The monument erected in memory of the women and children of the Concentration Camp of Klerksdorp.
Close up...........
These small graves belong to the children who died in the camp!
The British army was very good at supplying their troops with supplies.
The Afrikaaner farmers were generally very good to their labourers.
Kitchener went full out to deprive the Boers of their support systems - being the farms with livestock and crops as well as the emotional support system from their women and children.
Thus the "scorched earth" policy was introduced where the British would burn down / blow up farm houses, destroy crops and remove / kill livestock. They also burnt grazing thus denying livestock their food. The women, children and elderly were then moved into concentration camps, together with the labourers' women and children.
More than 40 concentration camps were established for white civilians. They were mostly in the Transvaal and Orange Free State. The deaths were mainly due to inadequate food and illness; like measels, amoebic dysentery and pneumonia.
The well-known Emily Hobhouse fought to improve conditions and relieve suffering of those in the camps. She inspected a number of camps in January1901 and returned to England to stir public awareness. This eventually resulted in a drop in the death rate. Kitchener referred to her as "that bloody woman"!!
Our one and only Historian Bert Gaffen who is a walking Encyclopedia. We left our tour feeling very privileged and enriched for the time spent with him.
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