Local heroes of SA Native Corps remembered

Date: 29 October 2015 By: Anton van Zyl

In Memory of Private
J Makhado
N/26877, Native Military Corps, S.A. Forces who died on 09 October 1943
Son of Makhado and Mothakale.
Remembered with Honour, Eshowe Cemetery

 A reader, Thivhilaeli Makatu, recently posted a thought-provoking question which led to some interesting research. He wanted to know whether any members of the South African Native Labour Corps or the SA Native Military Corps were listed on the memorial roll of the local Moths.

Thivhilaeli reacted to an article about the annual Remembrance Day, which this year will take place on Sunday, 8 November, at the Turbi Hills Shellhole in Louis Trichardt.

We asked Moths’ “Old Bill” Allan Odendaal to investigate and it didn’t take him long to come back with a reply. Yes, there is a mention of one of the unit’s members, a Private J Mdumela, who died on 14 November 1945. He was buried at the Mowkop burial ground just outside the town.

Perhaps to explain to readers the significance of the question one has to first look at the role of the SA Native Military Corps. This unit was formed in 1940 to assist the Union Defence Force in the Second World War. It was supposed to be a non-combative unit comprising African men, and the members were recruited to offer support services. Because of the discriminatory politics of the day, the members were not allowed to carry guns and they were used as stretcher bearers, drivers etc.

The drive to recruit members was very successful and at the end of the recruitment period, more than 80 000 African men had enlisted into the SA Native Military Corps (NMC). After finishing their training, they were posted to various front-line units in East Africa, Abbysinia, Egypt, Cyrenaica and Italy.
The Native Military Corps distinguished themselves in various ways on the field of battle and many of the members received medals for acts of exceptional bravery and valour.
This was, of course, not the first war that made extensive use of black and coloured African soldiers to help win battles. The South African Native Labour Corps (SANLC) was formed in 1916 in response to a British request for workers at French ports. Some 21 000 South Africans joined the Corps and these soldiers were utilized in various menial non-combat tasks.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records 1 304 deaths for the South African Native Labour Corps whose graves and memorials are found mostly in the UK, France and South Africa. In total, almost 2 300 SANLC members died during the First World War.

The South African government issued no war service medals to the black servicemen and even the special medal issued by King George V to “native troops” who had served the Empire was disallowed and not issued to the SANLC.

In the last decade, a lot of effort went into restoring the dignity of all members who sacrificed their lives during these wars. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission publishes a detailed list of soldiers on its website, making it much easier to trace the origins of people who had died during the two great wars. The list of over 1 000 soldiers of the NMC who had died during the war makes for interesting reading, but it’s near impossible to identify soldiers from the northern part of Limpopo. Judging by the surnames, there are a number of them who originate from this region, albeit that they were buried in other parts of the country.

As far as the members of the SANLC and NMC are concerned, the name of Private Mdumela is mentioned, who was buried in Limpopo (Mowkop cemetery). There is also that of a J Mbengeni who died on 2 September 1944 and who was buried in Polokwane.

On 9 October 1943, Private J Makhado died, probably in Italy (where members of the NMC were deployed to help fend off the German Army.) The description next to his name simply states “Son of Makhado and Mothakale”. He was later buried at the Eshowe cemetery alongside some of his fellow unit members.

Private W Farasani was another member of the unit who died on 5 April 1944. He was described as the “husband of Mobe Farasani of Mpefu’s location”. His remains were buried at the Palmietkuil South war cemetery near Springs.

There are many more names, such as Ernest Funani (buried at Palmietfontein), W Madotzi (perhaps a misspelling of Matodzi) who was buried in Maitland cemetery in Cape Town and J Mukondelele (buried at Cullinan), but it’s near impossible to trace them back accurately to the Soutpansberg.

Then there are also the “unknown” graves, such as that of John Shifularo. He died of malaria in Sibasa, but his name has not yet been accepted for war grave status.

In most cases, very little information is available on who these soldiers were, in what battles they took part and why they have ended up in graveyards very far from where they were born.
According to Allan Odendaal of the Moth’s Turbi Hills Shellhole, all those who died on the battlefront are annually remembered on the second Sunday in November. This is the Sunday closest to when the peace treaty to end the First World War (11 November 1918) was signed.
Locally, a Remembrance Day service will be held at the Turbi Hills Shellhole at 66 Burger Street, Louis Trichardt. 

The groups will get together at 10:30 for the service to start at 11:00.

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Anton van Zyl

Anton van Zyl has been with the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror since 1990. He graduated from the Rand Afrikaans University (now University of Johannesburg) and obtained a BA Communications degree. He is a founder member of the Association of Independent Publishers.

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