Afgespeeld
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This is episode 213, and Sir George Grey, the Cape Governor was peering intensely at the Boer Republics to the north.
The Free Staters under Boshof had failed in their mission to drive Moshoeshoe out of the disputed territory south of the Caledon River and many of the burghers changed their tune when it came to possible amalgamation with the Transvaal. They were now considering this a viable option.
Marthinus Pretorius had made good progress north of the Vaal, despite the boers of Lydenburg opposing his overtures for a single large and powerful Boer state. The fragmentary nature of the Voortrekker’s states was hard to overcome. But it was heartening for those Boers who wanted unification to hear that the Zoutpansbergers were prepared to listen to arguments for cohesion.
One of the most strident and convincing voices that emerged was that of Paul Kruger. He was acting on behalf of Pretorius and the Zoutpansbergers accepted the Grondwet of the Transvaal, the constitution, which the Rustenburgers had adopted.
The northern republics were moving towards some sort of union, by 1858 the tiny Boer Republic of Utrecht in northern Natal had thrown in their lot with tye Lydenburgers. Grey regarded these moves as ominous. The British empire had experienced a serious jolt when the Indian Mutiny broke out in 1857, and now he’d heard the reports of the Boer expedition to Moshoeshoe’s Thaba Bosiu which had ended in defeat. He’d have to send reinforcements to India, and deal with instability on the frontier at the same time.
The Bathlaping people had also taken advantage of the Boer assault on the south eastern edge of the free State into Basotho territory by doing some invading of their own - into the Free State from the West. The San and Korana had also broken loose and Boshof’s commandos were going to be very busy as they rode around the Free State, trying to subdue these raiders.
The Boers had recognized that beneath the monarchial authority and prestige of Moshoeshoe lay a weakness in the political structure - chiefs were patriarchs in their own domain and bound to this hiearchy primarily as the guarantor of their local status.
But that status was tied directly to access to land and the acquisition of wealth through cattle or other livestock. One of the strategic shifts in the Volksraad was to reach Moshoeshoe’s political supporters by offering them autonomous territories. These black statelets would then be part of a broader Boer state, supposedly free from settler and other Basotho raids and harassment.
The mark of this land use was through a collective, a group living on the land in a specific geographic space who provided territorial power for any chief agreeing to join the Boers. AS you’re going to hear in future episodes — Moshoeshoe’s second son Molapo would seek an independent state aligned with the Boers. Mopeli Mokachane, Moshoeshoe’s half-brother, was another enticed away from the Basotho polity by the late 1860s.
By late May 1858, the Transvaal sent a commando to assist the Free State in dealing with these raiders, defeating the Bathlaping and imposing crushing reparations on the people for having sheltered some of these rebels. The defeat by the Basotho, however, proved to most Free Staters that they could not survive alone, and they turned on their president, Boshof.
He’d written to Sir George Grey and asked for help in dealing with the Basotho king, an act which stuck in most burgher’s craws — asking the very people who’d indirectly driven them out of the Cape for help. It was a stunning act of weakness they thought.
Grey concluded once and for all that the division of the white South African communities into seperate polities had destroyed their capacity to deal with African chiefs. But he opposed the idea of Boer states leading this unification.
Even more alarming was the news that the two main Boer Republics might unite. In his eyes, this would threaten the stability still further. -
Episode 212 it is - we’re cruising into 1858 but wait!
The sounds of gunfire!
Yes, it’s that old South African tune, war, set to the music of the guns.
Our society is steeped in action, movement, confrontation. This is not a place for the insipid, the weak, the fearful.
Whatever our belief system or our personal politics, what cannot be disputed is that the country and our ways are those of the warrior. This is an uncomfortable truth for metropolitans who are more used to single latte’s than sling shots.
Globally, 1858 is full of momentous events and incidents. It was the year in which Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace present their papers on evolution by natural selection in London. In India, a peace treaty ends the Indian Rebellion and later in the year the British parliament passes the Government of India Act. This transfers the territories of the British East India Company and their administration to the Direct Rule of the British Crown.
The great stink in London led parliament to a bill to create modern sewerage system after the dreadful odours wafting about the British capital during the summer.
Another young girl dreams up appiritions in the mode of Nongqawuse who dreamed up the cattle Killings - this time its Bernadette Soubirous who claims she saw several appritions appeared before her in the southern French town of Lourdes. Without going into too many gory details, around Ash Wednesday a woman appeared before her inside a grotto and after three appearances over time, began to talk. By October, the government had shut down the grotto there were so many people pitching up to take part in what was called a miracle.
A miracle only she could see. Strange how these stories in this period repeated themselves.
Back in Africa, David Livingstones six-year long second Zambezi expedition arrived on the Indian Ocean coast.
Which is an important moment because inland, the tension between the Boers of the Free State and King Moshoeshoe of Basutoland had been exacerbated.
A drought was reported in the region in 1858 which exacerbated everything.
The Volksraad met in February 1858. They were faced with a request for help to deal with Posholi signed by a field-cornet and sixty five other burghers in the disputed area.Later in February 1858 Smithfield Landdrost Jacobus Sauer sent more news from the badlands - Posholi was, in his words, parading through Smithfield district with warriors and when accosted, said he was on a hunting expedition.
When the Commando eventually gathered, there were one thousand armed and mounted Boers. Which was exactly ten percent the size of the Basotho force of ten thousand, all mounted with at least five hundred firearms.
Back at the Thaba Bosiu ranch, Moshoeshoe was a sea of calm. It was now war and the king along with the territorial chiefs and councillors, put their plans into motion. They’d faced this kind of attack before, the British had raided them in 1852 if you recall. That had ended in disaster for the empire, so Moshoeshoe was not rattled by the latest assault on his independence. -
Episode 211 - the year is 1857 heading into 1858. Lots the talk about!
The original frontier republics and wildlands were being transformed - turning into governed territtories. In 1856 Natal was created a Crown Colony by Royal Charter, Legislation there was entrusted to a council of four officials and 12 members elected every four years by ballot.
By the way, this was not only a first for South Africa, but for Great Britain itself. An experiment in election power, although the Crown retained considerable powers of veto. A civil list of those who could vote was more than modest, although the low franchise meant most were eligible to vote.
Most English and Dutch, that is.
What really angered the elected members was that five thousand pounds for administration was earmarked by the Crown for the benefit of black Natalians. Still, the New and unique Natal Legislative Council sat for the first time in March 1857 and its first job was to authorise the new Crown colonies stamps.
By 1857 there were eight, three colonial and five republican, that is of the Cape Colony, British Kaffraria and Natal, on the other hand, the Orange Free State, Utrecht Republiek, Lydenburg, the Zoutpansberg and Pretorius’ South African Republic.
This was what really clever historians call Balkanisation. Little entrepots, squabbling states, spread out across the southern African landscape, sometimes working together, often competing.
Natal was a kind of detached district of the Cape until it was declared a Crown Colony, an inconvenient way to run a territory. IN Natal, most of the Boers had gone, except for the northern parts.
IN their place came other Europeans, like the Germans. A few had taken to market gardening around Durban, while Joseph Byrne and other speculators had launched various schemes for British Immigrants. As you know by now if you’ve listened to the series, quite of few of the new arrivals left almost immediately. Living in Natal is not for the squeamish, even today. Still, the villages of Pinetown, Verulam and Richmond owe their existence to these English immigrants, and so too those of Ladysmith.
By 1857 there were only 8000 whites in Natal, 150 000 blacks and what they lacked in size, they made up for by being vigorous, a plethora of religious sects existed, each had its own education system, associations sprang up, and the Natal Bank opens its doors. Soon there were six newspapers in Natal including the Witness in Pietermaritzburg and the Mercury in Durban.
There was almost zero industry — and both coffee and cotton had failed. The first sugar cane was imported from Mauritius and seemed to offer more, but the problem was labour. But for many years hence, the main export from Natal was ivory. And as we know, they were being shot out of existence at break kneck speed.
If we glance at Southern Africa as a whole in 1857 we would notice that government had become more elaborate and less subordinated to the Cape Authorities. Local Justice was in the hands of local magistrates. Lieutenant Governors changed with bewildering rapidity, but their powers were growing as these little states began to emerge, blinking like undersized infants, into the African sunshine.
Federation instead of Balkanisation was in the air at least in the mind of Cape Governor Sir George Grey. The boers were of course not thinking of anything of the sort, let alone Federation.
After the wars, the settlers in the Cape were dead set against reserves, the Theopolus Shepstone plan, these drained off labour, and said the nervous English immigrants, it was dangerous to mass blacks in the heart of the Colony.
The effect of the Battle of Ndondokusuka didn’t help Shepstone. Thousands of amaZulu refugees of the Civil War across the Thukela led to Natal’s Immigrant rules. Further inland, the policy of the Republiks was even more blunt. -
Trevor, Grammy Executive Producer Ben Winston, and Trevor’s good friend Sizwe Dhlomo take us deep behind the scenes of music’s biggest night. The trio discusses the decision to hold the event against the backdrop of the L.A. fires, how a series of unrelated missed calls made Ben think Trevor was dropping out, Beyonce’s at long last first album of the year win, and the unique challenges of putting on a live television event with so many music superstars.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
IF you recall a few episodes back, 204 to be exact, we were introduced to the conflict between the sons of Mpande kaSenzangakhona, Cetshwayo kaMpande and Mbuyazi kaMpande.
Mpande had moved Cetshwayo and his uSuthu regiments away from their northern power zones and Mbuyazi and his iziGqoza to the south east in an abortive attempt at reducing Cetshwayo’s growing power.
There had been a mock hunt organised supposedly to sort out the differences between the two, but the iziGqoza had melted away when they realised how many more warriors had pitched up to fight with Cetshwayo.
It was in November 1856 that Mpande had made the move, and upon arrival in the north, Mbuyazi began throwing his weight around, provocatively clearing nearby homesteads and ordering the local clans to pay him tribute.
Eating up the opponents as it was called.
Many of the cattle he began to expropriate technically belonged to Cetshwayo. Maphitha, who as advising Cetshwayo, suggested it was time to sort things out finish and klaar.
“…You will never be king if you do not act at once..” He told Cetshwayo in late November.
Where Dingana and Shaka had held total control over their cattle, Mpande had begun to lose his grasp over the amaZulu nation. Senior chiefs Masiphula and Mnyamana joined forces with Cetshwayo’s brothers Ndabuko and Silwana, along with half brothers Dabulamazi, Shingana, Ziwedu and Hamu and marched to Cetshwayo’ Great Place at oNdini.
Cetshwayo plotted his next moves. He had the luxury of a bigger army thought to number between 15 000 and 20 000 men. The odds were in his favour, but Mbuyazi was the nominated successor to Cetshwayo and obligated to fight for his honour.
Cetshwayo formed up his uSuthu regiments, and proceeded to march south. By now, Mbuyazi had turned to the white traders for help. He gathered up his people, men, women and children, as well as all his cattle and other livestock, near iSangqu — and near a mission station run by Norwegian missionary, Hans Schreuder. I have mentioned him before, six feet tall, powerful, and with a very short fuse.
He did not take too kindly to Mbuyazi arriving lock stock and barrel at his mission station, with Cetshwayo imminent arrival at iSangqu which is near the town of Ntumeni. Schreuder was relieved when Mbuyazi continued south with his plan to cross the Thukela River.
But it was early summer and the rains had begun. The mightly Thukela was already flooding, it’s yellow and orange waters leaping in giant swirling rapids, in places five metres deep.
All of the hullabaloo had reached the ears of one of the most important characters of the mid-19th Century South Africa. John Dunn. His tale and those of his significant descendants will weave through our story from here on and for good reason. As a British trader, he had decided that the ways of the amaZulu were more to his liking. -
Episode 208 it is .. where the steely grip of starvation takes hold of the amaXhosa nation by December 1856.
Self-induced, a response to years of colonial expansion, incroaching land grabs, loss of power of the chiefs and ancient custom, the immediate terror of the 8th Frontier War and its effects, and a mingling of Christianity and traditional magic — an attempt at finding salvation.
It was not the first, nor the last millenarian movement of South African history. It was also not the only one of its type at the time in the mid-19th Century, the Taiping Rebellion in China had been bludgeoning its way through the countryside, and there the number of dead would climb to more than 20 million in the decade of that country’s disastrous flirtation with sectarianism and mythology.
40 000 Xhosa were going to die of starvation in British Kaffraria and what was known then as Xhosaland. When we left off last episode, King Sarhili of the Gcaleka line, the paramount chief of the Xhosa, had visited the Gxarha river to meet with Mkhazana and Nongqawuse the prophet early in 1857.
A quick word about millenarian movements. Most have a particular structure, and are replicated the world over. There is usually the charismatic leader, a figure head. Behind this person are the administrators, the navigators who guide this mishapen ship on it’s voyage, almost always towards self-destruction.
The causes of millenarianism are diverse, but the overriding similarities lie in all linked to Middle Eastern monotheistic religions intersecting with local ancient rites and cultural norms. They all are characterised by a prophetic leader, a charismatic figure claiming divine insight, all have end-times expectations. Elements of the Christian Nationalist right wing in America have a similar core belief - as the baby boomers approach their end of life, many are convinced its the end-Times for everyone. They have annointed their own charismatic figure who is known as POTUS.
Nongqawuse’s startling revelations that these ancestors were on the cusp of returning led to the Cattle Killing frenzy. By December 1856 there had been two disappointments, the resurrection had been postponed twice.
Still the believers believed. Two harvests had passed, and they did not til their land. Old people living near Peelton Mission station began dying of starvation. Many others were wearing hunger belts, special girdles fastened around the stomach.
“Hunger…” wrote Brownlee “is fast closing upon its victims, and though there should be no war, their sufferings will far exceed anything which they have hitherto experienced…” -
We’re in the midst of 1856. This is the year lung sickness took hold of the country, and it’s effect was to push some people of the land over the edge. Nongqawuse living in Gxarha had prophesized about salvation which was at hand. The former Anglican now born-again Xhosa Mhlakaza had thrown himself into the messianic messaging business.
You heard last episode about the causes of the Xhosa Cattle Killing, now we’re going to deal with how it spread. The amaXhosa were not alone. Around the world, frontier battles had lit up the globe, the pressure of these new arrivals on indigenous people had burst into flames.
In Seattle, U.S. Marines had been dispatched by ship in January 1856 to suppress a Native American uprising. The First People’s were resisting pressure to cede land - they were being herded into reservations and opposed the plan. Just to set the tone, a few days before the attack on Seattle, Washington Governor Isaac Stevens had declared a "war of extermination" upon the Native American Indians. Seattle was a small, four-year-old settlement in the Washington Territory that had recently named itself after Chief Seattle - a leader of the Suquamish and Duwamish peoples of central Puget Sound.
In Utah, the Tintic war had broken out in the same month between the Mormons and Ute people - it ended when the Federal Government took the Ute’s land but intermittent clashes and tension continued. This went on all the way to the Second World War in the twentieth century, with the Ute’s demanding compensation.
In India, the Nawab of Oudh, Wajid Ali Shah, was exiled to Metiabruz and his state was annexed by the British East India Company.
Following our story about Surveyors in South Africa, it is interesting to note that in March 1856 The Great Trigonometrical Survey of India officially gave 'Peak XV' the height of 29 thousand and 2 feet. We know Peak XV now as Mount Everest and its actually 29 000 and 31 feet.
Also in March 1856, the Great Powers signed the Treaty of Paris, ending the Crimean War. Soon thousands of British German Legion veterans of the Crimean war would arrive in South Africa.
In May 1856, Queen Victoria handed Norfolk Island to the people of Pitcairn Island — famous for being descendents of the Mutiny on the Bounty. The Pitcairners land on Norfolk Island promptly extend their Pitcairn social revolution idea - to continue with women’s suffrage.
David Livingstone arrived in Quelimane on the Indian Ocean having taken two years to travel from Luanda in Angola on the Atlantic Ocean across Africa.
And in South Africa, since April, amaXhosa had been killing their cattle upon hearing of the Prophet Nongqwase of Gxarha, whose pronouncements were now being managed by Mhlakaza her uncle.
King Sarhili had visited the mysterious River and pronounced his support for her visions which spoke of salvation through cleansing of goods and cattle. Killing cattle and throwing away goods, she warned of witchcraft destroying the Xhosa, she had been spoken to by two men in a bush. Nongqawuse and her little ally, Nombanda, were visited by Xhosa from far and wide to hear her story directly.
The most privileged visitors were taken to the River and the Ocean, but most of these men and women heard nothing - no voices although Nongqawuse continued to relay the two stranger’s messages to those present. A minority began to claim they heard the voices.
Rumours of the happenings spread like wild fire and the official sanction of King Sarhili Ka-Hintsa of the amaGcaleka removed the last doubts from many who desperately wanted this prophecy to have power. And yet most of the amaXhosa chiefs intitially opposed the prophecies, but were ground down mentally, dragged into the worse form of cattle killing by the commoners. The believers began the comprehensive work of destruction. This back and forth went on until what is known as the First Disappointment. -
A quick note to the SA Podcaster’s Guild, thank you for the History podcast of the year silver award — I shared the honour with the 30 Years of Democracy Podcast, part of the TimesLive stable.
It’s heart warming to receive some sort of recognition, and thanks mainly to you the listener.
With that it’s back to episode 195 and we’re swinging back to the east, to Zululand, where Chief Mpande kaSenzangakhona of the AmaZulu has not been idle for the last two years.
When we last heard about Mpande, after a few years of relative quiet once he took over from Dinging as king of the AmaZulu, he began to plot against the Swazi in late 1840s. As he planned and plotted, in the British outpost called Natal, this territory that abounded Durban, two men had arrived who were to alter South African history.
Theophilus Shepstone and Hans Schreuder. More about them in a moment.
Mpande thought of Eswatini, Swaziland, as a source of treasure, booty, and a future place of refuge for his people just in case the Boers or the British should advance further into Zululand. The good relations between the Boers and the Swazi, at least running up to the mid-19th Century, meant that Mpande was forced to hold off most of his plans to invade King Mswati’s land. It was also along a corridor coveted by not only the AmaZulu and the Swazi, but also by the boers.
So his first aim was north west, towards smaller kingdoms where the booty was thinner on the ground, not exactly a plethora of cows, rather a smattering but better than nix. The amaHlubi bore the brunt of Mpande’s expansionist aims when he attacked Langalibalele kaMthimkulu who had told his people that from now on, it was he and not Mpande who would control the function of rainmaking. Mpande disagreed.
The disputes going on Swazi territory gave the AmaZulu king an opportunity to interfere. If you remember a previous podcast, I’d explained that after Mswati was declared the new young king of the amaSwazi, the senior regent Malambule tried to cling onto power — and was backed in his clinging by Mpande.
Enter stage left, a missionary who was on a mission. Enter stage right, a second missionary on another mission.
Cast member number one, stage left, Theophilus Shepstone, or Somtseu as the Zulu called him.
The other, stage right, was lesser known Norwegian Missionary Society’s Hans Schreuder. The latter was well over six feet tall, a powerful man, with a powerful temper. He may have been a bible-wielding man of God, but that didn’t stop the Viking blood pumping him up when he was crossed.
Schreuder would establish 7 mission stations across Zululand and was going to be extremely useful as Mpande’s diplomat.
Shepstone’s role in our story is a complex combination of missionary, Zulu-phile, Anglophone civiliser in chief — a vast figure in our tale. He would suffer many a baleful settler glare, the colonists believed his pro-Zulu politics were dangerous to their almost infinite demand for labour and land.
As the Cape colonials moved towards self-government, Natal became a problem child. -
This is episode 194 and we’re marching towards Thaba Bosiu with Lieutenant General George Cathcart.
Or sitting on horseback among King Moshoeshoe’s Basotho warriors, armed with a musket. Take your pick. We’re going to hear about the Battle of Berea, and the outcome would underline the Basotho mastery of their land, leading to Lesotho’s independence.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, first things first.
AS you heard last episode, soldiers from various regiments in the British army and the Cape Mounted Rifles totalling 2500 troops were invading Moshoeshoes’ kingdom.
The British were trying to secure the northern parts of the Cape Colony and believed that by crushing Moshoeshoe, the TransOrangia would be rid of raiding and chaos. The fact that a whole range of people were raiding and causing chaos seemed to have escaped the attention of Cathcart and his commanders.
As you know, there was a long list of these renegades. But because Moshoeshoe was the most organised African leader in the territory, it stood to reason that it must be his people causing the trouble. The Basotho’s main opponent weren’t the Boers under Pretorius or the Rolong under Maroka or the Griqua, no they weren’t the Bastaards under Pieter Davids and Carolus Batjoe, or even the Kora Bandits under Gert Taaibosch.
No, the Basotho regarded Sekonyela’s Batlokwa as their main opposition in the area.
And it was Sekonyela’s complaints to the British about Moshoeshoe that set off this recent marching business. Sure, there’s no debate about whether or not Moshoeshoe and his allies had been carting off Boer stock, raiding when they could, this was true.
What was really going on was that Cathcart wanted to end the ongoing 8th Frontier War and thought that by hammering Moshoeshoe, a possible future conflict could be avoided and he could concentrate on the amaXhosa further south.
Cathcart moved off during daylight, and it was going to take his force hours to reach their first objectives. That was more than enough time for Moshoeshoe to recover from what was a heinous break from English military tradition — no war was declared after all. The Basotho king moved fast and within an hour, his 3000 warriors were on their horses, muskets loaded.
The King had also not been idle in recent years, his people had been studying and practicing how to fight a mobile army moving inside his mountain kingdom, particularly the tactics used by the British.
Instead, the British commander looked around him and counted the cost. Thirty-eight British soldiers died, the most in any engagement thus far in South Africa. He had 5000 Basotho cattle, hardly a small number, and yet something to boast about.
The Basotho king in turn had lost around 50 men, dozens more injured and written a letter that Cathcart could wave about - peace in our time! -
First off, congratulations to Gcina Mhlophe who is DStv’s content Creator podcaster of the year — I was so happy to shortlisted and incredibly happy for her. Gcina’s African Storytelling podcast is ground breaking please look out for it on all podcast platforms.
And a big shout out to all the other finalists, I was amazed at just how many people in South Africa are making a living out of creating their own content, their own stories. Things sure have changed in the media space!
Back to 1852.
Planet earth had seen quite a few interesting events in that year. Henry Wells and William Fargo put a few dollars together and launched Wells Fargo and Company, in Boston Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Smith And Wesson the firearms manufacturer was founded, and the Taiping Rebellion in China was gaining momentum,.
The British parliament passed the New Zealand Constitution Act of 1852 which granted the colony self-government — something the settlers in South Africa had been trying to achieve for the Cape.
The First Yale Harvard boat race was held in 1852, and French engineer Henri Giffard made the the inaugural airship trip taking off in Paris and flying to Trappes, Leo Tolstoy published his first book called Childhood in 1852, then a deadly tsunami triggered by an earthquake killed thousands in Banda in the Dutch East Indies, what we know as Indonesia. This is where the echoes of history could be heard more than 150 years later when one of the deadliest tsunami’s ever recorded slammed into Banda Aceh province on Boxing Day of 2004 — killing 228 000 people.
Geology is a swine and geological history definitely repeats itself. There is no doubt that at some point in the future, Banda Aceh will be struck by another massive earthquake, and tsunami.
In 1852, France opened the doors to the dreaded Devil’s Island penal colony made famous by Steve McQueen in the movie Papillon in 1973. And 1973 was three years before 1976, when a postulation made in 1852 was eventually proven true. Amazingly, this postulation, or problem, is at the heart of our lives today.
Let me explain how an apparently obscure event that took place in October 1852 led to a host of technical developments in the 20th Century — and continues to drive innovation today - and it has a South African link.
University College of London student Francis Guthrie studying under the much admired mathematician Augustus De Morgan postulated the question of proving mathematically that no more than four colours would be needed to provide separate tones to shapes that bordered each other on a map. He thought about maps a lot because he also studied botany and ended up earning a Bachelor of Arts and became a lawyer.
Guthrie’s postulation almost flippant in its apparent ludicrousness, was far more complex than it sounded. Don’t roll your eyes just yet, hang in there. What appears simple eluded geniuses of maths for a century and a half. Even Minkowski who was Einstein’s mathematics instructors had a go and gave up - after dismissing previous attempts as the work of second class mathematicians.
Little did the world know, but Guthrie had created a question that would revolutionise computer theory amongst other things like improving sports scheduling, sorting out mobile phone frequency allocation and is the basis of how AI works. Of course, just to add a twist in the tail, there’s a South African connection.
Now back to the maps of 1852 which had just been marked with the newest independent state of the Transvaal in various colours.
Next door neighbours of the Transvaal took note. One was Moshoeshoe of the Basotho. Another was Mzilikazi of the amaNdebele, and Mpande of the amaZulu. Simultaneously, a cry went up around the British Empire amongst settlers demanding self-government, New Zealand was not going to be alone in the moves towards proportional representation of some sort. -
This is episode 192 and what a packed episode it is!
The Sand River Convention and the Battle of the Berea await. The former created a new state called the Zuid Afrikaans Republiek and the latter reinforced the Basotho power under Moshoeshoe which would ultimately lead to the kingdom of Lesotho being born.
Two events that too place at the book ends of 1852 - the Convention signed in January, and the Battle of the Berea in December - left their indelible marks on South African history.
The decision by the British government to sign a Convention with the Boers of the Transvaal was the result of two local officials, William Samuel Hogge and Charles Mostyn Owen. Because the 8th frontier war against the amaXhosa was going so badly, it was imperative for the British to deal with other possible threats.
When they had reached Bloemfontein in November 1851, Hogge and Owen were assailed by conspiracy and tales of intrigue, some of which I explained last episode. Hogge was the senior of the two, and realised pretty quickly that the biggest problem was the annexation of the Orange River Sovereignty by Harry Smith.
The Governor, said Hogge in a letter, was either “deceived or deceived himself in supposing that the majority of the white people here ever desired British authority to be extended over them…”
That was the last thing the Boers wanted.
He also realised that the other challenge to any authority in the Orange River Sovereignty was the chaos between different groups of people and involvement of various British officials in these conflicts.We’re dealing with 1852, January. There were two centres of power at this point, one around Andries Pretorius and the other around Hendrick Potgieter. The main cause of conflict was Potgieter’s belief that his position of Commandant-General of the Voortrekkers was a post for life.
Pretorius and his adherents feared the concentration of military power in one man’s hand and Potgieter’s adherents believed Pretorius had an insatiable power lust. Each of these two believed they were entitled to be numero uno, Nommer een, die generaal, and each believed the other was kortbroek, not substantial enough to equal themselves.
Eventually the convention was set for January 16th 1852 at Venter’s Farm near the junction of the Cool Spruit, the Coal Spruit, and Sand River. Here the Boer delegates gathered, as the enigmatic forgerer Van Der Kolff fled, with Pretorius and his 300 followers.
IT is with some amazement then folks, that this crucial gathering, this fundemental moment in south Africa, lasted just a day.
One day — and that one day changed the history of the country. -
First off, some news!
This series has been selected as one of the five finalists for the DStv Content Creators podcast of the year awards which is taking place on October 12th 2024. I feel completely out of place folks - a kind of imposter syndrome - finalists include the hugely successful series called True Crime South Africa with the glorious Nicole Engelbrecht and African Story Magic with magnificent Gcina Mhlophe.
I had to rub my eyes when I received the email and immediately thought it was a nasty bit of malware that had crept into my system — but after a follow up call from the organisers I realised it was true. So thanks to all of my listeners for helping promote this podcast series — I owe you all a great deal.
With that shameless self promotion out of the way, back to the real world of South Africa mid-19th Century. Momentous moves were afoot. The vicious 8th Frontier war was still bubbling away in the eastern Cape as Andries Stockenstrom set off from his farm under the Amatholas.
The old man of the frontier had decided to travel to London to lobby politicians there and the ruling elite concerning self-government for South Africa. Journalist John Fairbairn joined him in the mission.
For the settlers back on the frontier, Stockenstrom was both loved and hated. He was respected as an elder who had survived all the frontier Wars, but now colonists were taking aim at the former administrator of the Albany region, and the Zuurveld.
Every single farm had been burned down by the amaXhosa in the district, but they’d left Stockenstrom’s home alone. The amaNqgika people were faithfully adhering to their old chief’s promise to Stockenstrom that he would not be attacked — even in the throes of this dreadful war.
Stockenstrom had set off at the end of 1851, but when he returned from his political mission, he was greeted by a smouldering wreck that used to be his magnificent home on his farm called Maasstrom.
It was a shock from which he did not recover.
At first he thought it was the amaXhosa who burned his home but then the truth emerged, which shocked him all the more. It was deliberately burned down by a British officer and his patrol — who had been instigated by Grahamstown Journal Editor Robert Godlonton.
To the north, in the mountains along the Caledon Valley, Moshoeshoe had been building his base of power and was trying to keep out of the British way. Major Warden as you know, was based in Bloemfontein with a company of British troops, and the Major had been skirmishing with Moshoeshoe’s allies along the southern flank of the Orange River, the border with British Kaffraria.
While the British were being kept busy in the 8th Frontier War, Andries Pretorius had been in touch with Major Warden and with Moshoeshoe. Emissaries from Moshoeshoe had visited Pretorius a few times to ask for the Boers to join the Basotho in an uprising against the British - particularly after Warden’s repeated attempts to subjugate the Basotho King.
While this was going on, a separate group of Boers decided to take the matter into their own hands and rode to Thaba Bosiu, where they negotiated their own Peace Treaty with Moshoeshoe.
They didn’t tell Pretorius, and he was angry. Once again the fractured nature of the Voortrekkers was highlighted. Moshoeshoe realised this, but took the emissaries at face value when they said they’d avoid conflict with the Basotho and other groups.
Pretorius who was in Mooi River, was angry about this matter because he had been trying to stabilise the trekker relationship with the British. Here were Vermaak and Linde doing their own thing, clearly a threat to Major Warden - so the following day — 4th September — Pretorius wrote to Warden expressing a commitment to a lasting Peace with the British. -
We’re into an extremely tough time in our past, 1851, and about to hear about the struggle for control of an area of the Amatolas that the Boers had named Waterkloof - better known by local amaXhosa as Mtontsi. It was a case of jungle warfare as you’re going to hear.
The area of operation was only 40 square kilometers and yet it remained out of Britains control for most of the 8th Frontier War.
If you have an old steam driven hard copy map of the area, or can fire up your trusty digital device of choice, go to Google maps and focus on the area between the Kat and Koenap Rivers, to the west of the town of kwaMaqoma which used to be known as Fort Beaufort. Just to add a bit of post-modern spice here, nearby Cookhouse wind Farm is one of the largest in South Africa on the high ridge east of the Great Fish River.
The Waterkloof itself is a deep, narrow valley, six kilometres long, bounded by the Kroomie Heights to the south and to the north by a second series of majestic ridges falling away to a rolling plateau. Running roughly south-east and open at its western side, it comes to a head in a high, grassy tableland fringed with bushes and gigantic trees. To the east, this tableland falls away into another deep, heavily-forested gorge, known as Fuller's Hoek.
It was in this gorge, in a gigantic overhanging cave of a type that proliferates in the area, that amaNqika chief Maqoma had his headquarters.
The plateau is linked to the Kroomie by a narrow ridge and where this joins the plateau is a 'horseshoe-shaped flat', approximately a square kilometre in area and fringed by towering forests. In due course it would be named 'Mount Misery' by the British troops who fought in or near there.
In the mountain fastnesses above, there are two reserves today - Mpofu and Fort Fordyce. Here you’ll still find the Chacma baboon, black wildebeest on the escarpment, blue duiker, mountain reedbuck. If you’re lucky you’ll spot the Cape Parrot, and eagles, while the playful Knysna Loeries abound. The Caracal is the largest predator there these days, but in the past leopards would stalk here - eating a snack of rock dassie.
By February 1851 the bitterness of the 8th Frontier War was becoming more evident with descriptions of British troops being captured and tortured to death by the amaXhosa. Settlers and regular troops marched through the Thyumie valley in February in revenge, burning everything and carrying a flag which had the word “Extermination” emblazoned for all the see.
Governor Sir Harry Smith had advocated extermination of the amaXhosa and the Khoekhoe in letters and conversations - he was panikcing besieged in King Williams Town and chaos was the order of the day - the governor was lashing out. No quarter was being given by either side - man against man.
Somerset was stung into action. On 7th September he sent a large patrol into the Waterkloof, 600 men from the 74th Highland Regiment under Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Fordyce.
The man who was to give both his name and his life to these mountains. -
Cape Governor Harry Smith had made his escape from Fort Cox to King Williams’ Town, and was now hoping for help in the form of 3000 Zulu warriors.
The British had mucked things up on the frontier, and most of their old allies the Khoekhoe of the Kat River Settlement had decided to rise up, along with the amaXhosa.
The Boers were also not in any mood to send help, in fact, the destabilisation was in their favour, it drew English troops away from the transOrangia Region.
Mlanjeni the prophet had told the Xhosa that this was the time to drive the English into the sea - and Maqoma the amaRharhabe chief of the amaNhlambe was all to ready to do just that.
It was new Year, 1851.
In a few days, the Taiping Rebellion - or Civil War as some call it - would begin in China. And like the uprising in the Cape, a man who claimed super powers was behind this war in Asia. Hong Xiuquan was an ethnic Hakka man who claimed to be related to Jesus Christ and was trying to convert the local Han people to his syncretic version of Christianity.
Xiuquan was trying to overthrow the Qing dynasty and the Taiping rebels were hell bent on should I say, heaven bent on upending the entire country’s social order. Eventually the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom based in Nanjing managed to seize a significant portion of southern China. It was to become the bloodiest war of the 19th Century, lasting 14 years.
Back on the eastern Cape frontier, the settlers were facing the amaXhosa rage and fury, frustration that had built up over generations burst into the 8th Frontier War. Maqoma had warned the errant missionary George Brown that a war was coming of cruelty never seen before in southern AFrica.
Some called it the first war of colour, a general war of the races. The Kat River people rebelled, some Khoekhoe soldiers rebelled, some of the famous Cape Mounted Rifles men mutinied, the amaThembu people under Maphasa, so important to Xhosa tradition, joined the Xhosa. amaNhlambe chief Siyolo, the best soldier amongst the amaXhosa, had cut off the road between King WilliamsTown and Grahamstown.
And yet, in this frontier war it wasn’t just black versus white - oh no. As you’ll hear, Black South Africans fought for the British, and there were incidents of British soldiers who mutinied and joined the amaXhosa. amaNgqika men upset at how they’d been treated by their own countrymen worked for the colonists in this war, not the mention the amaMfengu people who the amaXhosa regarded as illegal immigrants on their land - there was no love lost between these two either.
To merely describe this war as blacks versus whites is to commit historical incongruity.
Sandile met with Maqoma in the first days of 1851 in order to work out a series of offensive moves against the British. Hermanus Matroos, who you met last episode was leading a powerful battalion sized group of amaXhosa and Khoesan fighters. Willem Uithaalder, former Cape Mounted Rifles cavalryman, was also fighting the British — his knowledge about how to go about focusing attacks was key. -
Episode 186 it is - we’re taking a closer look at theological suppositions, ecclesiastical superstitions, magic and myth.
Some housekeeping - first thanks to John for taking the time to send a note regarding ecclesiastical and to Mphuthumi for your message about Nkosi Maqoma - I’ll get hold of your book, The Broken River Tent published in 2017.
In this episode we’re going to plunge into a sea of mystery because we’re going to investigate the incredibly diverse history of situations where people believe they can turn bullets into water - or where traditional methods were deployed to deflect incoming projectiles.
These are widely held beliefs which surface in popular ‘millenarian’ movements – usually
uprisings against colonial conditions.
You’ve heard how Mlanjeni’s philosophy had motivated so many to take up arms against the invaders, his message of salvation had spread throughout the Cape. amaXhosa and other people felt it resonated with personally, so they gravitated towards the prophet. amaXhosa chiefs like Maqoma and the paramount Sandile realised that Mlanjeni had the power of persuasion and visited the prophet.
But they weren’t alone because by the mid-nineteenth century, charismatic men and women like Mlanjeni of the amaXhosa had taken to mixing Christianity and animist faiths to create a new way to deal with colonisation. This is a classic process in social structures. The old ways were failing — how could assegai’s beat artillery?
Turn to enchantment, wizadry, spellcraft, mysticism. The missionaries had closely interwoven their Christian message with western civilisation, diametrically opposed to traditionalism. So prophets like Mlanjeni seized part of their narrative, the salvation message, and merged it rather than opposed it using traditional views to distinguish themselves from the missionaries, to coopt the power so to speak.
An ancient philosophy rooted in a world view now threatened by a new industrial powerhouse alter itself, took hold of the strengths of the invader and mixed the message.
Missionaries had preached salvation and many of these millenarian movements used part of the story of the Bible, exodus, the crucifixion, Christ rising from the dead, combined with their own ancient myths and legends, to create a really potent new doctine that made sense.
This is all linked to what anthropoligists and psychologists call Cognate epistemology. It was identified as something that occured between southern African hunters, herders and farmers, San Khoe and bantu speakers. Cross-cultural convictions emerge amongst people who share a common landscape.
Cognate epistemology is the study of knowledge—how we know what we know — exploring questions like "What is knowledge?" and "How do we acquire this knowledge?”
I am by no means denegrating those who believe this. Because another way of thinking about cognate epistemology is how folks like to dive deeply into that pool of disinformation called X and or WhatsApp, sharing social media bilge. The very idea of an influencer itself, correlates almost exactly with those who seek cognate connectivity — advertisers also deploy this concept constantly.
So go tell your favourite influencer on TikTok that they’re indulging in Cognate Epistemology.
When Fort Hare was attacked at 9am on the morning of 21st January 1851, six thousand warriors were yelling Bolowana as they descended on the fortified post. This was going to be the most decisive event of the 8th Frontier War and amaXhosa chief Sandile knew it. -
This is episode 184 and we’re picking up our story on old year’s eve 1850. Last episode, we heard how Cape Governor Harry Smith was holed up in Fort Cox, and the amaXhosa were in control of most of British Kaffraria - the 8th Frontier War was in full flow.
There were fears amongst the settlers that the war would spread as far as the Cape Colony, and the five thousand British troops stationed in southern Africa were spread as far as across the Orange River. What was also unclear was what was going on across the Kei, had the Gcaleka and Paramount chief Sandile decided to join in with Maqoma and Mlonjeni?
Also unclear was the situation in all the villages and towns, and what about the amaGqunukhwebe - were they going to remain neutral?
Missionary George Brown was still searching for his wife Janet and their infant — he didn’t know yet that she’d was on her way to Fort White and was safe. When we left off, Brown had been accosted close to his mission station at Iqibira, where Chief Maqoma who led the rebellion demanded he answer questions. We had also met Maqoma’s main translator who historians believe was Hermanus Matroos although he never formally introduced himself to Brown.
The reason why we’ve spent some time talking about Matroos is because he had convinced many in the Kat River Settlement Khoekhoe to join the uprising against the British. One raid too many by the redcoats into the Kat River, following years of being bad mouthed by the English Settlers led by the odious editor of the Grahamstown Journal Robert Godlonton, had pushed the Khoekhoe over the edge.
Mlanjeni the prophet had preached that an uprising against the British would succeed and so far he appeared to be 100 percent correct.
It was Sunday 29th December and on that very day, Colonel Henry Somerset — commanding officer of the frontier forces and commanding officer of the Cape Mounted Rifles, was on his horse heading towards Fort Cox.
He was trying to save Governor Sir Harry Smith who was besieged there - out although his dispatch riders had failed to pierce the amaXhosa warrior perimeter the previous night. Somerset was in his 60s, and quite a sight he was. Large handlebar moustache, was dapper in dress, but regularly almost useless in his actions.
This was the man upon which the entire British response dangled. Somerset’s father was Lord Charles, who had returned home after his stint as Governor of the Cape between 1814 and 1826 and died in 1837 at the age of 63.
His men loved him because he preferred sending them to the beach with a band than into the bracken with a rifle. By now he was seen as the beau ideal of a cavalry officer of the old regime.
One trooper wrote that he was
“…a fine looking old man, a regular Vieux d’Afrique…”
Or "Old Man of Africa"
And to make things worse, the defeat of the 91st was not the only bad news on Sunday 29th December 1850 — Somerset was to hear that Hermanus Matroos had convinced his fellow Khoekhoe and coloured brethren in the Kat River Settlement to join the amaXhosa uprising.
Attention turned quite swiftly to the Khoekhoe men of the Cape Mounted Rifles where some had already joined the Xhosa war. -
Episode 183 it is, and we’re going to take stock as we enter 1851.
In war, truth is the first casualty. It’s a military maxim attributed to Aeschylus, the father of Greek tragedy. Aeschylus actually fought in the front lines against the Persians at Marathon in 490 BC.
We don’t know much about the rest of his life, but we do know that his work called 'Persians' which was financed by Pericles was such a success that he was invited to Sicily by Hieron of Syracuse to restage the play.
His life bridged the Archaic and Classical ages. Considered even by the ancients to be difficult and old-fashioned, Aeschylus was also quite innovative in the structures, personnel, and even subjects of his 89 plays, of which we have only seven.
Later, in In 1758 the famous lexicographer Samuel Johnson penned a short item in “The Idler" which included the following statement ..
‘
“Among the calamities of War may be justly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity encourages.”
Credulity. A willingness to believe whatever is dished up. The lovers of social media are infected by a disease called credulity. In this series I have endeavoured to avoid relying on credulity by constantly referring to original sources, documents, oral history, cross-referencing where I can.
There is nothing more important than deploying verification. Credulity is the tendency to be too ready to believe that something is real or true, often without sufficient evidence or critical examination. It refers to a person's inclination to accept claims or assertions with little skepticism or questioning.
Southern African history is full of credulity being punctured by reality. Most politicians make a living out of abusing credulity.
With that melodromatic introduction, let us dive into the deep pool of tangibility regarding Mlanjeni’s War, the 8th Frontier War which broke out on Christmas day 1850. The military villages along the Thyumie River were gone, burned down, dozens of British soldiers were dead, killed in Boma Pass or killed in their military villages named Auckland, Juanasburg and Woburn.
In the mountains above Thyumie River, missionary Niven and his family had walked out of Keiskamma hoek and straight into a party of amaXhosa warriors. It is true that respected Rharhabe chief Ngqika had declared the missionaries and their homes protected, but that was twenty years ago and the respected chief was long gone.
Into our story steps one of the most remarkable characters we’ve heard about thus far, a man called Hermanus Matroos.
Brown was to remark later later that Matroos
“… spoke English more precisely than I have ever heard any other native do…”
Hermanus Matroos, otherwise known as Ngxukumeshe enters our tale, a large and imposing man, broad shouldered, powerful. Hermanus means army man, warrior, brave warrior and comes from the German, Herman. Matroos means sailor. And Ngxukumeshe means in the vanguard - at the front. These names fit the man, a warrior born of a slave sailor, a man who was always at the front of everything. -
Welcome to the History of South Africa podcast with me your host, Des Latham, this is episode 182.
182 is a triangular number meaning it can be arranged in an equilateral triangle — specifically it is the 13th triangle number because 13x4 Divided by 2 is 182.
And it’s a death triangle that the British were facing now - facing amaXhosa prophecy, a blazing hot environment not conducive to their warfare, and the amaXhosa chiefs who were stacking up against the invaders.
When we left off, the British column under Lieutenant Colonel George Mackinnon was trying to make it back to Fort White having been whipped by the amaXhosa in the Boma Pass. It’s important to note that all 12 British killed in that ambush were shot.
Previously in the first seven Frontier Wars, most soldiers were stabbed by amaXhosa wielding assegais, but now the boot was on the other foot. And yet in the coming months of war, the Xhosa would use their trusty assegai’s to good effect as you’re going to hear.
It was Boxing Day 1850, a year in which the transportation of British convicts to Western Australia had begun just as it was being phased out in other parts of that territory. In June 1850 Former Twice-Served British Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel fell off his horse and died.
Mayer Lehman sailed from Germany to join his two brothers in the United States, who were running a dry-goods business, a pre-cursor to the doomed Lehman Brothers bank which collapsed in 2007 and took the world’s economy with it.
Also in the United States, Edward Ralph May delivered a speech to the Indiana legislature where he called for African-Americans to be given the right to vote. This was a period when slavery was still legal in the U.S., ten years before the civil War.
In southern Africa, Mackinnon’s men had been shot at through Christmas by Sandile’s warriors who were imbued with Prophet Mlanjeni’s magic - and now the troops were trying to escape what looked like certain doom. They’d bivouacked overnight at the Uniondale mission station at Keiskamma Hoek.
It hadn’t helped that Mackinnon stuck to his original orders like a limpet to a rock. Governor Sir Harry Smith had ordered that the men should march with firearms unloaded to avoid any accidents, and despite the fact that a large army of amaXhosa were now tailing the British as they were force marched to Fort White, the muskets remained unloaded.
In nearby Woburnin for example, homes had been built at Ngqika’s warrior son Thyali’s grave. As you’ve heard the ex-British soldiers living there had opened up and desecrated the grave. For the Ngqika line of the Rharhabe - this military village would be their first main target.
The amaNgqika had watched the vets till their land, they lived cheek by jowel. The land that had recently been their forefathers.
The little river between Woburn and the amaNgqika was easy to cross except when in full spate, and a large amaXhosa army crossed the river on Christmas Day 1850, and laid waste to Woburn which they attacked at nine in the morning.
Sixteen ex-soldiers farmed here some with families, and they were overrun in less than an hour - the women and children spared, the men speared or shot.
The nearby military village of Auckland was attacked at two in the afternoon, it lay in a a bowl at the head of the Thyumie River valley and this was a trap from which none of the soldiers would escape. There was no clear view down into the valley which meant they had no idea what was taking place they could not see the smoke from Woburn and the little village of Juanasberg.
When a Khoekhoe woman struggled up the path on Christmas morning and told the inhabitants of Auckland she had spotted smoke from the other villages, she was ignored.
Across the other side of the Amatola mountains, the British troops who’d managed to make it out of Boma Passthen marched off from Keiskamma hoek heading to Fort White, were suffering in the mid-summer heat. -
Episode 180 it is then so let’s get cracking.
Or crackling, which was the atmosphere in late 1850 as Xhosaland and British Kaffraria was seized by the exploits of prophet Mlanjeni.
He’d combined world views, his messianic emergence shook the land as far away as Cape Town.
AS a sickly young man from near King Williams Town, he’d disappeared to work in the Cape Colony and returned in 1850 claiming to have been living under the sea. Not quite Sponge Bob because unlike that loveable kids character, Mlanjeni said it was during his stint underwater that God spoke to him.
You’ll remember how I explained that Mlanjeni took to sitting in pools in nearby rivers and streams, the water lapping against his face as he sat deep in thought.
At first he seemed to be in sync with the missionaries and the Governor Harry Smith, saying the amaXhosa should abandon witchcraft, avoid raiding settler cattle and so on. However his message morphed as I explained, and very soon he was exorting his numerous adherents to stop burning the wood of gum trees — an invasive species — he believed the exotic tree symbolised white influence.
Word spread, and some began saying that Mlanjeni had miraculous powers, he could light his pipe from the sun, he wore his face on one cheek so he could spot witches and paralyse them.
When the missionaries heard that he was also saying that he could heal the sick, give sight to the blind, to make the mute speak and the lame walk. He refused to accept gifts, and the chiefs and commoners streamed to his home. Then the British tried to arrest him and he disappeared, thus growing more power in the eyes of his adherents.
We need to focus on these religious matters, so a quick return to the men in black.
The missionaries were in a spot. Robert Niven of the United Presbyterian Church was holding forth in Keiskamma hoekDown the road was a man who you could say was taking his position as missionary into the missionary position.
George Brown lived on the plains below the Amatolas, not far from the Thyumi valley, arriving in early 1849. At first people noted how he had a kind and manly appearance. But very soon, however, the manly appearance took on a reverential lust — a scandalous man as you’ll hear.
But first, he seduced the young Janet Chalmers, William Chalmers daughter, and John Forbes Cumming hated him so much for this act, that the two men spoke only through letters. Brown was forced to marry Janet Chalmers in August 1850, five months pregnant.Harry Smith by now was on the frontier, and Sandile’s mother Sutu who was Ngqika’s widow, went to the Thyumi mission station on 9th December to speak with him. She asked why the English wanted another war. Smith said that the chiefs were not paying fines and she warned
“You have taken away all my power, you take away the power of the chiefs, and then you find fault with us for not keeping the people in order…”
Christmas Eve was the date selecte by Harry Smith as the day his intimidatory force as Noel Mostert Called it, up the Boma Pass into the Amatola mountains. It was exactly sixteen years to the day of the outbreak of the Frontier War of 1834. -
This is episode 179 and the prophet Mlanjeni is about to emerge. His story is one of the phenomenal tales of our land, he joined an already fairly long list of colonial era fighters who imbued their struggle against encroaching settlers with a combination of christian salvation ethos and a narrative full of amaXhosa ancient mystery and magic.
If you recall last episode, Mlanjeni had been calling all local spiritual leaders to his home, where they were to pass between two poles that had been cleansed and purified.
After this other rank and file amaXhosa were being called to be cleansed by Mlanjeni from his — village amongst the Ndlambe people — a people who were now being administered by Commissioner John Maclean.
As you heard last episode Maclean had written a brief message to Governor Harry Smith about the rising excitement amongst the amaXhosa about Umlanjeni’s prophecies. It was Messianic paradigm, eventually morphing into the a mythos about the triumphant resurrection of the ancestors who were going to drive the English back into the sea.
This message has been repeated since.
So let’s take a much closer look at Prophet Umlanjeni. What made him tick?
By the time he was a youth of 18, he had begun to fast regularly in the manner of all other messianic messengers like Moses or Mohammed — a process guaranteed to lead to hallucination. Without going too far into the weeds here, those who go on hunger strike or fast extensively report there is an incredible psychological impact.
Fasting beyond 72 hours for example causes a deficiency in nutrients, muscles begin to break down, dizziness and dehydration occur. As the prophet continues to fast, hallucinations can be extreme, as electrolyte imbalances trigger brain malfunction leading to delirium.
IT was in this delirius state the Umlanjeni found his happy place. And as psychologists will tell you, those with preexisting mental conditions should not fast beyond what is accepted as healthy.
When Mlanjeni called his people to the two poles for cleansing, he could barely walk he was so frail from his fastidious fasting. It was 18th August 1850 when Maclean first heard about this wardoctor, who at this point merely appeared to be a somewhat misguided youngster with pre-existing mental conditions.
Mlanjeni, like the previous wardoctor Nxele, had lived in the Cape Colony and heard the messages of Christianity and Islam. When he returned to the Ndlambe people living near the Amatola mountains, people say he had changed. His family said he took to sitting in a nearby river, in the still waters of a pool, sitting here in water up to his neck, musing on the world, refusing to eat.
He said he was talking to the spirit world, to his ancestors and he was infused with divine powers, endowed with the capacity to relay the messages from the ancients to the amaXhosa. He was told he had to purify his people, and the way he was going to do this was similar to War Doctor Nxele, also known as Makana.
He said the ubuthi was the root cause of all amaXhosa suffering, linked to disease and death, and he declared “Let us cast it away, and come to me to be cleansed…”
Normally, a grandiose claim of this sort from a troubled youth would have been ignored, but the amaXhosa across the Cape were ripe and ready for such a message. Their leaders had failed them, the traditional ways had failed them, and here was a messiah, preaching in a manner that was uplifting.
And a succession of British blunders were to take place which exacerbated the situation. - Laat meer zien
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