Namoha Battle Site

Between 1942 and 1950 certain inhabitants of the Witsieshoek reserve launched an organized revolt against decisions and instructions emanating from the office of the Assistant Native Commissioner regarding the improvement and control of stock, and the rehabilitation and development of land in the reserve. They organized petitions designed to force the government to suspend or rescind especially the harsh measures of Proclamation 31/1939 which the Reserve Board, in the name of the people, had unwittingly agreed to. As the number of the Basotho in Witsieshoek increased and new measures introduced, the number of villages also increased. Each village was given a name accordingly and each was under a sub-chief. Namoha was one of such villages. The battle which later became known as the Namoha Battle came as a result of the betterment scheme introduced by the apartheid government. To the Africans, this meant limitation to livestock. Initially the culling of cattle was accepted as early as 1941, long before the advent of the apartheid government in South Africa. During this period, most Africans thought that that was just a once off event. In the 1950, rejecting the issue of limiting livestock, some people in Witsieshoek refused to sell off their culled cattle. However, this refusal led to many confrontations with the authorities who wanted to enforce that. Mopelinyane became the leader of the protesting group which became known as Lingangele (meaning those who stand firm/instigators/dissidents/agitators or the resistors). Therefore, he was regarded by the authorities as a dangerous person who should be removed from Witsieshoek. Lingangele were assisted by the Witsieshoek Vigilance Association (WVA) on its quest to resist the culling of cattle. When the government did nothing to address the concerns of this group and of the Basotho in general, the Lingangele embarked upon defiance of the government orders. They wanted to force the government to accede to their demands. As a result of their stance against cattle culling, more and more people began supporting the Lingangele. The Lingangele leaders began to assume a heroic status among many members of the community. It was popularly felt that the stock culling had involved deception by the officials, that rather aiming to improve the reserve’s stock by eliminating the weakest, the main intention was to reduce overall numbers. This, it was charged, was not what the Basotho had accepted in 1939. Notwithstanding the authorities’ attitude towards Mopelinyane, his selfless attitude appealed to the masses. He gradually came to be regarded as a hero who had successfully flouted the authorities. Consequently, the number of his adherents grew overnight and his followers moved through the Reserve with pride. What really triggered resistance against the government was its intention to demarcate areas into camps. In the camped areas only certain types of livestock could graze in specific camps. These were the newly acquired Afrikander and Swiss bulls. The Basotho cows were not allowed to graze in those camps unless they were ‘given’ to the bulls for mating. The White traders and the Dutch Reformed Church received larger farms and their land was not subjected to the Trust regulations. The government, instead of providing more land to the Basotho to accommodate the increasing population as well as land for grazing, decreed that livestock should be reduced because the cattle were far too many for the area. The carrying capacity of the Reserve was limited to 12 500 stock in 1940, thus culling of livestock was to be carried out as part of the betterment measures. Accordingly, all stock owners had to produce all stock belonging to them at times and places fixed by the Native Commissioner. The owner who failed to comply with the requirements of such a notice was guilty of an offence. However, this issue caused so much friction between the government and the Basotho that it culminated in bloodshed. On 20 February 1950 a meeting was convened by the Magistrate of Harrismith, JJ Snyman to persuade the Basotho to cooperate for voluntary culling of cattle. Few Basotho attended that meeting whereby they denounced the issue of cattle-culling. On 12 October 1950 a Commission of Enquiry was appointed to investigate the plight of the Basotho. However, members of Lingangele declared no trust to the Commission. The fact that the Commission was composed of White people further fuelled suspicion and frustration. Despite the opposition to the Commission by the Lingangeles at Witsieshoek from 1 November 1950 to 5 December 1950 and also from 15 January 1951 to 26 January 1951, the Commission continued with its work. However, at its first meeting only Chief Charles Mopeli and about 70 of his followers attended, despite the fact that it was well advertised all over the area in a notice dated 6 October 1950. On 27 November 1950, contrary to the Proclamation which prohibited gatherings of more than five people and the carrying of weapons, the Lingangele called a meeting at Namoha village. On the same day the four Lingangele leaders, Mopelinyane, Scotland Koloi, Paulus Mphetheng and Letsie Mopeli, were to give evidence before the Commission of Enquiry. Many people attended and the gathering was said to have been peaceful, although they carried traditional weapons. Due to this, they were served with subpoenas. They were given to Major LPS Terblanche (District Commandant of Police from Bethlehem) and his contingent to serve them. He went to Namoha with 66 armed policemen. On arrival at the gathering the police wanted to see the four men and ordered the crowd to disperse but the Basotho refused. A certain constable Ntsane Mopeli, who acted as an interpreter, entered the crowd on instruction from Major Terblanche to look for the four men whom the Commission had subpoenaed. This action caused a stir among the Basotho who at that time had become aggressive. When Ntsane was within the crowd, there suddenly was a great movement, his horse was intentionally struck with a stick, it got frightened, jumped and he fell off. Immediately thereafter, the Major shouted ‘fire’ and the attack started. After forty minutes of fighting, the police withdrew with their two dead and sixteen wounded. The sixteen policemen who were wounded included Major Terblanche. The two killed were Lieutenant Jonker and Constable Erasmus. On that night following the battle, Paulus Mpheteng and others allegedly collected corpses and attended to the wounded as no medical assistance was provided until the next morning. Other dead and wounded were found in adjacent huts. Some of the deceased, five of them were taken by their families for burial in their respective villages. The remaining bodies, nine in all, were buried at Namoha and the mass funeral service was conducted by a member of Lingangele Rev. N Lecheko (Minister of Religion at Mabolela Village). The deceased were buried along-side each other, but not all at the local cemetery. Following the Namoha confrontation many people were arrested. The police used helicopters and armoured vehicles to search for the suspects. As the police continued with their raids, many Basotho ran away. On Wednesday 29 November 1950 when the government officials, journalists and photographers descended to the area to collect evidence and take some pictures, the Basotho in the nearby houses ran away. That was an indicative of the uneasiness which was created by the battle and an indication of confusion on the side of the Basotho