Botshabelo, Mpumalanga

During the Anglo–Boer War (also referred to as the South African War), both British and Boer forces showed interest in Botshabelo, particularly in Fort Merensky and other smaller but comparable forts built on the Botshabelo mission station. In the eastern Transvaal, a hotbed of the violence of this war, Botshabelo served as a crucial military installation for both sides. The Boer military authorities were the first to attack Botshabelo. On September 30, 1899, Nauhaus reported that 82 Pedi Christians were forced to join the military after three ox-wagons full of food that had been taken from the mission station were confiscated. Again, 240 residents of Botshabelo were enlisted to drive wagons or work on Boer farms for the war effort. == Publications about Botshabelo Mission Station ==

The Botshabelo Mission Station and Berlin Missionary Society's activities in South Africa have been extensively written about. Journals, books, dissertations and newspapers have turned their attention to this place of significance. • Delius, P. 1983. The land belongs to us: the Pedi polity, the Boers and the British in the nineteenth century Transvaal. Ravan Press: Johannesburg. • Rikotso, G, J. 2003. Rev. A. Merensky and the Bapedi people of Sekhukhune. University of Pretoria: Magister Atrium (Theology) • Delius, P. & Ruther, K. 2013. The King, the missionary and the missionary's daughter. Journal of Southern African Studies. Vol. 39 (3) pp. 597 – 614. • Malunga, F. 2003. Sekhukhune II and the Pedi Operations and the Anglo – Boer War, 1899 – 1902. Scientia Militaria. 31 (1). Pp. 19 – 36. • Pakendorf, G. 1997. “For there is no power but of God:” The Berlin Mission and the challenges of Colonial South Africa. Missionalia. (Available online: https://www.oocities.org/missionalia/germiss1.htm) • Pakendorf, G. 2011. A Brief History of the Berlin Mission Society in South Africa. History Compass Vol 9 (2). Pp.106–118, • Poewe, K. & v.d. Heyden, U. 1999. The Berlin Mission Society and its Theology: • The Bapedi Mission Church and the Independent Bapedi Lutheran Church. South African Historical Journal. 40 (May 1999). Pp. 21 – 50 • Ruther, K. 2012. Through the eyes of missionaries and their archives they created. The interwoven histories of power and authority in the 19th century Transvaal. Journal of Southern African Studies. Vol. 38 (2). Pp. 369 – 384. • van der Heyden, U. 1996. The archives and library of the Berlin Missionary Society. History in Africa. Vol 23. Pp. 411 – 427 ==Ndebele architecture of Cultural Village==

• Hans Merensky • Johannes August Winter • Esther Mahlangu • Gerard Sekoto • Abraham Serote (grandfather of Mongane Wally Serote) • Ken Gampu (received part of his education at Botshabelo) ==References==