VEREENIGING, PEACE OF

(May 31, 1902), treaty that ended the South African War (q.v.), or Boer War; it was signed in Pretoria, after initial Boer approval in Vereeniging, between representatives of the British and ex-republican Boer governments. It ended the independence of the South African Republic (i.e., Transvaal) and the Orange Free State, which came under British military administration. A general amnesty was declared, burghers were to be disarmed, and a commission was appointed with a grant of 3,000,000 to reconstruct the Transvaal. Clause VIII left the question of a voting franchise for nonwhites to be settled after the defeated Boers had been granted self-government. Thus, black Africans were left without the vote (except in the Cape Colony) when South Africa was unified in 1910.