Did the British imperial rule have any negative effects on the population of South Africa?

Question

Around the time of the Boer War (1899ish)

Answer 1

O yes, it did. I'm an Afrikaner and 10% of us were killed by the British in the Boer War. The British soldiers were heartless and burned down all the farms of the Boers.. because they couldn't win the war. They wanted to get hold of the gold mines etc. and regarded the Afrikaners as less-human (today the top performers in SA schools are Afrikaners despite being economical inferior to the English). The English also committed serious war crimes eg. raping of women and killing of injured people. It was about +-50 000 Boers vs 400 000 English. A song was written about the Boer War recently... More than 140 000 copies of that album has been sold already (there are only 2.5 mil Afrikaners in the world) making it the top debut album in SA of all time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlHqKJyo3GQ

Answer 2

There were indeed "negative effects": -

[1] A general negative effect, that persisted in South Africa for many years and embittered politics, was the division and hostility between the two main groups of White South Africans, the British and the Afrikaaners (Boers). Although a number of prominent Boer leaders from the war (Jan Smuts, for example) worked hard to reconcile the two groups, the majority of Afrikaaners remained resentful of the British victory and consequent domination by Britain. Eventually, this bitterness and determination to turn the tables led to right wing extremists taking control of the Nationalist party, divorcing South Africa from Britain, and cementing Apartheid as the shameful hallmark of South Africa's reputation in the world.

[2] Of more immediate impact (and contributing substantially to the subsequent bitterness) was Britain's war-winning strategy to set up concentration camps as internment centres for Boer civilians, thus denying Boer commandos in the later phases of the war a support base of civilian farms and villages into which they could melt and blend when under attack. Many Boer women and children died from neglect, malnutrition and disease in the camps: not by deliberate British policy, but through the incompetence of British administrators. That was a very negative effect indeed.

[3] The impact of the war on Black (and "Colored") South Africans was also, inevitably, negative when they got caught up in the fighting; but few Blacks were actively involved. However, the war did little or nothing to improve their lives. They were still not accorded the rights of full citizens

Answer 3

lol you are absolutely kidding right?? Did you read about the Boer War. That was a bloodfest anytime theres blood spilling like that guess what theres rape and extortion its basically chaos. guess who gets raped and extorted?

Answer 4

British Imperial rule had anegative effecton every country they ever colonized or invaded. ie: South Africa, India,Austalia,Ireland,
Scotland,Jerusalem,China,etc. etc. etc.!