In 1815 a farmer from the eastern border of the Cape Colony, Frederik Bezuidenhout, was summoned to appear before a magistrate’s court after repeated allegations of mistreating one of his Khoi labourers. Bezuidenhout resisted arrest and fled to a cave near his home, where he defended himself against the Coloured soldiers sent to capture him. When he refused to surrender, he was shot dead by one of the soldiers.

One of Bezuidenhout’s brothers, Hans, swore revenge. Historians believe that the fact that Bezuidenhout was killed by a Coloured was the reason behind the fury of Hans and that of many others’. Together with a neighbour Hendrik Prinsloo, Hans Bezuidenhout organised an uprising against the British colonial power, who was believed to be hostile towards the Boers and to favour Blacks and Coloureds above the Afrikaner farmers. On 18 November a commando of rebels met an armed force from Landdrost (magistrate) Jacob Cuyler, the military commander on the eastern borders, at Slachter’s Nek. Negotiations failed, and the majority of the rebels left without any shots being fired. Twenty rebels surrendered, followed by several more over the following few days. However, some of the leaders, among whom was Hans Bezuidenhout, refused to turn themselves over to the authorities. On 29 November they were attacked by colonial troops. Everybody but Bezuidenhout and his family surrendered, and like his brother, Hans died while resisting arrest.

The rebels were finally charged at Uitenhage. Some were cleared, others were imprisoned or banished. Six were sentenced to death, but one of these was pardoned by the Governor. On 9 March 1916 the remaining five were hanged in public at Van Aardtspos. Four of the nooses broke during the procedure and the still living convicts, together with many spectators, pleaded for their lives, but the executioner ordered that they be hanged a second time. The names of the five rebels who were executed are Hendrik Prinsloo, Stephanus Bothma, Abraham Bothma, Cornelis Faber and Theunis de Klerk.

Although many of the border farmers did not support or agree with the rebellion, some Voortrekkers have claimed it to be one of the reasons for the Great Trek.

On the 9th March 1916, exactly 100 years after the execution, a monument was unveiled on the spot of the hanging, beside the road to Port Elizabeth.

Sources

Potgieter, J. (ed)(1973). Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, Vol. IX, Pretoria: HSRC, pp.655-6.

Welsh, F. (1998). A History of South Africa, London: HarperCollins.