The ''Cape Post'' (1879-1880) was a newspaper that briefly operated in the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...

Founding

It was founded in December 1879 by former ''

Cape Argus The ''Cape Argus'' is a daily newspaper co-founded in 1857 by Saul Solomon and published by Sekunjalo in Cape Town, South Africa. It is commonly referred to as ''The Argus''. Although not the first English-language newspaper in South Africa ...

'' editor

Patrick McLoughlin Patrick Allen McLoughlin, Baron McLoughlin, (born 30 November 1957) is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he first became the Member of Parliament (MP) for West Derbyshire following the 1986 by-election. The constituen ...

, as an outlet for his radical liberal opposition to

British imperialism The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

. Officially, the paper's purpose was to encourage spontaneous unity in southern Africa, to counter the Colonial office's scheme to impose a system of British-ruled confederation on the region. While McLoughlin served as business manager, he co-edited it with the controversial firebrand Francis Reginald Statham who had been invited to Cape Town especially for this purpose. Both men also did much of the writing. The offices were based in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

Political controversy

Although the paper received strong support from powerful local leaders like

Saul Solomon Saul Solomon (25 May 1817 – 16 October 1892) was an influential liberal politician of the Cape Colony, a British colony in what is now South Africa. Solomon was an important member of the movement for responsible government and an opponent o ...

John Molteno Sir John Charles Molteno (5 June 1814 – 1 September 1886) was a soldier, businessman, champion of responsible government and the first Prime Minister of the Cape Colony. Early life Born in London into a large Anglo-Italian family, Molten ...

, Charles Fairbridge and

John X. Merriman John Xavier Merriman (15 March 1841 – 1 August 1926) was the last prime minister of the Cape Colony before the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910. Early life He was born in Street, Somerset, England. His parents were Nathaniel Jame ...

, it was under strong imperial pressure, and went against the prevailing mood in much of the

. At the time, the inclusive Molteno Government had just been overthrown, and British control (in the form of a proposed "Confederation") was being solidified across southern Africa. Resulting wars were flaring up from the Transvaal (1st Boer War) and Transkei (9th Frontier War) to Zululand (

Anglo-Zulu War The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in 1879 between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Following the passing of the British North America Act of 1867 forming a federation in Canada, Lord Carnarvon thought that a similar political effort, coupl ...

). Public opinion had become strongly militant since these events, and the new publication came under sustained attack - legal and public. Controversy arose quickly during the notorious " Koegas affair" (1879–80). This concerned the murder of San people (Bushmen) by farmers, near the northern frontier. In the subsequent murder trial, the farmers were acquitted, and the resulting outrage focused on Attorney General

Thomas Upington Sir Thomas Upington KCMG (1844–1898), born in Cork, Ireland, was an administrator and politician of the Cape Colony. He was briefly Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, between 1884 and 1886, during a period of extreme turbulence in the Cape's h ...

. The ''

'' and ''Cape Post'' accused Upington of deliberately allowing the trial to take place in a racist and hostile town that would be expected to acquit the murderers, due to prejudice and local influence. The culmination of the outrage was a public campaign, led by the Cape Post editors among others, accusing Upington and his colleagues of allowing white juries to acquit white murderers from murdering blacks.

Closure

The paper quickly ran into financial difficulties and was forced to close in 1880. Its two editors dispersed; Statham leaving the country, and McLoughlin moving to Oudtschoorn in the Karoo where he shot himself soon afterwards.F. R. Statham, ''My life's record: A fight for justice''. Gibbings & co. 1901. p.69

References

{{Reflist Defunct newspapers published in South Africa Newspapers established in 1879 Publications disestablished in 1880 1879 establishments in the Cape Colony