Freemasonry playing a surprisingly central role in the colonial project

Imagine a web spun across centuries and continents. A web of shared ideology, common purpose, and influential connections. This is the story of how power, far from being just about armies and laws, has been shaped and maintained through networks, with Freemasonry playing a surprisingly central role in the colonial project, from Europe to the tip of Africa.

Let’s get into it.

The European Roots: A Network is Born

This history begins not in the dusty plains of South Africa, but in the bustling cities of 17th and 18th-century Europe. Here, guilds of abantu stonemasons, responsible for building the continent’s cathedrals and castles, began to evolve. They would be identified as Moors at the time. Once they were done with their physical craft, their lodges transformed into learning centres, where the knowledge of our ancestry was to be unpacked and innerstood. Once the natives were overthrown, the lodges were now occupied by the ones who had planned to take over the earth and place it under a system of pressure and control, using the very sciences that the natives taught them. They started admitting “accepted” members—men not of the trade or birthright, but of intellect, influence, and wealth.

These new Freemasons were drawn to the lodges’ promises of moral instruction, self-improvement, and fraternity as the elite who rule the earth today. But beyond the rituals, these lodges offered something immensely practical for them: an ancient network that connected them to all the corners of the earth through the already established structures from the native abantu. It provided a discreet, trusted, and hierarchical system for connected white men to meet in secret, share ideas, and advance each other’s interests of ruling the earth and subjecting the native inhabitants to a system of pressure. Initially, the lodges provided enlightenment ideals of reason, liberty (for some), and progress were often discussed and disseminated within these lodges. These were the same ideals that would later, paradoxically, be used to justify the “civilising mission” of colonialism.

The Colonial Frontier: Transplanting the Network

As European powers began their aggressive expansion across the globe, these Masonic networks moved with them and often moved before them as missionaries spreading the “good word.” When Britain, Portugal, the Netherlands, and later Germany carved up the world, they didn’t just send soldiers and administrators; they sent members of their lodges, commonly known as Freemasons.

The Cape Colony, strategically vital on the route to India, became a key outpost for these networks. The Lodge de Goede Hoop, founded in 1772 under the Dutch Constitution, became the bedrock institution for the established Afrikaner elite. It provided continuity and a shared identity for those who saw themselves as the inheritors of Dutch colonial legacy.

But with the British takeovers of the Cape, a new, rival Masonic system arrived: the English Constitution lodges, such as the Royal Alfred Lodge. These became the exclusive domain of the British imperial agents—Preachers, governors, military officers, and ambitious businessmen, and eventually chiefs, matriarchs and traditional leaders of the abantu later joined.

This is where the power dynamic becomes clear:

Ideology was solidified: Within the lodges, the “white man’s burden” and the justification for exploiting resources and indigenous labour(the resources as energy) were subtly reinforced among those who would implement these policies.
The “Principal” (European Crowns/Imperial Power) found loyal “Agents” (Colonial Administrators) through these networks. Membership provided a common bond, ensuring loyalty and adherence to imperial objectives.

The South African Players: Weaving the Web of Control

Fast forward to the late 19th century in South Africa, and we see these networks at full strength. Consider our key players:

• Sir Henry Brougham Loch, the British Governor of the Cape, wasn’t just a political leader; he was the District Grand Master of the English Constitution lodges. He was simultaneously the highest imperial authority and the head of a powerful, secretive brotherhood. This fusion of roles exemplifies the deep intertwining of state power and Masonic influence.
• Cecil John Rhodes, Prime Minister of the Cape and architect of land dispossession, was a highly active Freemason. His membership in prominent English lodges, originating from his time at Oxford, provided him with an immediate, trusted circle of influence that extended from the Cape parliament to the highest echelons of British society. His ambition to carve out a new empire (“from Cape to Cairo”) was undoubtedly fostered and facilitated within these fraternal bonds. The Masonic ideal of “brotherly love” did not, in practice, extend to the Black Africans whose land and labor he so ruthlessly exploited.

These men, operating under the “color of law,” crafted legislation like the Glen Grey Act (1894), the Franchise and Ballot Act (1892), and oversaw annexations like Zululand (1897). These weren’t just laws passed in parliament; they were policies shaped, refined, and often informally agreed upon within the discreet confines of the lodge, among men who shared a common vision for the future of the colony.

As we all know there are many other players we cannot name in the article, the seeker shall find through further personal study.

Today, while the specific influence of Masonic lodges is not fully known by the masses, the lesson remains profound: power is not just about the laws on the books or the officials in office. It’s about the hidden connections, the shared understandings, and the deep-seated networks that have always underpinned, and continue to underpin, the exercise of authority in the current times we live in as abantu of the land.