ANGLO BOER WAR: Tax Resistance Case that Launched the First Boer War

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The Bezuidenhout family have a rather colourful history in colonial SA giving the good old British grey hairs, from the Slagters Nek rebellion that spouted with the shooting of Frederik Bezuidenhout, to the confiscation of a certain Mr Bezuidenhout’s wagon that lit the Powderkeg that was the Annexed Transvaal in 1880.

How the Bezuidenhout’s seem to always be involved can only be speculated at. Dutch, Huguenot and German blood, mixed with generations of living in a hard land, made hard men. That intolerable Afrikaaner spirit with its pigheaded unwillingness to bow to a slight or what is seem to be a personal attack flows in many of us, we are after all African and stubbornness and disregard for abusive authorities are seen as a virtue, so when Mr Bezuidenhout was given the opportunity to raise the middle finger to the crown he did not disappoint.

On annexing the Transvaal the British set about to fill its coffers (the ZAR was by all intents and purposes bankrupt it n annexation). Taxes were levied and the grumbling started.

So how did a Bezuidenhout trigger the first Anglo Boer War? Well a boer by the name of Bezuidenhout, who curiously was the son of the Slagters Nek Bezuidenhout, was summoned by the Potchefstroom Landdrost to pay a claim by the Treasury officials in Pretoria. It does seem that the claim against Bezuidenhout was illegal and he was justified in resisting, but more on this in a bit.

There was an amount of passive resistance by the Boers to what they saw as “the British robbing the land” with taxes and our erstwhile Mr Bezuidenhout had already spent, voluntarily, a time in prison as apposed to paying a £5 fine for procuring gunpowder without a permit. He might have been spoiling for a fight, but it certainly seems it wasn’t undue.

Back to the wagon; the Government sent a summons for £27.50 to Mr Bezuidenhout, this was almost £14 more than was owing to him, as was the case the State had included taxes that were supposed to be due and they were applying this to many citizens. When taken to court, burgers produced receipts showing they did not owe these supposed dues. Naturally this created animosity as the burgers felt they were being squeezed for money.

On appearing before the landdrost Bezuidenhout agreed to pay £14 owed, but wanted a receipt and said that he would only hand over the money in the government was turned over to the ZAR in the following January. Naturally the landdrost could not consent and the case was adjourned. When it came to hearing the magistrate accepted the £14 and ordered Bezuidenhout to pay the costs, that curiously made up £13.5 to a sum of £27.5 (I bet you can see where this is going). Bezuidenhout refuses and his wagon was attached and was to be sold off the next day.

Now the burgers were properly gatvol, about 100 armed themselves and waited quietly in the town center for the auction to begin. When the Sheriff arrived he was chased away and told that the burgers did not recognize the government. This small act of defiance by prompted Sir Owen Lanyon to send troops to Potchefstroom to arrest the ringleaders, they were unsuccessful and while the British sat about wringing their hands about what to do next the Boers of the ZAR set about to capitalize on the chaos and almost a month later on the 13th of December 1880 a mass meeting of Boers in Heidelburg declared the Transvaal one again a republic and set about to defend it with arms

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ARTICLE POSTED ON BEHALF OF GS MEMBER