Resumo

STRAUSS, PJ. MT Steyn: A modern Christian Afrikaner leader?. Tydskr. geesteswet. [online]. 2021, vol.61, n.3, pp.670-689. ISSN 2224-7912.  http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2224-7912/2021/v61n3a3.

MT Steyn was the last president of the Republic of the Orange Free State (1896-1902), since his term as president coincided with the Anglo Boer War (1899-1902) in which the small republic, together with its sister state, the South African Republic (Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, ZAR), had to defend themselves against imminent invasion by Great Britain. His inspirational leadership during this war gave rise to nicknames such as "Afrikaner van die Afrikaners" (the outstanding Afrikaner) and "Siel van die Vryheidstryd" (the spiritual driving force behind the fight for freedom), simultaneously showing his close ties with the Afrikaner people. This article takes a closer look at MT Steyn as an able leader of Christian Afrikaners in his time. It focuses on Steyn as an outspoken reformed Christian, his credo or expression of faith in God and his application of biblical truths to everyday life. His spontaneous identification with and leadership of the Afrikaner people are discussed with reference to his term as president, but also taking into consideration his conduct as an ex-president and community leader. Steyn was born near the town of Winburg in the Free State on 2 October 1857, the first president to be born in the republic as such and educated within an Afrikaner farming community - according to him he was a "simple" son of a farmer ("'n gewone boerseun"), familiar with both "a horse and a gun". Given this kind of background Steyn's spiritual and emotional bond with the Afrikaner people was never doubted. It was simply accepted. He was the political and spiritual leader - the real first citizen - of the Republic of the Orange Free State at the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer war in 1899. His reading of this momentous event was that the very existence of the Afrikaner people was at stake. In his opinion, imperialists such as the British High Commissioner in Southern Africa, Lord Alfred Milner, precipitated the Anglo-Boer War with the intent of discouraging the Afrikaner people in trying to resist the proposed expansion of the British Empire, which would cost them their freedom as citizens of an independent Boer republic. Steyn spoke of the Triune God as our God who is three times holy. Apart from certain unpersonal names associated with the influence of the Enlightenment from 1750 onwards, he used scriptural or biblical names for the Lord. He accepted the beneficial effect of the providence of God in human life. His notion that nothing happened outside the will of the Lord, was shared by his fellow Afrikaners' unquestionable belief in the providence of God. Although the Boers could not explain it properly, they nevertheless believed in God's guiding while engaging in fierce battles with the English. Even the unimaginable suffering endured by women and children in concentration camps, where more than 34 000 Afrikaner women and children reportedly died of unnatural causes, eventually resulted in the words, "Let thy will be done.." being included in the inscription on the Women's Memorial in 1913. It is important to note, here, that the by then ex-president Steyn was instrumental in having this particular inscription approved, thereby showing his ability to influence the opinion of his fellow Afrikaner people. It should be clear that Steyn knew his people well enough to persuade them to follow his lead. Towards the end of the Anglo Boer War a well-known British enemy, Lord Kitchener, while in charge of the British troops in Southern Africa, remarked that Steyn had the ability to turn his people around in not accepting a peace treaty and, instead, to continue with the war. Undoubtedly, it was no easy decision for Steyn to surrender to the British, thereby accepting the reality that the Republic of the Orange Free State would cease to exist. At the end of the peace talks, his absence from signing the peace treaty due to serious illness, as far as he was concerned, could be ascribed to the providence of God. During the war Steyn often took the initiative of leading by example, thereby inspiring citizens of both the republics engaged in the war. According to his perspective the Afrikaners or Boers could physically lose the war, but still overcome the British emotionally and spiritually. However, should the Boers cowardly surrender to the British, they would lose both their self-esteem and self-respect. A similar view was shared by Emily Hobhouse, the British Florence Nightingale who had endeavoured to alleviate the suffering of the Boer women and children in the concentration camps during the Anglo Boer War. In an address, read on her behalf at the opening of the Women's Memorial in Bloemfontein in 1913, she urged women and children to forgive the British aggressors, because, in her opinion, the Boers had gained the upper moral ground and could therefore afford forgiveness. This sentiment was echoed by Steyn in his reference to the triumphant martyrdom of the Afrikaner people, in particular the women and children. According to him they had lost the war but won the peace, and to his satisfaction they had also retained their self-esteem, Christian faith and proven values of life. In Steyn's view, then, the struggle against British oppression could be justified as an attempt to uphold justice between the states of the world. As a Christian he opted for the structural equality of states, irrespective of their military power, material wealth or superior numbers. He chose to help the sister republic of the Free State, the ZAR, against the British, because as a Christian state, the Free State had to keep its promise, which was included in a treaty with the ZAR in 1889 and 1897. In the representative assembly of the Free State or the meeting of his "Volksraad" before the war, on 22 September 1899, he declared in public that although the Free State was a small and weak state, it was strong enough to keep its word. Steyn saw in a republic with democratic customs the preferred way whereby a Christian Afrikaner state could be established. He chose a republic as the right of his people and one in which he as a Christian was willing to accommodate other cultures and languages. Already before his term as president, the Republic of the Free State was complimented as a model state. As a republican and a man with insight in the ways of the Afrikaner people, Steyn embraced the Free State as his homeland.

Palavras-chave : Laat U wil geskied" ("Uw wil geschiede …"); outstanding Afrikaner; confessing reformed Christian; first president born in the Republic of the Orange Free State; British imperialism; "Thy will be done …" ("Uw wil geschiede …").

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