When it comes to reading about the Boer War, a useful rule-of-thumb is that any article which quotes Fransjohan Pretorius as an authoritative reference will be devoid of any semblance of historical reality. This was reconfirmed to me recently, when I was sent a link to the following rubbish:
https://www.wereldwyd.co.za/en/danie-theron-a-military-hero-with-a-message/
That the Exalted Cyclops of Boer War Myths gets a passing mention is warning enough of the nonsense that will follow, and the article – which is apparently about ‘the Anglo Boar War’ (sic) – then treads the familiar, self-pitying path of pretending the poor old Boers were innocent victims of the piece:
‘According to the plague (sic) at the foot of the monument, the flame at the tip of the obelisk symbolises the flame of freedom that had burnt in the hearts of Danie Theron and the Boers who defended their freedom, independence and Vierkleur (the flag of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, or Transvaal).’
Thanks, no doubt, to the propaganda spewed out by the Defenders of the Myth over the years, it is clear that the author of this drivel is blissfully unaware of Kruger’s farcical dream of building an Afrikaans Empire ‘from the Zambesi to the Cape’, or that the Boer War was sparked by the republican invasions of British territory. One might as well similarly glorify the men of the Wehrmacht and SS who died fighting to ‘defend’ Germany in 1945; other than at an AWB rally, would anyone else really trumpet and eulogize them as men who ‘defended their freedom, independence and the Swastika flag’?
Like the Germans in World War 2, the only reason the Transvaal Boers had to ‘defend their freedom’ and ‘independence’ was because they had – with inter-galactic stupidity – decided to invade their neighbours. How strange that this inconvenient fact didn’t make it into the article: though we can be sure that old Fransjohan will approve of the frantic efforts to keep the myths alive.
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The reference to Theron as “one of the bravest fighters the Transvaal ever produced” is laughable because the man was from the Cape Colony.
Looking at the pictures of the monument, I am appalled at its bare concrete ugliness, rivalling the phallic pillars of the Taalmonument on Paarl mountain.
This is truly excessive hero worship.
I reckon the only worthwhile thing in the article is the mention of his wife (who, we are told, he ‘fell in live with’) tragically dying of pneumonia in 1898. Alas, such things were very common back then, despite the desperation of True Believers to pretend that people only ever succumbed to illness / disease when they were accommodated in Concentration Camps… deaths which apparently count as mass murder / genocide (delete as applicable, depending on how much Klippies and Coke you have drunk).
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