Krugersdorp is steeped in history with our town and local newspaper bearing the name of Paul Kruger who opposed British Imperialism.
Imperialism is a fancy word for greed. Greed leads to corruption.
On 10 February 1840 Queen Victoria married German Prince Albert of Saxony who was just as greedy as she was. During her reign of 67 years from 1834 to 1901 she sent British troops who killed 1,5 million Irish, raided their farms, stole their cattle and raped their women.
The same she did in South Africa where 34 000 women and children were taken to concentration camps without sanitation, medicine, food or water.
This was the brainchild of Herbert Horatio Kitchener. After the war he was promoted to the rank of Viceroy and rewarded with 50 000 pounds in cash by the British Parliament.
According to British historian the Reverend Stowell Kessler 140 615 black prisoners were divided among 65 camps where 14 000 died.
Chief Lobengula of the Matabele tribe suffered from severe gout. Dr Leander Starr Jameson injected him with an overdose of morphine. While under the influence of morphine Lobengula signed away the mineral rights of his country. When Lobengula realised what he had done, he committed suicide by taking poison.
In October 1893 Jameson attacked Lobengula’s kraal with 700 mercenaries armed with five Maxim rapid fire canons and pounder field canons, killing 4 000 Matabeles.
Rhodes named this country Rhodesia after himself and proclaimed it the property of England. This was all done with the knowledge and approval of Queen Victoria.
On 28 December 1895 Jameson attacked South Africa from Pitsani in Botswana with 500 men, but they were stopped in their tracks by the Boer Commandos of Krugersdorp, Rustenburg and Potchefstroom.
This was world news and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany sent Kruger a good luck telegram, which annoyed Queen Victoria.
Does Queen Victoria and Cecil Rhodes deserve street names or statues in South Africa? The answer is no.
To say it is part of history is a lame excuse. Queen Victoria, Rhodes, Jameson and Kitchener were all mass murderers.
