SANDERS OF ZAMBESI

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 April 1940, Page 9

SANDERS OF ZAMBESI

SERGEANT RULES 10,000 NATIVES JOHANNESBURG, February 10. Colonel Deneys Heintz, Minister of Native Affairs, who has himself lived an adventurous life, described as “more romantic than Sanders of the River,” the work of Sergt. Britz, of the South African Police. A report on the sergeant’s work has been presented to Parliament. Sergt. Britz for 10 years had sole charge of the Caprivi strip, a narrow corridor of land 300 miles by 40, which formerly gave German South-west Africa access to the Zambesi River. It is now embraced by the South-west African Mandate.

Sergt. Britz was the only white man in this remote corner of Africa, and 1 he became “uncrowned' king” of a great stretch of swamp and forest inhabited by 10,000 natives. From the hut .where he lived with his wife and three children he could see the hippopotami playing in the river, natives in their canoes passing up and down and elephants uprooting tho trees on the edge of the clearing. He was policeman, magistrate, doctor and adviser. His duties included protecting herds of elephant, rhinoceros and giraffe Poachers were dealt with •summarily by being put over the border. When the heir to an aged chief disobeyed the sergeant’s order by shooting two rhino, he was deposed. Sergt. Britz is being - promoted to a post in the Department of Native Affairs at a much bigger salary. An official with one European assistant and several native police will take h’’s place in the Caprivi strip, where he looked after 10,000. natives for 10 years. . The official report on Sergt. Britz’s' work submitted to Parliament stated that he was a strong man of outstanding character. He built up a highly efficient system of administration. Its

one weakness, said the report, was that it depended solely on two factors, first the man himself, and, secondly, the fear of his punishments.