Sir Andries Stockenström, 1st Baronet, (6 July 1792 in Cape Town – 16 March 1864 in London) was lieutenant governor of the Eastern Province of the Cape Colony from 13 September 1836 to 9 August 1838.
His efforts in restraining colonists from moving into Xhosa lands served to make him immensely unpopular among the settlers of the Cape Colony frontier. As a historical figure, he long remained controversial in South Africa for supposedly hindering colonisation, and pro-imperialist histories have traditionally vilified him. However his relatively far-sighted and respectful policies towards the Xhosa have increasingly gained recognition in modern South Africa.
On Stockenström's legacy, historian Christopher Saunders concluded: "No man in the 19th century Cape had greater breadth of vision, none gained the respect of a wider constituency, black as well as white."M. Morris: Every Step of the Way: The Journey To Freedom in South Africa South Africa: Ministry of Education - HSRC Press, 2004. p.104.
Early life
The eldest son of Anders Stockenström (1757-1811), a Cape landdrost of Swedish ancestry, he received an elementary education in Cape Town and in 1808 took up an appointment as clerk in his father's office at Graaff-Reinet. En route he met up with Lt-Col R Collins and accompanied him as a Dutch interpreter on a journey that took them to the Orange River and into the Xhosa country. Inclined to pursue a military career, Andries accompanied the expedition sent in 1810 to inform Ndlambe, the Rharhabe paramount chief, of the government's aim to expel him from the Zuurveld.
Military career
In the 19th century, the Cape frontier was afflicted by a recurring series of Frontier Wars, between the Cape Colony on the one side, and the Xhosa chiefs on the other. Stockenström's military career additionally saw growing disagreement between the leadership of the local Cape forces (the Burgher commandos) and the settlers on the frontier who supported greater imperial control.
While the young Stockenström was a great and sometimes ruthless soldier in the frontier wars, in the coming years he came to develop a growing sympathy with his Xhosa opponents. The frontier policy of the colonial government at the time was the so-called "Reprisals System", whereby frontier settlers were permitted to cross the border to reclaim stolen cattle from any Xhosa settlement to which the cattle-tracks led – even if the stolen cattle were not in fact there. Stockenström was fiercely opposed to this system. His opinion that the Cape Colony colonists of the frontier were unfairly treating of their Xhosa neighbours led to his later conclusion that a strictly enforced system of treaties must be enforced on both sides in order for peace and mutual respect to develop.
The 4th Frontier War (1811-1812)
In 1811 he was commissioned as an ensign in the Cape Regiment, took part in the 4th Cape Frontier War (1811–12), and in the campaign against Ndlambe. During this time, Andries served as aide-de-camp to his father, Anders Stockenström.
When his father was ambushed and killed, the young Andries rode from Bruintjieshoogte with 18 mounted burghers. He hunted down and overtook a number of the killers near Doringnek, slaying 13 of them.
Upon returning from Doringnek, Andries was appointed to his father's position in command of the burgher forces. Following Ndlambe's expulsion, he assisted Colonel John Graham in fortifying the Fish River frontier. Governor Sir John Cradock then appointed him as assistant landdrost of Graaff-Reinet, stationed initially at Van Stadensdam on the (upper) Fish River, and afterwards at the newly founded town of Cradock. Andries retained his commission as his duties remained mostly of a military nature.
In a rapid and successful campaign in 1813, he struck across the Fish River against Xhosa tribes that had violated the new frontier, and in May 1814 he was appointed a lieutenant in the Cape Regiment. He rose through the ranks rapidly after fighting in the fourth frontier war.
The 5th Frontier War (1818-1819)
Due in part to overcrowding, a civil war broke out between the amaNgqika (Ngqika Xhosa) and the amaGcaleka (Gcaleka Xhosa). As the Cape had signed a defence treaty with Ngqika, it was legally required to respond to Ngqika's request for military assistance in 1818. Stockenström was thus ordered to lead his commando, as an ally of Ngqika, against Ndlambe's amaGcaleka.
After swiftly intercepting and defeating the Gcaleka army, he withdrew his commando and stationed his Graaff-Reinet burghers to defend the left flank at the Kat River. However, after the Cape withdrawal, the amaGcaleka regrouped in 1819 and this time invaded the Cape Colony itself, attacking Grahamstown.
Stockenström thus took to the field again. He was first ordered to position his Graaff-Reinet commando to meet any attack across the northern section of the frontier. Then while the Cape, Stellenbosch and Swellendam commandos advanced against the main amaGcaleka army, Stockenström's Graaff-Reinet commando was ordered to clear insurgents from the dense bush in the Fish River area – previously regarded as impenetrable. After successfully implementing this supposedly impossible campaign, Stockenström was promoted to captain in the Cape Regiment.
The war ended in October 1819, when Gcaleka agreed to recognise Ngqika's independent leadership of the Western Xhosa, and the area between the Keiskamma and Fish rivers was declared a neutral zone, closed off from both black and white settlement.
From about this period, Stockenström's relationship with Governor Lord Charles Somerset declined, in part because of his "outspoken criticism of Somerset’s frontier policy or his refusal to allow the settlement of the 1820 Settlers in his district and his opposition to their location on the frontier", Duminy suggests, and in part because of a quarrel with the Governor's son, Col. Henry Somerset. In addition, Stockenström was friendly with Acting Governor Sir Rufane Donkin, and since Grahamstown editor Robert Godlonton was a staunch supporter of Col. Somerset, this "meant that the remainder of his public career was characterized by personal and political feuds".
His military career ended in July 1820 when he was transferred to the Corsican Rangers. The Graaff-Reinet district's involvement with the frontier was also reduced by the creation in 1821 of the separate district of Albany (out of Uitenhage) and in 1826 of the district of Somerset East (out of Graaff-Reinet). However Stockenström remained landdrost until the reform of 1828 which abolished his office.
In his final year as landdrost, he played a significant role in the Cape by lobbying for Ordinance 50 (1828) to grant the right to own land to the Khoikhoi and all other free black inhabitants of the Cape. A project that led to his later establishing of the Kat River Khoi Settlement.
Commissioner-General for the Eastern Province (1829-1833)
In 1827 the Council of Advice was enlarged to include two unofficial members, and in June that year Stockenström was appointed to fill one of these positions. Early in 1829 Major-General Richard Bourke, who had arrived in the colony in 1826 as lieutenant-governor of the Eastern Province, but instead became acting governor when Lord Charles Somerset departed, appointed Stockenström to the new post of commissioner-general for the Eastern Province.
The Kat River Khoi Settlement
In spite of the many political hindrances to his actions, Stockenström nonetheless set to work to reach an agreement for peace on the frontier and to stabilise the Ceded Territory between the Fish and Keiskamma rivers.
He decided to set aside this extensive and very fertile area for settlement, not by the white settlers of the frontier, but by the Cape's extensive Khoi and Griqua population. Some of Stockenström's top commanders were Khoi; he had long fought alongside Khoi soldiers in the frontier wars, and claimed to hold their bravery and loyalty in high esteem.G. M. Theal: Belangrijke historische dokumenten van Zuid-Afrika. Records of the Cape Colony, vol. 7, 8 & 10. C.T. He granted this displaced and marginalised people full and equal rights of land ownership and facilitated the establishment of their settlement, in what became known as the "Kat River Khoi Settlement".
The settlements expanded, and the Kat River Settlement became a region of the Cape that functioned largely autonomously from the rest of the country. Stockenström later described the creation of this settlement as his primary achievement.
Frontier policy Cattle raiding across the frontier, by both sides, was a persistent cause for frontier violence. For this reason, Stockenström promulgated new regulations dealing with the recovery of stolen stock. The previous "Reprisals System" of the frontier meant that the reaction to a cattle raid was simply to launch a counter-raid. Stockenström ruled that armed parties were only permitted to cross the frontier and recover stolen stock by force if the civil authorities gave permission.
This policy nonetheless proved to be very problematic because, when deciding whether to authorise punitive action, Stockenström depended on information from sources which were often unreliable. In 1830 Stockenström permitted settlers to launch a punitive expedition against Tyali, having been shown evidence that this Xhosa chief was led raids across the border. However, the expedition resulted in the shooting of another chief, Zeko, which caused considerable controversy. Based on false information, Stockenström had at first commended Field Commandant Erasmus for his conduct, but later investigations showed that reports of Zeko being armed and removing livestock were false.
Faced with growing demands for punitive expeditions, Stockenström became increasingly suspicious of the motives of Col Somerset and the frontier settler group. The issue became critical in June 1831, when the colonial government directly authorised Somerset to launch an attack on the Xhosa, without Stockenström's permission and in spite of his objections.
Stockenström became increasingly critical of the frontier policy implemented, both in his reports from Graaff-Reinet and in the proceedings of the Council of Advice. After Lord Stanley, Secretary for the Colonies, requested his resignation from the council, Stockenström left the Cape in 1833 and traveled to London where he resigned as Commissioner-General, after having failed to persuade the Colonial Office to give him more independence in his frontier work.
He moved from London to Sweden – his ancestral home – in 1834 and, at roughly the same time, the Sixth Frontier War broke out in the Cape.
Lieutenant-Governor of the Eastern Province (1836-1838)
In August 1835 he travelled to London to give evidence to the House of Commons on relations with the Xhosa in Southern Africa. In a hugely influential testimony, he blamed imperial policies and the frontier settlers' behaviour for causing repeated outbreaks of war with the Xhosa. In particular, the settlers' use of raids into Xhosa territory, to attack suspected cattle thieves.
His opinions – though hugely controversial – impressed the new Secretary for the Colonies, Lord Glenelg, who appointed him Lieutenant-Governor of the Eastern Province.
New frontier policy As lieutenant-governor, Stockenström now had the ability to construct a completely new policy for Cape-Xhosa relations.
He began by returning the recently annexed "Province of Queen Adelaide" to the Xhosa. He then instituted his own unique treaty system, recognising the Xhosa chiefs as independent and equal authorities in his diplomacy.