In May, 1901, during the final stages of the third phase of the Anglo Boer War, Pietersburg became the northern headquarters of the British Military. Their mandate from Kitchener was to bring the war to an end by applying the scorched-earth policy to the maximum whilst mopping up the areas north, west and east of Pietersburg and delivering the scattered Boers and their families to the concentration camp in Pietersburg.

One of the units tasked with this duty was the Bushveldt Carbineers. In May 1901, they were sent to a place they named Fort Edward near Elim Hospital, east of Louis Trichardt, and would have the notorious Lt Harry ‘Breaker’ Morant as their commanding officer. His second-in-command was Lt Peter Handcock. A younger officer, Lt George Witton, would join the unit much later. Handcock and Witton were Australians, as was the majority of their unit. Though Morant had come to South Africa from Australia, he had intimated that he would not be returning to that country as his family and roots were firmly in England.

A second unit, the British Army Military Intelligence Department, was stationed very close to them on the farm Sweetwaters, owned at that stage by the Bristow family. The officer commanding that unit, Capt Alfred ‘Bulala’ Taylor, was a man whose nature and behaviour have been described by some as that of a serial killer and psychopath. He had an unusually powerful influence on certain of the officers of the Bushveldt Carbineers.

The commanders of these two units were under the impression that Kitchener had issued orders not to take prisoners. They captured many Boers during the approximate seven months of their occupation and duly sent them to the camp in Pietersburg. However, they sometimes inexplicably decided to implement these "take no prisoners" orders and brutally shot groups of Boers as well as the Black attendants. They regarded these attendants as witnesses who would report the executions.

Though research has uncovered 36 known murders (that is what the killing of an unarmed, surrendered prisoner is called), they were only charged with 13 murders and finally found guilty in a court martial on 12 counts.

Lts Morant, Handcock and Witton were sentenced to death. Others who had been charged with manslaughter were cashiered. The night before their execution in Pretoria, Witton’s sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in a British military prison, while Morant and Handcock were executed by firing squad on 27 February 1902 and buried in the same grave in Pretoria.

Witton was released after serving a little more than two years of his life sentence. He returned to Australia and wrote a book that was accepted as the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, but was later proved to be not entirely so.

After 110 years, this Anglo Boer War issue is still alive and well and being perpetuated by certain individuals in Australia, who, in 2010, petitioned Britain to pardon Morant and Handcock for the murders that they had confessed to in court and were duly executed for.

In May 2010, a team from Australia’s TV Channel 9, accompanied by the internationally acclaimed interviewer, Ray Martin, spent a week researching the South African side of the story on site where it all happened. They were joined later in that week by Commander James Unkles, promoter of the pardon and Nick Bleszinski, author of the historical novel, Shoot straight you Bastards. Channel 9 screened the result of their trip several weeks later. Sadly, many Australians who claim to know the truth, still believe that a film, based on that novel, is the real story of what happened here and that the facts are all there to see.

I personally think that some people actually believe that the movie was filmed ‘live and on site!’

Meanwhile, the Australian petition for the pardon was turned down by Whitehall.

End of story? Not at all!

Commander James Unkles is now attempting to persuade the Australian Attorney General to take the petition further on behalf of the descendants of those officers.

If this is a civil action, then the South African descendants of those unarmed and surrendered men and boys who were shot down in cold blood are surely the "other party" involved in such a civil issue and now demand to be recognised, acknowledged and consulted on the ‘pardon petition.’

Mr Ronnie Visser, descendant of Joseph (Floris) Visser, one of Morant’s first murder victims, is against such a pardon and has approached a Louis Trichardt law firm to take this up with the Australian Attorney General. A great many South Africans support him and his relatives.

There were many victims of the Bushveldt Carbineers and this article serves as an appeal to their descendants to contact Ronnie Visser, Kerneels Kern, or Charles Leach (contact numbers below) to express their agreement, or not, of this South African response.

The names of the victims and the dates on which they were shot are listed below. Please bear in mind that some of the names might have been phonetically spelt at the time and that is the only spelling that is available. Do not hesitate to request additional information.

10 May 1901 - C.J. van den Berg (shot by Capt Taylor)

2 July 1901 - J.J. Vercuil, J.J. Geyser (65 years old), F.G.J. Potgieter (18 years old), P.J. Geyser (12 years old), J.C. Greyling, (?) van Heerden. Two black men shot in that area and possibly connected to the names above, were only identified as Njoba and Mattungen.

4 July 1901 - B.J. van Buuren.

10 August 1901 - Josef (Floris) Visser.

23 August 1901 - G.K. Westerhof, Baaukens (or Beaukamp?), W.A. Vahrmeijer, B. Wouters, C.P.J. Smit, Logenaar (or Lochner), J.J. du Plessis, Pauskie (or Pasche), and three unnamed black men.

On the same day, 23 August 1901, Rev. C.A.D. Heese and his un-named black driver.

5 September 1901 - Jan Derk Grobler (14 years old), Jacobus Daniel Grobler (6 years old).

7 September 1901 - Roelf van Staden (father), Roelf van Staden (jnr), Chris van Staden (12).

Two Boer men who were apparently digging for gold just inside what is today the Kruger National Park, were shot dead by Capt Taylor (not Australian and not a member of the Bushveldt Carbineers) in front of their wives and children, on the banks of the Phugwana River. Their unnamed Black attendant was also shot dead. Chief Madumetsa was also shot by Taylor. Though Taylor was also responsible for many other murders, none of his victims was known by name.

Some of the people listed above were Dutch school teachers on teaching contracts from Holland. This article will be hopefully be published in the Netherlands as well.

If you believe that you are related to any of the people above, or know of someone who might be, please contact Charles Leach for further details.

Ronnie Visser: Cel. 0825477444 - [email protected]

Kerneels Kern: Cel. 0832647130 - [email protected]

Charles Leach: Cel: 0832283874 - [email protected]