A Matter Too Serious to be Overlooked!

This book recounts a major error by Cecil Rhodes and the British Government in the scramble for Africa and uses many contemporary accounts as well of official documents.

The settlement of Mashonaland and Matabeleland was accomplished by settlement and conquest and were the result of the schemes of Cecil John Rhodes and his right-hand man, Leander Starr Jameson to expand the British Empire and fill the coffers of the British South Africa Company. Within four years both these lands were occupied and their people’s pacified. During these events there was a murky history of theft, deception and accusations of ‘Moral Murder’.

Managing the newly acquired lands and controlling their peoples for the benefit of the Company’s investors proved more difficult than expected and the British Government was keen to protect the indigenous people against the worst ravages of the settlers who were keen to exploit not only the resources of the land and the peoples themselves. Number of the men charged with administrating the land and people were of questionable ability and the methods they used caused great anger amongst those whom they governed.

The result was a serious of revolts during which settlers were brutally massacred and farms and mines destroyed. Such was the danger posed by these uprisings than the Imperial Government was forced to offer military assistance as the settlers’ volunteer units proved unable to quell them. There were a number of events such as the Mazoe Patrol and famous men famous men involved in the campaigns which included Baden Powell, who refined his scouting techniques, Alfred Milner, the High Commissioner, Herbert Plumer who became a World War 1 Commander and a Field Marshal, Herbert Stephen Henderson V.C.. It also saw Rhodes at his best when negotiating the peace. It also discusses the work of Africans such as John Grootboom, in supporting the British in their attempts to pacify the Mashona and AmaNdebele.