Cecil Rhodes: From Bread-and-Butter Question to Precursor of Racial Colonialism and Apartheid in South Africa

Abstract

This study is an exposition of how Cecil John Rhodes, a British investor, colonial statesman and administrator advanced from his thesis of ‘bread butter question’ to become a pillar of colonial adventurism in South Africa. The Study adopts historical method and depends solely on secondary sources of data which include scholarly textbooks, journal articles, official reports, workshop papers as well as internet sources. The finding is presented qualitatively and analyzed using content analysis technique. The study argues that the racial inclination of Rhodes was a major push factor for transiting from his initial ‘bread and butter’ justification for British colonial imperialism to the conception that the British being a superior race have the mandate to subordinate and civilize the Black African race. It was this same racial superiority complex that prompted Rhodes to see in Africa, as an inferior race to conquer and subordinate prompting him to unleash one of the most brutal violent colonial campaigns of subjugation of South Africa which was funded with the wealth from his large gold mines and firms in South Africa. The study further revealed that Rhodes in connivance with the British government colonized South Africa and substantial part of Southern Africa economically, socially and politically while laying a strong foundation upon which the apartheid regime thrived.