Nongqai Vol 17 No 10 – (30) Somerset East: The hunt for John Kepe
Somerset East: 𝗜𝗻 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻 𝗞𝗲𝗽𝗲
Tammy Southby
Excerpt
John Kepe, the elusive Boschberg outlaw, evaded police for decades until his dramatic capture and execution in 1952.
Abstract
This article recounts the life and legend of John Kepe, a mysterious figure who lived in a hidden cave on Boschberg Mountain, stealing from farms while simultaneously helping vulnerable locals. After years of evading police and becoming a folklore-like presence, Kepe’s fate was sealed when he murdered Dirk Goliath, leading to an intensified manhunt, his arrest by Sergeants Botha and Potgieter, and eventual execution in Pretoria in 1952.
Keywords
John Kepe, Boschberg, Somerset East, outlaw, cave, stock theft, Sergeant Chris Potgieter, Dirk Goliath, manhunt, Cradock trial, execution, folklore, Constable Mafukuzele, Sergeant J.P. Both, Tammy Southby
Tammy Southby
𝗜𝗻 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻 𝗞𝗲𝗽𝗲. This is the reason I climbed Boschberg. Not because I’m a hiker.
John Kepe
John Kepe was the elusive stranger who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. Sometimes.
For more than eleven years he evaded the law, but then on the afternoon of 14 December 1951, Kepe murdered Dirk Goliath.
Little is known about John Kepe’s early life, there are no records of family or education, according to him he was born in 1898.
In 1918, Kepe and his dog were walking on the slopes of the “Kwakhelelela” Boschberg Mountain, his dog ran off and Kepe scrambled after him. Here he discovered a hidden cave.
In 1921 Kepe was arrested by Sergeant Christian Potgieter for housebreaking and poaching in Graaff-Reinet. He was also arrested in 1927 and again by Sergeant Potgieter near Pearston in 1933. After his release from prison in 1940 Kepe disappeared.
He was headed back to the cave he had found more than 20 years earlier.
In the same year, Sergeant Potgieter was transferred to Somerset East after reports of a series of housebreakings and shop burglaries in town as well as the illegal slaughter of sheep on the Boschberg Mountain farms.
By the year 1950, local police were logging approximately one incident a week of stock theft and house burglaries in the area.
At the same time, Kepe would occasionally come into town to socialise at the community drinking hall and would even join search parties and go on the hunt for himself!!!
He was also known to local children, widows and the elderly, living along the foot of the Boschberg, often assisting them with their chores, sometimes he would leave packages of meat or supplies on their doorsteps.
However, no one made the connection between Kepe and the elusive thief.
At night, he would huddle around a little fire in the cave, undetected from the town below, sometimes he would climb onto the large rock above his cave and watch the twinkling lights of the homes below.
And then that fateful day in 1952. Goliath had been setting traps along the boundary fence of his master’s farm when he crossed paths with a man and after a chat, Goliath put two and two together.
The following day Mr. Erasmus of Charlton Farm reported that Goliath had been found dead.
This was the beginning of the end for Kepe as police searches intensified on the mountain with over 70 men scouting the mountain and surrounding area.
On the night of 25th February 1952, Sergeants J.P. Both and Christian Potgieter, as well as four constables, headed for the Boschberg once again. Sergeant Both and Constable Mafukuzele lay in wait at a salt shed on Grootfontein farm. They knew that the thief would come looking for salt which he needed for curing the stolen meat.
When Kepe saw Sergeant Botha, he lunged at him with his kierie. Sergeant Botha drew his firearm. Kepe surrendered.
Kepe asked the police to take him to his cave, threatening, “If you don’t go to the cave tonight, tomorrow I won’t show it to you. I just want to get my tobacco.”
In the cave, they found many of the stolen goods, including items stolen from Goliath’s hut and a 100 sheep skins.
After more than three decades, John Kepe once again came face to face with the man who had arrested him in 1921.
Kepe greeted Sergeant Potgieter,
“Goodnight, Sergeant. Do you remember me?”
On 19 March, Kepe’s trial began at the Circuit Court in Cradock where he was found guilty and sentenced to hanging.
Two months later, shortly before Kepe’s execution, he asked to see Sergeant Potgieter for a final time.
This was the last time Kepe met with anyone outside of the prison.
Potgieter never disclosed the details of that final meeting.
Kepe was hanged in Pretoria Central Prison on the morning of 25th June 1952.
A film called “Sew the Winter to My Skin”, based on the story of Kepe came out in 2018. It tells the story of Kepe as the “Samson of Boschberg”.
And now you know why I climbed the mountain.
Information supplied by KwaNojoli Museum
A huge thank you to I love Somerset East and the Walter Battiss Art Museum for inviting me to join you.
