The Man Who Wanted Out

He had not come to found a country. The VOC wanted a small, defensible refreshment station where passing ships could collect fresh water, meat and vegetables before continuing to Asia. The coast was already inhabited and travelled by Khoikhoi communities, who grazed cattle across the land and traded with passing ships. To the Company, however, the Cape was not a homeland. It was a problem of supply. Van Riebeeck arrived with a problem of his own. His career had been damaged after he was caught trading for private gain. The Cape offered him a chance to repair his standing, but he did not intend to remain. His goal was simple: make the station succeed, prove his usefulness and earn a better appointment elsewhere.

At first, little went as planned. Crops failed. Labour was scarce. Ships demanded supplies the station could not always provide. Relations with the Khoikhoi grew increasingly strained over cattle, grazing and access to land. Van Riebeeck responded as an administrator. He recorded shortages, issued orders and wrote repeatedly to his superiors, asking for advancement. Yet every solution made the settlement more permanent. More land was cultivated. Fortifications were strengthened. Boundaries were marked. A hedge was planted to separate Company territory from the grazing routes beyond it. The outpost began to take root.

In 1657, nine Company servants were released from their contracts and granted farms along the Liesbeek River. They became free burghers, expected to grow food and sell it back to the VOC. To Van Riebeeck, it was a practical answer to the station’s shortages. But the decision changed the Cape. Employees became settlers. Company need became private land. A temporary supply post began to behave like a colony. The farms expanded. Claims to land hardened. Conflict followed. In May 1662, Van Riebeeck finally received permission to leave. The station was functioning, his reputation had been repaired, and his career could continue in Asia. He departed. The settlement did not. It remained with its farms, boundaries and the dispossession set in motion by its permanence. Later generations remade the story. A bronze statue was raised to Van Riebeeck, and he was celebrated as the father of a nation. The reluctant Company official became a visionary founder. A commercial assignment became a national beginning.

Jan van Riebeeck had spent years trying to leave the Cape. History made certain that his name never did.