Anne to mark non-combat work by black South Africans during First World War
Share:
The Princess Royal will commemorate the sacrifices of black South Africans and other races who played a vital First World War role as military labourers when she visits the country. Anne will visit the Commonwealth nation next Tuesday and Wednesday in her role supporting her brother the King.
She is president of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) and will unveil the institution’s Cape Town Labour Corps Memorial, which honours more than 1,700 South Africans who carried out non-combat jobs and died with no known grave or commemoration.
The memorial honours a group of mainly black but also mixed race and Indian men whose contributions have been overlooked. Thousands of South Africans served in non-combat roles supporting British and imperial forces as the troops fought for former colonial territories across Africa.
Recruited in major settlements like Cape Town, Pretoria and Johannesburg, South African military labourers carried food and ammunition, managed logistics, maintained roads and railways, and built defences to keep the east African campaign supplied. Many were volunteers but some were pressured to serve, with local authorities leaning on magistrates and chiefs to raise the strongest men in villages and towns who would work in harsh conditions with many dying from diseases like malaria and tuberculosis.
