threatened by the movement of British troops to its borders. The war ended, however, nearly three years later, on 31 May 1902. 

In the middle of 1900, after Britain successfully invaded the republics, the Boers took to guerilla warfare. They used this until May 1902, whereafter the peace treaty was signed in Pretoria on 31 May 1902. 

During the period of guerilla warfare, the Boers were represented by the so-called Bittereinders or die-hard Boers. They believed that an imperialistic Britain threatened to terminate the independence of the republics and was committing a grave injustice to the Boers by doing so. The Bittereinders were convinced that the republics, by defending their cause in taking up arms as their final option, acted according to God’s will, which gives states the right to defend their independence when necessary. God, they believed, gave them this right in His providence. The President of the Orange Free State, M.T. Steyn, who was named the “Bittereinder van die Bittereinders” (die-hard of the die-hards), promoted this view and added that the republics might lose the military side of the war, but win the fight for spiritual values. He propagated the defence of oneself and of independent states in situations of need as a holy God-given right and visualised the spiritual superiority of Boer women and children in British concentration camps. 

When peace talks between Britain and the republics became a reality, it was clear that the “Bittereinders” – at that stage their fighting group – would be delegated by the republics to the peace conference. Lord Kitchener, the officer in command of the British soldiers in South Africa, accepted a proposal from the republics that the Boers hold a conference with 30 delegates from each of the ZAR and the Rep. OVS to participate in the peace talks on behalf of the Boers. They would be chosen by the fighting Boers who were Bittereinders. The British cabinet appointed Kitchener and Milner to represent them in the peace talks and report back to the British government for the final decision. 

Britain annexed the ZAR and the Rep. OVS in 1900 after an invasion and the establishment of a military government in both. These military governments meant to replace the republican governments. This arrangement, however, played no role in the peace talks of 1902. The two sides, Britain and the republics, met as equals. Decisions in these talks were not taken by a majority of individuals, but by an agreement between the parties. Kitchener and Milner followed the talks to reach a proposal, which they sent to London for a final decision to act on. In the end the Boers accepted the British proposals, but after the consent of the conference of 60 Boer delegates, who fully represented their states in this situation. In fact, at the beginning of the meeting of 60 at Vereeniging, the delegates accepted that they could decide according to their own convictions in the negotiations on behalf of the two countries they represented. 

At the end of the talks, Milner presented the Boers with the final British proposal under the heading of an “Act of surrender”. However, upon receiving it, the Boer Bittereinder general J.C. Smuts, replaced this heading with a more appropriate wording according to the Boers, namely an “Act of peace”, that is an act of equal parties. Kitchener and Milner let this change pass in silence. Kitchener was eager to reach an agreement that would end the war and differences of minor importance could damage it. 

The influence of the Bittereinders could also be seen in South Africa after 1902. An important example was the establishment of the Republic of South Africa in 1961: an ideal of the Bittereinders. Another example was the implementation of the policy of apartheid, which ended finally and formally with the general election in 1994. 

https://doi.org/10.19108/KOERS.90.1.2596