Thomas Upington

He was appointed Attorney General in 1879, by his ally, Prime Minister Gordon Sprigg.

During this time, he was active in the war on the Northern border, although in a civil capacity (he did not hold any military command). He was on “the northern bank of the Orange River at the time of the last attack, only it was thought Claus Lucas would have surrendered, and in that case Mr Upington wished to superintend the negotiations himself" (Irish Times, 6 June). He raised the military unit known as "Upington's Foot" and served in the so-called "9th Kaffir War, 1877–79" for which he received the "South Africa Medal 1877-9 (sometimes called the South Africa General Service Medal 1877-9 and sometimes the South Africa War Medal 1877-9). Upington's Foot was one of the 240 (mostly small) locally raised units which took part. It had only 30 members and fought against the Gcalekas and Gaikas in the Transkei.

Sprigg's government was unusually aggressive in its treatment of the Cape's indigenous peoples. Upington, while differing from Sprigg on many points, was not immune to such issues.

The "Koegas affair" (1879–80) involved the murder of San people (Bushmen) by farmers, near the northern frontier. In the subsequent murder trial, the farmers were acquitted, and the resulting outrage focused on Upington, as Attorney General. He was accused of deliberately allowing the trial to take place in a racist and hostile town that would be expected to acquit the murderers due to local influence, and thereby of dereliction of the Attorney General's duty. The culmination of the outrage was a public campaign, led by Saul Solomon, accusing Upington and his colleagues of allowing white juries to acquit white murderers from murdering blacks.[1][2][3]

Upington leading the Cape during the "Warming-pan Ministry".

He became the fourth Prime Minister of the Cape Colony in 1884, after the growing Afrikaner Bond Party compelled the government of Premier Thomas Charles Scanlen to retire. He was appointed to form a government by the powerful Afrikaner Bond, but held office for only two turbulent and strife-torn years, in what subsequently became known as the "Warming-pan" Ministry.[4]

Map of the Transvaal – Bechuanaland border, showing the tiny Boer state of Stellaland. Goshen, even smaller, is located to its north-east.

The principal issue that dominated Upington's short Ministry was the conflict over two tiny Boer mercenary states – Stellaland and Goshen – which had been established by Boer invaders in "British" Bechuanaland and which the British demanded were rejected. The issue placed Upington in a near impossible position as he owed his parliamentary support to the Afrikaner Bond which was strongly sympathetic of the Boer states, while the British Imperial authorities demanded his action.

In response, he travelled to Bechuanaland (with John Gordon Sprigg accompanying him as his Treasurer General) "in the endeavour to effect a peaceful arrangement". The sympathy which he at times expressed for the Boers in this controversy helped to maintain his parliamentary support, but made him very controversial in the eyes of the Imperial authorities and the Cape political elite. He was accused of propounding Parnellite principles and denounced by British politicians in Cape Town as a “Fenian” whose "offence is rank", and who "has been fraternising with Mynheer Van Dunk instead of sticking with John Bull". Even in less hostile circles, he was nonetheless known as "the Afrikaner from Cork".

Regarding internal development of the country, Upington attempted to continue the highly successful locally-oriented economic policies of his predecessors Molteno and Scanlen. In 1885, he oversaw the final opening of Molteno's original railway line from Cape Town to Kimberley.

He attempted to reject the flamboyant imperialism of Sprigg (and subsequent ministers such as Rhodes and Jameson), however while trying to restrict British Imperial involvement in southern Africa, he nonetheless pushed for an expansion of the Cape's frontiers into the territory of the neighbouring Xhosa. Some of his policies (such as reintroducing the infamous Contagious Diseases Acts) also brought him into conflict with the powerful liberal lobby, represented by Saul Solomon, which saw them as discriminatory against the black citizens and voters of the Cape.[5]

Overall, his Ministry was too short and circumscribed by greater regional forces for any consistent policies to take shape.

Attacked from all sides, his position rapidly became untenable. After coming under a fresh wave of attack over his Basutoland policy, he resigned "due to ill-health" in 1886, and handed over to his pro-imperialist ally John Gordon Sprigg.[6]