Drifts Crisis The Drifts Crisis of 1895 was an imperial - republican confrontation in South Africa that took place in September and October 1895 . The Crisis has traditionally been seen as the precursor to the Jameson Raid and the uncompromising policies of High Commissioner for Southern Africa Alfred Milner which followed , and eventually led to the Second Anglo - Boer War ( 9 October 1899 – 31 May 1902 ) . Historians generally regard the conflicts to have been between the Cape Colony and the South African Republic ( SAR ) , informally known as the Transvaal Republic . Escalation . In late 19th century South Africa , the landlocked Transvaal was forced to rely on British colonial railways and ports . Therefore , Transvaal awarded the construction of a railway to the Netherlands - South African Railway Company ( NZASM ) , however by mid - 1891 , the NZASM was on the verge of bankruptcy . When a European bond flotation became impossible , Cape Colony Prime Minister Cecil Rhodes offered a loan to Transvaal President Paul Kruger in exchange for building the Cape Line . Once the Cape Colony had finished building a railway line to Johannesburg , it attempted to get as much of the railway traffic of the Transvaal as possible by reducing its rates , as it was aware that the Delagoa Bay line at the Transvaal was almost complete . The Transvaal government increased the rates on the part of the railway that ran through the Transvaal , once it had crossed the Vaal River . In answer to this , goods were taken to the Vaal River by train and then taken further by wagon to avoid paying the higher prices in the Transvaal . Kruger reacted by blocking access to the Transvaal , closing the drifts on the Transvaal side . The Drifts Crisis . The Cape Colony attempted to get around this by unloading goods at the border and hauling them by wagon the or so to Johannesburg . There was no road bridge over the Vaal River which constituted the border ; wagons had to make their way across by crossing fords , which in South Africa were known as ‘ drifts ’ . The SAR responded by closing the drifts to all goods traffic . There was a great deal of anger toward this protectionism and exclusion , not only in the Cape Colony but also in the Orange Free State and among Afrikaners . The Afrikaner Bond supported the strong stand by the Rhodes government , urging action , even war , if the drifts were not reopened . Eventually , the SAR did relent , and the crisis passed . However , there were lingering clashes of interests . Afrikaners outside the SAR wanted access to the markets of the Rand and to share in the wealth being generated by the gold mining ; the SAR government wanted to preserve markets for its own farmers , build up manufacturing to help employ its landless white burghers , and make itself as free as possible from influence by the British . Jameson Raid . The British government demanded that Kruger open the drifts and used the situation to involve itself directly in Transvaal affairs . Infuriated , Rhodes planned an uprising of Uitlander s in Johannesburg . The uprising was timed to coincide with an invasion of the Transvaal from Bechuanaland ( present - day Botswana ) , led by Dr Leander Starr Jameson . Rhodes wanted to take over the government of the Transvaal and turn it into a British colony that would join all the other colonies in a federation . The Jameson Raid , which began on on 29 December 1895 , was a total failure . Jameson ’ s force was tracked from the moment that it crossed the border and first encountered resistance very early on 1 January when there was a very brief exchange of fire with a Boer outpost . Jameson eventually surrendered to Commandant Piet Cronjé , and the raiders were taken to a Pretoria jail . Aftermath . Rhodes was forced to resign as the prime minister of the Cape Colony , and the political problems between Afrikaans - and English - speaking colonists became worse than ever . The Orange Free State co - operated more closely with the Transvaal . Transvaal residents felt that they were being threatened and the Uitlander s were treated with more suspicion than ever before . Eventually this growing resentment accentuated itself into the Second Boer War .