Orange Free Research Articles

In memoriam: Stephen Hough 27/08/1947-05/12/2014.

Stephen Hough Stephen Hough passed away on December 5th 2014 after a short but heroic battle against cancer. He was Emeritus Professor, Division of Endocrinology Department of Medicine, University of Stellenbosch and Tygerberg Academic Hospital, South Africa. He was the former Chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine and former Head of the Division of Endocrinology. He was Chairman of the National Endocrine Society of South Africa (SEMDSA), and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes of South Africa. He was the founder and President of the National Osteoporosis Foundation of South Africa and of the South African Diabetes Association (SADA). He served on committees for the College of Medicine; South Africa Medical Research Council; South Africa Medicines Control Council; American Society for Bone and Mineral Research; American Endocrine Society; International Osteoporosis Foundation (Committee of Scientific Advisors); American Paget's Foundation (International Advisory Panel); and International Bone and Mineral Society (Membership Committee). Respected as an educator, Stephen Hough was also an Examiner in Clinical Medicine and the Basic Sciences at the University of Stellenbosch, Cape Town, Witwatersrand, Natal, Pretoria and the Orange Free State, as well as the College of Medicine. Stephen's true character was displayed when he acted as organizer, chairman and speaker at the National Osteoporosis Foundation of South Africa (NOFSA) congress 6 weeks before his untimely death. Stephen was at his happiest when dealing with NOFSA. He was the inspiration and the caretaker of NOFSA and deserved his nickname of Mister Bone South Africa. He cared deeply for patients suffering from osteoporosis and acted as their advocate. He made it his mission to educate the South African medical fraternity on best practice. He made a massive contribution to research on osteoporosis and diabetes and was the founder of the department of endocrinology at Stellenbosch University. He was an example of excellence. He was a highly valued member of the Board of the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) and was due to chair a session on bone disease and diabetes in Milan in March 2015. I was fortunate to be associated with Stephen as a student, an intern, a registrar, consultant and a friend. He was a magnificent teacher, a true academic, an inspiration for all, a true friend and the best travelling companion. His sense of humor enlightened all around him. He will be greatly missed by all his friends and academics around the globe. We send our deepest sympathy to his wife, Tereza, and his children Elzahn, Stephanie, Salmon and Yvette, on their great loss. Tobie de Villiers Vice President, National Osteoporosis Foundation of South Africa University of Stellenbosch

Experiences and Observations from a Rural Hosiptal in Orange Free State, South Africa

During the summer of 2004, I travelled to South Africa to volunteer in Boitumelong Special Needs School. The school is located in the small township of Thaba ‘Nchu which is near Bloemfontein in the Free State. It was not long before I introduced myself to the doctors practicing in the local hospital and eagerly asked if I could attend some of the clinics. The health care system in South Africa has a much more developed private sector than the UK. In every major city both a public and private hospital can be found. Typically, only white South Africans have health insurance and comprise the patient population of the private health care institutions. The public hospitals serve the black populace who cannot afford to pay for their medical treatment. Many of the small towns and townships in South Africa are populated by a majority of blacks and so are served by Government funded hospitals. Such hospitals often face staff, equipment and medication shortages and frequently become the primary choices of newly qualified medical students who are keen to spend their first year practicing under a great deal of pressure and in a variety of different medical specialties simultaneously. The doctors I spoke with found that they developed a greater depth and quality of medical knowledge and understanding of tertiary health care than their counterparts who applied to larger public and private hospitals.

DIANE JORGE

The Classical Association conference held at the University of the Orange Free State in January devoted a brief period of a plenary session to an obituary for Diane Jorge, who was to have presented a paper on Catullus but was killed in a tragic motor car accident in Namibia in December 1994. It was a tribute to her achievement and a mark of our loss that her memory was honoured in this unprecendented way, as she was one of the youngest of our colleagues and one who still had to gain a permanent post at a university.

Town engineers in South Africa before 1910, with reference to water supply

This article looks at the town engineers in South Africa prior to Union in 1910. It briefly examines the growth in the number of municipalities and town engineers in the country in this period and investigates the background and training of these engineers; why municipalities decided to appoint an engineer; and what kind of appointment processes were followed. Finally the relations between engineers and town councils and the prevailing circumstances at the end of the engineers’ tenures is studied. The article also presents ten specific cases which have reference to the development of water supply. It emerges that most early town engineers received training via apprenticeship for the positions they held, and that there was added pressure from elected councillors in municipalities who were prone to monitor assiduously how officials were spending public money. It is also clear that engineers who did not have earlier municipal experience were bound to have problems in their interaction with town councillors.Keywords: Municipal history, civil engineering, water supply, sanitation, Cape Colony, Natal, Orange Free State, TransvaalDisciplines: History, Engineering, Public Management

Documenting First Wave Feminisms, vol. I: Transnational Collaborations and Crosscurrents ed. by Maureen Moynagh and Nancy Forestell

Reviewed by: Documenting First Wave Feminisms, vol. I: Transnational Collaborations and Crosscurrents ed. by Maureen Moynagh and Nancy Forestell Bonnie S. Anderson Moynagh, Maureen and Nancy Forestell (eds.) – Documenting First Wave Feminisms, vol. I: Transnational Collaborations and Crosscurrents. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012. Pp. 405. This impressive anthology is a welcome and needed addition to the field of feminist studies. Focusing chiefly on the period between 1880 and 1940, it provides a number of documents from the global south and East Asia which are often underrepresented in such collections. Aimed primarily at professional historians and their students, the editors “seek to make more readily available some of the documents of first wave feminism that make especially evident its international linkages and its engagement with categories of social location other than gender that were and continue to be so central to women’s organizing and feminist theorizing” (p. xxi). These categories include race, colonial status, and class. The editors use examples of both Western women and non-Western men to good effect to illumine the lives of indigenous women when primary testimony is unavailable. The English missionary Edith Emily Jones, writing on aboriginal women in Australia (pp. 97–101), provides a useful insight into otherwise understudied lives. Female communists like Clara Zetkin and Alexandra Kollontai illustrate the views of the Second International. This collection contributes to global studies as well as feminism and internationalism. The general introduction to both volumes (the second will be on Canada: National and Transnational Contexts) argues rather defensively for using the somewhat discredited concept of the “first wave” and, more successfully, for using the word “feminism” before the protagonists employed it. The volume′s introduction stresses the “imperial legacy” and “the other kinds of geopolitical and ideological tensions that either marked or thwarted transnational collaborations” (p. 3). To that end, the editors have organized the material into eight sections, or as they call them, “thematic rubrics.” These are (1) Slavery, Abolition, and Women’s Rights, (2) Imperial Feminisms, (3) Suffrage, (4) Nationalism/Internationalism, (5) Citizenship, (6) Moral Reform, Sexuality, and Birth Control, (7) Work, and (8) Peace. The units on Nationalism/Internationalism, Citizenship, and Peace succeed best. The first of these draws extensively on documents from the Latin American, Asian, and Pacific women’s organizations which developed between the world wars. It ends with Virginia Woolf’s segment on the “Society of Outsiders” from Three Guineas. Citizenship begins with the African-American Frances Ellen W. Harper, segues gracefully to a petition from the “Native and Coloured Women of the Orange Free State,” and goes on to include writings from Hawaii, Native America, Ghana, India, and Egypt. It also surveys key international debates and efforts to allow women to keep their original citizenship after marriage, to retain their own names, and to establish gender equality in numerous venues. Peace includes a number of documents from the Middle East, as well as a lengthy statement by Jane Addams from the 1915 Hague Conference. It ends, poignantly, with a resolution from the All-India Women’s Conference in the fatal year of 1939: “We appeal to the women of the world to unite on the platform of non-violence and actively demonstrate that by this power alone can the forces of hatred and the desire for possession be brought under control and a real and lasting peace established” (p. 304). [End Page 248] Each section is preceded by an introduction of the material as a whole; each selection has a paragraph on the author(s), when information is available. I found other sections less helpful, primarily because of some problematic document choices. In too many instances, these did not focus on feminism or transnationalism and showed an unfortunate lack of familiarity with U.S. sources and debates. Section I, on Slavery, Abolition, and Women’s Rights, for instance, has a seven-page segment from the English reformer Harriet Martineau on “Negro Slavery” which contains nothing about women at all. The same problem applies to the selections from Mary Ann Shadd Carey and Sarah Parker Remond. Unfortunately, the editors take Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage’s History of Woman Suffrage as a neutral source...

The professionalisation efforts of accountants in the Orange Free State, 1907–1927: An exploration of their first twenty years

Professionalisation forms an important domain in the accounting history arena. The geographical spread of professional organisations occurred via the relay of empire and the movement of international capital. Outcomes of professionalisation endeavours are strongly connected to the social and political context in which they occur. The mineral discoveries towards the end of the 19th century established South Africa’s first industrial community. As the country’s economy expanded, the virtues of simple living and conduct of business passed and there was a growing need for the services of individuals who had knowledge of accounting and of commerce. Most of the skilled accountants who migrated were of British descent. These accountants contributed to the development of the profession in South Africa. The Transvaal, Cape Colony, Natal and Orange River Colony (ORC) each established accounting societies around this time in response to the new industries and business. The Society of Accountants in the Orange River Colony was established in November 1907, five years after the conclusion of the South African War, by seven English gentlemen practising as accountants in Bloemfontein. This was the smallest society in comparison to the other colonies in Southern Africa at the time, and had grown from merely 16 foundation members in 1907 to 60 in 1927 with the passing of the Chartered Accountants Designation Act. The Society of Accountants and Auditors in the Orange River Colony (SAAORC) was a voluntary body, unlike the Transvaal and Natal societies. Accountants in the ORC could conduct their business as accountants and auditors and advertise themselves as such, whether they were members of the SAAORC or not. This article investigates the formation years of the accountants’ society in the Free State and explains the difference between this development path and that of the earlier preceding societies. The article explains the establishment of a British profession in a former Boer Republic and the mechanisms of professional closure implemented to safeguard the status of the profession.

South Africa – Close Corporations 1985-1997: a statistical survey

Professor Johan J. Henning (University of the Orange Free State, Bloemfontein) assesses the impact of the Close Corporations Act 69 of 1984 on South African company law. Published in the Letter from … section of Amicus Curiae - Journal of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and its Society for Advanced Legal Studies. The Journal is produced by the Society for Advanced Legal Studies at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London.

With the Boers in the Transvaal and Orange Free State in 1880-1

Dit word aanvaar dat 'n biografie moeilik is am te skrywe. Die skrywer van 'n biografie moet sy stof so objektief benader dat die persoon waaroor geskrywe word, nie as 'n bo-natuurlike mens voorgestel word n;e. Verder moet die skrywer se navorsingswerk deeglik wees am sodoende sy onderwerp binne die regte historiese milieu te plaas en ten slotte moet die skrywer oor 'n bo-gemiddelde skryfvermoë beskik anders loop sy werk gevaar om bloot 'n opeenhoping van historiese feite te word.

ENGLAND'S WAR AGAINST THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLICS PART II

Moving into the Second Phase of the CampaignThe lifting of the siege of Ladysmith and the occupation of Bloemfontein marked the ending of the first phase of the campaign, which lasted exactly five months, during which the Allies blockaded three towns, - in one of which, moreover, the garrison was much more numerous than the besiegers - in the hope of forcing them to surrender. At the same time they tried to hold up the advancing English columns which were moving to their rescue. Besides, holding up the advance, the Allies counted on gaining time, during which the blockaded towns would be forced to surrender, rather than on preventing the enemy from invading the republics. Doing so, and in spite of the English superiority of numbers, they wished while moving as little as possible, and not shifting their camps to keep pace with the movements of English columns, to bar all probable ways of approach to them. As an unavoidable result of this they were obliged to hold positions far away from each other and not very well defended. They did not use reserves but applied the cordon system. But the final failures proved to the Allies the utter uselessness of this system. During the Krygsraad session of March 17th in Kroonstad, while the allied troops serving in the Orange Free State were home on leave this opinion was expressed by President Steyn and it was supported by all the most outstanding military commanders. Simultaneously a new system of resisting the invading enemy was proposed. This consisted in an increase of activity carried out by small mobile detachments, mainly in the flanks and the rear of the enemy. But in order to put the new system to the test of practice it was essential that its expedience should be recognised not only by the commanders but by the rank and file as well. These were as a rule very much inclined to open discussions and criticism of the orders issued by their superiors. The recent failures would only provide new material to strengthen this tendency. The other condition which would make people be prepared to experiment with a new, more vigorous course of action - is confidence in one's leaders. At that point of the campaign such confidence was already bestowed upon the Generals, Botha, De la Rey and partially, De Wet, who not yet had the opportunity to demonstrate his military talents fully. The first among them, having been appointed by general Joubert as the Commander in Chief of all the forces gathered on the line Dundee-Glencoe, had, after the retreat from Ladysmith, tried on two occasions to persuade the commanders under him, to undertake an offensive movement against General Buller's troops. But having met with an unsympathetic attitude among them, had been forced to give up his intentions of an active conduct of the war on the Natal theatre.

A FRENCH VOLUTEER IN THE RANKS OF THE BOERS

Towards the end of 1899, at twenty years of age,2 Robert de Kersauson left for South Africa to enlist in the forces of the two South African republics. In May 1902, when peace was signed in Pretoria, he was still under arms and prepared for war. He never joined the foreign volunteer corps but was attached to a commando and had become a real Boer. He spoke the language of his comrades fluently and had completely adjusted himself to their way of living and fighting. He had participated in the campaign in the Transvaal,3 thereafter in that in the Orange Free State! and early in 1901 he entered the Cape Colony under Commandant Jan Theron.s In the western part of the Colony he continued fighting, under General Manie Maritz and the Commander- in-Chief, Jan Smuts, until the hour when the news of the Boer surrender came to cause shock and dismay in the small army which had until then fought victoriously.

DIE STAATSARTILLERIE VAN DIE ZAR

The eventual establishment of the Transvaal State Artillery in 1881 represents the culmination of several attempts to create an orthodox European-style force to act as a core for the burger commandos in the field. 'The Pretoria Rifle Corps' the 'Batterij Dingaan' and various volunteer 'Schutzencorps' had all enjoyed a brief existence during the 1870's. The war of 1880-81, albeit successfully concluded, indicated the need for a more permanent and professional approach to the problem. The result was that the restored South African Republic raised its own artillery and mounted police corps in 1881, along the same lines as that of the Orange Free State. Various refoms were necessary in the first years of the corps' existence and certain changes of designation occurred. Only in 1890 was the money available to pui: the education and training of the State's artillerists on a sounder basis. In 1896 a further reorganisation resulted in the Corps adopting the form in which it would enter the Anglo-Boer War. For the next three years there was a considerable expansion in the number of personnel and substantial purchases of equipment to prepare the 'Staatsartillerie' for the increasingly likely event of war. When war did break out, the 'Staatsartillerie' was immediately in the front line, distinguishing itself at the sieges of Ladysmih and Mafeking. The transition to a more mobile form of warfare in March 1900 made certain challtges necessary in the constitution of the unit however, and after Bergendal, the last pitched battle of the war, only light artillery was employed by the commandos. Personnel of the 'Staatsartillerie' thus stayed in the field until the war's end and the Treaty of Vereeniging which marked the end of the 'Staatsartillerie', as well as that of the Republic which the unit had served.

Drie eeue van militêre diensplig in Suid-Afrika

The history of National Service in South Africa goes back more than 300 years to the arrival of the first settlers at the Cape and the necessity to protect life and property. This was the start of the Commando system that the pioneers took with them on their trek to the Orange Free State, Natal and the Transvaal. The development of this system of defence is traced back and discussed in detail from its origin to what it !:las become today, emphasizing both the advantages and the problem areas. All aspects of National Service is meticulously attended to, inter alia the role of women and Non-Whites and conculding with the role that immigrants have to fulfil as far as National Service is concerned.

DIE VRYSTAATSE VRYWILLIGE MILITÊRE EENHEDE 1854-1899

Whereas the patriarchs of the Orange Free State accepted the Commando-system as the valid military system for the newly established Republic of the Free State in 1854, it was a problem indeed to organise an efficient military service which would also prove effective in time of war.

ADOLPH ZBOŘIL - AN AUSTRIAN OFFICER IN THE TRANSVAAL ARTILLERY

Whereas the German Major Richard Albrecht, the Commander of the Orange Free State Artillery, is a well-known figure of South African military history, this is not the case with Captain Adolph Zbořil. Zbořil (a Czech name, pronounced 'Sbor-shil') from 1886 to 1893 held the second-highest rank in the Transvaal Artillery. Admittedly, his achievements were less spectacular - and convincing - than Albrecht's and he left the Transvaal Artillery six years before the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Boer War. Still, it seems worthwhile to trace Zbořil's career.

EARLY HISTORY OF AVIATION IN THE EASTERN PROVINCE

Let me firstly state categorically that the Eastern Province is the cradle of aviationin South Africa. Although Admiral John Weston built the first aircraft in SouthAfrica at Brandfort in the Orange Free State in 1907, his machine was takenoverseas for its first flight on 10th December 1910. It was not flown here untilJune, 1911.2 When one asks the question, "who made the first ever heavier-thanairflight?", the answer is invariably "the Wright brothers at Kittyhawk, USA in1903". Who made the first flight of this type in South Africa? A scant six yearsafter the Wright brothers, Albert Kimmerling flew on 28th December, 1909, in aVoisin single-seater biplane at East London. This historic flight took place near theNahoon racecourse. "The aeroplane answered his every wish, swooping, turningand twisting in a marvellous fashion at about thirty miles per hour" wrote an excitedreporter of the great occasion. The flight was repeated on New Year's Day, endingin a minor crash. Thus occurred the first air crash on South African soil. Fortunatelythe damage was slight and the flying programme soon continued.

Australia's South African war 1899-19021

Around twenty thousand Australians fought in the great war between the British empire and the republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. Those Australians constituted five in every thousand of their people, or three in every two hundred of their male workers. In South Africa they made up just one in every twenty-five soldiers in a British army of almost half a million.2 As these bald figures immediately suggest, Australia's contribution to the war was too small to be decisive, and its experience of the war involved too few of its people to make a powerful impact on its society, let alone wrench its history onto some different course. Still, that contribution and that experience were unprecedented for a people who had never before gone to war as a people, and deserve more attention - and more balanced, dispassionate, critical attention - than they've yet received from historians of the war, of Australia, and of the British empire.3 In this lecture I'll strive for such balance by outlining why and how Australians went to war in South Africa, what their soldiers did there, and the war's legacy for their country and their descendants today.

“CAUGHT BETWEEN THE BOERS AND THE BRITISH” – NORTHERN NATAL AFRIKANERS AND THE BOER OCCUPATION OF KLIP RIVER COUNTY (OCTOBER 1899-JUNE 1900)

On 11 October 1899, when the ultimatum issued to Britain had expired, theBoer force consisting of roughly 11 400 burghers from the South African Republic(hereafter ZAR), commanded by Generals Erasmus, Kock and Meyer and 6 000burghers from the Orange Free State (hereafter OFS), under Chief CommandantPrinsloo and Commandant De Villiers, invaded Natal and specifically Klip RiverCounty. The Republican objective seems to have been to defeat the force under Major-General William Penn-Symons at Dundee and to proceed to Ladysmith in order tocapture the town, which was located at the important railway junction between theRepublics and the Colony of Natal. Once this was achieved, the goal was to bedefensive and to halt the advance of British reinforcements.

Bodibeng High School: Black Consciousness Philosophy and Students Demonstration, 1940s–1976

This paper examines the factor(s) that caused students to demonstrate in 1976 through a case study of Bodibeng High School in Maokeng, Kroonstad, in the northern Free State. It shows the role of the teachers influenced by the Black Consciousness philosophy. The latter caused the behavioural change of some of the students at Bodibeng High School, from submissive to assertive, and political. Bodibeng High School, dating back to the 1940s, was one of the major centres of education for African students in the then Orange Free State (now Free State Province). It was one of the two day schools to offer matric as early as 1940, and the only one to have its matriculants writing the Joint Matriculation Board Examination in the mid 1960s, instead of the Bantu Education's senior certificate examinations. The school attracted an influx of students from all over the country, and some of the best teachers. There were three phases in the history of the school; each phase can be characterised in terms of the degree of its engagement in the political affairs of the day. The first, from the 1940s to 1950s, was one where teachers engaged both education and politics actively. The second, from the 1960s to the beginning of the 1970s was a period of apparent quiescence. The third, from the early 1970s, was characterised, once again, by active engagement of students and teachers with politics. In the latter period, the Black Consciousness philosophy was the major influence. This paper will show that the influence of the Black Consciousness philosophy and the role of the younger and politically conscious teachers played an important part in influencing some of the students at Bodibeng to demonstrate in 1976.

The 1899 Orange Free State football team tour of Europe: ‘Race’, imperial loyalty and sporting contest

In September 1899 an association football team from Bloemfontein in the Orange Free State, South Africa, arrived in the United Kingdom. The team comprised 16 black South Africans who played under the auspices of the whites-only Orange Free State Football Association and was the first ever South African football team to tour abroad. In a four-month tour the team played 49 matches against opposition in England, France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. A small but growing body of work focuses on black sport and football in particular and the 1899 tour is referred to in passing in a few publications, although none have attempted to uncover details of the team or the matches that were played in Europe. This article attempts to do this by drawing on a range of sources in South Africa and the United Kingdom and argues the case for the significance of this team for football history in general and South African sports history in particular.

South Africa's first century

For better or for worse, the date 31 May will remain embedded in the annals of South African history. On this date in 1902 the second Anglo-Boer War officially ended, and in 1910 the four British colonies of the Cape of Good Hope, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State united to form a single country under British dominion. Bar this event, these colonies would have traversed separate historical trajectories eventually leading to four independent sovereign states. Ironically, the name South Africa (and the ZA international country code) harks back to Paul Kruger's Zuid-Afrikaanse Republiek, itself an amalgamation of several tiny Afrikaner republics in the territory that came to be known as the Transvaal. Finally, on 31 May 1961, South Africa was declared a republic, with Hendrik Verwoerd exulting 'God regeer!' (God reigns!).