Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr (4 July 1845 – 11 October 1909) was a South African

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

. He was affectionately known as ''Onze Jan'', "our Jan" in Dutch.

Life

He was born in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, educated at the

South African College The South African College was an educational institution in Cape Town, South Africa, which developed into the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the South African College Schools (SACS). History The process that would lead to the formation of th ...

, and at an early age turned his attention to politics, first as a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

. He was editor of '' de Zuid-Afrikaan'' until its incorporation with ''Ons Land'', and of the ''Zuid Afrikaansche Tijdschrift''. By birth, education and sympathies a typical Dutch Afrikaner, he set himself to organize the political power of his fellow-countrymen. This he did very effectively, and when in 1879 he entered the

Cape parliament The Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope functioned as the legislature of the Cape Colony, from its founding in 1853, until the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, when it was dissolved and the Parliament of South Africa was establis ...

as member for

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronounc ...

, he became the real leader of the Dutch party. Yet he only held office for six months – as minister without portfolio in the Scanlen ministry from May to November 1881. He held no subsequent official post in the colony, though he shared with Sir

Thomas Upington Sir Thomas Upington KCMG (1844–1898), born in Cork, Ireland, was an administrator and politician of the Cape Colony. He was briefly Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, between 1884 and 1886, during a period of extreme turbulence in the Cape's h ...

and Sir Charles Mills the honor of representing the Cape at the intercolonial conference of 1887. Here he supported the proposal for entrusting the defence of

Simon's Town Simon's Town ( af, Simonstad), sometimes spelled Simonstown, is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa and is home to Naval Base Simon's Town, the South African Navy's largest base. It is located on the shores of False Bay, on the eastern s ...

to Cape Colony, leaving only the armament to be provided by the imperial government, opposed trans-oceanic penny postage and moved a resolution in favor of an imperial customs union. At the Colonial Conference of 1894 at Ottawa he was again one of the Cape representatives. In 1888 and in 1889, he was a member of the South African customs conference. His chief importance as a public man was, however, derived from his power over the Dutch in

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with ...

, and his control of the

Afrikaner Bond The Afrikaner Bond (Afrikaans and Dutch for "Afrikaner Union"; South African Dutch: Afrikander Bond) was founded as an anti-imperialist political party in 19th century southern Africa. While its origins were largely in the Orange Free State, ...

. But it remained an organization for obtaining the political supremacy of the

Cape Dutch Cape Dutch, also commonly known as Cape Afrikaners, were a historic socioeconomic class of Afrikaners who lived in the Western Cape during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The terms have been evoked to describe an affluent, apolitical ...

. His control over the Bond enabled him for many years, while free from the responsibilities of office, to make and unmake ministers at his will, and earned for him the name of Cabinet-maker of South Africa. His preference for working behind the scenes and avoiding overt political stands earned him another nickname, "the Mole" (described by John X Merriman as ''"an industrious little animal . . . You never see him at work, but every now and then a little mound of earth, thrown up here or there, will testify to his activities."'') Although officially the term ''Afrikander'' was explained by Hofmeyr to include white men of whatever race, yet in practice the influence of the Bond was always exerted in favor of the Dutch, and its power was drawn from the Dutch districts of Cape Colony. The sympathies of the Bond were thus always strongly with the Transvaal, as the chief centre of Dutch influence in South Africa; and Hofmeyr's position might in many respects be compared with that of Parnell at the head of the Irish Nationalist party in Great Britain. In the Bechuanaland difficulty of 1884 Hofmeyr threw all the influence of the Bond into the scale in favor of the Transvaal. But in the course of the next few years he began to drift away from

President Kruger Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (; 10 October 1825 – 14 July 1904) was a South African politician. He was one of the dominant political and military figures in 19th-century South Africa, and President of the South African Republic (or ...

. He resented the reckless disregard of Cape interests involved in Kruger's fiscal policy; he feared that the Transvaal, after its sudden leap into prosperity upon the gold discoveries of 1886, might overshadow all other Dutch influences in South Africa; above all he was convinced, as he showed by his action at the London conference, that the protection of the British navy was indispensable to South Africa, and he set his face against Kruger's intrigues with Germany, and his avowed intention of acquiring an outlet to the sea in order to get into touch with foreign powers. Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr (Onze Jan)

In 1890, Hofmeyr joined forces with

Cecil Rhodes Cecil John Rhodes (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902) was a British mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his Bri ...

, who became premier of Cape Colony with the support of the Bond. Hofmeyr's influence was a powerful factor in the conclusion of the

Swaziland Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its n ...

convention of 1890, as well as in stopping the trek to Banyailand (

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of So ...

) in 1891, a notable reversal of the policy he had pursued seven years before. But the reactionary elements in the Bond grew alarmed at Rhodes's

imperialism Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic powe ...

, and in 1895 Hofmeyr resigned his seat in parliament and the presidency of the Bond. Then came the

Jameson Raid The Jameson Raid (29 December 1895 – 2 January 1896) was a botched raid against the South African Republic (commonly known as the Transvaal) carried out by British colonial administrator Leander Starr Jameson, under the employment of Cecil ...

, and in its wake there rolled over South Africa a wave of Dutch and anti-British feeling such as had not been known since the days of Majuba. (The proclamation issued by Sir Hercules Robinson disavowing Jameson was suggested by Hofmeyr, who helped to draw up its terms.) Once more Hofmeyr became president of the Bond. By an alteration of the provincial constitution, all power in the Cape branch of the Bond was vested in the hands of a vigilance committee of three, of whom Hofmeyr and his brother were two. As the recognized leader of the Cape Dutch, he protested against such abuses as the dynamite monopoly in the Transvaal, and urged Kruger even at the eleventh hour to grant reasonable concessions rather than plunge into a war that might involve Cape Afrikanderdom and the Transvaal in a common ruin. In July 1899, he journeyed to

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foothi ...

, and vainly supported the proposal of a satisfactory franchise law, combined with a limited representation of the ''Uitlanders'' in the

Volksraad The Volksraad was a people's assembly or legislature in Dutch or Afrikaans speaking government. Assembly South Africa * Volksraad (South African Republic) (1840–1902) * Volksraad (Natalia Republic), a similar assembly that existed in the Natalia ...

, and in September urged the Transvaal to accede to the proposed joint inquiry. He died in London on 11 October 1909.

Family

Hofmeyr married Aleda Hendrikz in 1880; she died 1883. He married her sister, Johanna Hendrikz on 1 September 1900.

Notes

Books

References

* * * *

External links