James Sivewright

Sir James Sivewright K.C.M.G. (1848–1916) was a businessman and politician of the Cape Colony, South Africa. He was a strong political ally of Cecil Rhodes and, as his cabinet minister, was implicated in the "Logan" corruption scandal that led to the fall of the first Rhodes government.

James Sivewright was born in Fochabers, Scotland. Graduating from the University of Aberdeen he entered the British Postal Service and co-authored the Textbook in Telegraphy, a book that became a standard text book on the topic for a considerable time.

He emigrated to the Cape Colony in 1877 as a telegraphy expert. The Cape had recently wrested a degree of independence from Britain under the "Responsible Government" system, and its first Prime Minister John Molteno was embarking on a massive expansion in the country's infrastructure. Sivewright was one of the telegraphy experts which the Cape government imported to develop a telecommunications system for the country. From 1877 Sivewright helped to plan and construct the telegraphy networks for the Cape Colony, and then, up until 1881 likewise for the Transvaal, the Natal Colony and the Orange Free State.

In 1887 Sivewright became involved in politics, after he joined the Afrikaner Bond in Cape Town, and he was elected as the Bond representative of Griqualand East in 1888.

Subsequently, he became immensely influential as an agent of the rising Imperialist politician Cecil Rhodes, within the Afrikaner Bond. He went on to act as an intermediate between Rhodes, and the Bond leader "Onze Jan" Hofmeyr. As Rhodes's right-hand man, he secured the Bond's support for Rhodes to take power in 1890 and become Prime Minister of the Cape.

Throughout his career, Sivewright habitually mixed business and politics. In 1891 he secured an agreement for the Cape Government Railways, that gave them a 2-year monopoly on traffic to and from the new goldfields of the Transvaal. As a reward, Sivewright received a knighthood.

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