Historical Heidelberg figures: Jopie Fourie – hero or villain?
Fourie was executed for his part in the revolt.
Josef Johannes Fourie was better known as Jopie. He was a soldier, dispatch rider and scout during the second Anglo Boer War.
Fourie participated in the Maritz Rebellion of 1914 to 1915 against the then Prime Minister of South Africa, General Louis Botha.
He was born on August 27, 1876 in Wildebeesthoek, Pretoria and went to school at Grey College in Bloemfontein.
His parents, Josef Johannes Fourie and Anna Sophia Margaretha Pretorius married in the Hervormde Church, Heidelberg on November 25, 1875.
As a schoolboy, Fourie served under Piet Roos during the Jameson Raid.
During the Second Anglo Boer War, Fourie was wounded in the knee and captured north of Pretoria.
On April 22, 1903 Fourie married Susan Engelmohr. No children were born while they were married.
In 1914, Fourie was commissioned into the Active Citizens Force as an officer of the Union Defence Force. In the same year he joined General Beyers Rebel forces against the then government.
As the first world war started, the British government wanted to attack German South West Africa (Namibia) and as they were pulling all the strings at the time the Union felt they had to obey the orders.
The strong belief was that a lot of the Afrikaners had German ancestry that were all part of the Boer war. They did not want to betray the people that fought alongside them during the war.
Without resigning his British commission, Fourie led a commando which inflicted many casualties of government security forces.
Fourie and his brother Hannes were captured at Nooitgedacht in the Rustenburg area on December 16, 1914.They were court-martialed for high treason as they had not resigned from the Active Citizens Force.
Hannes received five years hard labour and Jopie received the death sentence for his part in the revolt. He was executed by firing squad on December 20, 1914.
An Afrikaner delegation that included future Prime Minister D F Malan unsuccessfully petitioned the Minister of Defence, General Jan Smuts, to grant leniency.
According to various reports, when Smuts lost the election in 1948, he was told that Fourie was finally vindicated.
A street in Rensburg, Heidelberg was named after Fourie.
• Reference: Wikipedia, Heidelberg Heritage Association
