The Zulus and Matabele: Warrior Nations

by Glen Lyndon Dodds

  Events were soon to take a dramatic new turn. Migrants from Cape Colony, known as Afrikaners or Boers, who were mostly of Dutch origin, would shortly appear on the scene, intent on settling in Natal.

  In 1652, as noted above, a revictualling station had been established at the Cape by the Dutch East India Company. The settlement of Cape Town had thus come into being beneath majestic Table Mountain, and in due course it was followed by others, such as Stellenbosch and Paarl, as whites began moving further afield at the expense of the Cape Peninsula’s aboriginal population of San and Khoikhoi. Some of the Europeans travelled into what is known as the Eastern Cape, and during the course of the 18th century came into contact with the southernmost of the Nguni, the Xhosa, whose vanguard lived on fertile plains between the Great Fish and Sundays Rivers, and with whom, in 1779, they were to fight the first of a long series of wars known as the Frontier or Kaffir Wars.

  In 1795, after the Netherlands had been invaded by France during the Revolutionary Wars, the Cape was temporarily occupied by Britain with the aim of securing the route to India. It was restored in 1802, only to be taken over by the British again in 1806 and as a result the Boers found themselves under permanent alien rule. Resentment developed and intensified after 1 December 1834 when slaves in Britain’s colonies, including some 39,000 in the Cape, were emancipated. This was a financial blow to the Boers who were angered by the inadequate compensation offered and by the fact that it was only payable in London.

  Matters were exacerbated later in the same month when trouble erupted on the eastern frontier. This had been extended more than once by the British, entailing the expulsion of many Xhosa, and now rested on the Keiskamma River east of the Great Fish. About 12,000 Xhosa, angered by white encroachment and the killing of one of their chiefs, invaded the colony. Farms and stores were set alight, cattle plundered and, worst of all, white settlers slain. Reinforcements were sent to the area and the Xhosa fell back into the Amatola Mountains where they waged a skilful guerrilla campaign.

  The combination of the abolition of slavery and the Sixth Frontier War of 1834-5 heightened disenchantment among Boers living in the Eastern Cape. Many found the prospect of escape to fresh pastures increasingly attractive. Thus a report they received about conditions in Natal was music to their ears. As December 1834 drew to a close, a party of 22 Boers, led by an intelligent and admirable Uitenhage farmer called Piet Uys, returned, having been entrusted earlier in the year with conducting a reconnaissance mission up the eastern coastal belt to confirm whether reports that had been received from various quarters about Natal’s suitability for settlement were accurate. Uys’ findings corroborated what had already been heard: Natal was well-watered, grass grew taller than the height of a man, and sheep could grow as fat as cattle—a veritable paradise.

  Therefore, shortly after hearing Uys’ report, frontier Boer families—many of whose menfolk were fine horsemen and good shots—began preparing to move north to establish a new life for themselves free of British rule, and with a strong religious conviction that God would ensure their ultimate success. They were thus to spearhead a movement known to history as the Great Trek.

  The Great Trek began on a small-scale in 1835 when a trickle of Boers bought large supplies of gunpowder, gathered up their livestock, loaded other property on to their ox-wagons, and forsook their farms, accompanied by their non-white dependents. They left Cape Colony by fording the mighty Orange River, and a number of them then gathered in the vicinity of a mission station named Thaba Nchu, east of the present-day city of Bloemfontein. They were followed by more and more Afrikaners from along the frontier, and in early 1837 most of them pressed on from Thabu Nchu and began settling in country to the north, most notably at what was soon to become the town of Winburg.

  By mid-1837 approximately 5,000 Voortrekkers, as they have been known since the late 19th century (from voor, meaning ‘the one who goes in front’), had crossed the Orange, intent on founding a new homeland where they could be independent, hopefully enjoy access to ports beyond the British sphere of control and, if possible, live on peaceful terms with the blacks they encountered.

  One of the trekkers was Piet Retief, who although born near Cape Town in 1780, had become a respected eastern frontier farmer. He was a tall bearded man with a commanding presence, who had distinguished himself in the recent Kaffir War. Retief arrived at Winburg at the head of a trek party in April 1837 and was soon elected governor and chief commandant. Other migrants continued to appear at Winburg, notably Piet Uys, who had left Uitenhage in April.

  Like Retief, Uys found the trekker community weakened by quarrels and doubts, principally over the best course of action to take. Should they head north to the highveld (high open grasslands) beyond the Vaal River into what would become the province of the Transvaal, where they could settle and open up a trade route with Delagoa Bay? Or was it better to make for lush Natal? Retief favoured the latter option and set off to the southeast, followed by the other trekkers, although some of them, such as Hendrik Potgieter, leader of one of the parties, were in a begrudging mood. Matters came to a head in mid September when Potgieter and like-minded Voortrekkers finally decided to part company with their fellows, their hearts set on the Transvaal.

  Retief arrived at Durban (which was still generally referred to as Port Natal) on 19 October with a small party of men after crossing the Drakensberg. The majority of his followers were left west of the mountain range with orders not to cross until told otherwise. Retief spoke English fluently and received a generally friendly welcome from the British community that was anxious about its security and eager to see Voortrekkers settle in Natal, for relations with Dingane had worsened once again after further asylum had been offered to refugees. Defensive measures had therefore been taken in the preceding months, including the building of fortifications and the establishment of a militia.

  Retief, aware that it would be important to live on peaceful terms with Dingane, soon headed for uMgungundlovu accompanied by some of his men and a young member of the Durban community, Thomas Halstead, who spoke Zulu and was to act as interpreter. They arrived on 5 November and Dingane proceeded to entertain them, partly with martial displays by thousands of his warriors. Retief recalled later in the month that Dingane did not give him an audience on the subject of his mission until the third day after his arrival. On 8 November Dingane announced that he was ‘almost inclined’ to grant Retief land in Natal: however, Retief had to demonstrate his goodwill by recovering Zulu cattle that had been stolen by raiders.

  Retief agreed to do so and, after first returning to Durban, rejoined his followers on 27 November. He met them east of the Drakensberg for they had crossed the mountains and encamped around the headwaters of the Tugela and its tributaries. Then, in late December, he recrossed the Drakensberg with a commando and in early January 1838 seized the man he knew was responsible for stealing the livestock, Sikonyela, chief of the Mokotleng Tlokwa, whom he held until the cattle had been surrendered. He also compelled the Tlokwa to hand over their horses and guns.

  Upon arriving back at the Boer encampments, Retief rejected warnings from fellow trekkers against revisiting Dingane. He was thus advised to take only a couple of men, to minimise losses if Dingane acted treacherously. One of those who advocated such a course was a leading figure named Gert Maritz who, though pessimistic, boldly declared that he was prepared to take Retief’s place. But Retief remained adamant—he would go himself, partly because Dingane viewed him as the trekkers’ chief. He asked for volunteers to accompany him. Just how many did so is uncertain. For instance, some put the figure at 65 Boers and five coloureds, while others state that 66 Boers and 30 non-whites volunteered. Retief then set off to see Dingane from whom he expected to receive his reward, to use Leonard Thompson’s phrase, ‘the foundation deed for the Promised Land.’

  Retief and his companions arrived at uMgungundlovu on Saturday 3 February. With Dingane’s permission, the Boe
rs put on a display in the arena at the centre of the homestead, conducting mock charges against one another and making ‘the air resound with their guns.’ Dingane then asked Retief to hand over the guns and horses seized from the Tlokwa in the previous month’s raid, but Retief declined. According to Francis Owen, a missionary who had recently settled just outside uMgungundlovu, Dingane wished to establish a mounted force of gunmen comparable to a Boer commando.

  Dingane entertained his guests with massed singing and dancing, and among the participants were many warriors he had assembled at his capital. Then, on 4 February, he put his mark to a document drawn up by Retief which is claimed to have granted the Voortrekker and his countrymen ‘the place called Port Natal, together with all the land annexed, that is to say from [the Tugela] to the [Mzimvubu River] westward and from the Sea to the North, as far as the Land may be useful [and] in my possession.’ Further dancing and displays followed on the next day.

  On the morning of Tuesday 6 February, as Retief and his party were about to set off from their temporary encampment outside uMgungundlovu, Dingane invited them for a farewell drink. The Voortrekkers and the majority of their coloured dependents complied. They entered the royal homestead and, after being greeted by the king, sat down on mats and were served with milk and beer. As they drank, warriors encircled them, performing a war-dance with a slow forward and backward movement. The dancing became increasingly intense. Warriors moving closer and closer to Retief and his companions. Suddenly, Dingane shouted ‘Seize them!’, whereupon Retief and his terrified party were set upon. Dingane then cried Babulaleni abathakathi! (‘Kill the wizards!’) Some of the trekkers attempted to defend themselves with knives they had been allowed to bring with them (they had not been permitted to bring their guns), but it was hopeless. The hapless Retief and his colleagues were overpowered, unceremoniously hauled out of the homestead by groups of warriors, and their hands bound with thongs. They were then dragged down towards the Mkhumbane stream and up to a place of execution, kwaMatiwane (where the remains of previous victims lay scattered among the rocks and bushes), and where executioners now set to work once again. How Retief and his men died is uncertain. Oral tradition maintains that their necks were broken. But William Wood, a thirteen-year-old who witnessed the scene with Francis Owen, tells us that they were clubbed, with Retief being kept for last. Another source, who subsequently saw the bodies of the slain Boers, relates that some of them had been rectally impaled.

  Owen, who had been promised that Dingane meant him and his companions no harm, states that once the last of the seized men had been put to death, ‘the whole multitude’ of Zulus on the hill began returning to Dingane, who had stayed at uMgungundlovu, and that as they neared him ‘they set up a shout . . . which continued for some time.’ Shields and spears were then issued and the warriors began dancing jubilantly, praising their king and working themselves into an increasingly aggressive mood. At about midday they streamed out of uMgungundlovu, heading southwest and intent on further bloodshed. Their mission? To kill the other Voortrekkers who had crossed into Natal.

  Conflict between Zulu and Boer

  Sections of the impi struck isolated Boer encampments before midnight on 16 February. The surprised and terrified trekkers stood little chance. The Zulus were soon among their wagons. A few of the whites had time to fire one or two shots, or managed to escape, but for most there was only death. The easternmost Voortrekker encampments largely ceased to exist.

  Further west, as well as to the south on the upper reaches of tributaries flowing northward to the Tugela, groups of Boers were alerted by the sound of gunfire or were stirred to action when a breathless rider or two appeared, shouting warnings. Hence the men grabbed their muskets and prepared to make a stand: if sufficiently charged with powder, the muskets had a range of over 200 yards (though they were only really accurate at up to about 80 yards) and the average rate of fire was probably about two to three shots a minute. Consequently, the Zulus fared less well. Among the Boers attacked was the party of Gert Maritz, laagered beside the upper reaches of the Bushman’s River. Retief had left Maritz in command during his absence, and in previous days he had ridden from encampment to encampment warning the trekkers to go into laager in expectation of attack. Many had, to their cost, taken no heed whereas Maritz’s precautions had contributed to his party’s survival.

  Clashes occurred well into the daylight hours of 17 February. Sarel Cilliers, an Afrikaner in his late 30s, was to recall: ‘I shot that day until the muzzle of my gun was so hot that I became scared that the powder would explode as I put it in.’ By that evening the Zulus had suffered heavy losses during Boer counter-attacks and were in full retreat, but were driving off about 35,000 captured sheep and cattle. At first the Voortrekkers, tending to their wounded and bereaved, did not pursue. However, the next day Maritz set off towards the Tugela with a commando. Although most of the warriors and the bulk of the animals had already crossed, he nonetheless fell upon Zulus he encountered on the south side of the river and put them to flight before turning for home, having rounded up only a small fraction of the lost livestock.

  The Boers proceeded to gather at Retief’s laager at Doornkop, which had not been attacked, and assessed how many of the trekkers and their servants had perished, with emphasis placed on the exact number of Europeans killed. The death toll was 41 white men, 56 white women and 185 white children, with over 200 of their servants. The survivors, who inevitably feared the worst concerning Retief and his party, were in sombre mood, shocked, saddened, but perhaps above all, angry. Revenge was in the hearts and on the lips of many. Susanna Smit, the redoubtable sister of Gert Maritz, declared: ‘God will not leave [Dingane] unrecompensed nor will our men acquit him.’

  In March they were joined by commandos under Hendrik Potgieter and Piet Uys who had crossed the Drakensberg from the highveld to help wage war against Dingane. As the month drew to a close, successful overtures were made to the British at Durban (who were mourning the loss of one of their own number, Thomas Halstead, who had accompanied Retief to Dingane as interpreter) concerning the prospect of a twin-pronged invasion of Zululand.

  On 6 April a force of 347 mounted Boers under the command of Uys and Potgieter—who were not even on speaking terms—set out from Doornkop and soon divided in to two sections. They crossed the Tugela and pressed on, heading towards uMgungundlovu. On 11 April, in the vicinity of eThaleni Hill, they caught sight of a huge herd of cattle being driven between two hills down into a rocky basin containing deep dongas. They rode forward to round up the cattle. But the herd was part of an ambush laid by Nzobo, for on either hill was a Zulu force, while a third was stationed to cut off the Boers’ line of retreat. In all, there were several thousand warriors. Upon seeing the enemy, Uys engaged those on the northernmost hill who drew him towards the difficult ground of the basin.

  Potgieter, in contrast, led his men against the Zulus on the southern hill but, given the rough nature of the terrain, soon deemed it sensible to withdraw, whereupon the warriors charged down towards him and put his force to flight. The third Zulu division attempted to intercept his force but failed.

  On the other hand, Uys and his men soon found themselves being encircled and desperately began trying to fight their way clear. Eventually most of them managed to make good their escape but Uys was not one of them. Neither was his 14-year-old son Dirk who, seeing his father in trouble, turned back to die beside him.

  Later in the same month, Robert Biggar, Cane and John Stubbs led a force, mostly consisting of black levies, into Zululand from Durban in support of the trekkers. In March, Cane had led a successful raid into Zulu territory but history did not repeat itself—events unfolded according to a different script. On 17 April, after burning the large homestead of Ndondakusuka on the Zulu side of the Tugela and killing many of its inhabitants, the invading force was ambushed and virtually annihilated in a desperate struggle by a Zulu impi nominally led by Mpande, Dingane’s half
-brother. Biggar, Cane and Stubbs were among the dead.

  The survivors fell back on Durban where, as William Wood states, the European population decided ‘to make for themselves the best shift they could.’ They did so by taking sanctuary on a brig called the Comet which happened to be moored in the bay. Among them were American missionaries who had recently arrived in Dingane’s kingdom, and Francis Owen, who had fled Zululand despite assurances from Dingane that their lives were not in jeopardy.

  The whites evacuated Durban just in time, for on the following morning, 24 April, a Zulu force appeared and proceeded to sack the settlement. Abandoned homes were looted and exiles who had not fled were slaughtered. After several days, the Zulus began heading home and a few of the more daring, or foolhardy, Europeans on the Comet went ashore. The majority, however, set sail for Cape Town on 11 May. As Stephen Taylor comments: ‘Across the Zulu country, gun and gospel were in retreat.’

  But not, presumably, if the Boers who had remained in Natal could prevent it—some, under Potgieter, had decided to recross the Drakensberg bound for the highveld. The fate of Retief and his colleagues and the deaths of other trekkers were deeply etched on the minds of the surviving Afrikaners. The hearts of many were still aflame with righteous indignation and burning for revenge. But they were beset by difficulties. For one thing, the leaders could not agree on a plan for a punitive expedition. Frequent rain was another problem. In addition, with the exception of meat, supplies were running low. Matters were excacerbated when disease broke out: foot-and-mouth among the cattle, fever among the trekkers.

  In August, Dingane despatched an impi under Ndlela against the Voortrekkers, and it encountered a Boer laager of some 290 wagons at Gatsrand near the Bushman’s River. Early in the night of 12 August, after a day marked by rain and thunder, the encampment was startled by the sound of a gunshot. One of the lookouts had fired at what he thought was a spy. Nothing happened thereafter and peace resumed. Then on the morning of the 13th, native herdboys staggered into the camp, exclaiming that Zulus were approaching. The news caused little alarm. Previous reports had proved false. Nevertheless, a patrol was sent out to reconnoitre. Before long it was dashing back. Dingane’s warriors were at hand, having killed a Boer out tending sheep and an elderly female servant gathering firewood.