The South African Scout Association organizes the Scouting movement in South Africa, a country which has been associated with Scouting since Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the movement was inspired by the bravery of South Africans during the Siege of Mafeking in Northwest Province .

Organized Scouting, however, was born in Britain, spreading to South Africa in only a few months. In 1908, several troops formed in Cape Town, Natal and Johannesburg and the following year saw the first official registration of South African troops.

Scouting was originally segregated by race in South Africa, with black scouts known as Klipsringers (referring to a kind of small antelope). There eventually came to be seperate Scouting organizations for White, Black, Coloured and Indian Scouts. Soon, Afrikaner nationalism inspired the formation of the Voortrekkers, for many Afrikaners distrusted the English and any association involved with them.

In the 1970s, the Nordic countries tried to force the World Organization of the Scout Movement to expel the South African regiment for racial segregation. The seperate organizations then merged, and held multiracial gatherings for many years in violation of the South African law.

External link

• Official homepage