The Concentration Camps

With the onset of the guerilla phase of the Anglo-Boer War the British intensified the scorched earth policy whereby farmhouses, property and livestock were destroyed.

This military strategy included the removal of Boer women and children as well as the Black population of the Boer Republics and concentrating them in towns with easy access to railroads and transport

These hastily erected concentration camps were overcrowded with inadequate accommodation, meagre rations, poor sanitary conditions, poor management and lack of space. The result of this was a horrific death rate and an international outcry.

To address this criticism and to relieve the pressure on the Transvaal and Free State Boer concentration camps it was decided to increase the number of concentration camps in Natal.