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Updated: May 16, 2025
They should have called together a national assembly of the Basuto people, in which the terms of the transfer could have been quietly arranged, and this I consider is the root of all the troubles, and expenses, and miseries which have sprung up; and therefore, as it is always best to go to the root of any malady, I think it would be as well to let bygones be bygones, and to commence afresh by calling together by proclamation a Pitso of the whole tribe, in order to discuss the best means of sooner securing the settlement of the country.
"I urge that this measure of satisfying the Loyals is one that presses and cannot well wait months to be settled. "In conclusion, I recommend that a National Pitso be held; that the Loyals should at once be paid off.
The Government of the South African Republic will engage faithfully to fulfil the assurances given, in accordance with the laws of the South African Republic, to the natives at the Pretoria Pitso by the Royal Commission in the presence of the Triumvirate and with their entire assent, as to the freedom of the natives to buy or otherwise acquire land under certain conditions, as to the appointment of a commission to mark out native locations, as to the access of the natives to the courts of law, and as to their being allowed to move freely within the country, or to leave it for any legal purpose, under a pass system.
"To those who wish for the total abandonment of Basutoland, this course must be palatable; to those who wish the Basutos well, and desire not to see them exterminated, it must also be palatable; and to those who hate the name of Basutoland it must be palatable, for it offers a solution which will prevent them ever hearing the name again. "This Pitso ought to be called at once.
I think that some such proclamation should be issued. By this Pitso we would know the exact position of affairs, and the real point in which the Basutos are injured or considered themselves to be injured.
Therefore I recommend that the sum of £30,000 should be at once applied to satisfy the minor claims of the Loyals; that this should be done at once, at same time as the meeting of the National Pitso. "The effect of this measure in connection with the meeting of the National Pitso would be very great, for it would be a positive proof of the good disposition of the Colonial Government.
The Government of the South African Republic will engage faithfully to fulfil the assurances given, in accordance with the laws of the South African Republic, to the natives at the Pretoria Pitso by the Royal Commission in the presence of the Triumvirate and with their entire assent, as to the freedom of the natives to buy or otherwise acquire land under certain conditions, as to the appointment of a commission to mark out native locations, as to the access of the natives to the courts of law, and as to their being allowed to move freely within the country, or to leave it for any legal purpose, under a pass system.
Attached to this memorandum was the draft of a proclamation to the chiefs, etc., of Basutoland, calling on them to meet in Pitso or National Assembly without any agent of the Colonial Government being present.
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