This 1899 hunting permit, issued by the British colonial government in South Africa, allowed white Afrikaners to legally hunt not only wild animals but also Bushmen. The document explicitly states that there was "no limit" on the number of Bushmen that could be killed. The government even incentivized their extermination by offering 15 Rixdollars for every Bushman killed. Adjusted for inflation, this bounty would be worth approximately 1,050 British Pounds or 1,312 US Dollars today—a chilling reminder of how colonial authorities sanctioned the genocide of indigenous African people.

The legacy of colonial land dispossession continues to affect South Africa today, where the vast majority of land remains in white hands despite the end of apartheid. In an attempt to rectify this historic injustice, the South African government proposed a land reform policy to redistribute land to Black South Africans, whose ancestors were systematically robbed of their property. However, in 2018, then-President Donald Trump issued an executive order condemning South Africa’s proposed land expropriation, falsely claiming that white farmers were being attacked and displaced. This intervention, based on misinformation and white nationalist fear-mongering, was a direct attempt to pressure the South African government into maintaining the status quo of land inequality.

It is deeply ironic—and tragic—that a Black-led government attempting to address historical injustices is punished by the West for a hypothetical land seizure, whereas white South Africans, who benefited from centuries of land theft and brutal apartheid policies, were forgiven without any significant reparations. After the fall of apartheid, Black South Africans chose reconciliation over retribution, embracing the idea of national unity rather than seeking revenge. Yet, when the tables are turned, the mere suggestion of redistributing stolen land triggers global outrage, economic threats, and political condemnation.

The stark contrast between how Black and white historical injustices are treated reveals an enduring racial double standard. When white-led governments commit atrocities, history is rewritten to justify their actions, and their descendants are never held accountable. But when Black leaders attempt to rectify past wrongs, they are immediately labeled as threats to democracy, and Western powers use their influence to suppress their efforts.

If land reform in South Africa is considered an injustice, then what should we call the centuries of land theft, genocide, and racial oppression that created this imbalance in the first place? True justice requires more than just forgiving past oppressors—it demands that the stolen wealth and land be returned to their rightful owners.

Colonial Violence Against the Bushmen

From the arrival of Dutch East India Company (VOC) employees at the Cape in 1652, the indigenous Bushmen (San) fiercely resisted European encroachment on their lands. Their struggle intensified in the 18th century as Dutch migrant farmers, or trekboers, expanded into the interior, depleting wildlife and displacing native communities. In response, the Bushmen launched guerrilla raids, targeting livestock and farmsteads, while Dutch-led commando forces retaliated with brutal massacres. Entire Bushman bands were slaughtered, with survivors—especially children—enslaved to work on colonial farms.

By the late 1700s, the Cape government openly sanctioned the extermination of the Bushmen, authorizing their eradication “wherever and whenever they were encountered.” When the British seized the Cape in 1795, they initially sought a more conciliatory approach, declaring an end to mass killings and adopting a policy aimed at protecting and “civilizing” the Bushmen. This was in stark contrast to the Dutch East India Company’s genocidal commandos. However, British colonial authorities failed to enforce their own policies, and by 1828, the Cape’s Bushman population was in an even worse position than before. Dr. Philip, superintendent of the London Missionary Society, accused the British government of presiding over one of the bloodiest episodes in its history—the systematic destruction of the Bushmen. Rather than being protected, they were displaced, starved, and driven to the colony’s fringes.

The campaign against the Bushmen was not limited to British and Dutch colonists. The Germans, too, engaged in their extermination. In 1914, as South African forces invaded German South West Africa, the outmanned German commander, Major Viktor Franke, deployed Schutztruppe (“protection troops”) to eliminate "troublesome" Bushmen in the Grootfontein district. The unpublished memoirs of a German trooper, Gunther Walbaum, provide chilling details of these so-called "Bushman patrols." Walbaum’s commander casually instructed: “I would be glad if you will not kill too many [Bushmen] if possible. Only kill them when there is an attack, but use your own discretion.” The method of extermination was disturbingly routine—soldiers encircled unsuspecting Bushmen as they dug for food, treating the hunt as if they were stalking wild game. At a signal, the soldiers opened fire, killing men attempting to flee.

A chilling account from another German soldier describes the sheer banality of these executions:

"After three kilometers we reached an open field where Jan [the guide] showed us to go down. One kilometer in front of us some Bushmen were busy digging out uintjies [tubers]. Now Jan did not want to walk in front anymore, because he did not want to have anything to do with the shooting. We discussed our next step for a moment so that we could encircle them. We had to sneak up to them like one does with game. On a sign, we all got up with our guns ready to shoot. We were about fifty to seventy meters away from them. The Bushmen stood in astonishment. When we approached them, ten or twelve men ran away. Falckenburg and one of our natives shot two. Unfortunately, I missed."

By the early 20th century, colonial expansion had largely subdued Bushman resistance, driving survivors into marginal lands or absorbing them into European-controlled society as exploited laborers. Though physical extermination declined, racist policies persisted. Even as late as the 1930s, public figures like General Jan Smuts dehumanized the Bushmen, describing them as a “dying race.” Disturbingly, the last recorded permit to legally hunt a Bushman in South Africa was issued in 1927, with Namibia following in 1936—an appalling testament to the enduring legacy of colonial violence.