TODAY IN KIMBERLEY’S HISTORY 5 NOVEMBER SA cricketer George Bissett born, 1905 Vusi Tukakhomo, first full-time black reporter at the DFA, appointed, 1978 DID YOU KNOW Kimberley had natural defensive works in the form of the many mine tailing heaps that surrounded the town and these were easily converted into fortifications (pictured) using the thousands of Africans resident in Kimberley. This 14 kilometre long defensive line of redoubts, trenches, minefields and barbed wire entanglements, (and later enlarged to encompass the Wesselton Mine and Kenilworth village), was constructed by mine compound Africans supplied by De Beers, African convicts, African labourers supplied by contractors, and unemployed relief work “boys”, all under the supervision of 45 men of the 7th Field Company Royal Engineers. Only the Sanatorium defensive positions were built by whites, and even then they were built by regular soldiers of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. Various road works were built, or improved upon during the siege, which afforded occupation for the unemployed both black and white. 19 streets, totaling some 7 miles and 108 yards were completed by 14th April 1900, of which nearly four miles were brand new roads. Five of the roads led up to the highest point in Kimberley, Monument Hill, the spot where the massive siege memorial designed by Sir Herbert Baker would be erected. Cecil Rhodes was instrumental in funding this relief work for the unemployed, and created work for 905 white worker shifts, 3961 so-called coloured or Indian worker shifts, and 4997 African worker shifts. It did not help much that these relief workers could only obtain employment if they brought their own spade. In the latter stages of the siege when the Boer Long Tom gun was firing its 94 pound shells into Kimberley, these self-same black relief workers dug shelter trenches in the tailing dumps, built splinter-proof shelters in the drain alongside Park Road, constructed the bomb-proof shelter at Nazareth House, as well as many other shelters scattered throughout Kimberley. The majority of the African relief workers were from the outlying districts around Kimberley. By January 1900, and despite these refugee workers being paid, at least 90% were suffering from scurvy.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 01:44:59 +0000
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