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Orange River Colony, For a time, the British Race Patriot wins over the Afrikaner Bond

The British had a goal of a British sphere in Africa from Cape Town to Cairo. Opponents to this were not just found among African natives or rival European colonial powers. South Africa had many Afrikaner settlers of Dutch heritage, many who had already trekked north to give the British their space. At the turn of the 20th century, they turned and fought to keep what they built. To meet this challenge, the British administration turned to self proclaimed British Race Patriot Alfred Milner who dreamed of uniting British people who had gone far and wide, as England was weak without their congress. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The Orange River Colony stamps do not resemble the earlier issues of the Orange Free State. For a while the old issues of the Boer free state were overprinted VRI for Victoria Regina Imperatrix to signify areas of British occupation. It was only in 1903 that the stamp printers were caught up enough to reflect the current situation and honour Edward VII.

Todays stamp is issue A8, a one penny issue of the British Orange River Colony in 1903. It was a 9 stamp issue in various denominations and the only definitive stamp issue of the Orange River Colony that lasted 10 years. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

The previous independent Orange Free State was founded in 1854 by Afrikaner Boers of Dutch heritage whose main activity was farming. The area was about 60% black but those folks had no say in government though actual slavery was banned. The British vision of a south to north British sphere was put forth prominently by Alfred Milner, later Governor of the Orange River Colony. His credo is reprinted below not out of approval but to open a window into period thinking.

“I am a Nationalist and not a cosmopolitan …. I am a British (indeed primarily an English) Nationalist. If I am also an Imperialist, it is because the destiny of the English race, owing to its insular position and long supremacy at sea, has been to strike roots in different parts of the world. I am an Imperialist and not a Little Englander because I am a British Race Patriot … The British State must follow the race, must comprehend it, wherever it settles in appreciable numbers as an independent community. If the swarms constantly being thrown off by the parent hive are lost to the State, the State is irreparably weakened. We cannot afford to part with so much of our best blood. We have already parted with much of it, to form the millions of another separate but fortunately friendly State. We cannot suffer a repetition of the process.” Milner was left leaning and a member of the Labour Party.

The Viscount Milner

The Boers sensing the threat formed the Afrikaner Bond to defend themselves from this British threat and fought and eventually lost a string of Boer Wars that ended with the Orange River Colony. It came with attempts to make the place more British. The British military effort in the area was helped along by the discovery of gold in 1886. The resulting gold rush brought many new inland residents who were mostly British and referred to by the Boers as Uitlanders.

After the Boer war, many Boers pledged allegiance to the British Crown and in return were allowed to play a part in post war politics. By 1910, when the British colonies in South Africa formed a British Dominion as the Union of South Africa, many members of the Afrikaner Bond were playing a part and looking out for Boer interest, a process that Alfred Milner would have found suboptimum. Times change and then keep changing.

Well my drink is empty and I find myself reading  and rereading that man’s credo. Saying things frankly in that way is so alien. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

 

 

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South Africa 1991, as we wind it down, why not some achievements to inspire the next bunch

I while back I did a South African stamp from the early 60s as they started to try to go it alone that made the case why it could work, see https://the-philatelist.com/2018/12/21/south-africa-1966-a-tiny-minority-can-go-it-alone-because-they-have-diamonds-but-do-they/  . In 1991 the writing on the wall was more clearly read and South Africa was transitioning to majority rule. So why not look back at some things South Africa achieved going it alone. There was stuff to talk about, like gold mines, but how about medical breakthroughs. Stamps can teach this stamp collector. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This stamp shows the achievement of the first human to human heart transplant in 1967. There was a 1969 stamp showing Dr. Christian Barnard the man who performed it. He gained some notoriety after the achievement and his behavior perhaps is why he was edited out here. As a white South African on the world stage, the world simply demanded that he condemn his own country. He duly Shat on his country even going on a black Africa tour to do it. He of course wanted a Nobel Prize and probably was personally politically liberal. It did not work. He did not get a Nobel. The bow and scrape dance must have earned Dr. Barnard much credibility among South Africa’s majority? No his death in 2001 did not merit a memorial stamp. Interestingly, at least to me, was that his liberal 1960s position was that South Africa should be divided to give blacks homelands, the 1980s policy, see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/02/20/bophuthatswana-1985-the-tswana-people-get-industrious-in-the-bop/  .

Todays stamp is issue A276, a 25 cent stamp issued by South Africa on May 30th, 1991. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog. the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Dr. Christian Barnard was trained and practiced in Cape Town. A hospital in Minnesota, having had good luck with another South African doctor, sought more and got Dr. Barnard for a few years, There he became involved in a top flight heart institute. The field of transplanting hearts seemed life changing. In 1954, the heart of a chimpanzee had been transplanted into a human and beated but the man died 90 minutes later never having woken up. Probably for the best that. Several teams in America and now Barnard’s team in South Africa transplanted one dogs heart into another. A small percentage lived. Dr. Barnard in 1967 was ready to try on humans. He convinced those involved there was an 80% chance of success. The heart of a brain dead 25 year old woman that had been hit by a car was put in a 57 year old man near death from hypertension and diabetes. In the women’s last minutes she had ice water poured in her ear to look for any reaction. The transplant was successful and the man woke up with the new heart. He died a few weeks later from pneumonia brought on by the anti rejection drugs.

Dr. Barnard in 1969

Dr. Barnard was now famous. He divorced his wife and married a string of young models. He even claimed to have had a one night stand with Gina Lolabrigida  while in Rome to have an audience with the Pope. His reputation sank over time as it became obvious that heart transplants were not a long term success for patients. He further lowered himself when he began promoting an anti aging creme. Country’s don’t get to cast their heroes

The reason heart transplants didn’t work is theorized that the patients brain had adjusted to the original damaged heart and those instuctions continued to the new healthy heart. Soon enough the new heart was itself bad.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the team at the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town. It still exists and still uses that name. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

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South Africa 1942, Saluting a few South African fighter pilots

This stamp is a little bit reminiscent of a Japanese stamp done a while back, see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/02/13/japan-1942-saluting-the-japanese-pilot/   . Here we have an official portrait of DSO awarded pilot while he was still in the fight. There is a great story to tell. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

South African artist Neville Lewis had served in the British Army in World War I and between the wars developed a distinguished reputation as a portrait painter. In 1940 he was named the first official war artist of the Union Defense Forces. In 1942 there was an idea for a stamp series showing the contributions of the various services. Lewis summitted images suitable for minituration on a stamp of an individual fighter pilot, a nurse, a sailor, a tanker, and a member of the black native corps. The pilot, the sailor, and the nurse made the issue. Lewis was disappointed that the native corps member did not make the issue as he thought it was the best, but it should be remembered that the native corps did not deploy overseas. The image is below.

Volunteer soldier of the South African Native Corps who didn’t make the cut to be on the stamp issue

Todays stamp is issue A27, a one and a half Pence stamp issued by South Africa in 1942. It was a nine stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Bob Kershaw was a pilot of a Hawker Hurricane fighter with No. 3 squadron of the South African Air Force. There was a deployment in early 1941 to Kenya to participate in the campaign to dislodge the Italians from Ethiopia. On March 15th, during an attack on a Italian air base at Dire Dawa, Kershaw’s Squadron Commander John Frost’s Hurricane was hit by anti aircraft fire. The hit was to his engine’s coolant tank and so he knew in short order that the Rolls Royce Merlin engine would overheat and seize up. Frost decided to land the Hurricane at a satellite field. He did so and set the Hurricane on fire so it would not fall into Italian hands.

Hawker Hurricane fighter

Seeing what was happening, Kershaw also landed his still flyable Hurricane and by ditching parachutes and Frost siting in Kershaw’s lap and handling the stick, both were able to escape in the single small seated Hurricane. Kershaw became the first South African recipient of the British Distinguished Service Order. Kershaw soon converted to Spitfires and was promoted to Major. He was however later shot down and survived the war as a POW.

Frost left and Kershaw center

John Frost was later made a wing commander and his unit converted to the American made P40 fighter. Over Egypt  and escorting also American made A26 Boston, America called them Havoc, bombers, John Frost went missing and neither him nor his plane was ever found. It is thought that he may have fell to the famous German ace Hans- Joachime Marsalles who got six of his 158 kills that day.

Kershaw post war managed a Ford car dealer in London. He eventually moved back to South Africa where he was made a wing commandant in the post war air force. He died in 1998 in Knysna.

Well my drink is empty. This will be a fun night because there is so much toasting to do. Come again soon when there will be another story to be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2021

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South Africa 1962, Peak gold

Around the time of this stamp, 40 % of the gold ever mined on earth had come from South African mines. Despite the artificially low prices of the metal due to being fixed to a basket of currencies, there was a class of Rand lords that had new fortunes. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

I love the image on this stamp. Having fought the earth to extract it, you now have the gold molten and pure and you can watch them being poured into the molds of those life changing gold bricks. The pits of Hell yielding to heaven.

Todays stamp is issue A113, a two cent, the currency was newly decimalized, stamp issued by South Africa on May 31st, 1961. It was a 23 stamp issue in different denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

The first large scale gold strike in South Africa was in Witwatersrand in 1884. There was a huge gold rush where the population of Johannesburg increased 10 fold in 4 years. There was quickly a financial system put in place to fund the capital needs of the new industry. It is thought that control over the industry was a contributing factor to the inter white Boer war at the turn of the century. As part of the compromise that ended it, 64,000 Chinese contract workers were brought in to do the hard work deep under ground. The gold rush expanded when technology advanced to allow gold to be extracted from pyritic ore by drowning it in a solution of cyanide. The government set up compensation for miners of all races suffering from mining related silicosis and pulmonary tuberculosis.

Starting around 1910 the gold mining industry changed as some of the early fields played out and management tried to cut cost. The contracts with the Chinese were not renewed and the Chinese went home. In their place were very low cost black miners not recruited locally but rather migrant workers from outside South Africa. White miners formed a union to, in addition to wage demands, tried to keep the migrant blacks only doing the old Chinese jobs. Though the miners were white, the South African government sided with management in order to keep up production. The black miners eventually formed a separate union to fight separately from the whites to improve their lot. South African gold output peaked in the mid 1970s at over 1000 tonnes per year.

The gold industry has gradually declined since. The change in government saw one change that proved beneficial. The migrant recruitment ended and all miners are now recruited locally. The relatively high pay has been one place where South African blacks have advanced economically.

Gold mining is still a very important industry in South Africa although it is now lower than China and Australia and accounts for only 4 percent of the world’s gold output. Employment in the industry has dropped to 100,000 from the peak of 360,000. There is hope that there is still much gold to find and that new technology can extract more gold from the tailings of played out former mines.

Well my drink is empty. What got me interested in this subject was recently watching the 1974 movie Gold. the movie stared Sir Roger Moore as a South African mine manager that has to deal with danger in the mine, ossified management and a plot from international finance types who want to flood the mine killing everyone to create a market moving event they can bet on because owning a freaking gold mine isn’t enriching them fast enough. Great locally shot movie! Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2021.

Gold movie poster

 

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South Africa 1962, Remembering the 1820 English Settlers arriving on the Chapman

Grahamstown is a town of about 70,000 in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The stamp honours the laying of a monument to the 1820 British settlers that came to Grahamstown replenishing it after 300 British defenders held out against 10,000 Xhosa warriors under Makhanda. Interesting but perhaps a little dated. Makhanda perhaps only lost the first phase of the battle. The town after all is now named for him and the monument is looking for a new name before it again gets burned. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Imagine having just won a battle where you were out numbered 33 to one. You have to be wondering when the Xhosa warriors will return and how many more times God will be with you. Then a ship arrives from the home country, the Chapman, bringing 271 new colonists ready to make a go of it in Grahamstown. It must have seemed like a message from God. The town got busy building roads and infrastructure. In 1846, there was a funny exchange between the Royal Engineers and headquarters in Cape Town, The Engineers requested a vice be sent. Headquarters laughingly replied that they should acquire vice locally. The engineers replied that there was no vice in Grahamstown. Understandable why South Africa thought the memory deserved a monument.

Todays stamp is issue A117, a 2 and a half cent stamp issued by South Africa on August 20th, 1962. It was a two stamp issue in different denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Scotsman and British Army Major John Graham was tasked with clearing the area between the Bushmen and Fish River of approximately 20,000 Xhosa tribespeople that had recently began squatting on old Boer farmland. Modern history paints this  as some sort of genocide and cite a quote from Graham about relying on a little terror to get the squatters to move on. They forget that the British Army’s use of the Bright Red outfits and marching in with military band playing is what was meant by terrifying.  In 1812, he declared Grahamstown as headquarters on an abandoned Boer farm for a string of forts on the Fish River. In 1819 Xhosa Chief Gwala sent his son Makhanda with 10,000 warriors to take and loot Grahamstown. Though Makhanda had converted at one point to Christianity, the British marching in convinced him that this was a battle between Thixo, God of the whites, and Mdalidiphu, Creator of the Deep and the blacks. He was convinced if he attacked Grahamstown, the British bullets would turn to water. Perhaps Makhanda’s Boer Missionaries should have spent a little more time with him explaining how the world really worked. After the defeat, Makhanda was detained on Robben Island, where he drowned trying to escape.

Chief Makhana

You might wonder what happened to the 1820 Settlers Monument after the change in government. In 1994 it was burned. The complex had held the best set of event venues in town though and so was rebuilt with Nelson Mandela rededicating it in 1996. After that the history being taught there shifted to show how the British arrival was bad for the Xhosa, perhaps a fair point. Things got more pressing in 2019 when Grahamstown  was renamed Makhanda as part of reparations for past injustices. The event venue now is in the process of coming up with a new name for the memorial. The Philatelist suggesting honouring the god Thixo.

1820 Settlers Monument. Still standing but needing a new name and fast.

Two white women perhaps best represent the changing times in Grahamstown. In 1819, Elizabeth Salt snuck into the Fort bringing much needed ammunition that she had slung around her as a baby. Today Cecile Van Scalkwik is a lawyer who fights the city’s black government to allow black squatters to stay on land. She complains that the town has not built any new public housing. The sewers won’t take it because the haven’t ben maintained since apartheid. Here is her fund raising video, https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=grahamstown+south+africa&docid=608037321911044055&mid=11FF756CE9728D14108511FF756CE9728D141085&view=detail&FORM=VIRE  . Makhanda is sure lucky to have her on their side. Perhaps though instead of seeking donations, she should pray to Mdalipiphu for Deep sewers.

Well my drink is empty and I am left wondering when Makhana will get his wish and the last of the British there will turn to water and run away. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

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South West Africa 1981, Put down your Crowbar, and we will throw out the Cubans

Formerly German South West Africa was given to South Africa by a League of Nations Mandate. It was governed as a de facto extra province by Apartheid South Africa. The arrival of Cubans backing up African desires to rid the area of white colonialism complicated an ever more complicated situation. Gosh with a overstretched draftee army, this could turn into another Vietnam for South Africa. We better Vietnamize, err Namibianize, err localize, the fighting. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

As a de facto extra province, you might expect the area to use South African stamps. The earlier stamps very much resemble South African issues. By the eighties though the stamps were less political with more animals and plants with a smattering of remembrances of very old German achievements in the area. Very much the colony on the way to independence.

Todays stamp is issue A98, a 20 Cent stamp issued by the by then no longer UN recognized South African administration of South West Africa on August 14th, 1981. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations showing local variations of the aloe plant. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 45 cents whether used or unused. There was a functional postal service, which keeps this stamp from being fake. The UN withdrew recognition of the South African administration of now Namibia in 1966.

The Germans arrived in the area in the late 19th century with large numbers of colonists. The Germans discovered diamonds there in 1908. I did a German colonial stamp from that period here, https://the-philatelist.com/2018/10/05/german-sw-africa-the-hottentot-captain-can-disappear-into-the-grass-but-shoot-him-at-the-water-hole/   . During World War I, the South Africans marched in unopposed. Germans and Dutch heritage South African Boers were simpatico. The League of Nations mandated South Africa to rule in 1920. Africans were not involved in any of this and there numbers were greatly reduced after bloody insurrections against the Germans.

The 1950s and 1960s had seen African colonies gain independence and black rule. In 1960 the Belgians gave up in Congo and things went very poorly for Belgian settlers there. Many were killed and robbed based on their race in the first days after independence. Countries south of Congo often had many such white colonists and they resolved to hold onto power to avoid the same fate. Colonial powers like Britain and Portugal did not support this and the new black nations pressed the UN to recognize local black groups as the legitimate government. In 1966 the UN claimed the right to administer South West Africa with an eye toward turning it over to the black organization called Swapo that fielded would be politicians and a guerilla army attacking South African targets.

South Africa fielded a small draftee army inducted from the minority white population. A counter insurgency war in South West Africa was a great strain especially after Portuguese Angola fell to Cuban/Soviet backed communist blacks. The Cubans were mostly black and well armed and made things much more difficult for South Africa. Taking a page from the American book of failure in Vietnam, South Africa attempted to localize the fighting. All black areas were organized into tribal black homelands. They formed a local unit called the Crowbar with South African officers and black soldiers recruited from The African homeland state of Ovamboland. The force was heavily armed and fought in the counter insurgency style of Swapo. The leader was a Rhodesian who had experience in the bush war there. Both sides took to attempting to get the other sides fighters in their family homes off duty. This kept the fighting between blacks.

A Crowbar memorial at an Afrikaner heritage site in South Africa. It seems to still stand.

Cubans meant that South Africa still had to maintain forces there and there were clashes with Cubans in neighboring Angola. This gave the UN an opening to try to get it’s mandate regarding South West Africa recognized. A deal was offered that Cubans would be withdrawn from Angola in return for South Africa withdrawing its Army from South West Africa. This was agreed but then Swapo jumped the gun and sent their army marching into South West Africa. Them and the UN had forgotten about Crowbar. Crowbar pounced on an in the open Swapo and massacred their army. The UN was left begging both sides to put down their arms. Remember Swapo had agreed to come in unarmed but reneged. Being the UN there was no consequence for this and after this last mission Crowbar was disbanded. The first election Swapo won but without sufficient numbers to make a Congo like outcome. Nobody will be surprised that with South Africa and the UN gone now Namibia reverted to a one party state. Swapo’s leader Sam Nujoma, a former train cleaner, was President and received peace prizes in the name of ever peaceful Lenin and Ho Chi Minh. His son Zacky was implicated in corruption as part of the Panama Papers scandal. Of course there were no consequences. With South Africa’s change in government there were no longer any protectors for the black veterans of Crowbar. A truth and reconciliation commission there declared Crowbar to blame for all those hurt in the war in Namibia.

Well my drink is empty. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

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Swaziland 1947, A Royal visit tries to influence Southern African choices

3 months, 10,000 miles, the King and Queen and their glamorous daughters, a battle cruiser, a train whistlestop tour. The future Queen turns 21 and makes a speech pledging her whole life to service of the people of the Empire. Why go to the trouble? Well South Africa had just, unlike others, sacrificed greatly in the War, and maybe Britain was trying to return the favor by trying to prevent a mistake they could see about to happen. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

In the late forties the Royal family must have sensed the interest in their coming of age children in the world of celebrity. So here we have Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret displayed prominently. Unusually though, was the substance behind it. King George VI wasn’t that old but sickly and so he knew Elizabeth would be facing her duty sooner rather then later. Hence the speech she gave on this tour where she promised to be with her subjects through all the changes coming. It can’t be said she did not live up to her pledge even if the trip might have worked against British intentions for this part of the Empire.

Todays stamp is issue A3, a 3 Penny stamp issued by Swaziland on February 17th, 1947. It was a three stamp issue celebrating the Royal visit. The design of the stamp was borrowed from a similar stamp from Basutoland. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.

South Africa had contributed much of their military to fight for Britain in World War II, especially in the North African theatre. The most successful British fighter ace Sailor Milan with 72 kills was South African. So when South African Prime Minister Jan Smuts invited the Royals, they came. South Africa was grappling on how to deal with the African majority. Mr. Smuts popularity was falling as he was proposing easing off restrictions that kept blacks out of the big cities. This meant tortuous commutes to where the jobs were for blacks. It was hoped that the pomp and circumstance might rub off on Smuts, who was facing a tough election.

As far as the welcome received and getting through what must have been impossible logistics, the Royal visit went off spectacularly well. However it did not have the intended effect on the then white and mostly Boer South African voter. Smuts was seen as too tight with Britain, even to the extent of abandoning his own people. The British Royals would not have to deal with the added crime that would have been the direct result of virtue signaling they were proposing. Smuts failed in his bid to D F Milan who took a much harder line on the question of the Africans. This was not the road Britain had in mind for it’s southern African dominions, protectorates, and colonies. Eventually South Africa and Rhodesia would feel the need to leave the Commonwealth.

All that said, the permanence of 21 year old Elizabeth’s words have lasted and proved more true than anyone could have imagined. You can watch it here https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Princess+Elizabeth+1947+speech&view=detail&mid=D3118D08978E69DF648AD3118D08978E69DF648A&FORM=VIRE Sure there in no more Empire, no more Royal Navy battlecruiser, not even a Royal yacht, But Queen Elizabeth is still working for her subjects, now past 90. (Update RIP Queen Elizabeth, God Save the King).

Well my drink is empty and lets toast recently departed Queen Elizabeth to celebrate so many years of service to the Commonwealth. Come again soon when there will be another story to be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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South Africa 1942, chose doing too much over doing too little for Empire

South Africa found itself in a similar position as Canada during World War II. Empire required participation against Germany in 1939. Yet like Canada, there was a strong feeling against getting involved. Unlike Canada see https://the-philatelist.com/2017/12/27/canada-supports-the-war-except-quebec-and-churchill-just-ignores/ , the government was changed to support, and large numbers of South Africans served alongside Britain with distinction. Even if that meant internment camps at home for the opposing Ossewabrandwag. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This stamp issue is a fairly typical support the troops war issue. The stamps did not convince all. Hardline anti war elements among Boers even took to harassing troop volunteers in uniform, in one instance causing a riot in Johannesburg in 1941. This division does not show on the stamps as the new government was all in on the war effort.

Todays stamp is issue A25, a half penny stamp issued by South Africa in 1941. It was a nine stamp issue in various denominations showing various aspects of the war effort, in this case infantry. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

When Germany attacked Poland in 1939, Britain acted upon it’s alliance with Poland and declared war. This required participation by the Empire including self governing dominions like South Africa. South Africa’s Prime Minister Barry Hertzog was a former Boer General and thought that South Africa should stay neutral in the war. There was a fiery debate that saw Hertzog deposed in favor of pro British Jan Smuts who promptly declared was on Germany and Italy. Anti war sentiment then divided between opposers within the system and the soon outlawed Ossewabrandwag that was pro German and went as far as sabotage attacks against the war effort. The Ossewabrandwag was rounded up and sent to internment camps. Among those interned was a future Prime Minister BJ Voster. The new government faced the white voters in 1943 and although they lost Parliamentary seats, Smuts was retained as Prime Minister.

The emblem of the banned Ossewabrandwag

334,000 South Africans, two thirds white, volunteered for war service. There was no conscription. 11,000 died in the war. Most prominently two divisions of infantry fought in the western dessert against the Italians and the German Africa Corp under General Erwin Rommel. They were attached to the British Eighth Army.  The second South African  division was part of the Empire forces that held out in fortress Torbruk in Libya well behind the lines. When Torbruk fell to the Germans in May 1942, the unit went into captivity. The First Infantry division was then pulled back to South Africa and reconstituted into a tank division that fought in the Italian campaign later in the war, attached to the American Fifth Army. It had been planned to form an additional tank division but the Army was short of volunteers. The 77,000 black volunteers were not deployed outside South Africa.

Prime Minister Jan Smuts overtly pro British stance was not popular and he failed when up for election in 1948. The change of party lead to the break with the Commonwealth and the attempt through Apartheid to maintain white minority rule. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/12/21/south-africa-1966-a-tiny-minority-can-go-it-alone-because-they-have-diamonds-but-do-they/ .

Well my drink is empty and so I will patiently await  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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Swaziland Protectorate, What Africa would look like if it were never colonized?

The key word on this stamp is protectorate. The Swazi tribe and the local King survived the colonial division of Africa in the 19th Century. The still present Protectorate status prevented it from being dragged into Apartheid South Africa and protected it even after independence from Zulu incursions from modern South Africa. As such it shows a unique more traditionally African situation. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

So if Swaziland was so independent with even it’s own King, why is British King George V on the stamp. In my mind, he shouldn’t be but lets be realistic about who was mailing and receiving letters in Swaziland in 1922. People from Britain and South Africa concerning business and administration. The stamps like the people described above came from London. Today Swazi stamps do a better job of showing the local King, with only an occasional nod to the Commonwealth and Queen Elizabeth.

Todays stamp is issue A2, a half Penny stamp issued by the British Protectorate of Swaziland in 1922. It was part of a 10 stamp issue of various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.

In the South Africa of the 19th century, the area was divided into English and Boer areas and included several African tribal homelands including Swaziland. The Swazi tribe had their own King, Sobhuza II, who ruled from 1899-1982. This is the longest royal rule ever recorded.

It was intended for Swaziland to transition into South Africa after World War II. This was against the King’s wishes and when South Africa broke ties with Britain to maintain white rule, Britain changed their mind and was now in favor of Swaziland independence under it’s King. Those in London that know better still required a new council that empowered urban educated socialist over the King. Four years after independence the King dissolved the council in favor of traditional tribal leadership. The urbans were a small minority so this worked out. The revenue for Swaziland comes mainly from a Southern Africa Customs Union that dates from colonial times. The population grows almost as fast as the economy so the place is fairly poor.

The King during a tribal reed dance.

Current King Mswatti III has been on the thrown since 1986. He has 15 wives and 35 children. The first two wives were picked for him by the tribe and their children are in the line of succession. In Swaziland, a prospective wife is called a bride until she becomes pregnant, then she is a fiancé and the marriage ceremony can go forward. In an effort to curb AIDS, the King decreed that Swazi teenage girls retain virginity until age 18. He then violated his own rule by recruiting a new under age bride. He was duly charged with the violation and paid the fine, a cow. There has been some controversy as to the Kings lifestyle, most notably a Maybach automobile. The King responded to the controversy by making it illegal to photograph the King’s cars. Things are not perfect, but they are much more stable and secure that the rest of Africa with it’s colonial legacy and the local crooks that now man it.

The Japanese First Lady with 6 of the King’s 15 wives. Imagine how impressed Madame Abe would have been with full attendance.

In 2018, the King became concerned that some people may confuse Swaziland with Switzerland. Therefore he renamed his Kingdom Eswatini, which is Swazi for land of the Swazis.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the the Dlamini Royal House of the Swazi tribe. No it is not perfect, but a much better reflection of African heritage. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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Bophuthatswana 1985, The Tswana people get industrious in the Bop

South Africa granted a measure of self rule to several black enclaves. This did not satisfy world opposition to apartheid, but that does not mean there was not some achievement during the 17 years of existence. There was also complications when they were forced back in to the new South Africa. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

I do like stamps that show off otherwise unknown industry in far off places. Here we have a plastic bag factory. There must be a lot of those all over the world but I have never seen any. This issue also had stamps for a lady’s hosiery factory and a place that spray painted metal beds. Economic activity in the Bop, as it was unofficially known, is more remembered for platinum mines and the Sun City Resort, neither of which was part of the stamp issue. I am glad they showed more obscure endeavors. It does a good job of communicating that there is more going on than you know.

Todays stamp is issue A36, a 15 South African cent stamp issued by the semi independent Tswana people homeland of Bophuthatswana on October 25th, 1985. It was part of a 21 stamp issue in various denominations showing industry. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents.

The Bop got its independence in 1977. It was a string of disconnected enclaves. It had a black government including a tribal chief, Lucas Mangope, as an elected President. No country recognized the black South African homelands under UN pressure to oppose  Apartheid. The UN worried that recognizing the black homelands meant also recognizing white ruled South Africa. The reality was that the Bop had dealings with neighboring Botswana and Israel through De Beers. The homeland was better situated than many African areas with revenue from platinum and other mines. They also took advantage of their independence to open the Sun City Resort and Casino that provided revenue and much employment. Gambling was otherwise illegal in South Africa and Sun City was an easy drive from several large South African cities. It was open to white and black.

The revenue saw Bop build a large civil service and police. This added complication when white rule was coming to an end in early 90s South Africa. The intention was that the homelands would take part in the first multiracial South African elections and then rejoin new South Africa. People in the Bop including the civil service and President Mangope wondered what that meant for them, their jobs and their pensions. The ANC stroked the fears and the Civil Service went on strike. Mangope ordered his police to put down the strike and announced that they intended to skip the election and stay independent. The police mostly sided with the strikers. Mangope then invited in Right wing armed Boers to beef up what remained of his police. This was a big mistake as the police were not willing to work with them and the resulting looting was enough to bring in the South African police and end the Bop government. Interesting the looting was more aimed at the large shopping mall than the government buildings. Mangope was replaced in the interim by the South African Ambassador.

In modern South Africa, Mangope formed a small conservative. black political party that represented the Tswana tribe, He died in 2018 and his statue still stands in his hometown. It had been moved there from the old Bop government complex in 1994. So far at least, it is still okay to remember fondly the history of the Bop and it’s President.

Bop President Lucas Mangope statue

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to all the small forgotten factories that provide so much needed employment. More stamp issues like this please. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.