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The Rand Club: Jameson Raid

The Rand Club’s history is as exclusionary as it is grand. For most of its existence, it was a bastion of white, male, British-aligned power. It was famously the “nerve center” for the Jameson Raid in 1895—a botched coup attempt against Paul Kruger’s South African Republic that served as a precursor to the devastating Second Boer War. For nearly 100 years, women were not allowed to be members, and black South Africans were permitted only as staff. The club’s refusal to modernize its membership policies led to a slow decline in the late 20th century as the “new” Johannesburg moved to Sandton. By the early 2010s, the club was facing bankruptcy, its grand halls gathering dust and its membership dwindling to a few hundred traditionalists.