Native labour
At the beginning of the war there were approximately 1 million White, 500 000 Coloured, 100 000 Indian and 4 million Blacks living in South Africa. It was inevitable therefore that all people would be afflicted by the conflict.
Records show that approximately 100 000 blacks were employed by the British army and 40,000 by the Boers. The Boer numbers however could have been much higher as the Burghers, particularly the farmers brought with them their native labourers to carry out the more menial tasks.
Denys Reitz recalls that the black people served their master with “touching fidelity, sharing his hardships and hopes”.
The Boers did not employ blacks for their military operations, however a book on the activities of the Apies River Commando shows that during the Boer occupation of Dundee 17 blacks were armed and each was provided with 30 rounds of ammunition. It is also reported that the Boers employed armed guards for outpost duty during the Siege of Ladysmith.
North of Dundee were the Nquthu tribes who were loyal to her majesty Queen Victoria. They made it clear they were prepared to attack Boer invaders in order to protect the property of Her Majesty. This they done on the night of 13th December 1899 when Chief Mehlokazulu with 250 warriors spent the night on Nquthu hill to protect the Magistrate.
In June 1900 the Zulu Chief Dinuzulu sent a report to the British authorities listing 226 Zulus between the ages of 6 and 25 who had been forced to join the Vryheid Commando. He retaliated by occupying Boer farms and co-operating with the British.
Chamberlain and others in Britain were against arming the natives, arguing that they might not be fairly placed within the conflict and that this would eventually lead to armed resistance against the White population. Lord Kitchener argued that the employment of natives for the more menial tasks meant that there were more troops available to fight. After being very evasive on the number of natives who were armed Kitchener admitted to there being 2496 African and 2939 Coloureds in the Cape and 4618 Africans in Natal. These figures are doubtful however, as the Commander-in-Chief admitted that his records were far from accurate.
Native drivers
In Natal the number of native policemen were increased in order that the borders could be adequately patrolled. The defence of Zululand was entrusted to the Zululand Native Police whose compliment at the start of the war amounted to 400.
At the commencement of the war a lawyer in Natal, R.C.A. Samuelson raised a unit of reliable natives to act as scouts. They were called the Zululand Native Scouts and because of their valuable contribution their numbers were raised as the war progressed.
After the relief of Ladysmith the Scouts were concentrated under the command of Colonel Aubrey Wools-Sampson, a former gold miner and ex Commander of the Imperial Light Horse. This group was used in the main to locate Boer guerrilla groups in the Transvaal. Whilst the British scouts were armed the Boer scouts were not but both could expect to be severely punished should they be captured as they were generally judged to be spies by both sides.
Doctor’s inspection
Natives “serving” with the British forces were not eligible for campaign medals. The Natal Minister of Native affairs, Sir George Leuchers, successfully blocked the awards on the grounds that “these men would parade their medals before the Boers and irritate them”.
Natives were used by both the military and civilians to carry mail and other messages out of Ladysmith. For this they were well paid but ran the risk of execution by the Boers if caught.
At Intombi Camp Hospital natives were used to dig graves and latrines and do other menial tasks. These natives were paid but there is no record of the amount or whether or not they were also fed. The British employed native runners on a 3 month contract and they received a monthly wage of 40 to 50 shillings. Rations were provided and in some cases they even received clothes and blankets.
The Army Service Corps, in the production of Chevril, employed natives to slaughter horses and to man the cauldrons.
It has been estimated that over 17 000 natives died during the whole of the South African War of 1899-1902, the majority of them in the British Concentration camps.
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