Henry Stanley Morton - Where was the rule of law?

Henry Morton Stanley; the Journalist, Explorer and Murderer.

Sir Henry Morton Stanley, GCB, born John Rowlands (28 January 1841 – 10 May 1904), was a Welsh journalist and explorer famous for his exploration of Africa and his search for David Livingstone. Stanley is often remembered for the words uttered to Livingstone upon finding him: "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" His legacy of death and destruction in the Congo region is considered an inspiration for Joseph Conrad's book ‘Heart of Darkness’, detailing atrocities inflicted upon the natives.

Early life

Stanley was born in Denbigh, Wales. At the time, his mother, Elizabeth Parry, was 19 years old. According to Stanley himself, his father, John Rowlands, was an alcoholic; there is some doubt as to his true parentage. His parents were unmarried, so his birth certificate refers to him as a bastard and the stigma of illegitimacy weighed heavily upon him all his life. He was brought up by his grandfather until the age of five. When his guardian died, Stanley stayed at first with cousins and nieces for a short time, but was eventually sent to St. Asaph Union Workhouse for the poor, where overcrowding and lack of supervision resulted in frequent abuse by the older boys. When he was ten, his mother and two siblings stayed for a short while in this workhouse, without Stanley realizing who they were. He stayed until the age of 15. After completing an elementary education, he was employed as a pupil teacher in a National School. In 1859, at the age of 18, he made his passage to the United States in search of a new life. Upon arriving in New Orleans, he absconded from his boat. According to his own declarations, he became friendly with a wealthy trader named Stanley, by accident: he saw Stanley sitting on a chair outside his store and asked him if he had any job opening for a person such as himself. However, he did so in the British style, "Do you want a boy, sir?" As it happened, the childless man had indeed been wishing he had a boy of his own, and the inquiry led not only to a job, but to a close relationship. The youth ended up taking Stanley's name. Later, he would write that his adoptive parent had died only two years after their meeting, but in fact the elder Stanley did not die until much later in 1878. In any case, young Stanley assumed a local accent and began to deny being a foreigner.

Stanley participated reluctantly in the American Civil War, first joining the Confederate Army participating in the Battle of Shiloh in 1862. After being taken prisoner he promptly deserted and joined the Union. He served in the Navy but eventually deserted again.

Following the Civil War, Stanley began a career as a journalist. As part of this new career, Stanley organized an expedition to the Ottoman Empire that ended catastrophically when Stanley was imprisoned. He eventually talked his way out of jail and even received restitution for damaged expedition equipment. This early expedition may have formed the foundation for his eventual exploration of the Congo region of Africa.

In 1867, Stanley was recruited by Colonel Samuel Forster Tappan (a one-time journalist) of the Indian Peace Commission, to serve as a correspondent to cover the work of the Commission for several newspapers. Stanley was soon retained exclusively by James Gordon Bennett (1795–1872), founder of the New York Herald, who was impressed by Stanley's exploits and by his direct style of writing. This early period of his professional life is described in Volume I of his book My Early Travels and Adventures in America and Asia (1895). He became one of the Herald's overseas correspondents and, in 1869, was instructed by Bennett's son to find the Scottish missionary and explorer David Livingstone, who was known to be in Africa but had not been heard from for some time. According to Stanley's account, he asked James Gordon Bennett, Jr. (1841–1918), who had succeeded to the paper's management after his father's retirement in 1867, how much he could spend. The reply was "Draw £1,000 now, and when you have gone through that, draw another £1,000, and when that is spent, draw another £1,000, and when you have finished that, draw another £1,000, and so on — BUT FIND LIVINGSTONE!" In reality however, Stanley had lobbied his employer for several years to mount this expedition that would presumably give him fame and fortune.

Finding Livingstone

Stanley travelled to Zanzibar in March 1871 and outfitted an expedition with the best of everything, requiring no fewer than 200 porters. This 7000-mile expedition through the tropical forest became a nightmare. His thoroughbred stallion died within a few days after a bite from a Tsetse fly, many of his carriers deserted and the rest were decimated by tropical diseases. To keep the expedition going, he had to take stern measures, including flogging deserters. Many missionaries of the day practiced tactics no less brutal than his, and Stanley's diaries show that he had in fact exaggerated the brutal treatment of his carriers in his books to pander to the taste of his Victorian public. Some recent authors suggest that Stanley's treatment of indigenous porters helps to refute his reputation as a brutal criminal. However, statements by contemporaries of Stanley like Sir Richard Francis Burton, who claimed "Stanley shoots negroes as if they were monkeys," paint a very different picture. Stanley found Livingstone on 10 November 1871, in Ujiji near Lake Tanganyika in present-day Tanzania, and may have greeted him with the now famous, ‘‘Dr Livingstone, I presume?’’. This famous phrase may be a fabrication, as Stanley tore out of his diary the pages relating to the encounter. Even Livingstone's account of the encounter fails to mention these words.

The Herald's own first account of the meeting, published 2 July 1872, also includes the phrase: "Preserving a calmness of exterior before the Arabs which was hard to simulate as he reached the group, Mr. Stanley said: -- `Doctor Livingstone, I presume?' A smile lit up the features of the hale white man as he answered: `Yes, that is my name' ..."

Stanley joined Livingstone in exploring the region, establishing for certain that there was no connection between Lake Tanganyika and the River Nile. On his return, he wrote a book about his experiences: How I Found Livingstone; travels, adventures, and discoveries in Central Africa. This brought him into the public eye and gave him some financial success.

Stanley’s crimes in the Congo and Sudan

In 1874, the New York Herald, in partnership with Britain's Daily Telegraph, financed Stanley on another expedition to the African continent. One of his missions was to solve a last great mystery of African exploration by tracing the course of the River Congo to the sea. The difficulty of this expedition is hard to overstate. Stanley used sectional boats to pass the great cataracts separating the Congo into distinct tracts. After 999 days, on August 9, 1877, Stanley reached a Portuguese outpost at the mouth of the River Congo. Starting with 356 people, only 114 had survived of which Stanley was the only European. He wrote about his trials in his book Through the Dark Continent.

Claiming the Congo for the Belgian king

Stanley was approached by the ambitious Belgian king Leopold II, who in 1876 had organized a private holding company disguised as an international scientific and philanthropic association, which he called the International African Society. The king spoke of his intentions to introduce Western civilization and bring religion to that part of Africa, but didn't mention he wanted to claim the lands. Stanley returned to the Congo, negotiated with local leaders, and obtained fair concessions (that were later falsified to his advantage by the king). But Stanley refused to impose treaties that would cede sovereignty over their lands. He built new roads, but this also gave advantage to the slave traders. When Stanley discovered that the king had other plans, he remained on his payroll.

In later years, Stanley spent much energy defending himself against charges that his African expeditions had been marked by callous violence and brutality. Stanley's opinion was that "the savage only respects force, power, boldness, and decision’’. Stanley would eventually be held responsible for a number of deaths and was indirectly responsible for helping establish the rule of Léopold II of Belgium over the Congo Free State. In addition, the spread of African trypanosomiasis across central Africa is attributed to the movements of Stanley's enormous baggage train and the Emin Pasha Relief expedition, the governor of Equatorial in the southern Sudan In 1886. King Leopold II demanded that Stanley take the longer route, via the Congo River, hoping to acquire more territory and perhaps even Equatorial land. After immense hardships and great loss of life, Stanley met Emin in 1888, charted the Ruwenzori Range and Lake Edward, and emerged from the interior with Emin and his surviving followers at the end of 1890. But this expedition tarnished Stanley's name because of the conduct of the other Europeans; British gentlemen and army officers. An army major was shot by a carrier, after behaving with extreme cruelty. James Jameson, heir to an Irish whiskey manufacturer, bought an eleven-year old girl and offered her to cannibals to document and sketch how she was cooked and eaten.  Stanley only found out when Jameson had died of fever. Previous expeditions had given Stanley satisfaction, but this one had only brought disaster.

On his return to Europe, he married and adopted a child, Denzil. Stanley entered Parliament as Liberal Unionist member for Lambeth North, serving from 1895 to 1900. He became Sir Henry Morton Stanley when he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in 1899, in recognition of his service to the British Empire in Africa. He died in London on 10 May 1904. His grave, in the churchyard of St. Michael's Church in Pirbright, Surrey, is marked by a large piece of granite inscribed with the words "Henry Morton Stanley, Bula Matari, 1841–1904, Africa". Bula Matari, which translates as "Breaker of Rocks" or "Breakstones" in Kikongo, was Stanley's name among locals in Congo.

CECIL RHODES, the Tyrant of Southern Africa

Cecil Rhodes, Where was Moreno Ocampo then?


Cecil Rhodes was a heartless British imperialist and racist who set the tone and requisite structures for the emancipation of Southern Africa through Colonialism. He amassed his wealth by taking advantage of the then British colonial structure, subjecting the African natives to slavery and extreme coercion tactics against the then traditional African leaders. In an interesting twist, this man is honored today by both his victims as well as his turn coat British masters. His escapades in the 19th century still continue to haunt southern Africa states like Zimbabwe and South Africa and his descendants and/or partners grip on the natural resources of southern Africa is still as strong as ever. Here is the story of one man who was supposed to be tried for crimes against humanity as early as 1880.

Cecil John Rhodes DCL (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902), an English-born businessman, mining magnate, and politician in South Africa was the founder of the diamond company De Beers, which today markets 40% of the world's rough diamonds and at one time marketed 90%. An ardent believer in colonialism and imperialism, he was also the founder of the state of Rhodesia, which was named after him.

After independence, Rhodesia separated into the nations of Northern and Southern Rhodesia, later renamed Zambia and Zimbabwe, respectively. South Africa's Rhodes University is named after him. He set up the provisions of the Rhodes Scholarship, which is funded by his estate.

Early Life in England

Rhodes was born in 1853 in England. He was the fifth son of the Reverend Francis William Rhodes and his wife Louisa Peacock Rhodes. His father was a Church of England Vicar who was proud of never having preached a sermon longer than 10 minutes. His siblings included Francis William Rhodes, who became an army officer.

A sickly, asthmatic teenager, Cecil Rhodes was taken out of grammar school and sent to Natal, South Africa because his family thought the hot climate would improve his health. They expected he would help his older brother Herbert who operated a cotton farm.

CECIL RHODES in South Africa

After a brief stay with the Surveyor-General of Natal, Rhodes took an interest in agriculture. He joined his brother Herbert on his cotton farm in the Umkomanzi valley in Natal. When he first came to Africa, Rhodes lived on money lent by his aunt Sophia.

In October 1871, Rhodes left the colony for the diamond fields of Kimberley. Financed by N M Rothschild & Sons, over the next 17 years Rhodes succeeded in buying up all the smaller diamond mining operations in the Kimberley area. He would leave South Africa for studies at Oxford in 1873 and leave the business under the care of his business partner C D Rudd. Whilst at Oxford, Rhodes continued to prosper in Kimberley. Before his departure for Oxford, he and C.D. Rudd had moved from the Kimberley Mine to invest in the more costly claims of what was known as old De Beers (Vooruitzicht). It was named after Johannes Nicolaas de Beer and his brother, Diederik Arnoldus, who occupied the farm. After purchasing the land in 1839 from David Danser, a Koranna chief in the area, Fourie had allowed the de Beers and various other Afrikaner families to cultivate the land. The region extended from the Modder River via the Vet River up to the Vaal River

In 1874 and 1875, the diamond fields were in the grip of depression, but Rhodes and Rudd were among those who stayed to consolidate their interests. They believed that diamonds would be numerous in the hard blue ground that had been exposed after the softer, yellow layer near the surface had been worked out. During this time, the technical problem of clearing out the water that was flooding the mines became serious. Rhodes and Rudd obtained the contract for pumping water out of the three main mines. It was during this period that Jim B. Taylor, still a young boy and helping to work his father's claim, first met Rhodes.

On 12 March 1880, Rhodes and Rudd launched the De Beers Mining Company after the amalgamation of a number of individual claims. With £200,000 of capital, the company, of which Rhodes was secretary, owned the largest interest in the mine.

His monopoly of the world's diamond supply was sealed in 1889 through a strategic partnership with the London-based Diamond Syndicate. They agreed to control world supply to maintain high prices. Rhodes supervised the working of his brother's claim and speculated on his behalf. Among his associates in the early days were John X. Merriman and Charles Rudd, who later became his partner in the De Beers Mining Company and Niger Oil Company.

During the 1880s Cape vineyards had been devastated by a phylloxera crop disease epidemic. The diseased vineyards were dug up and replanted, and farmers were looking for alternatives to wine. In 1892, Rhodes financed The Pioneer Fruit Growing Company at Nooitgedacht, a venture created by Harry Pickstone, an Englishman who had experience of fruit-growing in California. In 1896 he began to pay more attention to fruit farming and bought farms in Groot Drakenstein, Wellington and Stellenbosch. A year later, Rhodes bought Rhone and Boschendal and commissioned Sir Herbert Baker to build him a cottage there. The successful operation soon expanded into Rhodes Fruit Farms, and formed the cornerstone of the modern-day Cape fruit industry.

In 1873, Rhodes left Kimberley and sailed to England to complete his studies. He was admitted to Oriel College, Oxford, but stayed for only one term in 1873. He returned to South Africa and did not go back for his second term at Oxford until 1876. He was greatly influenced by John Ruskin's inaugural lecture at Oxford, which reinforced his own attachment to the cause of British imperialism. Among his Oxford associates were Rochefort Maguire, later a fellow of All Souls College and a director of the British South Africa Company, and Charles Metcalfe. Due to his university career, Rhodes admired the Oxford "system". Eventually he was inspired to develop his scholarship scheme: "Wherever you turn your eye—except in science—an Oxford man is at the top of the tree".

While attending Oriel College, Rhodes became a Freemason in the Apollo University Lodge. Although initially he did not approve of the organization, he continued to be a Freemason until his death in 1902. The failures of the Freemasons, in his mind, later caused him to envisage his own secret society with the goal of bringing the entire world under British rule.

Entry into Politics in South Africa

In 1880, Rhodes prepared to enter public life at the Cape. With the incorporation of Griqualand West into the Cape Colony in 1877, the area obtained six seats in the Cape House of Assembly. Rhodes chose the constituency of Barkly West, a rural constituency in which Boer voters predominated. Barkly West remained faithful to Rhodes even after his support of the Jameson Raid against the Transvaal. He continued as its Member until his death.

When Rhodes became a member of the Cape Parliament, the chief goal of the assembly was to help decide the future of Basutoland. The ministry of Sir Gordon Sprigg was trying to restore order after the 1880 rebellion known as the Gun War. The ministry had precipitated the revolt by applying its disarmament policy to the Basuto. In 1890, Rhodes became Prime Minister of the Cape Colony and implemented laws that would benefit mine and industry owners. He introduced the Glen Grey Act to push black people from their lands and make way for industrial development. He also introduced educational reform to the area.

Rhodes' policies were instrumental in the development of British imperial policies in South Africa, such as the Hut tax (The hut tax was a type of taxation introduced by British colonialists in Africa on a per hut or household basis. It was variously payable in money, labor and grain or stock and benefited the colonial authorities in four related ways: it raised money, it supported the currency, it broadened the cash economy, aiding further development and/or exploitation; and it forced Africans to labour in the colonial economy. Households which had survived on, and stored their wealth in, cattle ranching now sent members to work for the colonialists in order to raise cash with which to pay the tax. The colonial economy depended upon black African labour to build new towns and railways and in southern Africa to work in the rapidly developing mines). He did not, however, have direct political power over the Boer Republic of the Transvaal. He often disagreed with the Transvaal government's policies. He believed he could use his money and his power to overthrow the Boer government and install a British colonial government supporting mine-owners' interests in its place.

In 1895, Rhodes supported an attack on the Transvaal, the infamous Jameson Raid, which proceeded with the tacit approval of Governor Joseph Chamberlain. The raid was a catastrophic failure. It forced Cecil Rhodes to resign as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, sent his oldest brother Col. Frank Rhodes to jail in Transvaal convicted of high treason and nearly sentenced to death, and led to the outbreak of both the Second Matabele War and the Second Boer War.

Rhodes the Imperialist

Rhodes used his wealth and that of his business partner Alfred Beit and other investors to pursue his dream of creating a British Empire in new territories to the north by obtaining mineral concessions from the most powerful indigenous chiefs. Rhodes' competitive advantage over other mineral prospecting companies was his combination of wealth and astute political instincts, also called the 'imperial factor', as he used the British Government. He befriended its local representatives, the British Commissioners, and through them organized British protectorates over the mineral concession areas via separate but related treaties. In this way he obtained both legality and security for mining operations. He could then win over more investors. Imperial expansion and capital investment went hand in hand.

The imperial factor was a double-edged sword: Rhodes did not want the bureaucrats of the Colonial Office in London to interfere in the Empire in Africa. He wanted British settlers and local politicians and governors to run it. This put him on a collision course with many in Britain, as well as with British missionaries, who favored what they saw as the more ethical direct rule from London. Rhodes won because he would pay to administer the territories north of South Africa against future mining profits. The Colonial Office did not have the funds to do it. Rhodes promoted his business interests as in the strategic interest of Britain: preventing the Portuguese, the Germans or the Boers from moving in to south-central Africa. Rhodes' companies and agents cemented these advantages by obtaining many mining concessions, as exemplified by the Rudd and Lochner Concessions.

Treaties, concessions and charters

Rhodes had already tried and failed to get a mining concession from Lobengula, king of the Ndebele of Matabeleland. In 1888 he tried again. He sent John Moffat, son of the missionary Robert Moffat, who was trusted by Lobengula, to persuade the latter to sign a treaty of friendship with Britain, and to look favorably on Rhodes' proposals. His agent Francis Thompson, who had travelled to Bulawayo in the company of Charles Rudd and Rochfort Maguire, assured Lobengula that no more than ten white men would mine in Matabeleland. This limitation was left out of the document which Lobengula signed, known as the Rudd Concession. Furthermore it stated that the mining companies could do anything necessary to their operations. When Lobengula discovered later the true effects of the concession, he tried to renounce it, but the British Government ignored him.

Armed with the Rudd Concession, in 1889 Rhodes obtained a charter from the British Government for his British South Africa Company (BSAC) to rule, police and make new treaties and concessions from the Limpopo River to the great lakes of Central Africa. He obtained further concessions and treaties north of the Zambezi, such as those in Barotseland (the Lochner Concession with King Lewanika in 1890, which was similar to the Rudd Concession); and in the Lake Mweru area (Alfred Sharpe's 1890 Kazembe concession). Rhodes also sent Sharpe to get a concession over mineral-rich Katanga, but met his match in ruthlessness: when Sharpe was rebuffed by its ruler Msiri, King Leopold II of Belgium obtained a concession over Msiri's dead body for his Congo Free State.

Rhodes also wanted Bechuanaland Protectorate (now Botswana) under the BSAC charter. But three Tswana kings, including Khama III, travelled to Britain and won over British public opinion for it to remain governed by the British Colonial Office in London. Rhodes commented: "It is humiliating to be utterly beaten by these niggers."

The British Colonial Office also decided to administer British Central Africa (Nyasaland, today's Malawi) owing to the activism of Scots missionaries trying to end the slave trade. Rhodes paid much of the cost so that the British Central Africa Commissioner Sir Harry Johnston, and his successor Alfred Sharpe, would assist with security for Rhodes in the BSAC's north-eastern territories. Johnston shared Rhodes' expansionist views, but he and his successors were not as pro-settler as Rhodes, and disagreed on dealings with Africans.

The BSAC had its own police force, the British South Africa Police which was used to control Matabeleland and Mashonaland, in present-day Zimbabwe. The company had hoped to start a "new Rand" from the ancient gold mines of the Shona. Because the gold deposits were on a much smaller scale, many of the white settlers who accompanied the BSAC to Mashonaland became farmers rather than miners. When the Ndebele and the Shona—the two main, but rival peoples—separately rebelled against the coming of the European settlers, the BSAC defeated them in the two Matabele Wars (1893–94; 1896–97). Shortly after learning of the assassination of the Ndebele spiritual leader, Mlimo, by the American scout Frederick Russell Burnham, Rhodes walked unarmed into the Ndebele stronghold in Matobo Hills. He persuaded the Impi to lay down their arms, thus ending the Second Matabele War.[19]

By the end of 1894, the territories over which the BSAC had concessions or treaties, collectively called "Zambesia" after the Zambezi River flowing through the middle comprised an area of 1,143,000 km² between the Limpopo River and Lake Tanganyika. In May 1895, its name was officially changed to "Rhodesia", reflecting Rhodes' popularity among settlers who had been using the name informally since 1891. The designation Southern Rhodesia was officially adopted in 1898 for the part south of the Zambezi, which later became Zimbabwe; and the designations North-Western and North-Eastern Rhodesia were used from 1895 for the territory which later became Northern Rhodesia, then Zambia.

Rhodes decreed in his will that he was to be buried in Matobo Hills. After his death in the Cape in 1902, his body was transported by train to Bulawayo. His burial was attended by Ndebele chiefs, who asked that the firing party should not discharge their rifles as this would disturb the spirits. Then, for the first time, they gave a white man the Matabele royal salute, Bayete. Rhodes was buried alongside Leander Starr Jameson and 34 British soldiers killed in the Shangani Patrol.

"Cape to Cairo Red Line"

One of Rhodes' dreams (and the dream of many other members of the British Empire) was for a "red line" on the map from the Cape to Cairo. (On geo-political maps, British dominions were always denoted in red or pink.) Rhodes had been instrumental in securing southern African states for the Empire. He and others felt the best way to "unify the possessions, facilitate governance, enable the military to move quickly to hot spots or conduct war, help settlement, and foster trade" would be to build the "Cape to Cairo Railway".

This enterprise was not without its problems. France had a rival strategy in the late 1890s to link its colonies from west to east across the continent. The Portuguese produced the "Pink Map", representing their claims to sovereignty in Africa.

Political views and Ideology

Rhodes wanted to expand the British Empire because he believed that the Anglo-Saxon race was destined to greatness. In his last will and testament, Rhodes said of the British, "I contend that we are the first race in the world and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race." He wanted to make the British Empire a superpower in which all of the British-dominated countries in the empire, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Cape Colony, would be represented in the British Parliament. He supported the ideas of lebensraum and mercantilism, which were popular at the time, even if they were expressed more politely by others. Rhodes included American students as eligible for the Rhodes scholarships. He said that he wanted to breed American elite of philosopher-kings who would have the United States rejoin the British Empire. As Rhodes also respected the Germans and admired the Kaiser, he allowed German students to be included in the Rhodes scholarships. He believed that eventually Great Britain, the USA and Germany together would dominate the world and ensure peace.

On domestic politics within the United Kingdom, Rhodes was a supporter of the Liberal Party. Rhodes' only major impact on domestic politics within the United Kingdom was his support of the Irish nationalist party, led by Charles Stewart Parnell (1846–1891). He contributed a great deal of money to the Irish nationalists, although Rhodes made his support conditional upon an autonomous Ireland's still being represented in the British Parliament. Rhodes was such a strong supporter of Parnell that, after the Liberals and the Irish nationalists disowned him because of adultery with the wife of another Irish nationalist, Rhodes continued his support.

Rhodes was more tolerant of the Dutch-speaking whites in the Cape Colony than were the other English-speaking whites in the Cape Colony. He supported teaching Dutch as well as English in public schools in the Cape Colony and lent money to support this cause. While Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, he helped to remove most of the legal disabilities that English-speaking whites had imposed on Dutch-speaking whites. He was a friend of Jan Hofmeyr, leader of the Afrikaner Bond, and it was largely because of Afrikaner support that he became Prime Minister of the Cape Colony. Rhodes advocated greater self-government for the Cape Colony, in line with his preference for the empire to be controlled by local settlers and politicians rather than by London (see "Rhodes and the imperial factor" above).

Confusingly for the modern reader, self-government of the type Rhodes supported was known as "colonialism". The opposed policy, direct control of a colony from London, was known as "imperialism".

Death and legacy

Funeral of Rhodes in Adderley St, Cape Town on 3 April 1902

Cecil Rhodes died of heart failure. He was laid to rest at World's View; a hilltop located approximately 35 kilometers south of Bulawayo, in what was then Rhodesia. Today, his grave site is part of Matobo National Park, Zimbabwe.

In 2004, he was voted 56th in the SABC3 television series Great South Africans.

At his death he was considered one of the wealthiest men in the world. In his first will, of 1877, (before he had accumulated his wealth), Rhodes wanted to create a secret society that would bring the whole world under British rule. The exact wording from this will is:

‘’To and for the establishment, promotion and development of a Secret Society, the true aim and object whereof shall be for the extension of British rule throughout the world, the perfecting of a system of emigration from the United Kingdom, and of colonization by British subjects of all lands where the means of livelihood are attainable by energy, labor and enterprise, and especially the occupation by British settlers of the entire Continent of Africa, the Holy Land, the Valley of the Euphrates, the Islands of Cyprus and Candia, the whole of South America, the Islands of the Pacific not heretofore possessed by Great Britain, the whole of the Malay Archipelago, the seaboard of China and Japan, the ultimate recovery of the United States of America as an integral part of the British Empire, the inauguration of a system of Colonial representation in the Imperial Parliament which may tend to weld together the disjointed members of the Empire and, finally, the foundation of so great a Power as to render wars impossible, and promote the best interests of humanity.’’

Rhodes' final will left a large area of land on the slopes of Table Mountain to the South African nation. Part of this estate became the upper campus of the University of Cape Town, another part became the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, while much was spared from development and is now an important conservation area.

Rhodes Scholarship

In his last will and testament, he provided for the establishment of the famous Rhodes Scholarship, the world's first international study program. The scholarship enabled students from territories under British rule, formerly under British rule, and from Germany, to study at the University of Oxford.

Memorials

Rhodes Memorial stands on Rhodes' favorite spot on the slopes of Devil's Peak, Cape Town, with a view looking north and east towards the Cape to Cairo route. Rhodes' house in Cape Town, Groote Schuur, has recently been inhabited by the President of the R.S.A. Jacob Zuma.

His birthplace was established as a museum in 1938, now known as Bishops Stortford Museum. The cottage in Muizenberg where he died is a South African national monument.

Rhodes University College, now Rhodes University, in Grahamstown, was established in his name by his trustees and founded by Act of Parliament on 31 May 1904.

The residents of Kimberley elected to build a memorial in Rhodes' honor in their city, which was unveiled in 1907. The 72-ton bronze statue depicts Rhodes on his horse, looking north with map in hand, and dressed as he was when met the Ndebele after their rebellion.

Quotations

• "To think of these stars that you see overhead at night, these vast worlds which we can never reach. I would annex the planets if I could; I often think of that. It makes me sad to see them so clear and yet so far."

• “Pure philanthropy is very well in its way but philanthropy plus five percent is a good deal better.”

• "I contend that we are the first race in the world, and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race...If there be a God, I think that what he would like me to do is paint as much of the map of Africa British Red as possible..."

• "In order to save the forty million inhabitants of the United Kingdom from a bloody civil war, our colonial statesmen must acquire new lands for settling the surplus population of this country, to provide new markets... The Empire, as I have always said, is a bread and butter question"

• "Remember that you are an Englishman, and have consequently won first prize in the lottery of life.

• "Equal rights for all civilized men south of the Zambezi

• "To be born English is to win first prize in the lottery of life.

• “We must find new lands from which we can easily obtain raw materials and at the same time exploit the cheap slave labor that is available from the natives of the colonies. The colonies would also provide a dumping ground for the surplus goods produced in our factories.

This man was one of the worst things that ever happened to black Africans. And his transgressions still breed conflicts across southern Africa.

So what should CECIL RHODES Legacy be?

Why should Mugabe Quit?

By LCM Kenya.


President Mugabe has been at the helm of Zimbabwe for the last 29 years. He has seen his country grow from a small economy to the richest agricultural-based economy in sub-Saharan Africa by late 1990s. Mr Mugabe is a highly learned and regarded individual who valued freedom in its fundamental sense. His eloquence and clarity of vision is unrivalled amongst his peers. His desire and dedicated strife for freedom, fairness and justice for all has never been clouded by political power or the draconian double standards of the west imposed the third world. He spent years fighting a minority British-backed government of a dictator named Ian Smith and lived to tell the tale. He had been in and out of prison but never wavered in the quest of freedom for the Zimbabwean people. To crown it all, Mr Mugabe was significantly instrumental in the struggle for independence of the other sub-Saharan countries and more so the apartheid regime ruling South Africa. All the freedom struggles in Mozambique, Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and South Africa had an input from the veteran liberation hero. This was a clear indication of his thirst for liberation of all Africans within and without the Zimbabwean borders. The anti-apartheid icon, Nelson Mandela had weapons training in Zimbabwe having been smuggled from his native South Africa with the help of Mugabe and other comrades in struggle in Zimbabwe. Mugabe joined his fellow comrades in Mozambique in 1975, after being released from jail, and fought the colonial government in Zimbabwe from there.

Eventually, Mugabe led his people to a hard fought independence from the British in 1980 and formed the first truly African Zimbabwean republic replacing a phoney one led by Bishop Muzarawe in coalition with Ian Smith. Mugabe won the independence vote by 64%. He had agreed to leave 20 seats in the Zimbabwe parliament to allow for representation of the white people still resident in Zimbabwe. In the independence charter (Lancaster House agreement) with the repressive colonial masters, an elaborate land policy was to be implemented. This policy involved the redistribution of illegally acquired land from the British settlers to the indigenous communities, who owned that land in the first place. Mugabe accepted a "willing buyer, willing seller" plan as part of the Lancaster House Agreement of 1979, among other concessions to the white minority. As part of this agreement, land redistribution was blocked for a period of 10 years.This process was to be funded by the British government and its details are contained in the charter signed in 1979 by among others Prime Minister Mugabe and the colonial secretary of the British government.

When Zimbabwe gained independence, 46.5% of the country's arable land was owned by around 6,000 commercial white farmers. Virtually all of Zimbabwean fertile land was inhabited by white supremacists who, coldly and cowardly relegated the majority black Zimbabwean people to native, infertile and swampy low areas where they hardly fed themselves or their families. They then crudely recruited these natives to work in their illegally owned land with or without pay. These so called white farms had the principle responsibility of feeding the established agricultural industries of their counterparts back in Britain or in the neighbouring South Africa (where they had settled much longer) with raw materials. In other words, Zimbabwe provides free rich agricultural land for farming, free labour and zero responsibility to the state and its inhabitants while the final harvested products are shipped to hungry industries back in Europe. Such was the unfathomable cruelty of the colonial master.

It was therefore no wonder that after Mugabe and other Zimbabwean patriots had gained independence on behalf of their people, it was going to be difficult for the colonial mindset to just let go of these freebies at his disposal from what they referred to as the Dark Continent. His end of the deal to basically pay these white land grabbers for land that was never theirs was a total flop. So the white farmers held unto this land and continued their activities only that this time, they pretended to show more concern to the black majority of workers. The British government then unleashed its soft power to the largely uneducated Zimbabweans with scholarships and foreign direct investments to conceal the real fundamental issues that led to the struggle for independence in the first place. In fact a World Bank report alludes, to this day, that Zimbabwe has the highest literacy rate in sub-Saharan Africa. A couple of UK and American universities were so cynically impressed by Mr Mugabe that they awarded him several honorary doctorate degrees in recognition of his work and talent. They were literally bribing the establishment to cloud its judgement on the real issues affecting Zimbabweans. But this could not wish away the real concerns of the Zimbabwean people.

After fifteen years of self governance, the ghost of the land problem was still rearing its head. In 1997, the new British Labor government led by Tony Blair unilaterally stopped funding the "willing buyer, willing seller" land reform program on the basis that the initial £44 million allocated under the Thatcher government was used to purchase land for members of the ruling elite rather than landless peasants. Furthermore, Britain's ruling Labor Party felt no obligation to continue paying white farmers compensation, or in Minister Claire Short's words, "I should make it clear that we do not accept that Britain has a special responsibility to meet the costs of land purchase in Zimbabwe. We are a new Government from diverse backgrounds without links to former colonial interests. My own origins are Irish and as you know we were colonized not colonizers". This statement underscored the real reason behind the discontinuation of funding of the land reform process in Zimbabwe. The claim of land purchased not reaching its intended recipients was just a public relations gimmick aimed at winning the British public support against continued funding. Furthermore, at the time, the British economy was in bad shape and cutting costs relating to ‘unnecessary’ projects was their panacea to healing their economy.

Some western media commentators, such as Matthew Sweet in The Independent paper of UK, held Cecil Rhodes ultimately responsible:

... It was Cecil Rhodes who originated the racist 'land grabs' to which Zimbabwe's current miseries can ultimately be traced. It was Rhodes who in 1887 told the House of Assembly in Cape Town, South Africa that 'the native is to be treated as a child and denied the franchise. We must adopt a system on despotism in our relations with the barbarians of Southern Africa'. According to Sweet, "In less oratorical moments, he put it even more bluntly: ‘’I prefer land to niggers.’’

At last the media was undergoing a revelation, a random awakening which, to any sane human being, is impractical and a classical case of grotesque selective amnesia. They knew in their hearts and minds all along that their fellow citizens were illegally occupying land that belonged to peasants drowning in penury only this time they are black, and only president Mugabe stood in the way. But, after closely scrutinizing the shift in British policy towards Zimbabwe, it was clear that the new labor administration had a discordant relationship with the white farmers of Zimbabwe (mainly conservatives). This new and abrupt media campaign was now throwing a spanner in the works in an effort to bury the conservative and politically powerful mindset of the wealthy beneficiaries of the colonial system food chain.

The previous British government had tried to brush aside the Zimbabwe land problem after the 10 year grace period had elapsed as long as their commercial interests were intact. They literally prayed for a drastic but natural change of circumstances to warrant their continued plundering of Zimbabwean natural resources without any shred of shame on their faces indelibly stained by ignominious acts of greed, corruption and intransigent belligerence. Their narcissism was clear to the whole world but as usual, no one, not human rights organisations, UN, USA, Commonwealth, international criminal court could raise a finger at this blatant and gross violation of sovereignty of republic of Zimbabwe and the right of its citizens to own property.

After all these years there was no government will from the British to solve the land issue. It was in the year 2000 when President Mugabe read the riot act and decided to forcefully repossess the white farms under contention. He is quoted as saying ‘The land is ours. It's not European and we have taken it, we have given it to the rightful people... Those of white extraction who happen to be in the country and are farming are welcome to do so, but they must do so on the basis of equality. He first tried this process through a referendum on several constitutional amendments touching on land, political power and granting immunity to government and military officials especially after the infamous crashing of ZAPU dissidents led by Joshua Nkomo in 1983 in Matabeleland. About 20,000 people are claimed to have died. The referendum had a poor turnout of about 20% and the government lost by 55%. However the entire campaign was personalised and the white farmers backed by media friendly to them mobilised illiterate workers to defeat it. Mugabe though had a new means to clip their wings. The Zimbabwean parliament pushed through a constitutional amendment to reclaim land from the white settlers and redistribute it to the majority black farmers. Almost immediately, war veterans from the independence struggle matched into these white farms and outside the laid down rule of law seized them. The war veterans were led by Chenjerai Hunzvi. Many white farmers were expelled from these lands and had to run away to ‘exile’ in South Africa or back to Britain. The redistribution policy by the Zimbabwe government was extremely controversial with critics arguing that the repossessed land never reached the targeted recipients – peasants and squatters. The fact though remains that the land was reverted to Zimbabweans who own it to this day. When the UK once condemned Mugabe's alleged authoritarian policies and racist attitudes as being comparable to those of German Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, Mugabe responded with controversial remark, mocking the UK's claims by saying about himself and his policies that "This Hitler had only one objective: justice for his people, sovereignty for his people, recognition of the independence of his people and their rights over their resources...If that is Hitler, then let me be a Hitler tenfold.’’

After the forceful eviction of these land grabbers, fortunes for Mugabe in the international arena nosedived. The British government led a diplomatic affront on both the personality and leadership capabilities of President Mugabe. They used their relatively mighty diplomatic war chest to pin him down by rallying their sidekicks to impose trade and travel sanctions against Mugabe and his government. Their irritability and obvious discontent was evident in every public arena that pitted outspoken British diplomats and leaders against an eloquent and pragmatic Mugabe in a spirited fight for credibility in measures taken on each front to solve the problem at hand. This was not enough though to bring down a revered African leader of Mugabe’s calibre. They needed a plan B but weren’t sure of the best way to implement it.

First, they had to tap the Zimbabwean Diaspora, who, desperate for scholarships and citizenships was ready to run any errands for their former colonial master. This measure was to be applied in all their sidekick countries. Through this they had a reference point to begin their ‘alternative voice’ for Zimbabwe from. This can explain the huge population of Zimbabweans resident in the UK and Europe today. They then had to find for a suitable opposition candidate to sponsor so that they could try to oust Mugabe at the upcoming elections of the year 2002. An uncouth and little learned trade unionist named Morgan Tsvangirai was hungry enough for political power to sell his ancestry to the highest bidder. Morgan had run against Mugabe in 1997 all in vain. The colonial master had long before perfected the divide and rule policy in Africa. All he had to do now was to bring it into play in Zimbabwe and await the results in a number of years.

President Mugabe wasn’t ready to sit back and relax as his distracters blemished his reputation. He was ready to fight and win the war against the colonialist at all costs. He had handled them before and knew what they were capable of. He knew that he was a good orator and was constantly in touch with his people. All he had to do is point them in the direction of the enemy and they would maul him to political extinction. Morgan was one such enemy, a stooge of the British, a vagabond who had unapologetically sold his patriotism to the greatest threat to the republic of Zimbabwe as it were. Mugabe succeeded in the elections of the year 2002 and floored Morgan in a great show of confidence of Zimbabweans in him. Morgan was all over the western media claiming irregularities in the general election. Mugabe had forthwith barred western election observers from poking their noses in the Zimbabwe election. With such a precedent set, Mugabe had handed the British a new battle front from which they could wage a relentless war on the platform of non-conformance with democratic tenets. They told everybody who cared to listen that the election was not free and fair. When such allegations are constantly aired left, right and centre by the rich western media serving the interests of its masters, then they are bound to be convoluted. The white man was scorned by the embarrassment caused by Morgan’s defeat and became more restless. He had used the media, the UN, human rights organisations, compromised Diaspora and paid an opposition candidate to fight Mugabe unsuccessfully. He was getting beleaguered and disoriented but his pride had prejudiced his moral convictions and so often than not, his judgements were premature. He continued his onslaught on Mugabe in Westminster as well as press conferences, media talk shows and western sponsored international conferences to inflict as much damage as possible on Mugabe. They continued with a systematic effort to isolate him from the rest of the world by first suspending Zimbabwe from the commonwealth, where the imperialist Britain has a huge influence and lobbied their EU counterparts to impose travel bans in all member countries. After the suspension from commonwealth, President Mugabe is quoted as saying, ‘’If I was asked to make a choice between the sovereignty of Zimbabwe and membership to the commonwealth, then I would sacrifice the membership to the commonwealth and maintain the sovereignty of Zimbabwe.’’

At the same time, technical deficiencies and capital unavailability hindered continued mechanised farming in the repossessed white farms. The government’s ability to provide subsidised farm inputs to the new owners was being limited by acute foreign exchange shortfalls due to trade sanctions slapped on Zimbabwe thanks to the British and their cronies. The Zimbabwean economy began to falter as teething cash flow problems began to set in. Food and oil prices began to rise exponentially, compounded by the uneasy relationship between Zimbabwe and its business partners. Inflation became erratic, steadily weakening the Zimbabwean dollar day after day. The financial sector was beginning its downfall and the worst was yet to come.