Uitlanders

Uitlander or “outsider” was the name given by the Boer citizens of Johannesburg to anyone who was not a citizen of the Republic. These “uitlanders” hailed from all parts of the globe from Europe and America to Australasia and came to seek their fortunes in the newly discovered gold reefs of the Witwatersrand. They brought to the gold fields their skills, money and mining knowledge and thought that because they were paying taxes, they would be entitled to citizenship of this new and expanding state.

President Kruger and the Boers had other ideas however and kept extending the qualifying period and changing the terms by which the “uitlanders” could gain their citizenship.