Abstract:
This treatise, based mainly on archival sources, is a biographical study of Field-Cornet Gideon Daniel Joubert against the background of the circumstances under which he lived on the northern frontier of the Cape Colony up to 1837. The spot-light falls mainly on Joubert's conduct in the service of the Colonial Government. Attention is drawn mainly to Joubert's lineage and childhood, his participation in the fifth Xhosa War in 1819 and his appointment as field-cornet in 1824. After his appointment as field-cornet, Joubert gained prominence as leader and intercessor with the Colonial Government for the inhabitants of the New Hantam ward in the Graaff-Reinet district. During 1824-1834 Joubert had to contend mainly with four problems. In the first place he experienced great difficulty with the implementation of Ordinance No. 49 of 1828 by which the government tried to control the movement of blacks by means of a pass system. Shortly afterwards Ordinance No. 50 of 1828 exempted the Hottentots and other free coloureds from the obligation to carry passes. Joubert, as field-cornet, became well-acquainted with the difficulties created by these two ordinances. Secondly, Joubert had to contend with serious droughts in his ward and the ensuing migrations of his people to Transorangia. The resultant decrease in the white population and the large number of coloureds who roamed about without passes, endangered the safety of the inhabitants and threatened law and order in his ward. Thirdly, the inhabitants of New Hantam were harassed by Bushmen marauders from within and without the colony. To make matters worse for Joubert and his people, Bourke determined in 1826 that marauders could not be pursued beyond the colonial border. Joubert objected to these stipulations and to Ordinances No. 49 and No. 50 in vain. Fourthly, Joubert had to contend with problems arising from the contact between the Trekboers and the Griquas in Transorangia. Joubert and the inhabitants of his ward were constantly on the alert against a Griqua attack, especially as smugglers supplied the Griquas with fire-arms. Towards the end of 1835, after returning from the eastern frontier where he had participated in the sixth Xhosa War as a commandant, Joubert strongly disapproved of the governor's plans for the formation of a Permanent Local Militia Force. Finally, Joubert was outspokenly opposed to the Great Trek and at the same time a loyal supporter of the British Government. In spite of serious problems on the northern frontier and complaints against government policy, Joubert was not to take part in the Great Trek.
