The Bittereinders or Bitter enders fought resolutely till the end. The Peace of Vereeniging was signed on May 31^st, 1902.[i] A long, drawn-out war had finally come to an end.[ii] As with most wars, the declaration of peace is only the start of the next challenging chapter which is to rebuild and find a new way into the future. In the same week the terms of the peace agreement were communicated to camp inmates, Rensche van der Walt wrote the following in her journal. “It was after all not a declaration of peace, but surrender […] That was a bitter hour. The people wept.”^[iii]

After the proclamation of peace, surrendered Burghers made their way to the camps to find their families. According to Superintendent Bruce of Irene camp, the arrival of the men caused great excitement in the camp as thousands stood on prohibited ground, waiting for their men to return.[iv] Bruce noted that ‘[i]n spite of rags and dirt and dust, the women lined up to impress their welcome upon sunburnt cheeks. The young women pinned the colours to their coats, and they were led triumphantly to the tents of their families and friends’.[v] They joy of being reunited with their menfolk certainly eclipsed the bitterness of surrender and the suffering endured by both men and women.

By the winter of 1902, the women and children who had been released from the camps had nowhere to go. There were food shortages, and the land was barren. The war had destroyed whole communities and eliminated entire families.^[vi] After any war there are questions as to the purpose, cost, and morality of the war.[vii] Had anything worth achieving been achieved? After three years of fighting, the Boers lost the war, their independence, and many civilian lives. Later that year as the Boer Generals toured Europe to raise funds, General Louis Botha stated that they ‘… represent an extremely unhappy people.”^[viii] However, reconstruction began and the work to reunite Afrikaners as a nation who had been torn apart by sides taken during wartime.[ix]

[i] Smurthwaite, p. 170.

[ii] Judd and Surridge, p. 295.

[iii] Hamman, p. 90.

[iv] ‘British Concentration Camps of the South African War 1900-1902’.

[v] ‘British Concentration Camps of the South African War 1900-1902’.

[vi] Smurthwaite, p. 172.

[vii] Lodewyk Verhoef.

[viii] Dr F.V., p. 104.

[ix] Lodewyk Verhoef.