KRUGER, PAUL

Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (generally known as Paul) (October 10, 1825-July 14, 1904) was born in Gradock District, Cape Colony and died in Clareno, Switzerland. To his followers Kruger was the champion of Afrikanerdom and he is still regarded by many as one of the greatest Afrikaner leaders.

PHOTO CAPTION: Kruger Paul. SOURCE: EA Library

He was the third of the seven children of Casper Kruger and Elsie Steyn. In 1836 the Kruger family left the Eastern Cape and with the trek party of Andries Kendrik Potgieter headed for the north. As a boy, Kruger witnessed significant clashes between blacks and whites. He grew up in a period of great uncertainty and, like other Voortrekker children, had very little formal schooling, only three months. He was educated by his father and could write reasonably well. He regularly read the Bible, which became his guide in all matters. In 1859 he joined the Gereformeerde Kerk, a Calvinist and fundamentalist sect, known as the Dopper Church, which had been founded in the same year by the Rev. D. Postma.

Kruger settled in the western Transvaal and was granted a farm near present-day Rustenburg. He married Maria du Plessis in 1842, before trekking with the Potgieter party to the eastern Transvaal, where she died. He then returned to his farm and, in 1847, married Gezina du Plessis. They had 16 children: 9 sons and 7 daughters.

Kruger showed leadership capabilities at an early age. He became assistant field-cornet at the age of 17 and field-cornet when only 25 years old. As field-cornet, and later commandant and commandant general, he participated in a number of campaigns during which he showed exceptional bravery and proved himself an outstanding military leader. But he was also interested in state affairs. He attended the negotiations that resulted in the Sand River Convention whereby Britain acknowledged the independence of the Transvaal. He also played an important part in the state affairs of the young Transvaal republic, helping to draw up a constitution. Kruger, throughout his independence and the upholding of its constitution.

After the British annexation of the Transvaal in 1877, Kruger became deeply involved in state affairs. The government of the republic officially protested against the annexation and Kruger was twice deputed first in 1877 with Dr. E.J.P. Jorissen and again in 1878 with P.J. Joubert to negotiate the cancellation of the annexation. Both missions failed, Kruger nevertheless persisted in his efforts to pacify his followers and regain Transvaal’s independence without bloodshed. The tension grew to such an extent, however, that war broke out in 1880. Peace was restored the next year and, by the Pretoria Convention, the Transvaal regained its independence subject to British sovereignty.

During the war and thereafter until 1883, the government of the republic was in the hands of a triumvirate consisting of Kruger, P.J. Joubert and M.W. Pretorius. In 1882 Kruger was elected president by a wide majority and in the next year he was sworn in. Thereafter he was re-elected in 1888, 1893, and 1898. In all the elections his major rival was P.J. Joubert, who showed up well in 1893 when he lost the election by only 800 votes.

In 1883, a deputation consisting of Kruger, Gen. N.J. Smit, and the Rev. S.J. du Toit, visited Britain and succeeded in replacing the Pretoria Convention by a new one. The London Convention of 1884 altered the western boundary of the Republic, reduced the debt to Britain, and omitted any reference to British sovereignty. But the republic’s right to negotiate treaties with foreign powers was limited by Article Four.

The deputation also visited the European continent, where Kruger granted a concession to a Dutch group for the construction of a railway line from Pretoria to Delagoa Bay. This scheme could not be carried out immediately because of the republic’s poor economic position. The discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand in 1886 ended the economic crisis but instead created new political problems for Kruger. Thousands of foreigners flocked to the gold fields for material gain. Kruger regarded them as temporary inhabitants and was not prepared to give them the same political rights as earlier residents. He did not want the Uitlanders, as the foreigners were called, to be in a position to outvote the original population. Therefore, in 1889, Kruger persuaded the Volksraad (“people’s assembly,” or parliament) to create a Second Volksraad to represent the Uitlanders. After 14 years an Uitlander could obtain full citizenship rights. This became an important Uitlander grievance against the Kruger government.

A second political problem that stemmed from the discovery of gold was a clash over trade relations between Kruger and C.J. Rhodes, prime minister of the Cape. Kruger saw economic independence as the key to complete freedom, and therefore aspired to a railroad link over which Britain would have no authority. Kruger had already clashed with Rhodes on the western border of the Transvaal.

The establishment of a British protectorate over Bechuanaland in 1885 safeguarded Rhodes’s plans for expansion to the north and forced Kruger to abandon territorial expansion, except where it concerned his ideal of establishing an independent harbor. He therefore tried to avoid expansion to the north and even allowed rail lines from the Cape and Natal in exchange for a promise that his claim for access to the sea in the east would be favorably considered at a later date. Nothing came of this promise, however, as the areas between Swaziland and the sea were ultimately annexed by Britain.

On the other hand Kruger’s position was strengthened when the railroad from Pretoria to Delagoa Bay was completed early in 1895. A fierce tariff war with the Cape railroads followed. British intervention was called for. Kruger was compelled to give in. The Transvaal, however, remained Rhodes’s target for expansion in order to establish a united southern Africa under the British flag. He therefore tried to bring about the fall of Kruger’s government by the Jameson Raid of 1895-96.

The abortive raid, however, broke the political power of Rhodes. Kruger, for his part, handed over Jameson and his raiders to the British government, and even reprieved the leaders condemned for conspiracy in Johannesburg, thereby obtaining the respect of his adversaries. The raid also led to tension between Britain and Germany and raised false hopes of German support in Kruger.

Thereafter Transvaal-British relations deteriorated. Kruger desired to replace the London Convention with a treaty of peace, trade and friendship, while Joseph Chamberlain, as British secretary of state for the colonies, was anxious to retain article four, which restrained the republic’s relations with foreign countries, and sought to discuss Uitlander grievances with Kruger. Chamberlain and Kruger did not, however, come to terms.

Relations became more strained when Sir Alfred Milner became British high commissioner in South Africa in 1897. Milner was determined to use the Uitlander grievances as a lever to destroy the independence of the republic. In May and June 1889, Kruger and Milner met each other at a conference in Bloemfontein. Milner insisted on voting rights for the Uitlanders with more than five years’ residency status. Kruger was prepared to bring down the residence qualification from 14 years to 7 years, but found Milner so uncompromising that he eventually cried in despair that it was not the franchise Milner wanted, but his country. Later Kruger was in fact prepared to lower the residence qualification to five years, but then Milner made new demands. War had become inevitable.

In May 1900 the approach of British forces forced Kruger to leave Pretoria. At 75 years of age he could not remain with the republican forces in the field. He therefore left to plead the Boer cause in Europe, where he received sympathy, but no real support. After peace was signed in 1902 he remained in exile until his death, in Switzerland, in 1904. His body was taken to Pretoria where he was buried in the old cemetery.

Despite his high position, Kruger was always accessible to his countrymen and to any other visitors. He never changed his simple habits. He was kind and sympathetic, despite a rugged and grim appearance. There are a number of portraits of Kruger dating from 1855 onwards. These are to be found in the Transvaal archives in Pretoria, in the Cultural History and Open Air Museum, also in Pretoria, and in many other institutions. Out of a number of statues, the one by Anton van Wouw in Church Square, Pretoria, is best known.

Several streets and squares in Pretoria and elsewhere are named after Kruger, as well as the town Krugersdorp, and the Kruger National Park, which was established through his efforts.

M. C. VAN ZYL