Although what Jan was doing was Authoritarian, Boer culture was inherently democratic. They elected their leaders. But what if a leader wasn’t elected? Jan wasn’t elected as the founder of Port Mpande, but many sought to obtain an appointment as Commando of the port. Thus, there have been many calls for fresh elections amongst the Boer electorate, who sought to elect their Commando.
There were two ways Jan could have dealt with them. He could ignore their calls and suppress them or have to deal with the risk of someone destroying all his hard work. It was not hard for anyone to campaign against him after all. He wasn’t a true Boer, not someone who farms, not someone who sweats in the fields but someone who administrates in an office.
Many use that against him. Nor does he have an excellent résumé of military experience, completely dominating battlefields like Commando Potgieter and Pretorius. There was also rampant xenophobia against the increasing number of English people settling in his towns, as well as the elven migration from both the Xhosa and Zulu tribes. It was all to be expected. Like how people from developing and third world nations dream of migrating to first world nations, he cannot fault these people for doing the same to improve their standard of living.
Unfortunately, or rather, fortunately, with the immigration, a red-light district was demarcated as there were finally people willing to work in this district. And when the district first opened, the Home Affairs bureau had to step up many patrols due to the influx of gentlemen flooding into the district.
“Look at all these pent-up gentlemen,” Jan remarked, snorting at the same time.
“We’ll have our hands full for the first few days until the excitement dies down,” Veldkornet Janneke complained.
And like every new attraction that hit the town, the excitement waned over the next few days until it was a simple district that looked normal in the daytime. But at night, well, no children are allowed!
All of this was to be expected. He was destroying the Boers' old ways of life and shuffling them into the urban centres whether they wanted or not. Some of them were not happy, and naturally disliked his prioritization of the urban citizens. They’re not wrong, but as someone who lived in a city all his life, it was hard for him to relate to the farmer’s concerns when the future was urbanization. With the crappy yields in Boer fields compared to Zulu agriculture, he was hard-pressed to find any real benefits of having Boers work in the fields. Like how they have been priced out of the staple foods market such as grain and maize thanks to cheap Zulu crops, making them angry for destroying their way of life.
He supposed destroying hundreds of years of traditions would bring such unrest. But he came from a world where hundreds of years of traditions were destroyed in fifty years, where the third-world country became a first-world one. The elderly, stuck in their ways were now unable to communicate with the Westernized youths who only knew how to speak English, but could barely speak a lick of their mother tongues. Many of them were illiterate, uneducated workers, and were now lost, in the Westernized country. Their children climbed the ladder from the lower classes and were able to reach the middle classes, while the best of the best went all the way to join the elites in the upper classes.
Change is not peaceful. It is violent. And the old Prime Minister of such a nation would have not been able to carry out his reforms without stepping on some toes. Trade Unions and Socialists campaigned against the Prime Minister’s capitalist vision, but it won out, leading to the business city of Singapore.
This was the future he ought to implement. And he must admit, he had been copying the rulebook well. He had even become authoritarian to push it through. So, he wondered, if he should just fully accept authoritarianism and crush these Boers.
He gathered a meeting of his Veldkornets and sought their advice.
“Honestly…” Pietje sipped the imported tea from India. Luxuries like these were now possible due to the wealth brought in from trade and gold.
“You won’t lose. Those maaifoedie who campaign against you are sore losers. Everyone agrees that the town is extremely prosperous compared to the other towns run by other Commandoes in Natal. I would say living here is better than in Pietermaritzburg. At least I won’t accidentally step in shit.”
“And since you gave us political power. Those traditionalists would naturally seek to take it away. You have our full support,” Janneke grinned.
“Worst case scenario, even if you lost. We’ll make sure the new Commando won’t destroy everything,” Russell smirked.
“You’re English you know. If a new Commando takes over, he’ll likely deport you, so what can you do?” Jan questioned the Head of Administration of Port Mpande who sheepishly looked away.
“I didn’t want to do this. But worst-case scenario, if I do as the people wish, and hold elections for the town’s Commando, and lose. I think I will be done with pretending to be democratic. We’ll be establishing a Junta. The Boer Military Junta.”
“What’s a junta? I don’t think you should do anything like that. I was elected. My wife was elected. The only ones not elected were you two,” Pietje looked towards Jan and Russell.
“It is a form of government where instead of being democratically elected, a committee seizes power and runs the towns. In this case, the Commando-General seizes power and runs the town with their Veldkornets, who are vital to the daily operations.”
“I agree with Pietje on this, such talk should wait until elections are held. Then we can talk about your Junta or whatsoever, it depends on who you’re running against.”
“If they plan to roll back every reform? Then, will you be in?”
The elected Veldkornets took some time to ponder, whilst Russell nodded in support. Naturally, they were in the same boat. Russell was the face of the English immigrant population, a model Englishman able to fit into Boer society. And like he, they wasn’t elected to their roles, they were appointed. In Jan’s case, self-appointed.
“Depends on what they try to do. But there are some things I don’t want a rollback on. Like how food cheap has got. If they block the Zulus from trading with us, I’m in,” Pietje explained, Janneke nodded her head along with Pietje.
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Therefore, the first plans of the Boer Military Junta were hashed out in the event of the failure of democracy in reinforcing Jan’s status as a Commando. If the newly elected Commando sought to destroy everything, then they’ll have to deal with a coup from his fellow Veldkornets, who will reinstall Jan back into power.
These four, the Commando and his three Veldkornets made up the Junta or the Deep State of the town. Any reform that the new Commando wanted to pass had to go through their approval. Veldkornets were instrumental in the execution of a Commando’s policy, and if they didn’t agree with it, they won’t follow it at all.
That was for the worst-case scenario. Jan was going to play his old tricks again, and that involved rigging the elections of both Russel’s position of Veldkornet and his position of Commando. What was it that some of the richest men during the Gilded Age of America did? If you did vote for a certain political candidate, especially the evil Teddy Roosevelt, and they won, don’t bother coming to work.
Who owned much of the industries in the town? Him. They were State-Owned after all, and technically, the shares of ownership went under his name. So even if he was evicted, he still could sit back and earn the profits of his labour as a fellow capitalist. He wrote up a proclamation saying, if he and his Veldkornet Russell won the next election, every man and woman working in his industries would get a pay jump between the range of 1 pence and 1 pound sterling each. Naturally, only a small minority of top workers would get the pound sterling pay rise, but the rest should be satisfied with the 1 pence.
It was time to fashion himself as some sort of Henry Ford and pay his workers well. That money would only be recirculated back into the economy. And since he ran the economy, it also benefitted him as well. Ahh, the wonders of State Capitalism.
Anyway, with that proclamation written up, he was going to get a guaranteed win. He could probably sit back and head to the red-light district to enjoy some sexy times, but such a scandal would be bad this close to the next election.
The Boers who were most affected by his prioritization of urban centres, mostly traditionalist subsistence farmers complained, stating that it was unfair and that he was rigging the election. He responded by saying it was a bonus, as well as sending them a list of the relatively eye-watering salaries his workers had compared to their subsistence farming with their crappy yields. It shut them up quickly, and he received a torrent of applications from these men who lodged complaints days prior. To appease them, he sent them all rejection letters while only accepting those who seemed qualified.
His fellow Veldkornets were planning the next election, and while they were displeased with his unscrupulous tactics as they wanted to hold elections fairly, they still carried on with their duties. So, while Pietje and Janneke both lodged complaints with him, they only did it as a show to show that they disagreed with it on principle, but they never did anything to hinder it.
And the workers? Well, he was not penalizing them for not voting for him. Their wages would stay stagnant, but it was their fault for not voting for him.
And finally, was the issue of voter enfranchisement. It was time to fully accept the immigrant elf population as proper citizens of the town. That means no half-assing it like with the Zulu. Every citizen is expected to have documentation pertaining that they have the right to vote. What are the requirements for citizenship? An address in the town. No need to be as formal as modern countries did. He needed labourers to fuel industrialization, he would need every man he could get into the factories. As long as one lived in the Boer district of town, they are a citizen.
They must also accept their Commando as the leader, instead of looking towards their tribal leaders for leadership. To put it in elven terms, he must accept the Commando as their new Chief. That is all. That means no tribal politics or whatnot, everyone is equal under the eyes of the law, and no one can be above it. Except for him, and some exceptions that would be beneficial to him. Of course, if the position of Commando was to be handed over to someone else, he would have removed those exceptions, and have that Commando be watched under the wary eyes of the law to ensure the town runs smoothly.
Since most of the elves still recognised their chief’s authority, very few of them would be eligible for the vote. This is evidenced in their letters which are paired with a letter from their chief indicating their support for whatever the elf was demanding. That also meant they were eligible for conscription, and they would take part in Boer Military Operations as fellow soldiers instead of contracted auxiliaries.
There were few takers, leaving only a mostly white demographic with a few chocolate chips mixed in. Though, he had every reason to be suspicious of those chocolate chips, so he ordered an investigation into the reason why the elves chose to take up Boer citizenship.
Through both open questioning and underground surveillance, most of them belonged to tribes that were long gone. Either it had been destroyed via war or it had been disbanded. With no place to belong, they naturally gathered here and sought to integrate into his society, which provided many benefits if one laboured. He had every reason to suspect that some of them were Xhosa and Zulu moles, but instead of going to extreme lengths such as throwing them into concentration camps, he decided to leave them alone. There was nothing to hide, and he had no intentions or desire of claiming their land. Why fight over it when you can buy it?
It would be easy to sniff out the moles given time. Any moles must accept that to become the perfect mole, they must act as a Boer. Once they're done with their mission and head back to their tribes, they will realize they won’t be able to fit in. Then where will they go? They’ll come back and work for him. Those who half-ass it will be caught, and some diplomatic incidents will be sparked. Stubborn Elfrican Chiefs will have every reason to claim they have no part in it even if their moles already fessed up. That meant more concessions to be given to him.
For if one already resorted to espionage, one must either directly or indirectly admit, they could not defeat their opponent head-on. He already won, so he ought to see it as a victory, instead of a defeat.
It was polling day. And like all previous referendums, it was voluntary. Jan thinks he could force compulsory voting due to the authority he had consolidated, but there was no point. Their population was between a few hundred to a thousand. It was hard to tell with his citizens working as merchants leaving and entering the city from time to time.
Special Polling discounts were given out by various shopkeepers in support of the initiative. But as the young man walked around town, only a few recognised him. It was understandable, he was never one to make rallies or speeches unlike his opponents, he was someone who works in the office to plan his victory.
His opponent was a coalition of traditionalists, subsistence farmers and the devout who fully supported his opponent. It made sense, for his reforms specifically disempowered these two factions. His industrialization hit the subsistence of the farmers the hardest. And limited free trade with the Zulu made farming to be perceived as a poor career choice. So, it seems he reinforced what developed countries thought of farming. Interesting.
Russell’s opponent was a xenophobic protectionist who sought to have their wealth in the urban centres be distributed solely amongst Boers. Free Trade, he argued, weakened their local industries, and gave the elves too many powers over the local town. And it is not as if he could blame the man’s stance.
Imagine if your superior is a foreigner. But you and your fellow Boers are only subordinate to him. It is widely known that your company prioritizes the promotion of foreigners and that locals are only hired so that the local government is pleased due to the restriction on the hiring of foreigners. That is, for example, for every local hired, a company can hire a foreign worker that works for less pay and is supposedly harder than a local. Wouldn’t you feel resentful?
Naturally, with no such checks made, many companies are heterogeneous. Aka, only Boers are hired in the company. Or only Zulus are hired. Or even some who only hire cheap immigrants, displacing many of their Boer workers.
Immigration is deeply unpopular, but it drives the economic engine, at the expense of the locals. Locals would be forced to upskill and be talented in ways that foreigners cannot compete in a globalized world. And for these magicless Boers, they could seethe and grind their teeth and the elves being imported on masse. They had to go back to school and learn Chemistry and Physics.
Good for the company, but bad for workers.
Jan would have to admit, looks like Russell have some tough competition to deal with.
Election results were out.
Jan won by a landslide 95% of the vote, whilst Russell won with 60% of the vote.
Jan frowned upon seeing the pathetic vote share earned by Veldkornet. The man was dancing in joy for winning, but without his schemes, would he even win in the first place?