On 14 October 1899, the Siege of Mafeking began — one of the most significant events of the Anglo-Boer War, later known as the South African War.
For 217 days, the small town of Mafeking (today’s Mahikeng) became the center of global attention as British forces under Colonel Robert Baden-Powell were besieged by Boer commandos.
Mahikeng would later become the administrative seat of the post-apartheid North West Province under a democratic South Africa.
While history has often been told through a colonial lens that glorifies British heroism, it was the Barolong people, under Chief Besele Montshioa, together with many African auxiliaries, who bore the true brunt of the siege.
Their land was occupied, their livelihoods disrupted, and their labour exploited for a war that was never theirs. Yet, they remained steadfast in defence of their territory and their right to self-determination.
Their courage, fortitude and resilience are exemplified by Makgotheng Kepadisa, who played a critical role in reconnaissance and sabotage operations against the Boer commandos.
This moment in history also marked the early stirrings of African political consciousness.
Out of this very town would emerge one of Africa’s sharpest intellectuals and freedom fighters, Sol T. Plaatje. Witnessing the aftermath of the war, Plaatje devoted his life to documenting the dispossession of African people.
During the siege, Plaatje, who worked as an interpreter and typist for the resident magistrate in the then Mafeking colonial administration, kept a detailed diary chronicling the events of the war.
The Barolong people had hoped that, following the war, a new administration inclusive of all racial groups would emerge. However, that vision was short-lived. In 1902, the British and the Boers signed the Treaty of Vereeniging, which paved the way for the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, under the leadership of Boer General Louis Botha as Prime Minister.
These developments marked a turbulent period for Africans. Just three years after the Union’s formation, the Native Land Act of 1913 came into effect, a law that legally dispossessed Black Africans of their land.
In his seminal book, Native Life in South Africa, Plaatje writes:
“Awakening on Friday morning, June 20, 1913, the South African native found himself not actually a slave, but a pariah in the land of his birth.”
He described how the Act confined Black Africans to a small fraction of the country’s land and made it illegal for them to buy or lease land outside of designated reserves. This legislation entrenched a system in which the indigenous population became outcasts in their own homeland, creating a fertile ground for labour exploitation by monopoly capital.
Plaatje’s writings and activism laid the intellectual foundation for the broader liberation struggle and inspired the formation of the African National Congress (ANC) in 1912.
The Siege of Mafeking is, therefore, not merely a colonial war story. It is a Mahikeng story, a South African story, and most importantly, a liberation story. It reminds us of the resilience of our ancestors and the long road our people travelled toward self-determination.
Yet, more than a century after our democratic breakthrough, Africans still grapple with landlessness, poverty, unemployment, and inequality, enduring legacies of the very struggle our forebears resisted.
As we reflect on these issues, it is my wish that in future, the Mahikeng Local Municipality and the broader community will commemorate this history through exhibitions, school debates, heritage walks and cultural performances, so that especially the youth can reconnect with this powerful chapter of our past and, more importantly, draw lessons to address the socio-economic challenges that persist today.
Mahikeng remains one of the few places in our country that truly epitomise the struggle for land, identity, and liberation, and it deserves to be celebrated with pride.
— Gomolemo Mothibi is an activist and co-founder of the Maftown Book Club. She writes in her personal capacity.
