CHRISTIANS FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL…THE BLOOD RIVER BATTLE
THE Great Trek or Afrikaner exodus from British rule in the Cape, started in 1835 and culminated in the founding of the Boer Republic. The following story by South African author Dirk van der Merwe was copied in Richard Hoskins newsletter, Issue No. 144, September 1986.
C.A. Venter, an Afrikaner historian says: ‘The major reason for the Great Trek was Ordinance 50. This infamous Ordinance stated that there would thenceforth (circa 1835) not be any further discrimination between White and Black (full citizenship) one man one vote et alia in the Cape … and the ordinance could only be repealed or amended by the British Government in England (making it an Englishman’s law to be obeyed by South Africans).’
This act, Venter states, left the Afrikaners feeling that they had lost control over their lives and destiny to a foreign power, and moreover that a government they believed was not of their own kinsfolk was arrayed against them on the side of those who were not of their race.
Practically speaking, this ‘Ordinance 50’ was designed to place the South Africans under the heel of the Blacks and make them subject to their tender mercies as was done in Haiti 45 years before and in the Southern United States 30 years later.
Unable to survive under such conditions, the Afrikaners abandoned their businesses and farms, which were quickly grabbed by the British authorities for their own use, loaded their wagons, and started their now famous trek into the virtually unknown lands to the north.
They were pioneers moving into new country. When camping for the night or when in danger, they arranged their wagons in a circle. This circle of defense was called the laager.
The historic Battle of Blood River made the laager synonymous with survival, solidarity and victory for the Afrikaner. This battle was fought on the 16th of December 1838. It followed after seven days of prayer and pleas for intercession to the Almighty in which the Afrikaners beseeched the Lord to give them the victory in the pending attack by Dingaan and his 30,000 Zulu impis (warriors) and to preserve them as a nation.
On the morning of December 16, 1838, under the leadership of Andries Pretorius and Sarel Cilliers, a covenant was made with the Lord. It reads as follows:
‘My brothers and fellow citizens, here we stand in the presence of the Holy God, creator of heaven and earth, to make a vow unto Him, that if His protection shall be with us and (He) give our enemy into our hand so that we might be victorious over him, that this day and date every year shall be spent as a birthday and a day of thanksgiving. Just as a Sabbath is spent, and that we shall erect a temple to His honour wherever it will be pleasing to Him, and that we shall also intruct our children that they must also share in it, as well as for our generations yet to come. Because the Honour of His name shall thereby be glorified, and the glory and honour of the victory shall be given Him.’ (Original in Dutch).
By the end of the day the 460-odd Afrikaner men and women and children not only successfully fought off the repeated onslaughts with the loss of Zulu lives estimated at 12,000 and not a single casualty on the Afrikaner side, but they also irrevocably bound future generations for survival to Him.
If the outcome of the battle is to be considered a miracle, then equally miraculous is the fact that the Afrikaners did not lose a single one of their animals, notwithstanding the thousands of spears hurled inside the laager. Neither did the animals (900 oxen, 500 horses) stampede at the blood chilling battle cries that accompanied 30,000 warriors’ attack after attack. Neither did the odour of blood which permeated the air give cause to stampede.
Old Zulus who took part in the battle as young warriors were later to tell that what decided the battle against them was not the Boers shooting from between the wheels of the wagons, but Boers shooting from the white cloud hovering above the laager all day … Afrikaners know their survival is completely dependent on divine intervention.
In 1838 the Afrikaner faced an enemy, the Zulu. Today the Afrikaner faces still another and more formidable enemy … the Jew.
At the meeting of the ‘Talmudic Council’ of South Africa held in November, 1988 the following two statements were made:
‘We will bastardise the Afrikaner nation into oblivion’ Rabbi Rabinovich.
‘We must do everything in our power to stop the poison of this concept (White Nationalism) from spreading, as this is the Aftikaners’ only hope of survival. We must, with the greatest urgency, poison the minds of the White populace against this evil … At the time of the Anglo-Boer War, it was a great pity that our influence did not cause the extermination of all their stinking women and children, we were only able to do away with 26,000. Right now the Cape Dutch Liberal Afrikaners are cringing at our mercy.. We hold the power … The Boers must be erased for two reasons both of which militate against our cause. Firstly, because of their nationalism, and secondly, because of their religion.’ Fay Bloomberg (Jewess).
To day there is a rumour circulating throughout South Africa that the Afrikaners are about to enter into another covenant with our Holy GOD, creator of heaven and earth.
