It is some years since I read the book. I'll dig out my copy, but I'll accept what you say for the present discussion. My primary point is that no-one foresaw the guerilla war after the Republics were defeated, or the oath breaking and guerilla war by those who had surrendered, or Kitchener's then novel solution with all the misery it brought. It did not go as Rhodes would have wanted. As Rhodes contemplated his end, the evidence is that he sought to spend his wealth in a novel way which has been a benefit to the world at large and set an example for other accumulators of great wealth.  Most  historic "heroes" in popular culture do not bear close examination well - all are monsters to some (think Che Guevara, Lincoln, Churchill, Martin Luther King, Truman, Mao, Mzilikazi) - and mores change.  My aim in my original comment was just to point out that Rhodes paid for the university and had redeeming qualities - he was not a two dimensional bogey man.