 The Cape Colony had refused to pay the high rates charged by the Transvaal government for use of the Transvaal portion of the railway line to Johannesburg, instead opting to send its goods by wagon train directly across the Vaal River, over a set of fords (known as 'drifts' in South Africa).Transvaal president Paul Kruger responded by closing the drifts, angering the Cape Colony government.While Transvaal eventually relented, relations between the nation and Cape Colony remained strained.