Violence Variously Remembered: The Killing of Pieter Oberholzer in July, 1964

In mid-1964 the Smith regime in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) was moving towards a final ban on the African nationalist parties, ZAPU and ZANU. At the same time it was widely believed to be preparing for a Unilateral Declaration of Independence and the nationalist parties in their turn were trying to find ways to prevent this. Both chose to launch sabotage campaigns, so as to demonstrate African opposition. In late 1964 there was a wave of sabotage in Rhodesia’s eastern districts, and on 4 July 1964, a 45-year old foreman at the Silver Streams Wattle Factory, Pieter Johannes Andries Oberholzer, was stabbed to death by ‘the Crocodile Gang’. This article discusses the events surrounding the killing of Oberholzer as they are described in five main sources and shows that the events look very different from these varying perspectives. Notes, ref.