WHEN local historian Dr JC van der Walt set about writing his latest book, he had far more in mind than merely setting the record straight on a disputed historical event.
He wanted to restore a measure of harmony in a part of the country where sectarian ‘Afrikaner/Engelse’ animosity still exists, nearly two centuries after the incident took place.
A prolific author, Van der Walt spent a decade researching the ‘Rebels of Slagtersnek’, including travels to the Eastern Cape where the event took place, interviewing locals, visiting sites and examining archives and court proceedings – and getting access to British records.
The book recounts the saga of a rough band of Afrikaner revolutionaries who met their fate at the end of a hangman’s noose… after four of the ropes snapped!
Vilified by those of their era for their disrespect to authorities and disregard for human life, the rebels were later glorified as heroes in Boer propaganda, their treatment showing how ‘unjust’ the English and Dutch leaders were towards such ‘victims’.
‘It was largely a non-event, soon forgotten in the area, but after 1881 it was used to promote Afrikaner nationalism.
‘In fact, my book shows that the British were very fair indeed,’ said Van der Walt, who outlined the key aspects of the book:
• Written to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Slagtersnek rebellion of 1815.
• The first illustrated history book to be written in English about the ghastly hangings
• The author executed extensive field work to photograph the historic sites along the Tarka River, the Baviaans River and the Great Fish River
• The exact locality of the incident at the farm Bulkraal was discovered after extensive research. Google maps are included
• More than 100 photographs, sketches and maps illustrate the extent of the British fortifications and observation posts along the western bank of the Great Fish River
• The lawlessness and most depraved morals of some of the rebels is illustrated
• The inconvenient truth is told about the attempts made by the rebels to entice Xhosa King Ngqika to join the rebels and to murder all the English as well as fellow-Afrikaners who had refused to join Johannes Bezuidenhout and his rebels. The king wisely refused and thus prevented a bloodbath
• Only 50 of thousands of Afrikaners actually supported the rebels
• Eyewitnesses of the hanging of the rebels tell their stories in graphic detail
• The original yellow wood horizontal beam of the gallows is on permanent display at the Somerset East museum
• The price of the book is R199 delivered by post.
