Editing Basters (section)

===South African mandate rule (1915–1966)===
South Africa defeated the Germans, concluding the [[Peace of Khorab]] on 9 July 1915. It formally took over administration of South-West Africa and established martial law. Colonel H. Mentz advised the Baster leaders to avoid all confrontation with the Germans, in an effort to defuse tensions, and to report livestock losses or other problems to his administration at [[Windhoek]]. He also said that South African patrols would regularly be sent to the Rehoboth area to keep the peace.<ref name="oosthuizen"/>

After the conclusion of the Great War, Basters applied to have their native land become a [[British Protectorate]] like [[Basutoland]], but were turned down by South Africa. All special rights as granted to Basters by the Germans were revoked under the South African mandate to govern South-West Africa.<ref name=padlangs/> South Africa conducted regular censuses of the Basters from 1921 to 1991; the records reflect their ideas about racial classifications.<ref name="lang"/>

Some Basters continued to push for the legitimacy of the 'Free Republic of Rehoboth.' Claiming that the republic had been recognised by the [[League of Nations]], they said international law supported their desire for [[self-determination]], which the League used as a principle in the organisation of new nations after the [[World War I|Great War]]. They asserted that the Republic should have the status of a [[sovereignty|sovereign nation]]. In 1952, Basters presented a petition to the [[United Nations]] (the successor to the League of Nations) to this effect, with no result. But they had some practical autonomy under South Africa.

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During this period, some Baster leaders founded new political parties and were active in various movements in South-West Africa, also known as Namibia. By the early 1960s, they were among the first to petition the United Nations for international intervention to end the South African control of Namibia.<ref name="sparks">[https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1983/01/18/namibias-bastards-insist-on-that-term/f2e54cbd-fa9a-40d5-91b2-cf2e66d80be0/ Allister Sparks, "Namibia's 'Bastards' Insist on That Term"], ''The Washington Post'', 18 January 1983, accessed 10 April 2016</ref> The [[Owambo people|Owambo]] and other indigenous peoples also agitated for an end to South African colonialism, especially as that state had established [[apartheid]] with severe legal racial discrimination against the African peoples.
 
South Africa passed the 'Rehoboth Self-government Act' of 1976, providing a kind of autonomy for the Basters. They settled for a semi-autonomous [[Basterland|Baster Homeland]] (known as ''Baster Gebiet'') based around Rehoboth, similar in status to the South African [[bantustan]]s.

This was established in 1976, and an election was held for Kaptein. In 1979, [[Johannes "Hans" Diergaardt]] won a court challenge to the disputed election, in which incumbent [[Ben Africa]] had placed first. Diergaardt was installed as the 5th Kaptein of the Basters in accordance with the regulations of the 1976 Rehoboth Self-Determination Act and the Basters' Paternal Laws.

In 1981, South West Africa had a population of one million, divided into more than a dozen ethnic and tribal groups, and 39 political parties. With not more than 35,000 people at the time, Basters had become one of the smaller minority groups in the country of over one million.<ref name="nyt"/>

In the 1980s, Basters still controlled about 1.4 million [[hectares]] of farmland in this territory. In earlier times, requirements for farms were thought to be about 7,000 ha, but Basters claimed they could also survive with farms of 4,000 ha. Nonetheless, even by the 1930s they were having to find alternative forms of employment to support their population. In 1981, the Baster population was estimated to at about 25,181 by Hartmut Lang, according to his 1998 article on the Baster group. Requirements for viable farms suggest that Namibia could not achieve self-sufficiency for its expanding population through farming; land redistribution could not yield enough area for viable farms.<ref name="lang"/>