On the eve of the South African War, the Tshidi branch of the Rolong was the largest group inhabiting the Mafikeng area of the northern Cape, numbering some 5 000 people. The Rolong sided with the British because of two decades of conflict with the Boers over land. Following a number of battles and six Boer sieges of Mafikeng during the 1870s and 1880s, most of Rolong-occupied land had been appropriated by the Boers. Consequently in October 1899 when Boer forces were about to invade Mafikeng, Rolong chiefs requested the commander of British forces in the area, Colonel Robert Baden-Powell, for arms and ammunition for their defence.
Initially, of course, the British military authorities prevaricated because this was a ‘white man’s war’ and ‘blacks should not be armed, and should not serve with British forces in a combatant capacity’. Eventually the ‘massive threat’ posed by Boer forces under General Piet Cronjé changed this policy and about 400 Rolong men were given Snyder rifles and ammunition. The coloured community formed their own defence contingent, the ‘Cape Boys’, while the Indians in the town were also armed and incorporated into the white Town Guard. Another two black groups, the Mfengu contingent and the Black Watch, were also given arms and ammunition. Each was assigned to defend a specific area of what is today greater Mafikeng.
Brian Willan has recorded that on 25 October 1899 the Rolong repulsed a Boer attack, killing an undetermined number of the attackers. Encouraged by this action, Baden-Powell gave the Rolong defenders extra rifles and ammunition and increased their number to some 500. ‘On numerous occasions’ the Rolong went on ‘offensive operations against Boer positions, sometimes capturing guns and equipment’. Although nominally under the authority of Sergeant Sidney Abrams, the Rolong contingent conducted its own military operations, under its own command structure. It even used British-style military titles, such as field-marshal (Wessels Montshiwa), general (Lekoko Marumolwa), sergeant and corporal.
Blacks generally also acted as spies and dispatch runners, supplying the British military authorities in Mafikeng with vital intelligence about Boer commando activity. Those who got caught by the Boers, of course, ran the risk of being shot – and many of them were.
