Monday, 16 July 1685
The visiting Dutch commissioner, Hendrik Adriaan van Reede (Rheede), gave several instructions to Governor Simon van der Stel regarding slaves at the Cape. Housing and clothing were improved and regulations concerning schooling were issued, e.g. slave children were to be taught by their own teachers. All children under twelve in the slave lode received schooling. He further specified that male slaves could buy their freedom for 100 guilders on reaching the age of twenty-five, provided that they could speak Dutch and had been confirmed in the Dutch Reformed Church. The same conditions applied to females at the age of twenty-two years. Marriages between Dutchmen and emancipated female slaves, which had occurred in the past, were prohibited, except when the female slaves had Dutch fathers.
Friday, 16 July 1897
The Jameson Raid of 1895 did tremendous harm to the relationship between the Boer Republics and the British Empire, as they viewed it as confirmation that Britain sought to annex their territory. In response to public outcry, the British Colonial Office in South Africa appointed a Mr Labouchere as head of a South African committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding the raid and in effect to absolve the British Government of all responsibility regarding the incident.
On completion of its work, the Committee found that the raid was conducted almost implicitly through the support and encouragement of Cecil John Rhodes and the mining houses in the Transvaal the Transvaal Republic. Despite reaching this conclusion, very few charges were brought against Rhodes. Instead the Committee found that Jameson was the main culprit. This incident convinced the Boer Republics to begin an armament process that eventually ended with the outbreak of the Anglo Boer War in 1899.
Tuesday, 16 July 1901
On 16 July 1901, the Ladies commission was appointed. The members who were considered impartial were, Mrs. Millicent G. Fawcett, Emily Hobhouse and Dr. Jane Waterson. They were appointed by the British Office to investigate the concentration camps in South Africa during the Second Anglo Boer War.
The camps were found to have been inadequately built and maintained, unclean, and overcrowded. These factors contributed to the spread of diseases. There was a shortage of both medical supplies and medical staff. A least 25 000 children and women died from epidemics of dysentery, measles, and enteric fever. Emily Hobhouse visited the camps to try and improve the life of the prisoners living of the concentration camps. Hobhouse was an English philanthropist and social worker who tried her best to make the British authorities aware of the plight of women and children in these inhumane conditions. Due to the publicising of what was occurring in the concentration camps international opinion turned against British, and critics were outspoken about their disdain and disgust over the situation. This led to the British General Kitchener changing and ceasing the practise of imprisoning women and children in the camps.
The Commission visited almost every concentration camp in South Africa. They found that the camps in the Orange Free State and Transvaal were the most inhumane. Here, up to 3 500 captives shared nine toilets. Contrary to a common perception that only White people were kept in these camps, some 14 000 Black people died in them. By 1902 there were 27 927 deaths in the concentration camps comprising 1 676 men, 4 177 women and 22 074 children.
Saturday, 16 July 1966
When the system of Apartheid was implemented in South Africa in 1948, certain laws had to be put in place to maintain white domination in all aspects of South African society.
Apart from the legislation implemented to ensure the separation of different racial groups, such as the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act (1949) and the Group Areas Act (1950), laws such as the Suppression of Communism Act (1950), and the Riotous Assembly Act (1927) were enforced to deal with resistance against the apartheid government through a system of banning.
A banned person was restricted to his/her home and could not be seen with more than one person at a time. Living under banning orders also meant that one could not be quoted, and therefore could neither speak publicly nor write for an audience.
By 1966, 936 people in South Africa had been banned, with 467 listed as communists under the Suppression of Communism Act, 515 banned under the Suppression of Communism and Riotous Assembly Acts and 3 banned under the Riotous Assemblies Act. An additional 49 names are listed as both communists and banned persons.
Between 1950 and 1990, more than 2000 people were banned in South Africa and labelled as terrorists, communists or perceived by the apartheid government as a threat to public security. The ban on anti-apartheid activists was finally lifted in 1990.
