South African Republic Police

The South African Republic Police (Dutch: Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek Politie; ZARP) was the police force of the former country, South African Republic, one of two Internationally recognized Boer countries of the mid 19th to early 20th century. The Boers often called the South African Republic the ZAR (Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek) while in the English-speaking world the republic was generally known as the Transvaal republic. Members of the police force were known as ZARPs. After the Union of South Africa was established in 1910, the force was incorporated into the South African Police Force.

The ZARP was the mounted and foot police of the ZAR, a nation that was mainly rural with a strong frontier spirit as the Boers had only arrived in the Transvaal less than 50 years before during the Great Trek. The ZARP were established as a para-military police force whose primary function was to uphold the authority of the state, From 1881 to 1896 the ZARPS were part of the Artillery and then began a separate existence as an independent entity. The ZARPs were notorious for their ill-discipline and brutality towards uitlanders (Afrikaans for "outlanders"), the disparaging term used by the Boers to describe the foreigners who arrived in the Transvaal during the Witwatersrand Gold Rush. Even worse was the treatment given to "coloreds" (people of mixed race descent) and blacks whom the ZARPs greatly hated. A Johannesburg newspaper that supported the government complained in 1898 about the "indiscriminate reckless firing by foolish young constables". The ZARPs were recruited from the poorest elements of the urban Transvaal Boer society who needed to feel superior to blacks, and were much given to whippings and shootings. The Transvaal was governed by the pass system-a precursor of apartheid-under which blacks, coloreds and Asians were confided to certain districts and needed a pass from the government in order to leave. In November 1898, the ZARPs raided a Johannesburg neighborhood inhabited by colored people from the Cape colony, claiming that some of had violated the pass system during some 40 people were forced out of their homes at night to be beaten and whipped. As the colored people were from the Cape colony, making them into British subjects, the raid to a formal diplomatic note of protest from Edmund Fraser, who represented the British government in Pretoria.

In 1899, the force consisted of 10 officers, 100 NCO’s and 1400 men. The majority of the force was foot police but they all took to the field and entered the Second Boer War as mounted forces. The ZARPs fought well and earned a reputation for their tenacity, skill and courage. In peacetime they carried swords, carbines and revolvers. During the Anglo-Boer war the ZARPs carried the Mauser rifle.

Leo Amery stated that “the police were first-class fighters, combining the skill of the Boer with the courage and self-sacrifice of the disciplined soldier”. The “fighting” ZARPs accompanied the Boer forces from the ZAR that invaded Natal. They participated in many major and minor engagements but gained enduring fame at the Battle of Dalmanutha or Bergendal where they were destroyed as a unit. Individual members as well as the last contingent of the ZARPs continued to fight in the ZAR during the guerrilla and final stage of the Second Boer War.

Books and articles

• Pakenham, Thomas (1979). The Boer War. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0394427424.
• Sauerman, Michael; Meyer; Kutnak Ivković, Sanja (2019). "Exploring the Relation between Support for Community Policing and Police Integrity in South Africa". Oxford: Springer. pp. 111–137. ISBN 9783030290658. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Text "Exploring Police Integrity Novel Approaches to Police Integrity Theory and Methodology" ignored (help)