What happened today in History
Learn what happened on this day in history.
Friday, 6 February 1795
On 6 February 1795, the Dutch settlers of Graaff-Reinet evicted the magistrate appointed to this region of the Cape Colony.
Among the reasons cited for this action, and subsequent declaration of independence, were that the settlers considered the taxes demanded by the authorities to be unfair and detrimental to their development.
The fact that trade within the district had stagnated, a general objection to the introduction of paper money and lastly the ‘peace’ that the governing bodies has made with the Xhosa nation.
Tuesday, 6 February 1838
Following the signing of Dingane and Retief’s treaty, Piet Retief and his party were treated to a farewell dance by the Zulu impis at Ungungundlovu.
They were told to leave their firearms outside the royal kraal.
Suddenly, when the dancing had reached a frenzied climax, King Dingane leapt to his feet and shouted Bambani aba thakathi! (Catch the wizards!).
The men were totally overpowered and dragged away to a hill called kwaMatiwane, named after a chief who had been killed there.
Retief and his men were savagely butchered to death.
It is alleged by some that the reason why they were killed, was because they withheld some of the cattle recovered from Chief Sekonyela.
The general opinion is that Dingane did not wish to yield the land ceded to them in the treaty and mistrusted the presence of the Voortrekkers.
Wednesday, 6 February 1901
The Battle of Chrissiesmeer (Lake Chrissie) during Anglo-Boer War 2 started with an attack by General Louis Botha on the British forces under General Smith-Dorrien.
Botha’s main aim was to cripple the advance of Smith-Dorrien into the eastern Transvaal.
According to oral tradition, Smith-Dorrien’s march had been kept under observation by San (Bushmen) who also acted as messengers.
The Boers capitalised on the San’s knowledge of the terrain and attacked at 2.50am in pitch darkness.
The burgers achieved initial success, but could not gain a foothold on the slopes and were not able to open direct fire on the main camp situated on a plateau.
At 4.30am covered by thick morning mist, Botha ordered them to retreat.
The Boer commando suffered about eighty casualties and the British seventy-five.
About 300 horses of the British force were killed or stampeded.
Despite heavy losses on the Boer side the British advance into the eastern Transvaal was delayed by the loss of their horses, which gave the Boer commandos time to re-group.
Tuesday, 6 February 1979
Prime Minister P.W. Botha offered to resign amid speculation regarding his involvement in the Information Scandal of 1978, if his accusers could prove that either he, or a member of his Cabinet, was aware of activities relating to the Information Scandal.
This followed after a motion was tabled in parliament by opposition parties.
This came after disclosure that funds from the department of defence, of which Botha was the minister at the time, was used to fund covert operations. The Erasmus Commission cleared Botha of any guilt.
Wednesday, 6 February 1980
The Minister of Cooperation and Development, Dr. Piet Koornhof, announced that the ’72-hour curfew’ will be lifted on a trial basis in Pretoria and Bloemfontein, as part of a plan to remove all restrictions.
The ‘72-hour curfew’ imposed on visiting blacks was one of the most hated apartheid laws.
This curfew formed an integral part of influx-control regulations that restricted black people’s movement.
In his statement he said that the curfew requiring blacks to have a permit to stay more than 72 hours in an urban area would be dropped in Pretoria and Bloemfontein as an experiment.
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