Leliefontein massacre

Leliefontein is a small community in the Kamiesberg range of Namaqualand, near Garies in what is now the Northern Cape, South Africa. The area was originally the kraal of a Nama chief named Wildschut. Missionary work began there under the London Missionary Society in 1809 but was abandoned in 1811 after an attack by competing settlers. In 1816, at Chief Wildschut's request, the Wesleyan Methodist Reverend Barnabas Shaw of the Wesleyan Missionary Society re-established a station, making Leliefontein the first Methodist mission in South Africa.

On 31 January 1902, during the South African (Second Boer) War, Boer leader Manie Maritz, serving under General Jan Smuts, rode into Leliefontein with a group of men to interview the European missionaries. Maritz's party detained the chief missionary and distributed proclamations threatening death to residents and missionaries as punishment for being British sympathisers. The Nama residents, angered by these threats, clashed with Maritz's men. The residents inflicted serious losses on the Boers that day, killing 30 Boers while losing seven Nama.

Maritz then summoned reinforcements and returned the following day, leading to a further battle in which 43 Nama people were killed and an estimated 100 wounded. Residents sheltering in the mission church were killed during this second assault. The mission's buildings, livestock, and crops were destroyed, and survivors fleeing the settlement were reportedly pursued and killed by Boer forces, while others were captured and forced into labor cooking and cleaning for the troops. According to the source, Maritz was never punished for his actions at Leliefontein. The Leliefontein Methodist Church and Parsonage is now a national heritage site commemorating the losses.

Boer guerrilla commander Deneys Reitz, also serving under General Smuts, arrived in Leliefontein on 31 January 1902 en route to Springbok and described finding the settlement "sacked and gutted," with 20 to 30 dead bodies among the rocks, still clutching firearms. Reitz attributed the destruction to Maritz, writing that Maritz had returned with a stronger force "to avenge the insult" after being set upon by armed residents during the initial visit, and characterized the retaliation as "a ruthless and unjustifiable act." Reitz also recounted that General Smuts said nothing at the scene but appeared "moody and curt" afterward. Maritz, in response, disputed Reitz's characterization, stating that his men had to fight hard for their lives in front of the church that day.