1922 |
Walvis Bay is transferred to the
SWA Administration.
The Walvis Bay port is extended with the construction of a second wooden port jetty.
In terms of Act No. 20 of 1922 the management and operation of railways and harbours in
the territory are placed under the control of SA Railways, to be managed as part of its
system. This act is changed in 1930 in order to include a clause that Act shall be held
... "subject to the Mandate".
In terms of Proclamation No. 12 of 1922 the Caprivi Strip is administered by the British
High Commissioner of South Africa as part of the Bechuanaland Protectorate (until 1929 and subject to the Mandate).
The findings of the Native Reserves Commission, 1922, lay the basis for the South African
land policy: the country should be more clearly segregated into "black" and
"white" settlement areas; squatting on "white" farms should be
prevented and there should be more efficient control of the native reserves. The SA Native
Land Act No. 27 of 1913, however, is only made applicable in SWA in 1928 but the
principles of strict territorial segregation are applied de facto from now on.
The Native Administration Proclamation No. 11 of 1922 controls the movements and squatting
of "blacks" in SWA.
Proclamation No. 33 of 1922 regulates the curfew for "blacks" in urban areas.
Joseph Frederiks III (|Ai-ob#Hobexamab) becomes captain of the Bethany Nama (until 1938).
Proclamation No. 34 of 1922 makes even clearer the prohibition of "Non-Whites"
in "white" areas and forbids all Africans to be on the streets between the hours
of 21h00 and 04h00 without a special pass.
!Hoëb ||Oasmab (also named Fritz Lazarus ||Oaseb) becomes the new Chief of the Kai||khaun
from Hoachanas (until 1936).
The UNIA petitions the League of Nation to turn the former German colonies over to
"black" leadership. The League is also urged to appoint a "black"
representative to the Permanent Mandates Commission.
The complex ores at the copper mine at Tsumeb are discovered to contain minerals of the
rare metal germanium and production starts (28 t in 1922).
Exploitation begins at the Gold deposits at Ondundu (until 1927, then again in 1934.
Mining ceases in 1945). |
January
|
The UNIA opens a branch office in
Windhoek. Ovaherero leaders such as Hosea Kutako, Aron (John) Mungunda (brother of Kutako
who had fought during World War One on the British side against the Germans in
Tanganyika), Traugott Maharero (Chief of the Okahandja-Ovaherero) and Nikanor Hoveka,
later appointed by the South Africans as chief of the Epukiro Reserve, are the dominating
figures of UNIA in Windhoek. Similarly the Dama leaders Alpheus Harasemab and Franz
Hoisemab play an important role. |
15.03. |
Farmer Carl Schlettwein reports
that "Herero people from all over the country are preparing an armed uprising to
seize hold of their rightful territory which England had promised them".
Schlettwein promises to mobilise 100 to 120 farmers in the Outjo area in order to assist
Administrator Hofmeyr. |
16.04. |
Abraham Morris, Jakob
Marengos co-commander who had fled the territory (c. 1906) during the Great
Resistance War of 1903-1909, returns home from SA. He crosses the Oranje River at
Haibmund. At Hakkiesdoorn he tries to mobilise some Bondelswarts to rise against SA, but
the manager of a citrus farm at Goodhouse informs the police at Ramansdrift about this. |
28.04.
|
Morris and his party reach Guruchas
(|Guruxas) near |Haib, where he is greeted by Jakobus Christian. The arrival of Morris is
reported to the SA authorities in Warmbad and Windhoek. The SWA Administrator issues a
warrant for his arrest. |
May |
Karasburg is plagued by thousands
of springbok sweeping through the small town. |
05.05. |
An attempt is made to bring Morris
to Warmbad but the Bondelswarts refuse to allow this. Sergeant van Niekerk of the SA
Police issues an ultimatum to the Bondelswarts to arrest Morris at Guruchas if he is not
brought to him within three hours. Further negotiations between the South Africans
(Noothout, Superintendent of the Dreihoek reserve and Roman Catholic Father Stanislaus
Krolikowski from Guruchas) and the Bondelswarts are stalled. |
25.05. |
Noothouts house at Dreihoek
is raided by Bondelswarts. |
26.05. |
The SWA Administrator Gysbert
Reitz Hofmeyr leads the South African armed forces against the Bondelswarts consisting of
22officers, 348 soldiers, two war planes, two mountain guns and four heavy machine guns. |
29.05. |
The Bondelswarts are attacked by SA
soldiers using planes, bombs and submachine guns, and there are 100 casualties including
women and children. The battle takes place at the Guruchas gorge. Some 1 260 Bondelswarts
participate in the uprising, in which Abraham Morris who fought on the British side
against the Germans during World War One killed at Bergkamer in the |Haib River gorge near
the Oranje River. |
30.05. |
The last Bondelswarts under the
command of Jakobus Christian surrender to Lieutenant Prinsloo at Guruchas. The
"Bondelswarts Affair of 1922" must be viewed against the background of
inadequate communication and bad administration. The main motives on the Bondelswart side
are the steady encroachment of "white" settlers on Bondelswart territory, the
heavy-handed intervention of the local police and the introduction of an absurdly high dog
tax (Proclamation No. 16 of 1921), which places severe economic pressure on the
Bondelswarts and forces them to work for "white" farmers. In political terms the
uprising can be interpreted as an act of defiance with nationalistic undertones. The
uprising renderes the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations more critical
of SAs administration of the territory. Subsequently South Africa appoints a
Commission of Inquiry into the Bondelswarts Affair under the chairmanship of AW Roberts.
The majority of members is strongly critical of the SWA Administration and the accepted
practice of compulsory labour by "white" settlers. |
04.06. |
Jakobus Christian is sentenced to
five years imprisonment with hard labour in Keetmanshoop. He is, however, released in 1924
and becomes again the Chief of the Bondelswarts (until his death in 1943).
The release is realised by judgement of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of
South Africa in 1924. This judgement, however, is never brought to the attention of the
Permanent Mandates Commission. This is used by those who promote SWAs incorporation
into SA. The Supreme Court judgement is the first authoritative decision by a court of law
on the status of South Africa in relation to SWA. |
26.07. |
A San group under the leadership
of the group leader Zameko fights the police near Gobabis (farm Alexeck of Mrs Bullik).
The Gobabis magistrate, Frederick Jacobus Kriel van Ryneveld, is killed in the skirmish.
Following this there are persistent reports linking a general rising to the eastern
frontier and including the San among the rebels. Even the exiled Ovaherero leader, Samuel
Maharero, is reportedly involved. |
September
|
The South West African National
Congress (SWANC) is founded to counteract the strong West African and South African
influences in the UNIA and ICU movements. A major catalyst for the establishment of the
SWANC is SM Bennett Ncwana. Ncwana reports that the major grievances of Namibian
"blacks" are the "unsympathic administration, no outlet for discussing
native grievances, unreasonable taxation considering the absence of profitable work, and
the absence of native educational facilities".
Two other movements are the African Peoples Organisation and the African National Bond.
They are founded by "Cape Coloureds" and sympathise with the two South African
"white" political parties (South African Party (SAP) and National Party (NP)). |
04.09. |
Government clerk F Mindner
establishes that the German colonial authorities made no provision for the confiscation of
Khauas Nama property as was prescribed in the Imperial Ordinance of December 1905.
Although this oversight was well known by the German colonial administration in 1913/14
the legal mistake was never rectified. Also the South Africans keep silence about the
matter because they want more land for the resettlement of "poor whites". |
30.09. |
The Witbooi Nama Jesaias Witbooi
dies. |
October |
UNIA chairman Aron Mungunda with
the Dama Theodor Hanbanue visits Karibib, Usakos and Okahandja. In
Okahandja Eduard Maharero, brother of Traugott, becomes local chairman of the UNIA.
The leader of the ||Hawoben, !Kharab !Hao-khomab (or Jan Hendrik or Bob), who has earlier
organised a meeting at Keetmanshoop to support the Bondelswarts in their uprising and
resisted police arrest in July is sentenced to six years imprisonment in the Windhoek
prison. |
End 1922 |
Pending rebellions in different
parts of Namibia due to the millenarian ideas contained in Garveyism disturb the
"white" settler community. The South African Native Commissioner CN Manning is,
however, doubtful that a general rising would occur.
King Iipumbu ya Tshilongo of the Uukwambi area arms his people and orders them to guard
the Onolongo and Ondangwa routes into his territory in order to prevent "whites"
from entering his country. 
Abraham Morris and his poorly-armed
!Gami-#nun are defeated by the South Africans with their War
Planes in the Battle of Guruchas (in the Hills in the Background). Morris fights his last
Battle at Bergkamer near Uhabis where he is killed
Copyright of Photos: Dr. Klaus Dierks

The 83 years old Anna Veldskoen, Grandchild of Abraham Morris,
living near Gabis in the Bondelswart Area
Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks

Timotheus Morris (born on 06.05.1952), Grandchild of Abraham
Morris
Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks |