SAMVO Facebook post by Veteran Ben Opperman
SAMVOA veterans along with a few allied veterans commemorated the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging at the Boer War Memorial in Kings Park on Sunday 29th of May. The treaty which was signed on the 31stof May 1902 at Melrose House in Pretoria brought an end to the war which lasted nearly three years. The service was scaled down considerably this year with only a handful organisations and individuals laying wreaths. Veteran Dave Stevenson laid a wreath on behalf of SAMVOA while Veteran Ben Opperman laid a wreath on behalf of the Transvaal and Orange Free State republics, commemorating those who suffered so much with so many paying the ultimate price when answering the call to duty. Yolande de Klerk and daughter Lulu laid the Emily Hobhouse wreath on behalf of the nearly 29.000 Boer woman and children who died in the concentration camps during the war. Emily Hobhouse, an English nurse, brought the plight of the many Boer woman and children to the attention of the British people sparking outrage in Britain and bringing about slightly better conditions in the camps. Nearly as many black Africans died in the concentration camps as well.
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