LETTER | Scratching old sores will not build a strong nation

McLeod is right to reprimand Jonathan Jansen and Abigail George for their constant complaints about the apartheid era. Yet McLeod brings up the same old Boer propaganda about the actions of the “evil British army” during the Boer War. McLeod writes: “The farms were burnt, animals killed and women raped by the British soldiers.” Anyone would think that all the wrong in that war was Britain’s doing.

Rapes of Boer women and girls did unfortunately take place, but they were not sanctioned, let alone ordered, by the army, and they were isolated incidents. More importantly, the burning of farms and killing of animals was something that the Boer invaders of Natal did routinely. They eagerly stripped the farms of the “English” and made the inhabitants, black and white, walk to the British lines with nothing more than they could carry.

They drove off most of the livestock, burned the buildings and left carcasses in the ruins. Then, when they were driven back into their republics, they used the same tactics on anyone who did not immediately give them what they demanded. Farms were burned, property looted and vast numbers of people were rendered homeless. The much maligned camps were a vital necessity, because of those who had lost their homes.