The year 1870 in the history of the Cape Colony marks the dawn of a new era in South Africa, and it can be said that the development of modern South Africa began on that date. Despite political complications that arose from time to time, progress in Cape Colony continued at a steady pace until the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer Wars in 1899. The discovery of diamonds in the Orange River in 1867 was immediately followed by similar finds in the Vaal River. This led to the rapid occupation and development of huge tracts of the country, which had hitherto been sparsely inhabited. Dutoitspan and Bultfontein diamond mines were discovered in 1870, and in 1871 the even richer mines of Kimberley and De Beers were discovered. These four great deposits of mineral wealth were incredibly productive, and constituted the greatest industrial asset that the Colony possessed.
This period also witnessed the increasing tensions between the English-dominated Cape Colony and the Afrikaner-dominated Transvaal. These conflicts led to the outbreak of the First Boer War. These tensions mainly concerned the easing of trade restrictions between the different colonies, as well as the construction of railways.
Socioeconomic background
At the time of the beginning of the diamond industry, all of South Africa was experiencing depressed economic conditions. Ostrich-farming was in its infancy, and agriculture had only been lightly developed. The Boers, except those in the immediate vicinity of Cape Town, lived in impoverished conditions. They only traded marginally with the Colony for durable goods. Even the British colonists were far from wealthy. The diamond industry was therefore considerably attractive, especially to colonists of British origin. It was also a means to demonstrate that South Africa, which appeared to be barren and poor on the surface, was rich below the ground. It takes 10 acres (40,000 m2) of Karoo to feed a sheep, but it was now possible that a few square metres of diamondiferous blue ground would be able to feed a dozen families. By the end of 1871, a large population had already gathered on the diamond fields, and immigration increased dramatically, which brought in many newcomers. Among the first to seek a fortune on the diamond fields was Cecil Rhodes.
The beginning of "responsible government"
The Cape Colony was brought under "responsible government" in 1872. Under its previous political system, the government ministers of the Cape reported to the appointed British Governor of Cape Colony, and not to the locally elected Cape Parliament. A popular movement arose in the early 1860s, led by local leader John Molteno, to make the government of the country accountable (or "responsible") to parliament and the local electorate, thereby gaining a degree of independence from Britain. Throughout most of the 1860s, the Cape was dominated by a political struggle between the British Governor, Sir Philip Wodehouse, and the growing responsible government movement. The political deadlock was accompanied by economic stagnation and bitter regional divisions between the Cape's provinces.R. W. Murray (Limner): Pen and Ink Sketches in Parliament & South African Reminiscences. Cape Town: UCT Libraries. 1965.J. L. McCracken: The Cape Parliament, 1854-1910. London: Caledon Press. 1967.
Finally in 1872, Molteno – with the backing of a new Governor Henry Barkly – instituted responsible government, making ministers responsible to Parliament, and becoming the Cape's first Prime Minister. The ensuing years saw a rapid surge in economic growth, a country-wide expansion of infrastructure as well as a period of regional integration and social development.
Though the Confederation wars were soon to interrupt this new stability, the Cape remained under responsible government for the remainder of its history, until it became the Cape Province within the new Union of South Africa in 1910. An important point to be made about the political system of the Cape under responsible government, was that it was the only state of southern Africa to have a non-racial system of voting. In the following century however – after the Act of Union of 1910 to form the Union of South Africa – this multi-racial universal suffrage was steadily eroded, and eventually abolished by the Apartheid government in 1948.Wilmot, A. The History of our own Times in South Africa, Volume 2. J.C. Juta & co., 1899Molteno, P. A. The Life and Times of John Charles Molteno. Comprising a History of Representative Institutions and Responsible Government at the Cape, Volume II. London: Smith, Elder & Co., Waterloo Place, 1900. p. 214.
Failed attempt at confederation
The idea of melding the states of southern Africa into a Confederation was not new. An earlier plan by Sir George Grey for a federation of all the various colonies in South Africa had been rejected by the home authorities in 1858 as not being viable. Later, the 4th Earl of Carnarvon, secretary of state for the colonies, having successfully federated Canada, drew up a new plan to impose the same system of confederation on the (very different) states of Southern Africa. Southern Africa, seen as vital for the security of the Empire, was only partially under British control at the time. Black African and Boer states remained uncolonised, and the Cape Colony had just attained a degree of independence.F. Statham: Blacks, Boers, & British: A Three-cornered Problem. MacMillan & Co. 1881.
Confederating the various states under British rule was seen as the best way of establishing overall British control with the minimum blood-shed, and ending the autonomy of the remaining independent states.V.C.Malherbe: What They Said. 1795–1910 History Documents. Cape Town: Maskew Miller. 1971. p.144-145. The imposition of a federation upon Southern Africa was, however, doomed to failure and led to resentment across the region (culminating disastrously in the Anglo-Zulu War, the First Boer War and other conflicts).
The Cape Colony's response
There was little local enthusiasm for the confederation project. Prominent Cape politicians, while acknowledging the success of the Confederation model in Canada, questioned its suitability for Southern Africa. They also criticised the timing of the scheme as particularly unfortunate – coming when the different states of Southern Africa were still unstable and simmering after the last bout of British imperial expansion. The Cape Prime Minister John Molteno correctly warned that the imposition of a lop-sided confederation would cause instability and resentment. He advised full union as a better model for Southern Africa – but only at a later date, once it was economically viable and tensions had died down.
Direct British rule in the Cape Colony had recently been replaced by responsible government, and the newly elected Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope in Cape Town, under the liberal Molteno-Merriman government, resented the perceived high-handed manner in which Lord Carnarvon presented his proposals from afar without an understanding of local affairs. It also suspected him of manoeuvring to consolidate British control over the region's states, reverse the Cape's independence, and bring on a war with the neighbouring Xhosa Chiefs. Molteno's government raised the additional concern, transmitted to London by Sir Henry Barkly, that any federation with the illiberal Boer republics would endanger the rights and franchise of the Cape's black citizens; if there was to be any form of union, the Cape's non-racialism would need to be implemented in the Boer republics, and could not be compromised.N. Mostert: Frontiers: The Epic of South Africa's Creation and the Tragedy of the Xhosa People. Pimlico: London, 1993. , p.1247. A resolution was passed in the Cape Parliament on 11 June 1875, stating that any scheme in favour of confederation must originate locally, from among southern African states, and not be imposed by London.
Lord Carnarvon responded by sending the distinguished historian James Anthony Froude to Southern Africa, with orders to push discreetly for confederation, test popular opinion about it and report all information directly back to Carnarvon. However, the general public in South Africa saw him as a representative of the British government and local suspicion of his agenda ensured that his trip was not a success; in fact he entirely failed to induce Southern Africans to adopt Lord Carnarvon's confederation system.
The Molteno Unification Plan (1877), put forward by the Cape government as a more feasible unitary alternative to confederation, largely anticipated the final act of Union in 1909. A crucial difference was that the Cape's constitution and multiracial franchise were to be extended to the other states of the union. These smaller states would gradually accede to the much larger Cape Colony through a system of treaties, whilst gaining elected seats in the Cape parliament. The entire process would be locally driven, with Britain's role restricted to policing any set backs. While subsequently acknowledged to be more viable, this model was rejected at the time by London.Frank Richardson Cana: South Africa: From the Great Trek to the Union. London: Chapman & Hall, ltd., 1909. Chapter VII "Molteno’s Unification Plan". p.89
Lord Carnarvon, still bent on imposing confederation on Southern Africa, now appointed his political ally Sir Bartle Frere as governor of Cape Colony and high commissioner of South Africa. Frere was appointed on the understanding that he would work to enforce Carnarvon's confederation plan and, in return, he could then become the first British governor of a united southern African confederation.
Serious African insurrections began soon afterwards, in Zululand and on the Xhosa frontier of the Cape Colony. In 1876, the British had annexed Fingoland, the Idutywa reserve and other Xhosa lands, on the understanding that the Cape government should take them over and provide for their government, however there was a serious rebellion by the amaGcaleka and the amaNgqika (or Gaikas) and a considerable force of imperial and colonial troops was required to put down the uprising. The war was subsequently known as the Ninth Xhosa War and the famous Xhosa chief, Sandile, lost his life during its course. After the war ended, the Transkei (the territory of the Gcaleka tribe, who were led by Sarhili "Kreli"), was annexed by the British.
Frere's dissolving of the elected Cape Government removed any constitutional obstructions to the colonial office's confederation plan, but was overshadowed by growing unrest and anti-British agitation across the whole region.
Anglo-Zulu and Anglo-Boer Wars
The Transvaal had been brought under British control through a peacefully annexation from the south-east in 1877, under Sir Theophilus Shepstone. The remaining Xhosa Kingdoms had all been annexed, though upheavals continued. With the Cape government removed and a puppet Prime Minister (John Gordon Sprigg) installed, Frere turned to the Zulu Kingdom to the east, under its King, Cetshwayo. As an independent state, it needed to be brought under British control in order to be melded into the planned Confederation.