British control of the Cape and Boer Trek; History of South Africa

British control of the Cape

• In 1795 the British troops invaded the Cape colony, and after some minor resistance, the British captured the Cape. British invasion of the Cape aimed at controlling the Cape so as to have a strong foothold over the sea route to India via the Cape.

• A number of factors combined to weaken the Dutch, the Dutch East Indian company and the Cape colony Dutch administration, thus, causing the Dutch to finally lose the Cape colony to the British:

– The Dutch were faced with severe competition from the French and the British, thus, undermining their commercial and economic position. This weakened the abilities of the Dutch to have a strong control over the Cape.

• Continuation….

– At the Cape, the Dutch suffered from administrative inefficiency, corruption, and commercial restrictions which resulted to severe discontents on the part of the settlers at the Cape. This also weakened the Dutch East Indian company, and in 1794 it declared bankrupt.

• This implied then that, company administration at the Cape was financially weak to support its army to resist British occupation of the Cape.

– Widespread discontents among settlers. For example:

• The settlers felt that they were not adequately protected by the Cape government against local Africans some of whom were brave and skilled fighters.

• They complained that, they, rather than the Cape administration be given the burden of defense in their conflict with the Africans.



• Continuation….

These complaints resulted to settler rebellion of 1795. these settler grievances and the rebellion was a clear indication that the Dutch administration at the Cape was weak.

– British desire to prevent the Cape from falling into the hands of the French who also aimed at controlling the Cape. By this time, British was getting a lot of wealth from India. For this reason, British control of the sea route to India was important.

If the Cape fell under the French, then, the French would prevent British ship from calling at the Cape on their way to or from India and Europe. So it was necessary for the British to gain control of the Cape.

• Continuation…

British reforms at the Cape

After capturing the Cape, the British tried their firm control at the Cape and therefore contain the Dutch settlers. In so doing, they introduced a number of social, economic, and political reforms.

Economy

– They introduced new paper money to replace the old Dutch notes which had greatly fallen in value.

– They reduced official salaries

– The government reduced the number of public projects and the amount of money spent on them.

– The policy of giving financial assistance to new immigrants of the Cape was stopped.

• Continuation…..

The church

– The Dutch Reformed Church which was dominant at the Cape was now given a certain degree of freedom and government representatives ceased to attend the meeting of its council. This church was introduced at the Cape in 1652 by Jan Vaan Riebeck, it was almost a state church at the Cape as all the Boers were the followers of this church

– For the Catholic church, the British government at the Cape decided to pay their priests, a privilege already enjoyed by the Dutch Reformed Church. This meant then, that, during British era, the Catholism dominated at the Cape and replaced the Dutch Reformed Church.

– Generally, the position of the church improved and freedom of worship was extended to all denomination at the Cape.

• Continuation…

Language

– The British made a proclamation / public announcement to replace Dutch language by English language as official language. Thus, in 1828 English language became the official language of the Cape.

The press

– The new British government removed some of the restrictions on the press which restricted the freedom of press. The press was given more freedom than it was before. As a result, the number of papers increased and printed both in Dutch and English.

The Judiciary

– A supreme (highest) court was introduced, and judges were to be appointed by the British Queen

• Continuation….

– The Judges were supposed to be independent, in other words, they could hold offices for as long as their conduct / behavior were proper and the Governor could not dismiss them. This aimed at making the judiciary more reliable and just.

Administration.

– The Dutch settlers were not allowed to any important say in the running of the state. They were the conquered people and had to be governed strongly.



– The advisory council was set up in Cape town. It consisted of the Governor, chief Justice, and Colonial Secretary. Its functions were mainly advisory, that is, to advise the Governor, although the Governor could reject the advice.