https://www.desmondlatham.com A series that seeks to tell the story of the South Africa in some depth. Presented by experienced broadcaster/podcaster Des Latham and updated weekly, the episodes will take a listener through the various epochs that have made up the story of South Africa. History en Mon, 11 Jan 2021 13:41:51 +0200 Sun, 26 Apr 2026 08:54:05 +0200 30 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss iono.fm 2.5.2.0 Desmond Latham no Des Latham Weekly feeds@iono.fm (Feed Manager) https://cdn.iono.fm/files/p2167/logo_6011_20250910_162321_1400.jpeg https://www.desmondlatham.com A series that seeks to tell the story of the South Africa in some depth. Desmond Latham episodic Desmond Latham desmondlatham@gmail.com false ZA https://iono.fm/e/1669912?v=1 https://iono.fm/e/1669912?v=1
Perhaps summer is the most dangerous time to be caught in a mountain storm, particularly in South Africa because there’s more moisture and freezing sleet and snow sweeps over the summit, overwhelming hikers in shorts and T-shirts.

During January and February 1881, the weather along the Natal escarpment near Volksrust and Majuba was characterized by high rainfall, frequent thunderstorms, thick mist, and cold nights. This period was at the height of the summer rainy season, creating wet, muddy conditions that significantly impacted military operations during the First Boer War.

The weather at times was bitter, just like the Boer sentiment. Laing’s Nek gravesite was desecrated in 1969 when Afrikaner Nationalists under cover of dark, blew up a large Cross that had been erected over the graves of Royal Navy sailors who’d perished during the Battle of Laing’s Nek in February 1881. Such was the depth of historical bitterness.

Memories run deep. The last known Boer of the First Anglo-Boer war, Jacob "Jaap" Coetzer died in the same year as the exploding cross — 1969 - showing just how long veterans of war can live amongst a population that has no clue about their past. A vet of the first Anglo-Boer War had lived to hear Beatles music. Coetzer was 15 year’s old when he joined Commandant Piet Joubert’s commandos in the area of Laings Nek, and was a survivor of the next major clash, Majuba. Not that Jaap Coetzer was in any way linked to the desecration.

Laing’s Nek lies on the N11, a quick 20 minute drive through this pass and you ascend from the rolling hills of KZN into the highground of Mpumalanga — or the Transvaal as it was in 1881.

In January 1881, the British force under Major General Sir George Pomeroy Colley moved off from Newcastle after his ultimatum to the Boers had been ignored.
Despite his intelligence and administrative competence, his battlefield record would reveal a critical weakness: a tendency to apply textbook European tactics in environments where they were increasingly obsolete.

The Boers, by contrast, were armed with modern Westley Richards breech-loading rifles and other similar breech-loading firearms, which allowed for faster and more accurate fire than the older muzzle-loading weapons that had shaped earlier British tactics. Many Boers were also skilled marksmen, accustomed to hunting and irregular warfare, and they fought from concealed positions—rocks, ridges, and scrub—rather than in formal lines. This combination of mobility, cover, and firepower was going to be devastating.

Colley led 1216 officers and men including five companies of the 58th Regiment, 5 companies of the 3rd Battalion of the 60th Rifles, 150 cavalrymen, a party of Royal Navy sailors with two 7 pound guns, and a mounted unit of Royal Artillery with four 9 pound guns. Major General Colley was determined to revenge the previous month’s debacle at Bronkhorstpruit.
The Boers setup four main laagers on the escarpment north east of Majuba. Their main camp was based at a point south of the Standerton Road, about 10 kilometers from Wakkerstroom. From here, flanking the two roads which approached from Newcastle, their patrols could ride out to watch the Buffalo River fords, as well as Laing’s Nek.

Colley had moved off from Newcastle on the 24th January, after two days of heavy rain held up his wagons. On the 25th they struggled across the Imbazane River, and on the 26th, crossed the Ingogo River. British patrols saw Boers moving on the pass, and on the evening of the 27th, noted that Laings Nek was occupied in force. More heavy rain fell that day, and a thick mist drifted across the landscape.
On the morning of the 28th, Colley led his force out of the laager. ]]> History Sun, 26 Apr 2026 08:53:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 272 - The Boers wring Major General Colley’s Column at Laing’s Nek 0 0 Des Latham full 19:56 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1667438 https://iono.fm/e/1667438
While Britain was dealing with a humiliating setback against the Boers, it was struggling to enforce authority in Basutoland—highlighting how imperial control was both stretched and inconsistent in southern Africa.

Following Basutoland's transformation into a British dominion on 12 March 1868, it became the target of rapid westernization efforts by the Cape Colony administration. By 1879, the Cape Parliament had extended the Peace Preservation Act to Basutoland, with the aim of disarming the people of the territory.

This did not go down well. Guns, like horses, were of immense significance in Basotho society. Most Basotho who worked on the Kimberley Diamond fields bought both muskets, and later rifles, as well as Boer ponies and other horses before making their way home. What was going on in the minds of the Cape Colony, and those in the imperial colonial office?

It is important for our story to understand global events of the time. For decades all of the European governments concerned with the coast of Africa, both east and west, had tacitly agreed not to allow the quarrels of their respective traders and officials to become occasions for empire. That was the theory.

The ministries in Paris and London wanted nothing more than to continue their gentleman’s agreement, although each suspected the other of wanting to break it. Napoleon the third had nourished a few sporadic projects for African expansion, but the catastrophe of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 had slowed them down. The French Third Republic pulled out of the Ivory Coast and was considering renouncing all options in Dahomey. It wanted to leave Gabon as well as the Congo.

But Senegal was another matter. The French colonial government in Daka had developed a local expansive programme derived mainly from the French army’s influence rather than pure economics. There were plans to build a major railway line to the upper Niger River which would link Senegal to Niger. The French rulers of Senegal were expanding eastwards as well as southwards, and had begun to encircle Gambia.

All of these moves in Africa must be recognized as part of our story here in South Africa.
Globally speaking, the main British nightmare was the Russian advance towards the Dardanelles, Turkey, Persia, India and China. So the British maintained a navy allied with Turkish armies in the near east to protect the Indian route through the Suez against the Russians.

London allied with the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II who ruled greater Turkey and his subordinate Khedive Ismail of Egypt. They were being schmoozed as reliable vassals who served Britain’s financial and imperial interests. Britain could avoid seizing territory directly which would be expensive and politically ruinous. No boots on the ground, just deploy the one-step away approach via their the navy it was thought.

The Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid ii however had been borrowing heavily from the English and even more from the French, while his revenues fell short of expenditure, and debt mounted so he raised land tax. Christians in Bosnia and Herzogovina revolted against Turkish rule, more loans defaulted, and the Sultan, and therefore the Turkish Ottomans, went bankrupt.
With that as the backdrop, let’s return to the Basutoland Gun War.

Tension had been growing for many years between the Basuto and the British. The southern corner of Basutoland was settled by the Baphuthi led by chief Moorosi who had been a tributary ruler of Moshoeshoe. In 1869 he had agreed, somewhat reluctantly, to merge his territory with British Basutoland. ]]> History Sun, 19 Apr 2026 09:51:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 271 - Basutoland Gun War, Gold Coast and Ottoman Empire 0 0 Des Latham full 22:23 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1665056 https://iono.fm/e/1665056
There is a direct link between what was going on in South Africa and in Ireland. These two territories, so far apart geographically, featured as joint threats in the English mind of the time. The most direct link is Gladstone himself. He had criticized the annexation of the Transvaal during his Midlothian Campaign, but once in power, he hesitated to reverse British policy, fearing a domino effect where weakness in Pretoria would lead to revolution in Dublin.

By 1880, the Irish Nationalists began to see the Boers not just as fellow farmers, but as fellow victims of British coercion. This Irish link flourished throughout the 19th and part of the 20th Century with Irish Nationalists fighting both for the Boers during the Second Anglo-Boer War.

The shift in Irish nationalist alignment was driven by a move from anti-imperial solidarity to human rights internationalism. Initially, the Irish supported the Boers as fellow "peasant-republicans" fighting the British Empire, but as the 20th century progressed, the Irish Republican movement increasingly identified with the ANC, viewing the struggle against Apartheid as a mirror to their own fight against institutionalized discrimination in Northern Ireland. By the height of the Cold War, the Irish Republican Army’s Marxist-leaning leadership saw the Afrikaner government as a pro-Western, colonialist proxy, leading them to provide tactical advice and training to Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) to help dismantle the very state they had once ideologically championed.
But at first, they were close allies in both spirit and in their political expression. The South African crisis which led to the first Boer War of 1880 and 1881, occurred because the British government claimed to be the paramount authority and trustee of South Africa, and the Boers rejected this claim.
Earlier, in 1878, Paul Kruger and Piet Joubert had sailed to London with a petition signed by over 6,500 Boers demanding the reversal of the Transvaal annexation. Sir Michael Hicks Beach had just taken over as Colonial Secretary from the more diplomatic and polite Lord Carnarvon. Hicks-Beach was nicknamed Black Michael, referring to his famously long, dark beard, his tall, thin, imposing frame, and his legendary dark temper. He was known for being abrasive, combative, and having very little patience for those who didn't respect British authority.
To the English, it seemed that South Africa was on the verge of becoming another Ireland, the inveterate hostility of whose people might only be held down at tremendous cost by main force. Gladstone and his cabinet grappled with one main question.

In both territories, Transvaal and Ireland, should a nationalist reaction be met with coercion, or concession? ]]> History Sun, 12 Apr 2026 09:43:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 270 - Kruger vs Black Michael and Courageous Women at the Battle of Bronkhorstspruit 0 0 Des Latham full 21:18 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1663089 https://iono.fm/e/1663089
Today, part of Limpopo Province bushveld contains private game parks with Bapedi and other African names — including Moya which has three meanings. It is used for wind, or breath, or the soul, roughly translated. It is something they say which cannot be seen, but can be heard. When a sick person wheezes, you know they’re alive, because you can hear their soul, it has not departed. At night, when there is stillness, and you pick up the faint sounds of someone speaking, and upon investigation you find noone, then you know it is the soul of a dead person.

Parts of your body are Moya, the lungs, blood, heart, liver, kidneys, and sex organs, your head and your hair. It is also these parts which are mostly associated with or susceptible to, disease. Your Moya is like your iris, or your fingerprint, there is noone else who has a copy of your Moya.

While humans cannot live without Moya, sometimes it can live without their seriti, your shadow and reflection but this is the supernatural representation. The Bapedi word for shadow and a reflection in water or a mirror is Moriti.

Your Seriti is created at birth, when you cast your first shadow. For extremely traditional Bapedi, it is bad manners to step on anothers shadow, or allow your shadow to fall on someone else. Traditional healers therefore won’t work at midday when the sun is directly overhead, because it is said, the spirits of the dead are sleeping.
Chief Sekhukhune of the Bapedi knew this when he built his fortress in a steep sided narrow valley south of the Olifants River at what was called his Stat.

While the British were focusing on the Zulu’s in 1879, Sekhukhune was sparring with other English authorities along the Olifants, and the towns of Lydenburg and Middelburg were reinforced. The Bapedi Chief wanted to expand his territory across the Steelpoort River and his raiding parties were bothering the Boers there. His position was further strengthened by a drought which meant British and Boer commandos could not take to the field, there wasn’t enough grass and water for their oxen and horses. The dreaded horse sickness had also broken out, further complicating the Transvaal Government’s plans.According to the blueprint for the Transvaal that had been devised by administrator Theophilos Shepstone and Cape Governor Sir Bartle Frere, the defeat of the Bapedi would be proof to the Boers of the British good faith. It would demonstrate that British rule was a blessing.

To their considerable astonishment, this act actually put the final nail in the coffin of confederation as the Cambridge History of South Africa puts it. Since the British took control of the Cape in 1805, their policy had been grounded in the belief that once the won allegiance of the Dutch and Huguenot settler population, peace and prosperity would be guaranteed. ]]> History Sun, 05 Apr 2026 10:25:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 269 - Bapedi Chief Sekhukhune’s Cruel Fate and the Afrikaner Paradox 0 0 Des Latham full 20:12 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1661033 https://iono.fm/e/1661033
There is an old Chinese saying, Yào xiàng fù, xiān xiū lù” If you want to get rich, first build a road.”

British engineers in the second half of the 19th Century recognized that they possessed an expertise that was in short supply elsewhere, and were prepared to travel abroard in large numbers in order to provide it. So it is with great fanfare and the blasting of many a bugle to announce that South Africa’s greatest road engineer was born in Graaff-Reinet.

The dramatic saga of how roads were built in South Africa is a forgotten story of plunging horses, wagons somersaulting, with dreamers armed with theodolites or sometimes, only their amazing capacity to estimate lines across tilted Cape Sandstones with their naked eyes.

Thomas Charles John Bain was one, who bequeathed the country with an impressive list of mountain passes and roads — and he made the single biggest contribution to these arteries which wind their way across the landscape.

Son of Andrew Geddes Bain, another born builder of roads, Thomas only took one month’s leave during 46 years of service at the Public Works Department. He married Johanna Hermina de Smidt in 1854. They had 13 children and enjoyed a long and happy marriage - apparently absence does make the heart grow fonderl. Just for the record, Johanna was the ninth child of Willem de Smidt, who was the Secretary of the Central Road Board. Keeping it in the family so to speak.

Hidden beneath Thomas’ stout hat and moustache, was an excellent judge of character, selecting foremen and overseers, to manage the mainly convict labour, motivating all to toil away for years inching along the side of cliffs and ledges.

Bain owned a Cape cart, a two-wheeled local invention, and he travelled between road, pass, bridge and drift construction sites that were hundreds of kilometers apart. Somehow, despite the time he spent away, he was a family man who’s favourite trick to stop a flood of youthful tears was by cutting a slice of watermelon.

Thomas and his father Andrew built 30 mountain passes and roads between them and perhaps the place where imagination leaps most is down through the tangled forest of Bloukrans Pass south of Plettenberg Bay. You can stand on the old Bain causeway, and look up at the vast marvel which is the Bloukrans Bridge famous these days for being the site of the world's highest commercial bridge bungee jump at 216 meters.

Some say Thomas Bain was a traveller who painted all those pictures, but that is a different Thomas Bain who was a gifted artist. Just to further confuse matters, Thomas Bain the road builder was also a prodigious artist. Perhaps that confusion is one reason why the engineer who was known by colleagues as the man with the theodolite eye, was to be almost forgotten for half a century. While his father Andrew was the giant of early infrastructure, Thomas went on to build 24 mountain passes, three major roads, and dozens of smaller routes.
He did all of this without modern explosives, he had no crushing or screening plants, no power drills, front-end loaders, bulldozers, graders, water tankers or cement mixes, no quarrying equipment, pile drivers and streamlined tarmac procedures. Then of course, neither did the men who did the real work.

What he had were the straining arms and muscles of convict and black labour — the other forgotten heroes of roadbuilding in the 19th Century. They have been pushed to the back of the heroes of history queue. The convict labour system formalized by John Montagu in 1844. ]]> History Sun, 29 Mar 2026 09:47:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 268 - The Theodolite and the Hardepad: Thomas Bain’s Silent Mountain Pass Artisans 0 0 Des Latham full 21:04 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1658670 https://iono.fm/e/1658670
He had lived in Natal for over 4 years before setting out from New Guelderland with six Zulu drivers and assistants, sixteen oxen, and a wagon loaded with woollen, baize and cotton blankets, picks, knives, saddles bridles and beads. Just to put his location into perspective, New Guelderland is a few kilometers north of KwaDukuza aka Stanger.

Cornelius Vijn’s destination — Zululand. This was a miscalculation because his journey began October 1879 on the eve of the Anglo-Zulu war. Tension had been rising for months, and most whites had fled the territory. Vijn was determined to go the other way. He sensed he could make some extra money without any competition from the other Natal Traders.

Vijn was 23 years and six months old. After being held up by rainy weather and a border check to make sure he wasn’t carrying guns, he crossed the Thukela on November 1st.
We know all of this because Cornelius’ journal was published by Bishop Colenso in 1880 — and you can find a copy online at the University of Cape Town archives.

It’s called Cetshwayo’s Dutchman, and what a fascinating read it is. His plan was to travel to meet King Cetshwayo kaMpande and sell him all the goods in the wagon in exchange for cattle.
The king had good reason to treat Vijn well, he needed someone who could function as a translator and letter writer because Cetshwayo would spend most of the coming months repeatedly sending emissaries to Lord Chelmsford, asking for negotiations.
In May, word arrived that the Boers were at Cetshwayo’s home, they were working together to defeat the English.

Later Cetshwayo was to tell Cornelius that
“No doubt the Boers are better than the English, for Mpande was setup as king by the Boers and died as King, whereas I, Cetshwayo, was crowned by the English and now my country is taken from me…” Following the British disaster at Isandlwana and the agonizingly slow progress of the second invasion of Zululand, the British government lost confidence in Lord Chelmsford’s strategic capabilities. In May 1879, Sir Garnet Wolseley was appointed as Supreme Commander in South Africa, effectively superseding Chelmsford.When word reached him deep in Zululand his reaction was one of desperate urgency rather than resignation. Knowing his reputation was on the line, Chelmsford took several decisive actions including what you may call a race for Ondini. ]]> History Sun, 22 Mar 2026 10:11:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 267 - Betrayal at the End: Mnyamana, Cetshwayo’s Dutchman, and the Crushing of the Zulu Kingdom 0 0 Des Latham full 21:56 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1655622 https://iono.fm/e/1655622
Albert Einstein was born at 11.30 in the morning on March 14, 1879 in Ulm. His birth was not without drama; his family initially worried about his development because the back of his head was unusually large, and his grandmother feared he would have delayed development based on the sound of his cry. 

His mother Pauline was deeply concerned when Albert didn't start talking until he was three. Then when he started speaking, he had a habit of repeating sentences to himself, which led the family maid to nickname him "Der Depperte" (the dopey one).

When Albert was five and sick in bed, his father Hermann gave him a magnetic compass. This invisible force fascinated Albert and is often cited as the spark for his lifelong obsession with physics.

A compass is what the British surveyors carried, so too did some Boers of the Wakkerstroom District. The area wasn’t as stable as British Army Lieutenant Colonel Evelyn Wood had supposed. Sure, the hyena of Phongola chief Mbilini — had been killed but the abaQulusi still lurked about their mountains undefeated.

While the British had gone about their war against the Zulu with some zeal in 1879, the Boers of the Transvaal were seething about their territory being summarily annexed by the Empire only two years earlier.

The Boers of Wakkerstroom, east of Volksrus, lived on a frontier and a ledge. The escarpment along this north eastern line intersects with places like Luneburg, Paulpietersburg, Bilanyoni with Swazi territory further towards the rising sun.

June mornings are cold — as cold as the relations between the Boers of Wakkerstroom and local Englishmen. Luneburg was a Lutheran mission station and on the 4th June, the pastor’s son Heinrich Filter was killed there along with six black border policemen. Large groups of Qulisi warriors swept back into the northern Zululand region, scooping up hundreds of cattle and other livestock.

So it was with fury that commander Chelmsford and Wood heard what was going on between the Boers and the Zulu along the Mkhondo River. The two nations were in league against their common imperial enemy. Zulu deputations had visited the bughers and some Boers had even travelled to go and see king Cetshwayo kaMpande. By June reports circulated the there were even more Boers than usual wintering along the border, below the icy escarpment amongst the Zulu imizi of the Phongola.

The fact that they were safe confirmed all suspicions that there was Zulu-Boer collusion. Suspicions were further confirmed when the British found out that the Boers were even acting as guides leading the Zulu impis in their June raids that had been so destructive.
Chelmsford had been putting together a potent column for his return to Zululand after he had relieved Eshowe, and in May he began a slow moving march to Ondini. Ranging in front of his force as it gathered close to Rorke’s Drift for the second major invasion, were his reconnaissance units, scouts and observers.

And one of these observers was the enthusiastic but reckless twenty three year-old Prince Imperial of France, Louis Napoleon. The last hope of the Bonapartist dynasty, serving on Chelmsford’s staff.

He was the only son of Emperor Napoleon the Third, great-nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte. In his first 14 years he had lived the pampered life of a monarch-in-waiting, but that changed in 1870 when his father was deposed after a string of defeats in the Franco-Prussian war. Louis fled to England with his mother Empress Eugenie. Queen Victoria gave them a warm welcome — in 1871 his father was released by the Prussians and joined Eugenie and Louis at a rented mansion in Chislehurst in Kent. A failed attempt to remove a gallstone killed the Emperor n 1873, and Louis ended up in the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. ]]> History Sun, 15 Mar 2026 09:08:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 266: The Wakkerstroom Boer-Zulu Alliance and the death of Prince Napoleon 0 0 Des Latham full 21:00 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1653368 https://iono.fm/e/1653368
There are ripples in the timeverse, all the way to now, because the latest empire has started a war that it cannot end. The infinite rule of war is do not start a war you cannot finish — British back in 1879 set off a whole host of pain for itself by invading Zululand because the Boers of the Transvaal were flexing.

First, however, was the small matter of trying to Crush the Zulu empire.

Not only had the British suffered sharp reverses at Hlobane and, most dramatically, at Isandlwana, but Lieutenant-Colonel Pearson’s column had now been shut up in Eshowe for nearly two months. At first the invasion had been greeted in Britain with confidence and patriotic support, yet that mood began to shift as the scale of the setbacks became clear and questions were asked about Lord Chelmsford’s conduct of the campaign. Confidence gave way to unease as news filtered home that the war was proving far more difficult than anyone had expected.

So it is to Eshowe we go.

At the end of March 1879 Zulu warriors were spotted hiking down the hills near the Eshowe garrison, heading towards Nyezane near Gingindlovu on the coastal flats. They were led by Somopho of the emaNgweni ikhanda, Cetshwayo’s chief armourer — and the army he led towards the Thukela was an interesting bunch.

They included 3000 Tsonga from St Lucia Bay, along with 1500 from the kwaGingindlovu ikhanda, joined by Dabulamanzi, Cetshwayo’s headstrong son who lived at eNtumeni near Eshowe and who commandedd 1000 men. There were 3000 men of the iNgobamakhosi, uNokhenke, the uMbonambi and uMcijo, joined by 1500 of the iNdluyengwe. Chief Sigcwelegcwele led these amabutho, along with Phalane kaMdinwa of the Mphukunyoni — Phalane was of royal blood and set an imposing figure amongst his troops.

He wore brass ornaments on his ankles and neck, and had grown his fingernails five centimeters long, they were apparently as white as ivory and gave him a dangerous cat-like appearance, he was tall, a Marvel Superhero of the Zulu.

This force of about 11 000 was in Lord Chelmsford’s way, and he was about to cross the Thukela River to relieve Pearson in Eshowe. Cetshwayo’s was aware that the English Zulu chief, had turned his coat, John Dunn who had initially fled Zululand, then tried to remain neutral, had now openly thrown in his lot with Chelmsford’s relief column. He had observed the British response to the defeat at Isandhlwana and realised that the Zulu could not win this war, nor even draw it.

Chelmsford’s response was to turn to John Dunn, and with him came something the British had lacked until then — a practical understanding of African warfare. Dunn encouraged constant forward reconnaissance, understood the rhythms and tactics of Zulu fighting, and insisted on the discipline of laagering, measures that addressed many of the army’s earlier weaknesses. He was placed in charge of 244 men and effectively made chief of intelligence — a somewhat unusual appointment. Until then such responsibilities had normally fallen to regular British officers. Dunn, however, was no officer of the Crown. What he brought instead were deep personal ties within the Zulu kingdom, along with a network of scouts and informants. In Chelmsford’s camp he would operate not only as an intelligence gatherer, but also as a crucial intermediary between the British command and the African world beyond their lines. ]]> History Sun, 08 Mar 2026 09:22:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 265 – John Dunn’s MI5 Connection, Gingindlovu, and the Relief of Eshowe 0 0 Des Latham full 18:23 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1651046?v=1 https://iono.fm/e/1651046?v=1
Wood’s column had retreated to the base at Khambula Garrison — along with the cavalry led by Redverse Buller after the thrashing they’d received at the Battle of Hlobane. You heard about that in episode 262.

Perhaps it made sense to wait, the British had already been reinforcing Kambula for weeks and the position that Evelyn held was strong. They had spent weeks digging elongated earthworks, a redoubt on a narrow ridge of tableland on the summit of Khambula. There were two guns here, and it was connected to the main wagon-laager which lay 20 meters below and 280 metres away by the four other guns placed at regular intervals. These were significant weapons.

The wheels of the wagons were lashed together, and each wagon-pole or tied tightly to the wagon ahead, sods of earth had been thrown up under the wagons to form ramparts, and bags of provisions run along the outside of the buckrails of the wagons with firing slits every few yards.

Below this defensive structure was another smaller laager of wagons, connected by a palisade — into which 2000 cattle were crammed. On the right side of both laagers lay a rocky ravine, no-one would be climbing up this access point and through which the stream of Selandlovu rushed. To the left, the ground sloped away more gently, and provided an excellent field of fire.

Wood had 2 086 officers and men, including eight companies of the 90th Light Infantry — and seven companies of the 1/13th Light infantry totaling 1240 troops. The mounted squadron included 99 from the Mounted Infantry, four troops of the Frontier light horse of 165 men, two troops of Raaff’s Transvaal Rangers, almost a hundred of Baker’s Horse, 40 more from the Kaffrarian Rifles, bolstered by a Mounted Basotho group of 74, they’d come all the way from Basotholand, from further south, joined by 16 men of the Border Horse, along with 41 Boers from a local northern Zululand commando.

58 black support troops were also camped at Kambula, along with 11 Royal Engineers, and 110 men of the number 11 Battery, Royal Artillery and their six 7 pounders.
This was a well balanced column, but still about ten percent the size of the nearby Zulu army. The British had a major advantage, they were defending a well constructed and armed with the latest weapons of war.

Unlike the other battles, the British had measured out range markers and setup stone cairns painted white. The Zulu would not be able to easily charge Khambula over the open ground, nor climb quickly enough in numbers to attack over the steep eastern edge.

Dawn broke on the 29th March 1879 and the Zulu commanders gathered their men. The youngsters demanded the army launch a straightforward charge up the slope to smash the English once and for all, but Chiefs Mnyamana and Ntshingwayo were smarter than that. Both had strict orders from Cetshwayo about tactics, and he’d made it clear there would be no more direct full frontal attack on well dug-in British camps.

Mnyamana was more of a diplomat than soldier, if you remember it had been Ntshingwayo who led the men in their victory at Isandhlwana, but Mnyamana was technically the senior commander - so it was he who formed the amabutho into their traditional circle.

As the sun lifted over the hills, mist coiled along the White Mfolozi, and thousands of Zulu warriors formed in their regiments on the riverbank. They stood shoulder to shoulder while their commanders strode before them, voices rising, calling them to courage and endurance. ]]> History Sun, 01 Mar 2026 09:56:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 264 - The Forgotten Battle of Khambula (1879): The Turning Point of the Anglo-Zulu War 0 0 Des Latham full 22:42 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1648619 https://iono.fm/e/1648619
There’s been so much skop skiet and Donner it’s time to reflect on matters further south west Before we buzz back to Zululand next episode.

n the Transvaal, resistance to British rule was slowly setting, like mortar hardening between stones, the scattered grievances of the Boers beginning to cohere into something firmer, more deliberate. Far to the west, Kimberley glittered with a different intensity - fortunes were rising from the dust, deals were struck in the heat and noise, and the great hole in the earth swallowed men and money alike. Yet beneath the clangour of picks and the shimmer of diamonds, another current was moving. For even as the town prospered, a sequence of personal tragedies was about to cast a longer shadow over Kimberley shaping not only its mood but the hardening temper of one of its most ambitious young men.

Cecil John Rhodes would endure a series of personal blows in the years ahead. These losses did not soften him. If anything, they seemed to harden an already melancholic temperament. One by one, the setbacks accumulated, and the young speculator who often appeared distant in manner would, in time, come to embody the ruthless vanity and moral ambiguity that marked the diamond fields and the empire they fed.

The string of tragedies began with his brother Herbert. It was he who had come to South Africa first and started the Cotton farm at Richmond near Pietermaritzburg. And It was he who had impulsively upped and off to Kimberley to look for diamonds. Once these had been unearthed and he’d convinced young Cecil to join him — he upped and off once more to the eastern Transvaal, where gold had been discovered. After a while he tired of that life and began gun running from Delagoa Bay to amaPedi people, then roved about into northern Mozambique and what is Malawi today. He hunted the next gold find everywhere he went, a mad Victorian searching for his personal treasure.
Cecil John Rhodes watched and took his own notes. He was already thirsting for power, and now he realised there were two routes. From Barney Barnato he learned the value of politics, and from JB Robinson he came to understand the uses of Journalism. Rhodes wanted something much bigger, and that was a seat in the Cape Parliament.

He ran for representative of a rural territory, Barklay West which was a mistake. When he appeared at a meeting one of the local boers told him off
“In the first place, you are too young, in the second, you look so damnably like an Englishman…”
Rhodes, unlike certain modern politicians, listened.
First stage of campaign complete, time for second stage. And here it may surprise many listeners, but he turned to black South Africans because at this time in our history, blacks could vote in the Cape.

All they had to do was show they had enough cash, the Cape qualified franchise. Every voter had to show either 25 pounds of land or more in value or prove they received at least 50 pounds a year in income.

After disbursing black workers with an unknown sum of money, 250 turned up to vote for Rhodes on election day and largely because of this support, he won. It is truly amazing that Cecil John Rhodes won his seat in the Cape Parliament because of black voters, and would go on to hold that seat in periods of triumph, disgrace and depression, until the day he died. ]]> History Sun, 22 Feb 2026 09:19:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 263 - How Black Voters Helped Elect Cecil Rhodes: Kimberley and the Cape Franchise, 1879 0 0 Des Latham full 19:38 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1645946 https://iono.fm/e/1645946
On the 22nd March two emissaries arrived at Middle Drift, a central crossing between Natal and Zululand, but Chelmsford had already laid out rules that any Zulu representatives should communicate directly with him. Captain Frank Cherry who was He commanding officer of the 3rd Regiment, Natal Native Contingent (NNC), was stationed at Middle Drift. His job was primarily defensive—guarding that specific crossing point against a potential Zulu counter-invasion of Natal. Alongside him, F.B. Fynney - the Border Agent for the Lower Tugela. Fynney was a crucial figure because he was one of the few British officials who was fluent in Zulu and understood the nuances of Zulu diplomacy.

The two messengers used their Christian names, Johannes and Klaas. They brought a message from King Cetshwayo that essentially said: "What have I done? I want peace. Let the fighting stop.”

They were frigidly received and sent back with a reminder about the terms of the ultimatum before war began.

The British were also fully aware that Cetshwayo had called a general muster of his army at oNdini, and believed the two messengers were actually spies. A day later, on the 23rd March, two other messengers arrived in Eshowe but Lieutenant Colonel Pearson ordered them to be clapped into irons — they were spies he said and could not be accorded the traditional sanctity they enjoyed at royal emissaries.

Not to be denied, Cetshwayo, who by now had been joined by his main army and he was pondering where to send them. Unfortunately for Colonel Evelyn Wood, the Zulu King decided they should attack his column.

After the largely inconsequential but shocking massacre at the Ntombe River we covered last episode, Colonel Wood was in a bit of a bind. He’d lost over 70 men on the 12th March. Still, he had something positive to report to Lord Chelmsford, Cetshwayo’s eldest brother prince Hamu had decided to switch sides and support the British.

Many of the men of his amaButho had fought the British at Isandlwana, and Wood promptly recruited these very same men into his column as irregular troops, despite the fact that their spears had been so recently washed by imperial British blood.

It is hard to explain how the military works to most people, but battles are not carried out with the hot headedness of hate. So when a soldier wants to swap sides, usually they are debriefed, given a quick training update, checked to ensure they’re not lunatics, and then given their new uniforms and weapons and signed on. They are very useful when it comes to intelligence gathering.

Chelmsford was over the moon about Hamu’s move, and believed what he called the “important event” would ‘spread doubt and distrust in Zululand’. Partly to alleviate the pressure on Pearson in Eshowe, and partly because he hoped to capitalise on Hamu’s arrival, Chelmsford gave Wood carte blanche to make an attack on the Zulu.

“If you are in a position to make any forward movement about the 27th March, so that the news may reach the neighbourhood of Eshowe about the 29th, I think it might have a good effect…”

A relief column was on it’s way from Natal and would soon cross the lower Thukela on its way to Eshowe. Perhaps some kind of victory to the north where Wood was operating would draw Zulu amabutho away.

Wood was nothing if not a quick operator. A few days after receiving the order, on the 28th March, he launched a two-pronged attack on the abaQulusi stronghold of Hlobane Mountain. It was risky, not only did he have no idea of how many Zulu warriors faced him, he also had no idea about what lay in store on the summit. ]]> History Sat, 14 Feb 2026 20:01:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 262 - The Battle of Hlobane – Cowardice, Confusion and the Reckoning at Devil’s Pass 0 0 Des Latham full 24:15 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1643608 https://iono.fm/e/1643608
The German village of Luneberg was vulnerable, within striking distance of Mbilini, who was Cetshwayo’s loose canon along the Phongola River, and Manyanyoba who hailed from the Ntombe Valley. Although Manyonyoba had seemed prepared to open negotiations with the British, he was overborne by his chief induna who wanted to intensify the raiding. Once convinced he should support king Cetshwayo’s call for war, Manyonyoba led a powerful force to join Mbilini and Qulusi induna Tola kaDilikana who had made his way east from Hlobane.

Their target was the 1500 or so Christianised black workers, the amakholwa of the Ntombe Valley. They killed 41 amakholwa, burned their homes down and drove off hundreds of cattle.
In retaliation, British troops were sent to garrison Luneberg and four companies of the 80th Regiment were dispatched there under Major Charles Tucker. Redverse Buller joined them from Khambula further west, leading a force of 54 mounted men and 517 black auxiliaries against Manyonyoba’s caves. 34 Zulu were killed, five imizi were burned down and 375 head of cattle, 254 goats and 8 sheep captured for the loss of two black auxiliaries - but Manyonyoba remained at large, his main force unaffected.
Late in February a convoy of 18 wagons loaded with ammunition, flour and mealies left Lydenburg to resupply the garrison. At first things went well, but when they arrived at the border with Transvaal, their route was less secure — particularly as they approached the Ntombe River because Mbilini was operating close by.

Tucker sent a company of the 80th to escort the wagon train from Derby — but heavy rainfall swelled the rivers and softened the ground. By March 8th the convoy was still 16 kilometres out from Luneberg. Fearing an attack, Tucker sent a message to the company commander to get into Luneberg that night ‘at any cost’ — but the officer took the message literally and abandoned his wagons.
The British were riding their luck, and that lady was about to run out. The Zulu were monitoring all this movement and Mbilini realised his relatively large amabutho was powerful enough to smash this small company of British soldiers. Cetshwayo knew that important rule - keep your friends close but your enemies closer — at the outbreak of war he had ordered Hamu to oNdini where he could be kept under close scrutiny. But Hamu communicated with his chief izinduna Ngwegwana and Nymubana back in his district who exchanged secret messages with Colonel Wood in turn. ]]> History Sun, 08 Feb 2026 09:40:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 261 - Zulu War: Ntombe River Massacre & Prince Hamu’s Defection 0 0 Des Latham full 20:44 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1641150 https://iono.fm/e/1641150
The primary transport machines on land before railways were ox-wagons and horse-drawn vehicles. The ox-wagon was the backbone of overland transport. It carried heavy goods — from wool bales and foodstuffs to mining equipment — over long distances and difficult terrain. Transport riders, both European and African, led these wagons into the interior, resting at outspans before continuing. Their significance was such that even towns and trails were defined by their routes. Before the age of railways, South African towns grew up along the overland routes forged by ox-wagons, horses and people on foot, and the rhythms of travel on those routes had a profound influence on where settlements were established and how they were spaced. In an era when roads were not engineered highways but repeated trails across the veld, the limits of what an ox-wagon team or a horse-mounted traveller could cover in a day shaped the practical distances between reliable stopping places, watering spots and supply points — and ultimately played a role in the birth and growth of towns.
The first public railway service in South Africa marked a dramatic shift in land transport. The Natal Railway Companyopened a small line in June 1860, linking Point (Durban) to Market Square using steam traction — this was the earliest operational stretch of railway in the country. Its first locomotive, “The Natal,” carried goods and passengers, representing a novel machine in the South African transport system and signaling a move away from animal-powered haulage.
So after that sojourn through the wonderful world of 1879, we return to Zululand.

Lord Chelmsford was in a pickle. He had initially blamed the disaster at Isandlwana on his 2 IC Pulleine, and Durnford but by February, a few weeks after the battle, the general inclination of the Horse Guards back home was to point the finger at Chelmsford instead. In the British parliament, conservative prime minister Disraeli was struggling to spin a way out after the terrible news from South Africa,
“It is a military disaster,” he said in the House of Lords on 13th February “…a terrible military disaster, but I think we may say it is no more…” ]]> History Fri, 30 Jan 2026 08:30:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 260 - Touring South Africa pre-1880, the Tangled Tale of Woolworths and Disraeli Gears 0 0 Des Latham full 19:40 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1641149 https://iono.fm/e/1641149
The primary transport machines on land before railways were ox-wagons and horse-drawn vehicles. The ox-wagon was the backbone of overland transport. It carried heavy goods — from wool bales and foodstuffs to mining equipment — over long distances and difficult terrain. Transport riders, both European and African, led these wagons into the interior, resting at outspans before continuing. Their significance was such that even towns and trails were defined by their routes. Before the age of railways, South African towns grew up along the overland routes forged by ox-wagons, horses and people on foot, and the rhythms of travel on those routes had a profound influence on where settlements were established and how they were spaced. In an era when roads were not engineered highways but repeated trails across the veld, the limits of what an ox-wagon team or a horse-mounted traveller could cover in a day shaped the practical distances between reliable stopping places, watering spots and supply points — and ultimately played a role in the birth and growth of towns.

Drawn by spans of oxen, often 8–18 animals harnessed in long teams — these wagons carried goods, families and traders across great distances. Their average pace was slow by modern standards, typically around twenty kilometres per day under good conditions, depending on terrain, weather and the condition of the animals. This daily range was often the practical maximum that wagon drivers would plan for, and that distance became a natural unit for planning journeys, locating inns or out-span grazing grounds, and later for settlements that would service trafficked routes.

Because of these constraints, towns tended to appear at intervals that corresponded roughly with a day’s travel by ox-wagon or horse — places where travellers could rest, water animals, resupply or trade. These stopping points, sometimes initially little more than a watering hole or crossing on a drift, acquired markets, services and sometimes a church or administrative function as traffic increased and the surrounding countryside was settled. Over time, these logical halting-places evolved into permanent towns serving an increasingly local and itinerant population.
The first public railway service in South Africa marked a dramatic shift in land transport. The Natal Railway Companyopened a small line in June 1860, linking Point (Durban) to Market Square using steam traction — this was the earliest operational stretch of railway in the country. Its first locomotive, “The Natal,” carried goods and passengers, representing a novel machine in the South African transport system and signaling a move away from animal-powered haulage.

Almost simultaneously, railway construction began in the Cape Colony. In 1858–1862, the Cape Town Railway and Dock Company built the line from Cape Town to Wellington, opening sections to Eerste River and then Stellenbosch by the early 1860s. These early lines employed steam locomotives and rudimentary rolling stock (passenger coaches and goods wagons) — the “iron horse” replacing oxen and horses over these corridors.
In 1931, South African entrepreneur Max Sonnenberg opened his first store in Cape Town chosing the name "Woolworths" specifically because the American F.W. Woolworth brand was already a global symbol of retail success. ]]> History Fri, 30 Jan 2026 08:00:00 +0200 0 0 -DELETED- Episode 260 - Touring South Africa pre-1880, How Woolworths started and Rowlands Folly 0 0 Des Latham full 19:40 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1638530 https://iono.fm/e/1638530
For missionary Otto Witt it was a time of particular terror. He had fled his mission station, Rorke’s Drift, and now it was smashed to bits, the house which had doubled up as a hospital burned to the ground, the main warehouse which had been his church, broken, bloody.

Witt had fled the day before and sought out his wife and children who he’d sent on to Msinga once it became apparent the British were going to invade Zululand. Witt had lost his way up the Biggarsberg escarpment on the terrifying night of the 22nd January, and staggered into the Gordon Memorial Mission at Msinga the next morning - but his wife Elin and their 3 young children had already left. He didn’t know this — merely that she wasn’t there.

Elin had been told by refugees streaming away from Isandlwana that Otto had been killed at Rorke’s Drift. So both believed the other dead. The family spent five days believing they were widows and orphans. The confusion was only cleared up when Witt finally tracked Erin’s wagon trail to Pietermaritzburg where the family was reunited, exhausted and traumatized, but physically unharmed.

In Newcastle, Maud Bradstreet had just assisted her friend, Mrs. Hitchcock, in delivering a baby girl named Georgina. Their joy was short-lived, however, as news arrived that the Newcastle Mounted Rifles had been decimated at Isandlwana—both of their husbands were among the dead. The two women set out for the Orange Free State, a grueling week-long journey by horse and cart, surviving on very little including water strained through a mealie bag. This was the raw reality for the survivors - later in the episode we’ll hear from the Zulu.

On the morning of January 23rd, a messenger reached Helpmekaar with a brief note from Lieutenant Chard Rorke’s Drift commander Defying the grim expectations of the men at the camp, they had miraculously held their ground through the night.

Back at Isandlwana, Chelmsford had awoken his men and rode away from the scene of carnage before dawn, one of the men had found the mangled body of Lieutenant Colonel Pulleine, Isandlwana’s commanding officer, then the column passed down Manzimyama Valley. They moved past homesteads that had been abandoned only a day prior, but now the inhabitants were creeping back. Through the doorway of a single hut, they saw an Inyanga tending to amaQungebeni warriors who had likely fought at Isandlwana. The tension snapped; soldiers of the Natal Native Contingent opened fire and killed a man before order could be restored.
A seething anger swirled through the British column, Trooper Fred Jones, one of the survivors of the Newcastle Mounted Rifles was not in a forgiving mood.

“We saw red…” he admitted “
Exhausted and broken, the warriors shuffled forward, dragging their shields in the dust. The uThulwana were stunned—they thought no British soldiers were left alive after Isandlwana. For a long, tense moment, the two forces stared at one another across a distance easily covered by a bullet. Yet, neither side pulled a trigger. It was, as historian Ian Knight notes, a surreal conclusion to an extraordinary 48 hours: two armies, both feeling the weight of defeat, watching each other move silently into the distance.

King Cetshwayo kaMpande did not get an accurate version of events at Rorke’s Drift at first. Back at oNdini, Dabulamanzi reported that he had stormed and successfully taken the house… attacked again then retired…but admitted that he had suffered heavily …”

It was to take another ten days before the warriors returned to oNdini and had been ritually cleansed .. only then did Cetshwayo address them in his huge cattle kraal.
“If you think you have finished with all the white men you are wrong, because they are still coming…” he warned. ]]> History Sat, 24 Jan 2026 22:40:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 259 - After Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift: Ghost Armies and a Unique Truce During a Savage War 0 0 Des Latham full 21:53 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1636019 https://iono.fm/e/1636019
There were around 330 British and Natal Native Contingement troops marooned at Rorke’s Drift, about to be attacked by 4000 Zulu warriors. Approaching rapidly, the reserve amabutho of the Zulu army, led by Prince Dabulamanzi - a man who was driven by pride and personal valor — loyal to his king and brave, yet impulsive compared with Cetshwayo kaMpande’s politics of restraint.

Dabulamanzi’s name means the one who conquers waters, and most apt because he had decided to lead the warriors across the Mzinyathi River into Natal. A literal crossing and a metaphorical defiance. Zulu oral tradition refers to this battle as Shiyane by the way, or kwaJimu, Jims land after Jim Rorke who build the trading store.

It was 4pm, January 22nd 1879. The barricades were still going up the drift, the sacks of mielies, the boxes of bully beef and biscuits, when Lieutenant Henderson and Hlubi Molife of the baTlokoa Native contingent rode up with 80 of their men. Lieutenant John Chard of the Royal Engineers who commanded the post realised they’d managed to make their own way across the Mzinyathi pontoon, and he asked the horsemen to reccie up the river beyond Shiyane mountain. If you remember, that was the high point immediately behind Rorke’s Drifts two buildings, the house slash hospital, and the trading store, slash church, slash commissariat. Henderson offered to help defend the supply depot - a hollow offer as you’ll hear shortly.
Chard had been operating blindly since his observers had scurried back down the Shiyane after they realised three groups of Zulu regiments were approaching. Henderson took his mounted unit around the southern flank of the Shiyane where they could observe the territory from higher ground.
Moments later scattered shots were heard, and Henderson and his unit galloped up and he shouted

“Here they come, as black as hell and as thick as grass…”

Henderson and another rider, Bob Hall, lingered for some moments beyond the orchard in front of Rorke’s Drift, firing a few shots to the north, then turned and galloped away. They had survived Isandlwana and could not stomach further action.
Chard was going to bump into these two later during the Anglo-Zulu war and they would apologize for fleeing and leaving the small group of defenders to fend for themselves.
Watching from within the wall of boxes and bags were the Natal Native Contingent, and their commanders. Stevenson’s men flung down the sacks they were using to construct the walls, and bolted through the barricades, following Henderson. Their white officers ran away as well, along with their NCOs, including Corporal Anderson.

He was a Scandinavian who spoke very little English, and the sight of the men of the NNC he commanded running away, along with their supposed officers, panicked him and he ran off. Soldiers of Bravo Company left behind were enraged, several opened fire on the cowards fleeing the scene. Corporal Anderson was shot through the back of the head - killed instantly.

It was another irony of South African history right there. The first man on the British side to die at Rorke’s Drift was shot by his own side. ]]> History Sun, 18 Jan 2026 03:16:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 258 - Rorke’s Drift, Part Two: Dabulamanzi’s Gamble and Chard’s Night of Horrors 0 0 Des Latham full 21:47 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1633683 https://iono.fm/e/1633683
The British had been routed at Isandlwana by the main Zulu army, regiments who’s names are still venerated by oral historians today, the uKhandempemvu, uNokhenke, uDududu, iMbube, iSanqu, the uMbonambi, iNgobamakhosi. The men of the uThulwana, iNdlondlo, iNluyengwe, uDloko amabitho had headed northwest during the battle to cut off Chelmsford’s escape route while the main army went to work evicerating Durnford’s men.

The commanders of the main army, Ntswingwayo kaMahole and Mavumengwana kaNdlela turned back to oNdini - realising that they had both good and bad news. The good news - Chelmsford’s central column had been crushed at Isandlwana, the bad news - it had cost the Zulu main army dearly perhaps as many as 2000 warriors - along with number of his most venerated indunas and isinkhosi.

But things were not over in this corner of the British empire, because the reserve amabutho were itching to wash their spears. They had chased Isandlwana fugitives to the Mzinyathi, spearing them and shooting them down, and now the uTHulwana, iNdlondlo, iNdluyengwe and uDloko were going to ignore Cetshwayo’s orders and cross the river into Natal.

The Zulu king had spelled out his orders and stipulated in no uncertain terms that his men were to stay on the Zululand side of the border. He believed that when it came to negotiate peace, the fact that his men had not crossed the border would be in the Zulu’s favour. The Natal settlers and British bureaucrats had instigated this war out of fear of Zulu power. Cetshwayo understood that if he could demonstrate the Zulu Empire posed no real threat to British interests or colonial settlements, he might yet avoid total destruction. He grasped what many generals forget: war is fundamentally a political instrument. By confining all combat to Zulu territory—never crossing into British-held land—he could preserve the moral high ground. When the inevitable negotiations came, this restraint would be his strongest card, proof that the Zulus sought only to defend their sovereignty, not to conquer.
It was this reserve force of between 3000 and 4000 men who were to throw a spanner in the works. They were on the move in three separate contingents, with the younger men from the iNdluyengwe in the lead, marching in open order in advance of the others. They pursued the fugitives across Sothondose’s Drift, now renamed Fugitive’s drift. The other two contingents began a few pre-battle moves, first dividing, then wheeling about, then reforming, an impressive display of commander control.Cetshwayo’s aggressive half-brother Prince Dabulamanzi was in command of these reserve units. This was a break from decorum, because Dabulamanzi was not actually a general in Cetshwayo’s army appointed by the king, but his royal status meant he dominated proceedings. The other offices of the reserve deferred decision-making to him, despite their disquiet which would grow to alarm later in our story today.

Dabulamanzi was another of our interesting characters of South African history. He was notoriously unscrupulous, but quick of mind and flashing of eye, always taking great care in grooming his moustache and pointy beard. Settlers who knew him called him sophisticated, he dressed in fine European clothes, loved a gin and tonic, and was an extremely good shot with a rifle. Had he not been Zulu, you would have called him an excellent example of a well-rounded English rogue of the Victorian era.
Prince Dabulamanzi wanted to give the men a victory - they could hardly return home and become the laughing stock of the nation. Zibhebhu’s incapacitation provided him with a perfect moment. Later it was spun that this smallish group of reserve amabutho were actually on their way to Pietermarizburg and it was only the plucky Rorke’s Drift defenders who stood in their way. ]]> History Sun, 11 Jan 2026 09:24:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 257 - Rorke’s Drift Part I: Defiance, Disobedience and the Aftermath of Isandlwana 0 0 Des Latham full 20:37 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1631783 https://iono.fm/e/1631783
IT was about 7pm. Black signalled the main force to advance, and Captain Harford who marched up with the 2/3rd NNC noticed the grass had been trampled flat and smooth by the size of the Zulu army. Soon they began to stumble as they tripped over bodies and Harford admitted later

“… nothing on earth could make those who were armed with rifles to keep their place in the front rank, and all the curses showered on them by their offices could not prevent them from closing in and making up in clumps…”

The darkness spared the soldiers the magnitude of the disaster but not the details … Captain Penn Symons reported later that they constantly stumbled over the

“Naked, gashed and ghastly bodies of our late comrades….”

The Zulu opened up the bowels of the dead to allow the soul to depart, but to the English eye, this was an act of desecration of a body.

“After killing them,” said Kumpega Qwabe, one of the warriors later “we used to split them up the stomach so that their bodies would not swell.”

Zulu traditional belief recognized the frustration of gases produced by a decomposing body as a spirit of the man unable to leave its earthly form. If the killer did not open the stomach, the spirit’s wrath would attach to him and he would suffer all manner of misfortunes, his own body might swell like a corpse, and he would be driven mad.
Chelmsford visited Harford and his NNC during the night, and asked if they thought the Zulus would attack again. Harford said yes, he could not know that the Main Zulu army was exhausted, they had also taken terrible casualties and were in no mood to continue battling the British. As I mentioned last episode, some warriors left immediately, most remained in the area for three days waiting for as many of their wounded as possible to recover sufficiently for the march over 100 kilometers back to their homes.

Chelmsford had made up his mind to abandon the camp before dawn the next morning and later he would be condemned for not staying long enough to buy the dead and salvage what he could from the wrecked camp.

What critics would gloss over was the fact that his army was in a terrible shape. They had no spare ammunition, all had been seized by the Zulu, the main depot was Rorke’s Drift. They had no food, only a few biscuits. Some of his men had not eaten for 48 hours, all had marched more than 40 kilometers in 24 hours, none were in any state for any sort of exertion.
The smell’s of war are always the most visceral, and the most telling. The sights, the sounds are tough to bear, but it’s the smell’s that get you. That night, as his column of 1700 24th Battalion survivors, Natal Native Contingent and colonial mounted troops bivouacked, the odour of death and destruction seeped into their consciousness.
During the night, British and Zulu warriors had come across each other, bumped into each other — some drunken Zulu on one of the wagons had been bayoneted, too motherless to escape. The soldiers from both sides exchanged words — cursing each other in a language neither could understand but the meaning was inescapable. ]]> History Sun, 04 Jan 2026 08:40:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 256 - The Lightning of Heaven Release Spirits as Rorke’s Drift Comes into Play 0 0 Des Latham full 24:37 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1631048 https://iono.fm/e/1631048 The effect of the fusillade on the Zulu warriors was instantaneous. Their discipline, shattered. Huddled in silence for hours they had been informed that the day of the attack would come on Thursday 23rd January, because the 22nd was the first day of the new moon - the day of the dead moon — the unmyuama or blackness when dark spiritual forces lurked close to the fragile membrane which separated the living and the dead.
None of the warriors had been prepared for battle through the customary rituals, they had not been drawn up on a circle and sprinkled with medicines to ward off the unmyama, nor had they been addressed by their commanders. Thus no orders were given to attack on the 22nd — and despite the fear of unmyama, Ntshingwayo kaMahole Khoza’s men responded to a perfect moment.
The uMcijo regiment broke ranks, joined by the uNokhenke, uDududu, iSanqu and imbibe who stood up and moved off at a rapid pace towards the Nyoni Heights, along with the umBonambi, iNgobamakosi and uVe. Their commanders, Ntshingwayo and Mavumengwana kaNdlela Ntuli tried to intercept these warriors, but they failed. Other regiments like the uTHulwana, iNdluyengwe, iNdlondlo and uDloko which had bivouacked further downstream in the Ngwebeni valley on the Zulu left remained seated. But the moment was too much for one of the more fiery induna’s of the uThulwana, Qethuka kaManqondo — the son of the Magwaza chief — he also broke away, sprinting after the uMcijo.
The Zulu commanders worked quickly to settle the rest of the army - and pulled the remaining warriors into battle order, then marched off well behind those who had broken ranks. They used a depression behind the Nyoni heights to obscure their movements from the British down at Isandlwana. Remarkably, the Zulu left had now become the Zulu right, the Right were now in the centre, and the centre had been pushed to the left.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Durnford’s mounted reconnaissance patrol were beating a hasty retreat to Isandlwana. His sortie had always been ill-considered. If you recall last episode, Lord Chelmsford had ordered him to shore up the Isandlwana defenses, instead, he’d arrived on the morning of the 22nd and taken off in pursuit of some glory determined to throw himself and his men into the thick of fighting.
Back at the British camp, Lieutenant Colonel Pulleine was informed just after midday that the Zulu army was on it’s way, Theophilus Shepstone junior relayed the information. Even today, there are acoustic peculiarities of the countryside around iSandlwana which can possibly be explained by the sharp hills and the rolling broken countryside. Sounds appear to bounce off the hills, echoing oddly, seemingly arriving in unexpected directions. During many re-enactments of the battle there, rifle volleys snap back and forth, providing almost no clue about the direction of fire. The sounds of these initial skirmishes merely confused those at Isandlwana. Reports were being fed back from the vedettes, the mounted scouts on the hills, including those high up on Isandlwana itself.
“The enemy are in three columns” was one … another “The enemy are in force behind the hills on the left..” And then “the enemy are retiring in every direction…” It was one just before midday that was spot on .. but by then the flood of half accurate reports drowned it out. ]]> History Sun, 28 Dec 2025 09:10:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 255 - A Partial Eclipse of the Sun Spreads a Dark Veil Over Bloody Isandlwana 0 0 Des Latham full 27:25 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1630421 https://iono.fm/e/1630421 At the coast, Colonel Charles Pearson’s Column No. 1 represented the textbook invasion. His force was a heavy, industrial machine led by the 3rd Foot regiment, the Buffs, along with the 99th Regiment, and the Naval Brigade dragging their heavy Gatling guns and artillery. By 5:00 AM, the 5000 strong column was already a dusty serpent stretching more than 8 kilometers back toward the Tugela River.
Pearson’s scouts were a mix of the Natal Native Contingent and European volunteers who pushed through the tall grass toward the Nyezane River. They were being observed on Wombane mountain by the uDududu, iMbube, and isigQu regiments - 6,000 warriors under the command of Godide kaNdlela. Wombande mountain lay on the wagon trail between Gingingdlovu on the coastal flats, and Eshowe where Pearson was hoping to setup a main base at the abandoned Norwegian mission station before pushing on to ONdini and Cetshwayo’s HQ.
The Zulu plan was traditional, await in complete stillness on the high-ground then sweep in for a surprise ambush. Pearson’s advance guard crossed the Nyezane River and crossed over at 7.30am. Thick bush grew all around, the cavalry was reconnoitering and saw nothing. Vedettes, or mounted guards, were placed to keep an eye out for the Zulu army. Pearson’s main party reached the knoll selected for the first stop at around 8am, and the men began to outspan their oxen for a late breakfast. As the laager was being formed up, a party of the Natal Native Contingent who scouted ahead attracted fire from Zulu snipers.
The latest Zulu tactic which would also be repeated at Isandlwana, Rorke’s Drift, and as Evelyn Wood would report later from Hlobane mountain - a combination of heavy fire from high ground in support of a surging attack by warriors on foot. The road was a now completely commanded by Godide, along with the all important high ground and as his snipers fired non-stop, the Zulu horns swept towards the exposed British column.
Naval officer Midshipman Lewis Coker had the honor of commanding the first Gatling gun to be used in combat by British troops. Pearson recognized the value of this machine gun and he ordered Coker to take up a position opposite the advancing Zulu. Coker fired off 300 rounds, and the Zulu attack shuddered and halted — then the sound of the rockets fiendishly shrieking led to a general withdrawal. Hart continued advancing on the retreating Zulu when one of the older warriors, his oiled head ring glistening in the morning sun, stopped and turned, fell to one knee in a classic rifleman’s position, took careful aim and fired — but missed. Then he bolted away. Hart noted the conventional approach this older warrior had taken. He’d been trained in the finer arts of fire and movement.
200 kilometers to the north of Pearson near the modern town of Vryheid, Colonel Evelyn Wood who led the left column of the British triple column invasion, was preparing for his morning assault atop the Zungwini Mountain. Wood was by far the most experienced and therefore pragmatic of the British commanders. He had the good fortune of commanding "Flying Column," the vast majority of his men were mounted. The force was centered on the 13th and 90th Light Infantry and the formidable Frontier Light Horse under Redvers Buller.
It was in the centre of the three pronged British attack where the day of skop, skiet and donner would change history. This was at the foot of the Sphinx-like crag of Isandlwana where Chelmsford’s Second Column hunkered down. ]]> History Sun, 21 Dec 2025 09:42:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 254 - Skop, Skiet and Donner on the Day of the Dead Moon 0 0 Des Latham full 21:18 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1628495 https://iono.fm/e/1628495
Three separate British columns are inside Zululand and things are hotting up — and not just because of the steamy summer temperatures.

In the last few episodes I’ve concentrated on General Chelmsford’ and Colonel Glynn’s operations in the centre, second Column, as they made their way over the Mzinyathi River across from Rorke’s Drift - the centre of the British Invasion of Zululand. This episode we’ll wrap up what was going on in other sectors, further south near the coast, and further north near the Ncome - Blood River, and along the high ground there towards the Phongola River.

The First column under Colonel Charles Pearson had entered Zululand across the lower Thukela on the 12th January and was lumbering towards Eshowe, en route to meet up with Chelmsford’s Column Two near Ondini prior to the final assault on King Cetshwayo kaMpande’s headquarters.

When the main Zulu army had set off from the ritual jumping off point of kwaNodwengu near Ondini on the afternoon of Friday 17th January 1879 destination, Rorkes Drift, a smaller Zulu force marched off simultaneously. They went in the opposite direction, south west — heading to intercept Colonel Pearson. The uMxhapho ibutho, who were young and motivated, along with the older men of the uDlambedlu and izinGulubu regiments. During the march south towards the Thukela they would meet up with reinforcements. These were small local groups, the iNsukamngeni, the iQwa, uDududu, iNdabkawombe and few other even smaller entities mustered along the coast. The total size of this force was about 6000 led by seventy year-old isikhulu Godide, chief of the Ntuli —and commander of the uDlambedlu regiment. He was also the elder brother of Mavumengwana who as you know, was second in command of the main Zulu army marching towards Chelmsford.
Alongside Godide were high ranking coastal chiefs Mantshiya kaMshandu of the Nzuzu, and the older Mbilwane kaMhlanganiso who was induna of the kwaGingingdlovu ikhanda.
Other important commanders who joined were Masegwane kaSopigwasi — who happened to be an inceku or counsellor of the king. Phalane, a royal induna, was monitoring events in this second army.

Colonel Charles Pearson’s Number one column included 4 750 men 384 wagons and 24 carts. Pearson not been in action since the Crimean War ended in 1856, spending time in St George Grenada, then various other postings until he was selected as one of the special service officers in South Africa. Despite his lack of recent combat experience, Pearson had the difficult task of leading the largest column over the greatest distance. He was ordered to cross the lower drift of the Thukela, then establish a base at the evacuated Norwegian mission station in Eshowe 60 kilometers further on.
We’ll come back to what happened to Pearson’s column and the battle of Nyezane in Episode 254 because first we need to swing further north, past Chelmsford and Dartnell and Glynn, and Durnford, and to the Ncome River where the British left column had been very busy. Colonel Evelyn Wood was tasked with an attack on the Zulu in a wide arc from the Ncome or Blood River, all the way along the escarpment to the Phongola River.

Wood was stationed at Utrecht and had dispatched a garrison of two companies of infantry to Luneberg, a German mission and farming community further East, closer to the disputed border with the Zulu Kingdom. It was positioned strategically near the eNtombe River, a key crossing point for supplies.

There the British established Fort Clery first to guard the settlers then to protect the vulnerable line of communication for Colonel Wood's column as it advanced into Zululand. The amaQulusi lived here, and the action provoked the amaQulusini regiment to mobilize and march up to the enormous flat topped Hlobane Mountain.Unlike some of the other commanders, Wood was a veteran of multiple conflicts. ]]> History Sat, 13 Dec 2025 17:25:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 253 - The order of Battle Before Isandlwana and Nyezane and ‘ukhuni’ Wood Heads North 0 0 Des Latham full 21:31 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1626287 https://iono.fm/e/1626287
Chelmsford had grown frustrated by the rain which had slowed the crossing of the Mzinyathi at Rorke’s Drift. He had also been frustrated by Henry Francis Fynn Junior who had been negotiating with Zulu chiefs without his permission. Fynn’s father, Henry Francis senior was the first English trader in Natal, and had spent time with King Shaka. The Fynn’s were all fluent in Zulu, and extremely informed when it came to Zulu matters and Fynn junior was working as the magistrate of Msinga region in Natal.

Chelmsford was determined to have Fynn permanently attached to his staff, partly to keep and eye on him, and partly to consult with the experienced colonial seeking to test. his tactics. On the 16th January, Chelmsford had written to Fynn’s boss, Natal’s Lieutenant Governor Sir Henry Bulwer asking that he be reassigned. On reflection, Chelmsford decided he wasn’t going to wait for Bulwer and summarily ordered Fynn to Rorke’s Drift anyway.
Lord Chelmsford was instituting his new plan of action which he’d outlined to Governor Sir Bartle Frere. Instead of leading his column - or to be completely accurate - Lieutenant Colonel Glynn’s column eastwards in a direct route to Isipesi and Cetshwayo kaMpande’s home of ONdini, he was going to concentrate his attention towards the Malakatha and Hlazakazi hills.

These rise between Isandhlwana plain and the Mangeni Valley to the south East. It made sense, because Fynn junior had told him that the Zulu plan was to descend the Mangeni heights and attack Number three column in the rear so he needed to secure his invading columns right, or southern flank. At 9am on the 20th January, and with Fynn at his side, Chelmsford rode east from Rorke’s Drift and paused at ISandhlwana for breakfast. A civilized affair, cold meats, strong hot tea.
He wanted to confront Mantshana kaMondisa, a amaQungebeni chief who had told Fynn he was considering joining the British. Which was strange, because prior to this, Mantshana was one of the chiefs believed to have been strongly in favor of a war against British.

By the time Chelmsford’s men moved forward on the 20th, the Zulu population had largely abandoned the Mzinyathi River valley opposite Rorke’s Drift. So a great swathe of the country around Isandhlwana lay empty, the homesteads of the amaQungebeni deserted and forlorn, with a few bands of Zulu warriors hiding out in the hills, watching and waiting.

Behind the Isipesi Mountain, 24 000 Zulu troops camped on the evening of the 20th January 1879. The warriors had marched at a fairly leisurely pace westwards towards the British, saving up their energy for the actual day of battle, whatever day that was. They did not march alone. Some of the women remained and would be with the column on the day of battle. For every three warriors, there was an udibi boy, a lad in his early teens, loaded down with as much paraphernalia as the haughty warriors could expect him to stagger along with — a cooking pot, sleeping mats, dismantled spare shield, and sometimes, if he was given the honor, carrying the warriors spears.

Usually these boys carried a smaller spear of their own and those who did so were going to have an unexpected opportunity to wash their blades in the blood of the soldiers dressed in red. And in the blood of their kin serving with the British — the Natal Native Contingent. ]]> History Sun, 07 Dec 2025 09:02:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 252 — Chelmsford’s Fatal Confidence: The Day Before Isandlwana 0 0 Des Latham full 18:53 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1623835 https://iono.fm/e/1623835
King Cetshwayo kaMpande had prepared his people for war, and here it was, courtesy of Governor Sir Bartle Frere and led by Lord Chelmsford. After overrunning kwaSogetle the home of Sihayo he was on the move.

It was therefore a sort of rough justice then that Cetshwayo had decided to send the bulk of his army to operate in Sihayo’s district. The Zulu army had been ritually prepared for war, marching off towards Chelmsfords invading column on Friday 17th January 1879. The uNokhenke regiment in the front, the army marched ten kilometers in a great single column to bivouac in the emaKhosini Valley after crossing the white Mfolozi River.

If you recall last episode, I explained how Lieutenant Colonel Glynn had led the central British column until Lord Chelmsford arrived at their jump off point at Helmekaar - help each other. Lord Chelmsford just couldn’t help himself — he began to micro-manage the invasion and sidelined Glyn and his officers.

On the other side, the Zulu column also had two commanders, managing the regiments jointly — Chief Ntshingwayo kaMahole Khoza of the kwaGqikazi, and Chief Mavumengwana kaNdlela Ntuli of the uThulwana. Ntshingwayo was almost 70 years-old and being older, his voice would usually sway any decision. He may have been aged, but he was extremely powerful, short and thickset, like a modern rugby prop, with the great thighs of most of the male descendants of Senzangakhona. Not only was he a great warrior, he was also a wonderful orator, his speeches melifluous and motivational, he had the gift of the gab.

Chief Mavumengwana was the brother of isikhulu Godide of the Ntuli who was going to lead a separate column of Zulu warriors heading off to face the British Right Column crossing the Thukela. Mavumengwana and Godide’s father was Ndlela, Dingana’s chief induna, the family having a long relationship with Zulu royalty. Furthermore, Cetshwayo regarded Mavumengwana as a close friend — even though he was one of the chiefs who had preferred a policy of appeasement with the British than outright war. He had changed his mind by now, but it must be said that Zulu leadership was prepared to debate strategy — unlike the British. The officers in the English military establishment were supposed to seek points of view but as you’re going to hear, often the bewhiskered ego-riddled Victorian general failed to think logically and reacted like an outraged teen on Tiktok when their decisions were questioned.
The king had been meeting daily with his councillors and trusted advisors, gathering in the early morning cold. The chiefs wrapped themselves in grey trade blankets against the chill, and ordinary Zulu called these men amanqe—vultures—for the way they huddled together, their grey wings folded close, as if sheltering something precious or contemplating something grave.

The story about kwaSogekle had rippled down the length of the border and high up on the hills above the Middle Drift. Lieutenant Durnford’s men picked up a change in the mood of Zulu communities there, scanning the landscape through their field glasses from the other side of the Thukela.

The countryside suddenly emptied ominously. The elders, along with women and children, left their homesteads and retreated into the mountains or deep into the thick Zululand bush.
On the morning of 13th January Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Durnford received an ominous report a day after Chelmsford attack on kwaSogekle in the Batshe valley.
Durnford was leading number two column in the vicinity of Middle Drift along the Thukela Border near Kranskop, a force of mounted men, a rocket battery and three battalions of the Natal Native Contingent. ]]> History Sun, 30 Nov 2025 09:17:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 251 - The Grey Vultures of Ondini Gather Before a March to Isandhlwana where Pride Met Prophecy 0 0 Des Latham full 23:15 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1621158?v=1 https://iono.fm/e/1621158?v=1
"We’re thrilled to share some incredible news: History of South Africa podcast has been selected by our editors as one of Apple Podcasts' Best Shows of 2025! Congratulations on this fantastic achievement and for creating one of the most compelling shows of the year. We’re so excited to spotlight your work.”

So to all the listeners and my supporters, for all your wonderful comments and suggestions, may we continue to survive the present in order to understand the past.

250 is what is known in maths as a 5-smooth number - none of its prime factors are greater than five. Factor 250 that is 250 ÷ 2 = 125 and 125 = 5 × 5 × 5. So the Prime Factors are all less than five. Strange but true.

Culturally 250 is fascinating too - in Mandarin slang, Chinese, the number 250 pronounced er bai wu is an insult meaning idiot or simpleton.

Which is apt, because a certain American president number 47 who is referred to as er bai wu is going to preside over his country’s 250th birthday celebrations in 2026.

When we left off last episode, a British column of the 1/24 and 2/24, a host of irregular mounted men of the Natal Carbineers, the Natal Native Contingent and the Native Pioneers and their commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Glyn had entered Zululand by way of Rorke’s Drift and approached the kwaSogetle home of amaQungebeni inkosi Sihayo.

4700 British troops and support personnel, 220 wagons, 2000 oxen, 82 carts, 67 mules. It took over an hour for the column to pass a point it was so large. And as you heard, Cetshwayo kaMpande had decided that because this column was the largest, it was going to get special amabutho treatment.
Lord Chelmsford had arrived at Helpmekaar on the eve of the invasion, and had taken over as commander of the column, which was to increase tension amongst the officers. Chelmsford tended to micromanage, and Glyn was highly experienced. Later, when a catastrophe unfolded, controversy would rage about who in fact was in charge.

Glyn was already resentful that his role had been usurped. If you recall last episode, I explained how he’d put together the regiment in England, paid for his colonelcy, then led the regiment through the end of the 9th Frontier War and here was Chelmsford and his retinue, taking over.
Here we are, Shepstone leading the central column, or Number 3 Column as it was known, with Glyn glowering. Column 1 was on the right flank, down the coast, crossing the lower Thukela with 5000 men under Colonel Charles Pearson comprised of the Naval Brigade, 2/3rd 60th Rifles, the 99th Regiment, Natal Native Contingent and artillery.

Column two was Durnfords although technically it was closely attached to Glyn’s Column 3 - and both 2 and 3 were set to operate more closely than the Pearsons’ first column which was to head to the lower Thukela, cross the mighty river opposite the Zulu kraal at Gingingdlovu, advance to Eshowe and push on to Ondini. However, Pearson had been told to advance cautiously, and consolidate his men in Eshowe before continuing. He would end up besieged in Eshowe he had moved so slowly.
Thus the arrival at Sihayo’s homestead kwaSogetle less than a day’s march across Rorke’s Drift. Sogetle was a natural flat-topped fortress which rose over 1000 feet from the valley floor, its approaches were strewn with boulders, it was steep and seemingly impregnable. The British faced a tough assignment.

Had Cetshwayo kaMpande or chief Sihayo decided to rather defend this citadel, the battle would have no doubt been far more bloody. But the fortress was defended by only a small group of Sihayo’s men including one of his youngest sons Mkhumbikazulu. Most warriors including Siyaho himself and all his other sons had marched off to oNdini 116 kilometers away to join the main Zulu army. ]]> History Sun, 23 Nov 2025 08:42:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 250 - Nqutu's Rocky Mountains: British officers bicker then Zulu Snipers target an entomologist hunting beetles 0 0 Des Latham full 25:18 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1618637 https://iono.fm/e/1618637
For the people living along that frontier, the mood was more complex. Rumour travelled faste, and the Zulu intelligence network was already humming with accurate reports of British movements. Settlers and colonial units in Natal, meanwhile, watched the gathering storm with a mix of unease and bravado. The Boers, who had faced Zulu power before, offered advice the British would soon wish they had followed.

And so, as the new year opened, both sides prepared for a conflict neither truly understood. The British approached with modern rifles, rockets and the calm assurance of empire. The Zulu prepared with discipline, speed and an intelligence system that outperformed anything Chelmsford could muster. All that remained was for the first column to step across the river

January 11 1879 — the rainy season in Zululand lasts from January to March so the going would be muddy and the rivers flooding, but most importantly, there would be lots of sweet green grass for the thousands of oxen and horses. The fuel tank of mother nature was full. The British were keen to exploit their power, and were going to cross the border using ox-drawn wagons.
On the eve of the invasion, Lord Chelmsford had declared martial law along the borders with Zululand. The Boers and the settlers who fought alongside this army met with Chelmsford and advised him to adopt the standard laager once inside enemy territory, a proven technique of holding out against vast numbers of warriors.

Chelmsford ignored this advice from people who regarded as lower on the imperial ladder, but also because it took a great deal of time and effort to wheel the wagons into a circle, then outspan the oxen and even longer to reverse this procedure and inspan. He was going to learn a dreadful lesson in a few days and would begin laagering his troops as advised but too late for 1500 of his men.

He had initially planned to break his 17 000 strong army in to five columns and to invade Zululand from different points, all joining up to converge at Cetshwayo kaMpande’s Great Place, oNdini — modern day Ulundi. By breaking up the columns, Chelmsford was hoping they would move faster across wet Zululand. He was forced to trim the number of columns down to 3 - the same number of columns in a Zulu attack with their two horns and a central chest tactic. These two combative nations were deploying similar ideas, the centre crashing into the foe as the two wings fold around them from the sides like the thumbs pressed together and hands throttling an enemy.
It was in the area of intelligence however that Cetshwayo was ahead of Chelmsford. Whereas the British had no idea about where the Zulu army was, once the British entered Zululand, Cetshwayo was provided daily updates about the movement of his enemy.
Even the smaller reconnaissance patrols were under scrutiny. He had a network of spies throughout the region, from beyond southern Natal all the way to Delagoa Bay, and into the Transvaal.

If you’ve listened to this series you’ll remember how the Zulu and other military societies like the Basotho and amaNdebele valued accurate information at a time of war.

Zulu spies were extremely detailed gatherers of data, an oral society after all prides itself on being able to memorize long lists of facts and figures. The number of troops, horses, guns, the direction of movement, the names of the commanders, even their character type all flowed into the Zulu heartland and Cetshwayo and his counsellors hungrily consumed the data. ]]> History Sun, 16 Nov 2025 07:37:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 249 - Three Columns and a Thousand Secrets: Chelmsford’s 1879 Invasion of Zululand 0 0 Des Latham full 23:14 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1616201 https://iono.fm/e/1616201
Last episode I explained the reasons behind Frere’s fevered decision, egged on as he was by Sir Theophilus Shepstone whose shadow looms large over the history of Natal - and South Africa. Cetshwayo’s diplomacy had relied on the British supporting him against the claims of the Boers to his territory to the north west, already volatile by Mpande’s reign, now it was going to set off one of the most unique wars of the colonial period.

The Boers, Swazi and the Zulu all claimed this zone, rich as it was in reddish deep soil, around Phongola, Ntombe, Mkhondo. Beautiful territory too, it must be said, the deep riverine bush, open plains between, flat topped high mountains. In summer its warm, in winter, waterless, cold. The Zulu relied on seasonally moving their cattle up to these highlands in spring, and down to lower reaches of the hills in autumn.

The Swazi would do the same if they could, and conflict over this land extended way back before the Boers rolled onto the landscape. Because the Disputed Territory was so far north, Natal authorities found it impossible to control any movement here, and as you heard last episode, their Border Commission report ruled that the land belonged to the Zulu and that the Boers had no legal status there.

But Shepstone who was now Administrator of the annexed Transvaal, wanted to curry favor with the Boers and Frere wanted the various colonies and republics of South Africa to form a confederation. Cetshwayo was standing in his way, along with Pedi chief, Sekhukhuni. The last Eastern Cape Frontier War had ended, the amaXhosa were thought of as a defeated nation, while by now the British also regarded the Basotho as benign, so the industrialised military might of the British empire swiveled increasingly towards Zululand.

Cetshwayo was walking a delicate line through the 1870s, frustrated internally by having no glorious campaign to prove he’d bloodied his men in a fantastic war, although defeating the Swazi, sort of, seizing a few mountain fortresses in the Lubombo range. These were on the margins of the Boer and Swazi, it was where Zibhebhu of the Nyawo lived. It was where Dingane had died if you recall — so the capture of the territory was a feather in Cetshwayo’s cap. While Cetshwayo brooded about his northern reaches, it was the murder of two Zulu women I mentioned last episode that was seized upon by the Natal Authorities as a part of the many pretexts to go to war.
Cetshwayo was well aware of the value of firearms and horses. By 1878 there were 20 000 muskets in Zululand, but these were used like a throwing spear, and the stabbing spear was still the preferred method of dispatching your opponent. The stabbing was the principle of washing the spear, soaking it in your enemies blood, thus entering the hallowed portal of manhood. If your regiment did enough washing, then the King would announce that the amabutho had permission to marry and the man could don a hearing. So in a sense, successfully wielding a spear led directly to a sanctioned marriage, and the ability to create sons and daughters. The spear was a symbol of procreation if you like.

Such a system had global resonances.
In the homesteads of Zululand in 1878 as the build up to war took place, the senior commanders and chiefs were aware of the tide of colonialism washing up against their military system. It was in terms of tactics that the coming war that would be the greatest undoing of the Zulu system.
All of these were overtaken by a more modern state or the machinery of empire and the pressure of time. The Spartans lost their supremacy after Leuctra (LOO-ktruh) in 371 BCE, their military culture fading under Macedonian and then Roman rule. The Aztec Empire was obliterated by the Spanish conquest in 1521. The Mongol empire fractured within a century of Genghis Khan’s death, its unity dissolved into regional khanates. ]]> History Sun, 09 Nov 2025 08:14:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 248 - The Eagle and Four Hawks: The Making of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 0 0 Des Latham full 20:33 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1613723 https://iono.fm/e/1613723
When you hear what shenanigans were planned by British Governor Sir Bartle Frere, you probably won’t believe it. His partner in crime was Sir Theophilus Shepstone who in 1877, had just completed thirty years service as Secretary for Native Affairs in Natal. For the Zulu, the transformation of the Native Affairs Secretary into the Administrator of the newly annexed Transvaal was a serious development. As historian Jeff Guy points out, it destroyed the diplomatic link forged between Cetshwayo kaMpande and Shepstone at a particularly sensitive moment in history.
Previously, Shepstone had been sympathetic to the Zulu in their border dispute with the Boers, but once the Natal official took office in the Transvaal, that sentiment shifted. The pressure of trying to reconcile the Boers to their newly annexed state was too much for Shepstone — he did not have the emotional courage nor the courage of his convictions to balance the needs and wants of both the Boers and the Zulu.

“He turned his coat in the most shameless manner…” one Colonial Office official by the name of Fairfield is quoted as writing in a minute to Edward Stanley the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs after the War.
Sir Bartle Frere the British High Commissioner in Cape Town, was determined to eradicate what he thought of as the Zulu threat. He was still busy sorting out the Ninth Frontier War against the Xhosa, and watching the Pedi battle the Boers in the north Eastern Transvaal. While that irritating side-show .. at least in Frere’s mind .. continued, here was Cetshwayo openly defying his Native Affairs man in Natal. Cetshwayo approached Natal’s lieutenant Governor Sir Henry Bulwer — after whom the town of Bulwer is named. By now it was clear the Zulu relationship with Shepstone was done. Bulwer had monitored what was going on and he was deeply disturbed by developments. It was ironic that the Zulu chief was turning to a British official as a mediator of sorts. Bulwer appointed a boundary commission to probe the dispute between the Boers and the Zulu.To Frere’s surprise, the commission found that the Boers of the Transvaal had no right to be in Zululand. Bulwer’s next dispatches concluded that Natal could maintain a peaceful policy towards the Zulu nation because it hadn’t violated any agreements with Natal and the Transvaal. Frere was dumbstruck, and so dumbstruck, he was struck dumb. He kept the report a secret for five months. ]]> History Sun, 02 Nov 2025 08:17:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 247 - A Ball of Sand Fallacy and Frere Demonizes Cetshwayo 0 0 Des Latham full 19:05 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1611299 https://iono.fm/e/1611299
One of those perceived obstacles was Zulu king, Cetshwayo kaMpande. Crowned in 1873 after the death of his father, Mpande kaSenzangakhona, Cetshwayo presided over a squabbling nation. His great place, Ondini, is close to where Ulundi is today. It was vast, elliptical in shape, stretching from 650 metres in one axis, to 507 in another. The outer circumference of his ikhanda, the royal residence, was over two kilometers long. The second part of his great place was a smaller group of ikhanda, and called emaNgweni.

The unusual point about emaNgweni is that the principal hut was actually a western style house. The Norwegian missionaries at Empangeni had helped build this, consisting of three rooms with glass windows, along with wooden doors and whitewashed walls, under a thatched roof. Cetshwayo went a step further at Ondini, where his special residence was build out of sun dried bricks burned black. These materials were given to Cetshwayo by Norwegian Mission Society’s Reverend Ommund Oftebro. Ommund sounds like the uMondi, the Zulu word for a sweet, aromatic herb. This is a herb used to treat flatulance, ie farting, so there’s some irony in the fact that Reverend Ommund Oftebro’s mission station was acalled uMondi. It’s on the outskirts of Eshowe.

This black bricked building at Ondini was larger than his other retreat, four wallpapered rooms, glazed windows and verandahs at the back and the front. It also had two outside doors with locks. The rooms contained European furniture, a washstand and a large mirror. King Cetshwayo would hold court in this house, tending to the affairs of state, consulting his councillors. At night, the doors would be locked and guarded by two women, armed with guns.

Yes folks, women with guns. Cetshwayo’s chief gun-runner and a chief himself, John Dunne the English trader, personally trained Zulu VIP guards in how to shoot. The bodyguards would be instructed in musketry and were armed with short carbines, ideal for close quarter bodyguarding. Dunn took the women into the veld every day in the late afternoon, and target practice would follow which included peppering the local aloes.

This echelon of women bodyguards accompanied Cetshwayo when he visited his chiefs ikhanda around Zululand with the intention of protecting him when the male amabutho were away. One of his maids in waiting, Nomguqo Dlamini, told of her life in the ikhanda in a rare book called Servant of Two Kings by Paulina Dlamini - she became a Christian and changed her name. The book is full of information about day to day life in the late 1870s, how the gatekeeper at onDini woke everyone by calling out the king’s praises, Cetshwayo would emerge after the women of the isigodlo had swept up the yard, then he often went off his sporting guns to hunt birds. Later, the king would head off to a small enclosure in the Royal Kraal where he would stand on a stone and be washed with water from the Mbilane stream, and rubbed down. The young men who attended the king were trusted sons of senior chiefs of the Xulu line, as well as other sons of Mnyamana.
At the meeting of amabutho warriors in 1875, Cetshwayo had granted permission for the INdlondlo ibutho to put on their headrings and marry. These were men in the 40s, the iNdlondlo regiment had been formed way back in 1857, and these men had waited patiently for their turn to take wives. The problem was, he gave them permission to seek brides from the iNgcugce ibutho, where the girls there had been born between 1850 and 1853. They were far younger than the grizzled warriors seeking their hands in marriage. ]]> History Sun, 26 Oct 2025 08:35:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 246 - Black Bricks, Armed Maids, and the Bloody Marriage of the Ngcugce 0 0 Des Latham full 19:12 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1608955 https://iono.fm/e/1608955
Frere was another of Carnarvon’s boys, determined to enforce confederation onto south Africa. He was regarded as one of the most effective English civil servants in India, keeping the vital province of Sind quiet during the recent Indian Mutiny, and as Governor of Bombay, now Mumbai, he had been instrumental in upgrading the vast city’s infrastructure.

He was by accounts, a man of integrity and quiet, diffident even as Frank Walsh puts it. The British Royal Family were friends, he was a member of the Privy Council and was showered with honours. India was compared to South Africa, it was diverse, more populous yes, but in India he dealt with sophisticated Indian Rulers and merchants. Carnarvon regarded Sir Bartle Frere as the ideal man to settle the quarrelsome and individualistic South African communities.

But he was Indian in his experience, and not African. By contrast to the sophisticated Indian Rulers, South Africans were and are uncomplicated and pugnacious. All its people were the same then as we are now. Whatever our backgrounds, we remain pugnacious Africans, English, Afrikaners, Blacks, Coloureds, Indians and tick whatever box suits you on form XYZ.

It would take only a few years trying to govern the ungovernable before he disintegrated in delusion, self-deception, irrationality and apparent senility. Frere had barely settled into his governor’s armchair to read Shepstone’s report into the latest challenges in the Transvaal — when the Ninth Frontier War burst into flame in the Eastern Cape.The amaMfengu had taken rapidly to the opportunities afforded by being part of the Cape Colony, and were also taking to urban trade in a revolutionary way. The Gcaleka resented the success of the amaMfengu, as well as their relationship with settlers. The Gcaleka were suffering the effects of the last war, the longest Frontier War and also the most vicious. Across the Kei, alcoholism was spreading, and poverty seeped through every household — made far worse by the actions of Nongqawuse’s cattle killing episode.

What pushed everyone over the edge was mother nature, a series of devastating droughts across the Transkei destabilised the situation further. As Historian De Kiewiet says, in South Africa the heat of drought easily becomes the fever of war.
What was supposed to be a wedding celebration in September 1877 turned into a bar fight when the tensions emerged after Gcaleka harassed the amMfengu in attendance. Things got a lot worse later that day when some Gcaleka men attacked a Cape Colony police outpost manned by amaMfengu in the main.

Just a bit of trival violence said local officials, moving along, let the local police handle the matter. But back in Cape Town, Sir Bartle Frere sensed his moment partly because of his belief that Great Britain was spreading civilisation and eradicating barbarians, extending black rule over blacks, you know old chap, guiding them up the ladder of evolution and improving their standards of living through good administration and economic prosperity.
Chief Mgolombane Sarhili kaHintsa of the amaGcaleka royal line was summoned by Frere but he had seen his ancestors summoned only to be thrown onto Robin Island. He ignored the summons so Sir Bartle promptly declared war on the amaXhosa. This was totally against the advice of the locals. All that Frere’s warning did is prompt the warriors among his people to gather and mobilise. Cape Prime Minister, John Molteno refused to sanction any invasion of the Transkei when he heard that Frere had declared war on Sarhili. At a meeting between Molteno and Frere, the British Governor promised that imperial troops would stay put and not cross into Gcalekaland. ]]> History Sun, 19 Oct 2025 08:46:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 245 - Sir Bartle Frere’s Excellent Adventure: A Gentleman’s Guide to Igniting Wars 0 0 Des Latham full 20:35 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1606552 https://iono.fm/e/1606552
While King Solomon’s Mines is Rider Haggard’s most popular work, Allan Quartermain has since reappeared in movies in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which gave his books a bit of a push. His novels, which blended exploration, myth, and early ideas of evolution, also influenced the subconscious of his generation, resonating with spiritual and psychological themes that were explored by figures like Jung and Freud.

Furthermore, his work reflects and grapples with late Victorian anxieties, including imperial politics, the changing role of religion, and burgeoning notions of race and empire.

Right now, we’re saddling up with Theophilus Shepstone in Pietermaritzburg - it’s 1877.

If you recall last episode, Transvaal President Burgers had gone to war against baPedi chief Sekhukhuni, which ended in a stalemate and reports of atrocities committed by German lead mercenaries.

Burgers had already complained in England about their treatment of the Boer claims to the diamond fields - and the Colonial office had coughed up 90 000 pounds as compensation. You could call it a bribe, because that’s what it was. The boers accepted the compensation, but did not back down on their claims to land in the vicinity of the Transvaal, including baPedi land.
As long as the Transvaal remained receptive to the confederation idea at least in Carnarvon’s mind, there was no real conflict to deal with amongst the local officials. But there was growing tension between an historian JJ Froude and Garnet Wolseley for example.
Froude had been sent on a fact-finding mission to the colonies by Carnarvon and he became a surprising advocate for the Boers and the Free State and Transvaal Republics. His advice to Carnarvon was to let the states handle their own problems, as they resented interference from Downing Street.
Cape Governor Sir Henry Barkly had been sending Carnarvon reports drawn largely from pro-annexationist newspapers in the Transvaal and the Cape Colony. These implied that the Transvaal was nearing a state of anarchy as a result of its war with the Sekukuni's baPedi. Eagerly lapping all this up was Sir Garnet Wolseley who was the very epitome of the Stiff upper lip Brit, a military officer and administrator, represented the opposite, more interventionist imperial view. In late December 1876, Sir Theophilus Shepstone departed from Pietermaritzburg in Natal with a small, almost symbolic, escort of just 25 Natal Mounted Police and a handful of officials including the young H Rider Haggard. Just as an aside, Haggard was not being paid for his duties as Shepstone’s secretary. Work experience I guess you’d call it. However, Shepstone's secret instructions were far more decisive: if he deemed it necessary and opportune, he was to annex the territory to the British Crown.
The Transvaal had no easy revenue base, and Shepstone introduced new taxes on both black and white Transvalers, while his administrative reforms chafed the Boers. Most resented they now had no elected representation under British rule and resistance started almost immediately. ]]> History Sun, 12 Oct 2025 09:16:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 244 - Twitters' Transvaal Annexation, Rider Haggard’s Role and Railways 0 0 Des Latham full 17:24 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1604137 https://iono.fm/e/1604137 The winter of 1876 settled hard across the Transvaal. At night, the frost lay white along the banks of the Steelpoort River, the cattle breath rising like smoke in the early dawn. By mid-morning the sun was sharp, the air brittle, and the mountains to the east seemed to shimmer in their haze. Shimmering today are the minerals mined here, chrome, platinum, vanadium.

These are the Leolo mountains, bastion of the Pedi under King Sekhukhune I. Across the valleys his people had built stone-walled settlements, ringed with thorn stockades, their cattle kraals protected by rifle pits dug into the hillsides.

To the south, in Pretoria, President Thomas François Burgers prepared his republic for war. He was no soldier—trained instead in theology, prone to long speeches, dressed in sombre black. But he was determined to show that the Transvaal could still assert itself after years of debt, political squabbling, and military vascillation.

On 16 May 1876, the Volksraad declared war on Sekhukhune. The long-simmering contest between the Pedi and the Boer republic was about to reach a climax.The Pedi kingdom was no stranger to conflict. Under Sekwati, Sekhukhune’s father, they had fought off repeated attacks during the mid-nineteenth century. Their stone fortresses had turned back Boer commandos in the 1840s and 1850s. Sekwati had once been besieged in Thaba Mosega, surviving by ingenuity, patience, and the determination of his people.
Just a few weeks later came the episode that etched itself into Pedi memory. Johannes Dinkwanyane, half-brother of Sekhukhune led his people at the settlement of Mafolofolo. They were Christians, linked to missionary networks, yet fiercely loyal to Pedi sovereignty. In mid-July, Swazi forces allied to the Boers descended on Mafolofolo. The defenders fought desperately. After two days of fighting, Johannes was gravely wounded on 13 July and died three days later.By late August the war had collapsed into stalemate. President Burgers’ grand promise of quick victory had evaporated among the ridges of the Leolo mountains. The commando had withdrawn, Fort Krugerpos was thrown up in haste, and burghers grumbled about lost time and wasted cattle. The republic was broke, its men unwilling, its president mocked. It was into this void that Conrad von Schlickmann arrived. ]]> History Sun, 05 Oct 2025 09:40:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 243 - Guns, Germans and Steal: The Pedi War of 1876 0 0 Des Latham full 23:55 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1601525 https://iono.fm/e/1601525
By the 1850s, Great Britain was manipulating trade and military as well as political power as reciprocating elements. This is a technique adopted by pretty much every empire since before Carthage. Political influence was used so as to extend and secure free exchange, in Britain’s case commerce and anglicisation, spread political influence and welded alliances. As Lord Palmerston so aptly pointed out

“…It is the business of Government to open and secure the roads for the Merchant…”

Antiquated regimes were its enemy and foreign tariffs were its enemy, as anyone knows, the greatest enemy of free trade are tariffs. Empires were broken, the gouty and outdated Chinese, the religion-strangled Turkey, innumerable sheikdoms, sultanates and chieftancies were drawn into the invisible British empire of informal sway. When merchants manage affairs instead of men with guns, it’s harder to pin down the essence of power — and also the dangers.

The results of this grand vision were not encouraging by the 1870s and the Victorians were less sure of their panacea for both Asia and Africa. Among the ancient and invincibly conservative Confucian and Islamic rulers, no effective westernising collaborators had been found. The Tai’ping rebellion in China and the growing chaos in Muslim states appeared never ending.
It was the United States that was gobbling up immigrants — most of Britain’s emigrants went there, and the Victorians bought and sold more there than in any other single country. It had dawned on the British political elite that their commerical experience impressed a single portentous fact — that their most successful trading associations with the exception of the Indian Empire, were with Europeans transplanted abroad.

They accounted for around 70 percent of all her investment overseas. The white communities in the temperate zones had the outlook and the institutions favourable to progress which the Asiatics and Africans seemed to lack. They offered customers with European tastes and money to spend. Mutual self-interest with whites of their empire meant private business of Great Britain commingled freely with that of Greater Britain and the once-colonial societies of the New World — the Americans and many in South America too.
At the same time, the colonists were growing more bitter about Downing Street control and self-government appeared one solution. The aim was to avert the loss of more colonies and more American Wars of independence. So by the 1870s, confederated Canada, responsibly governed Australia and the Cape were regarded as constitutional embodiments of collaboration between British and colonial interests — all working at their best.
The number of trading stores in the Transkei quadrupled to a few hundred, and all of this meant that there was a major qualitative shift in the cumsumption patterns of Africans. New permanent wants replaced needs, metal was now preferred to traditionally crafted pots and baskets, the cow-hide kaross was replaced by the Witney blanket, ploughs and all manner of tools flooded into these developing farms. Around South Africa, energy seemed to be surging. Take the highveld for example. The sour veld of the Harrismith district to be precise. Largely used for summer grazing, the farmers here often moved their herds into Natal every autumn. Below the Berg as they put, OnderBerg. Underberg. ]]> History Sun, 28 Sep 2025 08:42:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 242 - Merchant Traders, Natal plantations, African farmers and the Harrismith Sour Veld Land Swindler 0 0 Des Latham full 22:07 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1599385 https://iono.fm/e/1599385
A big thank you to Donald Paterson who’s great-great-great grandfather founded Standard Bank, he’s sent a couple of pictures I’m going to use in my next newsletter. And to Rob Bernstein who’s producing a photo-book and who’s asked me to write an epilogue, thanks for the coffee chat and the opportunity.

Last we heard about plans for South African Confederation, this episode ties up with the momentum building towards the invasion of Zululand by the British, and almost simultaneously, the first Anglo-Boer War.

We’ve entered the mid-1870s where all manner of momentums are also building up globally as the European powers jostled for African land in order to feed their industrial centres, and their geopolitical ambitions. The panic on the Vienna Stock exchange in May 1873 caused shares to decline worldwide and ushered in the 1873-1879 Great Depression.

The Suez Canal was also close to bankcruptcy because there weren’t enough steam ships in the world and the canal was better adapted to steam. The Khedive of Egypt was forced to sell his shares in the Suez Canal Company to the British Government with help from bankers and the Rothschild family. In Britain the downturn was going to last until much later - the late 1890s, and diamond prices were also falling. Despite this, South Africa was in a bit of a boom period.

In the diamond fields, the diggers were facing a problem and it was about geology. They had been digging in what they called yellow ground which was kimberlite rock. Over millions of years, the kimberlite in the top part of the volcanic pipe was exposed to the surface and weathered by the elements, including water and air. This process oxidized the iron-rich minerals in the rock, giving it a soft, friable, yellowish-brown color. Because it was so soft, it was easy for the early diggers to excavate with simple picks and shovels and to sieve for diamonds. But as they dug deeper by 1873 they passed through the weathered yellow ground and hit the un-oxidized, fresh kimberlite rock below. This rock, which they called "blue ground" due to its hard, bluish-gray color, was much more compact and difficult to mine.

Its hardness led many early prospectors to abandon their claims, mistakenly believing they had reached the end of the diamond-bearing ground. The discovery that the blue ground contained even richer deposits of diamonds was a pivotal moment that led to the development of the large-scale industrial mining operations at Kimberley. And Cecil John Rhodes returned from his failed attempt at obtaining a law degree in England to rejoin his brother on the diamond fields to take advantage of all these changes.
Jerome Babe wrote in his journal how he rose at the break of day, then dug until 9am. Breakfast was taken until 10am, when the diggers reconvened. Most diggings had two white men and five black men who could get through fifteen cart loads a day. The black workers would wash enough gravel in four hours for the mainly white diggers to sort through in ten hours. At 1pm they all knocked off for lunch until two pm, then washing would end at four pm.

That wasn’t the end of the day. The washers, the black labourers, would head back to the mining area to gather material for the next day’s washes and many miners continued working when there was moon, carrying the gravel to the river for the next day’s washing.
The diggers committees which had managed these mines was now an unsustainable way to administrate claims. Claim-jumping which took place when a mine was unworked for more than three days had increased instability and litigation was accelerating. It looked chaotic because the rights to small-claim ownership was being circumented by monopolies using fronts, straw men as they were known. Another very old South African tradition. Griqualand West Lieutenant Governor Richard Southey wanted state regulation. ]]> History Sun, 21 Sep 2025 09:16:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 241 - Yankee Babies, Monstrous Cobwebs, the Devil’s Cauldron and Rhodes’ Steam Engine 0 0 Des Latham full 19:59 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1597103 https://iono.fm/e/1597103
Part of this story is a continuation of the Langalibalele Affair in Natal which had created the perception that the authorities there were unable to cope. This provided an opportunity for Colonial office back in England to consider radical moves like forcing through a Confederation of South African colonies. Throughout the 1870s, Lord Carnarvon the British Secretary of State for the Colonies attempted to unite both the colonies and the Boer Republics into a self-governing — settler self-governing — dominion under the British flag.

This was a somewhat grandiose scheme and there’s a heady debate amongst historians about why Carnarvon tried to do this. We’re going to take a closer look at what was going on internationally and how South Africa factored into this global picture because its part of the story. The concept of a confederated South Africa was obviously opposed by the Boer Republics. More significantly, it was also opposed by the Molteno Administration of the Cape Colony which was the biggest and the richest South African state by far. Liberal humanist historians believe Carnarvon wanted confederation to protect blacks from the colonials - but that’s a shallow version of events.

It was in Natal where the largest portion of the white population favoured confederation but even there lieutenant Governor Chilly Pine described an ‘apathy and indifference’ to the policy by some.

John X Merriman who was a member of Molteno’s cabinet said

“The fact is that the cry for Confederation is purely an extraneous one, born in the brain of Lord Carnarvon, local prejudice and local jealousy tending the other way…”

Molteno and his Merriman were focused on infrastructure, work had begun on the Cape Parliamentary buildings in 1874, government funding of education was legislated, and the Molteno Government also established the South African public library system. 

Nevertheless, in other circles in South Africa the call for Federation was growing — take the merchants of Port Elizabeth and a large section of English-speaking Natalians for example. With regard to the Port Elizabethans, the easterners as they were known, it was as matter of being dominated by western based politicians — western as in Western Cape just for clarification.

Natal had yet to receive responsible government, unlike the Cape. Given the various political currents surging about the region, why did Carnarvon pursue the idea of Conferederation so aggressively?
Theophilus Shepstone could be one reason. The Veteran of Natal’s Native Affairs had met Carnarvon and converted him to what historian RL Cope calls an instrument of the sub-imperialist forces emanating from Natal.

There was as paradox here. The tiny white minority of Natal was fearful of the black majority and therefore harboured impulses to bring further tracts of African territory under British Control. It was this demographic imbalance that drove the colonials voice, but it was a contradictory position for any imperial government to take. Why support a tiny group — unlike in the Cape which had a vibrant economy and was dominated by settler interests both financially and demographically. For Natalians, the perpetual labour shortage seemed insurmountable, maybe a forced union of some sort would open up other colonies where labour could be exploited.
With both Carnarvon and Shepstone believing in Confederation, trifling over black labour appeared to be the least of their challenges. Furthermore, in Port Elizabeth, a powerful voice supporting their position was also developing rapidly.

And he had cash to burn.

That was founder of the Standard Bank, John Paterson. As a leading Port Elizabeth merchant, the Cape Argus described him as “A great apostle of confederation..” ]]> History Sun, 14 Sep 2025 09:39:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 240 - Carnarvon’s Confederation, a Pre-scramble for Africa Geopolitical Mashup & Free State Ships 0 0 Des Latham full 25:28 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1594728 https://iono.fm/e/1594728
This event had shocked the settlers of Natal, and in response by Lieutenant Governor Chilly Pine began a campaign to destroy the amaHlubi and amaNgwe in their two locations, west of the town of where Mooi River is today.
Pine declared Martial Law. Most of the amaNgwe and amaHlubi men fled, and the British rounded up women and children and the elderly. The women and children were placed in the charge of friendly chiefs in the up-country districts, while the old men were sent to Pietermarizburg to be kept under surveillance by other friendly black chiefs.
On the 17th December, as a kind of afterthought, Pine followed this up with a declaration that all amaNgwe were now officially dispossessed of their land. The arbitrary killings of both clans continued mostly by the African levies, under the watchful eyes of colonial officers who appeared to be egging them on.

Major Anthony Durnford, a professional soldier and engineer who’d been wounded by the amaHlubi during the battle of Bushman’s Pass earlier in November was one of the few who spoke up against the bloodletting.

“There have been sad sights …” he reported
“…women and children butchered by our black allies too often unhappily by the permission and encouragement of the white leaders… old men too … the burnt villages — dead women … it was horrible.”
Two columns of volunteers and African levies were now searching for Langalibalele. One headed to East Griqualand, while the other rode back to Bushman’s Pass following the spoor left by the amaHlubi cattle. The amaHlubi warriors had taken all their cattle into Basotholand to join their chief.

Natal authorities were offering a one pound reward per warrior captured, and 100 cattle for Langalibalele, dead or alive. The amaHlubi chief was deep in Basotholand, close to the Senqu river, the Orange, about fifty kilometres west of the Bushman River Pass. By early January several hundred men and about 7 000 cattle assembled under his command. He had no clear plan about what to do, his original idea was to escape from the British then ponder next steps. But now he was in Sotho territory, very much out of his depth.
Boers in the Zuid Afrikaanse Republiek and the Free State formed commandos and sent them to the borders in case Langalibalele showed up — or in case any of the chiefs that surrounded their territories decided to join in. Eastern Cape and Natal English farmers sent their women and children into towns, battening down their farm hatches.
Their fears were heightened by the role that Basotholand was appearing to play. In the minds of the colonists, this mountain kingdom was thought of as the Central South African powder Magazine — a place no-one could control, full of guns now bought by workers on the diamond mines and farms. It was in the heartland of south Africa, annexed by the British in 1868, ruled by a new king Letsie who had succeeded Moshoeshoe. Although annexed to the Cape in 1871, it remained a highly unstable land in the minds of colonials.
Langalibalele had no idea of all of this as he considered his next steps inside Basotholand. The British had also mobilised hundreds of troops who boarded the HMS Rattlesnake in Cape Town and were en route to bolster Natal while a large police force rode into Basotholand from the Cape’s eastern Frontier region. IN East Griqualand, Adam Kok’s Griqua also mobilised in support of the British.
The amaHlubi chief eventually handed himself over to the Basotholand chief Molapo and was taken back to Pietermaritzburg for his trial. ]]> History Sun, 07 Sep 2025 09:16:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 239 - The Central South African Powder Magazine and How Chief Langalibalele Ended up on Robben Island 0 0 Des Latham full 21:13 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1592262 https://iono.fm/e/1592262
In 1873 Benjamin Chilly Campbell Pine was reappointed as Lieutenant-Governor of Natal. Pine was a career officer in the British Colonial Services, and this was the second time he was taking up the post of Lieutenant Governor in Natal. His first stint was logged between April 1850 to March 1855 and Pinetown on the hills above Durban is named after him. Then he spent time in the Gold Coast in Ghana, then the West Indies, as Governor of the Leeward Islands and Antigua.

His second stint was cut short largely because of how he was going to deal with the Langalibalele affair. Two other colonials will feature through our story this episode, one being Theophilus Shepstone the Secretary of Native Affairs in Natal, and the other was Bishop John Colenso who was a liberal humanist and the implacable enemy of most British settlers. Pine's administration had to contend with the "Shepstone System," a policy of indirect rule developed by Theophilus Shepstone. This controversially separated African and European populations and was a dominant force in Natal's governance during Pine's tenure. While Pine and Shepstone collaborated, their administrations also faced criticism from white settlers over issues of land, labor, and the financing of native policy.
The other main character of our tale today was Langalibalele, the hereditary chief of the Hlubi tribe from around 1836. After fleeing Zululand in 1849, he and his fellow refugees were granted land by the colonial authorities in the Escourt District, west of the town along the Msuluzi and Mtshezi Rivers. The town was laid out by Colonel Estcourt In 1847 and named after the British officer. The land the amaHlubi were handed was technically not for free, their obligations included protecting the colony from the San Raiders some galloping in from as far away as the Maluti Mountains. Langalibalele and his people were part of the Shepstone System, granted their own territory seperated from white farms. Ten years after arriving in their fertile rolling hills, Langalibalele headed off to Iswatini, Swaziland, where he’d fetched his head wife, uMzamose in 1857.

There was some confusion about what the amaHlubi were expected to do. Essentially, their role was to form a buffer zone in the region and were even presented with some guns for that purpose, and once jobs opened up on the diamond mines, hundreds of amaHlubi men headed off to labour in Griqualand West, returning with valuable goods like horses, and more guns. The people flourished through the 1860s and into the early 1870s and were at peace with the colonial farmers, growing from 7 000 to 10 000 souls, with 15 000 head of cattle. The original 364 square kilometres of their land extended to more than 700 square kilometres. But the relationship with the British was riven by confusion and distrust.
Natal was isolated from the hinterland by the formidabble Drakensberg Mountains, and was surrounded by black nations, thus increasing the paranoia of the settlers. The amaThembu and Xhosa to the south were respected, not to mention the amaZulu to the north East. Communication with the Cape was slow along the few roads and by sea, there were also few transport corridors in Natal itself which engendering a feeling of insecurity among the colonists.In Early March 1873 John Macfarlane singled Langalibalele and the amaHlubi out and demanded the registration of their guns in terms of Law 5. Langalibalele said he was too busy and suffering from an illness, and could not be expected to head off across such as vast area looking for his 2000 men and counting their guns.
A war was brewing. ]]> History Sun, 31 Aug 2025 09:23:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 238 - ‘Another Little War’ at Bushman’s River Pass and the British Blow up Bits of the Drakensberg 0 0 Des Latham full 23:14 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1589900?v=1 https://iono.fm/e/1589900?v=1
The easterners were only partly reconciled to the rule by a Cape Town elite, widely differing personalities made cooperation difficult. The staunchly liberal William Porter was opposed by the stiff proto-racist Robert Godlonton, there were rising stars like Francis William Reitz junior, the legislative leader of Beaufort West at the age of 28 — and the six foot four giant John X Merriman who was erratic, but his instinct for decency and his broad human empathy made him attractive to most who met him - Boer and Brit. He was of his time of course, intellectually convinced of the brotherhood of man as long at it meant white brotherhood. Like many colonists of the period, he found it impossible to deal with black south Africans on a sympathetic basis.

There was the less attractive Gordon Sprigg, conceited and small in stature, big in ambition, but capable of folly and deception as historian Frank Welsh explains. There was the impressive Lion of Beaufort - John Molteno, who I have mentioned before, the first leader of the Cape when it achieved responsible government. Molteno owned one hundred thousand acres of well-tended land, and ran a thriving business. John Henry De Villiers was also in this first group of Cape leaders, already distinguishing himself also well off, the future Lord De Villiers, or De Villiers Graaf.

Born in 1842, his public life was to fall in the most complicated and controversial period of South Africa’s history. I have his biography written by Eric Walker, and it is a running commentary from his point of view on South African history. Two interests dominated his life - law and federation.

By the time he died his influence on South African law would be arguably greater than any other person, presiding over the senior court for more than forty years. He also took a keen interest in politics, mostly directed towards the idea of federating South African states and colonies. De Villiers had what was called a balanced affection for both Britain and South Africa. Speak of an affection for Britain but not necessarily balanced with an affection for Africa, were the English colonists of Natal.
Blacks who owned land in Natal were technically allowed to vote, as in the Cape, but every statagem was employed to weaklen this right. There was a high property qualification in Natal, but other restrictions had been added through the 1860s, when black Natalians were not allowed even to petition for admission to the electoral roll until they’d cleared a series of hurdles.

Seven years of exemption from customary law being the first hurdle, then three white men had to sign approval of the black Natalian gaining the vote, which was a complete negation of the colour-blind principle which was supposed to be driving this political right. Once the black Natalian had managed to clear those hurdles, believe it or not, there was one more. He had to seek permission from the Lieutenant Governor. The list of black voters in Natal for this period was an A4 Page long.
So it was deeply ironic then that one of Zulu King Cetshwayo kaMpande’s most trusted chiefs - and one of his most important, was Englishman John Dunn. He was the antithesis of everything that the urbanised English settler espoused - living and marrying into the Zulu people, his descendents fiercely proud members of a large clan today.

He elicited from those around him the phrase “going native” which is one of the most insidious relics of colonial thought. ]]> History Sun, 24 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 237 - Going Native, Coconuts, Hindu immigrants and Church and State in Natal 0 0 Des Latham full 17:40 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1587408 https://iono.fm/e/1587408
And the sound of money —

All across Griqualand West, tent towns mushroomed overnight, teeming with fortune seekers from around the world. Tens of thousands by 1873, all descending on a patch of dusty ground that was soon to become a beacon of development on the landscape.

Kimberley.

In the modern world, industrial diamonds have hammered the industry business model,
China overwhelmingly dominates global production of synthetic industrial diamonds accounting for about 90% of the total total.

But in the 19th century, diamonds were still as rare as as teetotaler in a Kimberley tavern.

This episode we’ll hear about the entrepreneurs both black and white, and the future Robber Baron and colonial Dreamer, Cecil John Rhodes.

It was in May 1871 after the harvest at the Rhodes brothers cotton farm in Richmond in Natal had come in, that Rhodes began his long career of harvesting the right connections. Brother Herbert sailed to Natal two years earlier, and now Cecil was helping manage the 250 acre farm, helped by 30 black labourers. Herbert however had heard about the riches discovered in Griqualand West and headed off to the Diamond Fields in early 1871, leaving Cecil to run the show in Natal.

Young Cecil attended the annual meeting of the colonies agricultural society where he exhibited samples of their cotton, in attendance were Natal’s colonial elite. There were long after-dinner political speeches, all ending with a toast. IN the haze of cigar and tobacco smoke, and a haze of multiple shots of whiskey, one settler called for a man to offer the traditional toast to the Ladies.

So it was ironic that Cecil Rhodes rose in response, and thus delivered his first ever public speech according to his friend and biographer, Lewis Mitchell.

Ironic because Rhodes would never form a initimate relationship with a woman as far as we know . As he grew more powerful, he would always surround himself with young male private secretaries and later would make one - Neville Pickering, the sole beneficiary of his will.

In the Victorian era, being openly homosexual was socially unacceptable and illegal, so any such relationships would have been kept private. We are hampered by a lack of personal diaries or revealing letters from Rhodes himself, making it difficult to reach a firm, irrefutable conclusion about his private life.
The scale claim-owners did much of their own manual labour, but for the most part the work was done by black labourers, picking at the ground, smashing the bumps of earth and rock, sieving the lime dust through a coarse wire sieve, rubble thrown aside, what remained placed on a sorting table. A small scraper would be used to spread the rock on the tables, scooping after picking the diamonds out, repeat repeat.

In early 1872 Herbert went back to their farm in Richmond to welcome yet another brother, Frank, to South Africa. Cecil was left in charge and suffered under the stress, hard labour in a harsh climate, supervising his business, and a sudden death of his friend John Thompson. He was smoking and drinking too much, breathing in too much dust, dehydrated — and collapsed — to be nursed back to health by John Blades Currey’s wife, Mary.

He was still only 18 years old and almost died. In his miasmic state, he wrote his will which is prescient, and somewhat theatrical, leaving all his possessions to Britain’s Secretary of State for the colonies, Lord Kimberly instead of his family.
New promulgations were thus passed by the miners themselves, black people could not stay in the mining camps for longer than two days without a master, they also had to observe a curfew after 9pm. Punishment for failing to observe these rules, 25 lashes or 10 shillings fine. All this at a time when most of the English-speaking world was repealing lashing. ]]> History Sun, 17 Aug 2025 10:10:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 236 - The Twelve Apostles, Rhodes buys Roodepoort, Sticky-Fingered Diamond Thieves and a New Pass System 0 0 Des Latham full 21:12 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1584997 https://iono.fm/e/1584997 Before that just some news .. unbelievable as it may appear, Apple Podcasts has named The History of South Africa pod as one of their top ten Best so Far podcasts of 2025. They have asked me to say so, so this is saying so.

An irregular musket salute is in order!!

Thanks to my fantastic listeners for helping make this podcast resonate, I am truly grateful.
And thus to our story this episode Cetshwayo Glamped and Crowned, Shepstone Stalled, Masiphula Poisoned, it’s early 1873, and King Mpande kaSenzangakhona of the amaZulu has been buried and the process of selecting a new king has begun

Cetshwayo kaMpande, his son is to be the new regent.

Or is he? This wasn’t a simple matter. Succession disputes had riven the Zulu nation from since Senzangakhona died, the last internal ruction had led to the Zulu Civil War and the shattering battle of Ndondakusuka near the Thukela River in 1856. I dealt with this significant moment in episode 209. Mpande was still king at the time, but Cetshwayo and Mbuyazi, his two eldest sons, were vying to be formally nominated as the king in waiting.

Mbuyazi was defeated in the battle, vanquished and killed, leaving Cetshwayo in de facto control of the kingdom, though his father remained king. Mbuyazi's followers, including five other sons of King Mpande, were massacred in the aftermath of the battle. But some escaped.

Succession had been murky ever since 1816 when Shaka had supplanted his half-brother and presumptive heir Sigujana. Cetshwayo may have been the eldest son of the King Mpande kaSenzangakhona and many of the izikhulu supported Cetshwayo, but Mpande favoured his next-eldest son Mbuyazi.
One of the central characters of our story was John Dunn who had supported Mbuyazi, but switched sides afterwards and was helping Cetshwayo collect firearms by the early 1870s. When Mpande died, Cetshwayo would turn to the British in Natal for recognition, because he faced two major threats. One was the Boers to his north who had taken control over the disputed territory around northern Vryheid, Utrecht, and the foothills of the mountains below Volksrus, and the other threat was internal. Cetshwayo was beholden to some powerful Zulu chiefs in the north, who’d helped him defeat Mbuyazi, and most of these opposed Cetshwayo doing deals with the British. They were traditionalists. The British would disturb the indigenous rituals they said. Cetshwayo saw things differently. He was playing a bigger diplomatic game, aware of the wider powers at play. If he could convince Natal’s commissioner of Native Affairs, Theophilus Shepstone, to ride into his territory and formally crown him king, this would keep the boers at bay, and simultaneously undermine those northern izikhulu who were conducting a whispering campaign against him.

In this geopolitical tango, Shepstone understood this power game only too well — he’d been installed in 1846 as Native Commissioner and virtually ruled the black population in Natal — as well as trying to rule the amaZulu north of the Thukela.The once and future king Cetshwayo began to move in July 1873, just before sending word to Shepstone, the period of mourning Mpande’s death now over. After gathering his amabutho regiments, he set off in full chief attire, having packed up his entire oNtini great place. Dozens of his isigodlo girls, his harem carried his goods and chattels.
They travelled up the Mhlathuze River, into the thickets which held a vast array of wild game. Cetshwayo ensured that all protocols were followed, including the purification rituals of a Great Hunt, an iHlambo, where the King would be indirectly washed clean by the amaButho washing their spears in blood. All evil influences that had gathered force during the mourning period after Mpande’s death in October 1872 would be dispatched. ]]> History Sun, 10 Aug 2025 10:05:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 235 - Cetshwayo Glamped and Crowned, Shepstone Stalled, Masiphula Poisoned 0 0 Des Latham full 24:09 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1582667 https://iono.fm/e/1582667
And to the folks that came to ask questions and be part of the event, thank you too for such a warn reception.

We’re going to deal with two main topics in the years 1871 leading into 1872 - One was the installation of Sir John Molteno as the First Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope which marked the start of responsible government in the territory.

But the other really big event of 1872 was the death of Zulu king Mpande kaSenzangakhona, leaving the way open for Cetshwayo kaMpande to seize the reins of power.

It wasn’t going to be that simple of course.

Let’s have a quick squizz at what was going on globally in 1871.

The Franco-Prussian war ended, leading to the Proclamation the German Empire in January. The North German federation and South German States were united in a single nation state and the King of Prussia was declared as the German Emperor Wilhem the first. Germany officially came into being for the first time. Otto von Bismarck would soon become the First Chancellor of the German Empire.

In French Algeria, the Mokrani Rebellion against colonial rule broke out in March 71, in March the Paris Commune was formally established in France. The Commune governed Paris for two months, promoting an anti-religious system, an eclectic mix of many 19th-century schools of thought. Policies included the separation of church and state, the reduction of rent and the abolition of child labor.
The Commune closed all Catholic churches and schools in Paris and a mix of reformism and revolutionism took hold — a hodge podge of folks who pushed back against the French establishment.

By late May 71 the commune had been crushed in the semaine sanglante, the Bloody Week, where at least 15 000 communards were executed by loyalist troops. More than 43 000 communards were imprisoned. The Paris Commune left an indelible mark on Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels — two men who, in turn, would go on to cast a long, indirect shadow over the course of world history.

In June 1871, the United States launched an assault on the Han River forts in Korea, hoping to pry open Korean markets for American trade. Washington wasn’t bothering with tariffs that year — gunboats were quicker.
Charles Babbage died on boxing Day, 26 December 1871. A man of many labels—mathematician, philosopher, inventor, mechanical engineer—but one overriding legacy: he imagined the computer before electricity even entered the equation. Babbage’s difference engine was the first mechanical attempt to automate calculation - it was his analytical engine that quietly cracked open the future. It carried, in brass and gears, the essential ideas of the modern digital computer—logic, memory, and even programmability. His inspiration? The Jacquard loom, which used punched cards to weave patterns into silk. Babbage observed this and thought: if a loom could follow instructions to weave flowers, why not numbers? Hidden in that question was the dawn of the information age—and even the first glimmer of a printer.
The popular movement towards responsible government had arisen in the early 1860s, led by John Molteno - and in a future podcast I will spend more time on his life - a fascinating character who was the first South Africa to attempt to export fruit. He married a coloured woman called Maria in 1841 but catastrophe struck when she and their young son died in childbirth and stricken by grief, he joined a Boer Commando fighting in one of the early Frontier Wars.
So it was then that on 22nd October 1872 Cetshwayo summoned all the indunas and izikhulu to kwaNondwengu to announce that King Mpande had died. ]]> History Sun, 03 Aug 2025 09:45:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 234: Babbage’s Final Calculation, the Cape Charts Its Own Course, and the End of Mpande’s Reign 0 0 Des Latham full 20:41 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1580246 https://iono.fm/e/1580246
Now that the diamond fields were being exploited, this being1870, a plethora of politicians lined up to claim ownership — the ever-ambitious and unrealistic President Pretorius of the Transvaal among these, who as you heard last episode, had been chased away by the diggers. These were an international lot, not prone to being intimidated by old bearded men from the Transvaal.

His attempt at unilaterally granting drights to the diamond fields to messers Webb, Posno and Munnich had gone done like a lead balloon. As you heard, too, Nicholas Waterboer also claimed these fields, so too the Free State government under President Steyn. Waterboer was persuaded by his Cape educated lawyer the vigorous pen-and-ink warfare expert David Arnot, to ask the British Government to honour his claim on behalf of the Griqua. Waterboer didn’t need much convincing.

Author and Journalist Frederick Boyle who wrote “To the Cape For Diamonds” published in 1873 respected Arnot, meeting him in 1871 and describing him as very short, very thick, with a large face clean shaven and a dark skin burnt darker by South African suns.

“Mr David Arnot is one of those gentlemen who, in a larger or smaller sphere, make history…”

He’d conducted Waterboer’s business for 17 years, and as Boyle said, had made

“..not one mistake..”

Which is a miracle considering the forces at work in the transOrangia. A diplomats diplomat they said. Tenacious, unfailing, undaunted. He was President Pretorius and President Brands nemesis in some ways, a highly educated coloured man who was connected to the levers of power. He was also relatively wealthy, working as an attorney in Colesberg earning 2000 pounds a year. A man of his time, like other educated men and women of the Victorian era, he collected plants and wrote letters to famous scientists in his spare time.
Devout imperialist and friend, Richard Southey agreed. But the incoming high Commissioner, Sir Henry Barkly, needed to be pursuaded.

He’d just arrived, sporting enormous black whiskers, a large commanding figure, an authoritarian, gruff, former member of the English parliament, he didn’t want to be dragged into some territorial dispute so early in his governorship. He’d replaced Sir Philip Wodehouse as High Commissioner — Wodehouse congratulated himself when he left in May 1870 claiming not a shot had been fired by a British soldier during his stint — which was a stunning turnaround from the preceding 70 years, particularly the turbulent 1840s.

In the interregnum between the discovery of diamonds and annexation of the diamondiferous land by Great Britain, a short-lived but highly entertaining Free Diamond Republic sprang into being.

Self-appointed, proudly chaotic, and run by the diggers for the diggers. The Diggers Republic had all the trappings — including a flag which a ccording to historical accounts, featured the Union Jack in the top corner, similar to other colonial flags of the era. And its President? Stafford Parker was his name, and he was to rule over the territory for the grand total of twelve months. One reporter from London said that he “behaved modestly and does honour to his position … the order of the day — is solid civility —- listen to, but say nothing, and dig away….”

Golden rule amongst treasure hunters. Stay shtum as you grind away.
President Stafford Parker—ever the showman with a wink and a waistcoat—launched his corrugated iron canteen at Klipdrift on the banks of the Vaal with all the flair of a Mar-a-Lago meets muddy boots affair. Not content with presiding over a ragtag republic of diggers and dreamers, Parker decided he’d double as chief entertainer and purveyor of refreshments, slinging drinks and good cheer beneath a roof of rippling iron. Why not? If you're going to rule, you might as well pour the pints too. ]]> History Sun, 27 Jul 2025 09:32:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 233 - Stafford Parker’s Unique Digger’s Republic and Free State/FNB Links 0 0 Des Latham full 20:36 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1577937 https://iono.fm/e/1577937
Just a quick note about that amazing podcaster Nicole Engelbrecht —She is the host & creator of True Crime South Africa and the author of Samurai Sword Murder, Sizzlers, and co-author of Killer Stories. Well now there’s another book in her growing body of work called Bare Bones, Cold Cases from True Crime South Africa as part of the Jonathan Ball stable.

I’ve been given view of an advanced copy and its chilling — perfect to read on a frozen winter’s night in front of a fire.

Right. 1870.

By the start of the year there were about 1000 diggers near the Vaal River, hunting diamonds, at the end of that year the number had risen ten to 10 000. They made their way to the area from around the world, once landing in Cape Town or Algoa Bay, and some in Durban, they’d travel up to the river diggings taking two months, or six weeks if they were lucky. Once there, they’d set up camp, pitching tents, building little shanties, or living in their wagons. These global prospectors first headed for the largest of these camps - a place called Klipdrift, which eventually became the town of Barkley West, about 35 kilometers north west of Kimberley.

The new Eldorado as it was being called saw men dressed in what was called a proper digger’s outfit. This consisted of a broad-brimmed hat, a corduroy suit, a stout waste belt with pockets all around, extra strong boots, a bowie knife, a revolver, and spare rounds of ammunition.

They’d have to secure their seat from the ports to the dry uplands, preferably in a Bullock-wagon or some in the Cape Scotchcart, drawn by horses. They were riding shotgun or at the back along with around three tonnes of goods consigned to the camps because everything had to be transported in. There was virtually no local food available, even water had to be carted from higher up the Vaal. It took forty days to trek to the diggings, with many holdups including a fairly lengthy delay at Bethulie in order to cross the mighty Orange River.

The River diggings stretched about 40 kilometres west and northwest towards Delportspoort.

The rush to gather alluvial diamonds along the rivers had begun along both banks of the Vaal River. The rise and fall of this important waterway had washed thousands of these gems onto the surface in channels — both current and ancient.
So who owned that land?

Griqualand West Captain Nicholas Waterboer believed it was his. The Griquas here were uneasily exposed in a salient of territory, a kind of peninsular on a map, projecting into the Orange Free State, across the Vaal River, and to the west, abutting the Tswana Territories of the Kalahari.
The diamond discoveries sent shockwaves through every corner of South African life, with the sciences feeling the first jolt. Geology and mineralogy suddenly mattered in a way they hadn’t before, as men sought to read the land for clues to its hidden riches. But at the root of it all lay something deeply human — an eternal hunger for instant treasure. It’s the same impulse that drives a gambler to scratch a card or chase a lottery win, that rush of endorphins when chance seems to offer everything. Or when a pan yields a diamond worth thousands. ]]> History Sun, 20 Jul 2025 09:02:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 232 - Diamond Geology as an Art, Dinosaur Veldskoene and Waterboer’s Claim 0 0 Des Latham full 24:26 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1575639 https://iono.fm/e/1575639
One of the loose ends was the opposition from some French missionaries who took exception to the Treaty believing it was a cosy deal agreed between the British and the Boers of the Orange Free State which left Moshoeshoe’s people with far less territory than they had originally claimed. The most pressing matter was food. Could the Basotho feed themselves with less arable land following the ceding of much of the Caledon valley to the Boers.

David Dale Buchanan was the editor of the Witness Newspaper based in Pietermaritzburg who championed Moshoeshoe's claim for expanded sovereignty during boundary talks. Paris Evangelical Missionary Society’s Francois Daumas joined Buchanana in actively lobbied the British government in London to reverse or soften the settlement terms that had been unfavorable to Moshoeshoe.

Buchanan used his platform in Natal’s colonial press to rally public and political support for Moshoeshoe, portraying the Basuto as deserving more just boundaries—and influenced the colonial secretary to consider Moshoeshoe's case more sympathetically.

Meanwhile, Daumas took the issue straight to the corridors of British power in London, sailing to Britain in 1869. He pressed the Foreign Office and Colonial Office to reconsider the treaty’s terms, hoping to secure territory that the Conventions had removed from Basotho ambit. Their joint efforts helped shape the High Commissioner's Notice of May 13, 1870, with an amendment in November 1871. This modification adjusted the Aliwal North boundary by Extending Basutoland eastward along the Caledon River to its true headwaters, and Restoring territory around Chief Molapo that the Orange Free State had claimed. These revisions returned critical grazing land and strategic highlands to Basutoland.

Unfortunately, as you’re going to hear, Moshoeshoe wasn’t around to experience the fruits of their diplomacy.
So it was on a January morning in 1870 that Moshoeshoe roused himself, like a candle flickering before it went out. He was about to perform a remarkable act, almost unheard of in southern Africa tradition. In his last official duty, Moshoeshoe convened a meeting of chiefs and headmen at Thaba Bosiu, and announced he was abdicating in favour of his eldest son, Letsie.
It was almost a hospital pass, because Letsie would now take over a land compressed on all sides by pressure groups, African and Colonial. It was still unclear if Basotholand would survive — having barely scraped through the previous few years, the Free State Basotho war of 1865 to 1868 had drained the country of food, and crushed much of its spirit.
But it was not defeated, and emerged under Letsie, balanced on a knife-edge, now protected by the British Empire. Moshoeshoe followed up his announcement at the meeting with more orders, that when Letsie died, he should be succeeded by Motsoane who was the only child of Letsie’s first wife, Senate — and Senate’s father was Josepha who was the eldest son of Molapo’s first wife. This was an attempt by Moshoeshoe to create cohesion but it was doomed to fail because he was unilaterally changing Basotho laws of succession. Let us turn to the final weeks of Moshoeshoe’s life, marked by an unseemly rivalry between French Protestants and Catholics. It is striking how the distant quarrels of European theology left their mark on South African history.The old Basotho fox had toyed with Christianity for years. Sometimes he wore it like a borrowed coat; sometimes he tossed it aside. The French missionaries were his pawns in a diplomatic game, sometimes they attempted to make him in their own image. ]]> History Sun, 13 Jul 2025 09:52:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 231 - Protestants and Catholics Struggle for Moshoeshoe’s Soul in 1870 0 0 Des Latham full 26:44 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1573331 https://iono.fm/e/1573331
Globally, the end of the sixth decade of the 19th Century was full of fire and brimbstone, and some technology, social change, significant moments. The construction of the the Port Nolloth-O'okiep railway line is one notable tech development, but on the down side, the Southern Cape experienced a devastating fire that began in early February in the Meiringspoort area of the Swartberg Mountains, destroying numerous homesteads and ancient yellowoods. More about this in a few minutes.

IN the United States, Elizabeth Cady Stanton testified before the U.S. Congress, thus becoming the first woman to do so, and later in 1869, Stanton and Susan B. Anthony formed the National Woman Suffrage Association. Sainsbury’s opened in Drury Lane in London in May, Boston University was founded in the same month. A month later, John Hyatt patented celluloid in Albany New York, a product created by mixing nitrocellulose and camphor — thus creating the basis for the coming film revolution.

Like all good ideas, Hyatt had actually bought the original patent from Englishman Alexander Parkes who couldn’t figure out how to make money from his invention. It’s amazing how many inventions were co-opted by entrepreneurs after the inventor struggled to make a buck out of a good idea. Take the common computer mouse, invented by Stanford Research Unit student Douglas Engelbart in the early 1960s.

In the late 1970s, almost two decades after the mouse’s invention, Apple’s Steve Jobs saw a mouse being demonstrated along with what was called graphical user interface, GUI, at Xerox labs in Palo Alto California.

November the 17 however, was probably one of the most significant dates in the calendar when it came to the Cape, because that was the date that the Suez Canal was completed. For the first time in history, ships could now sail through the canal, linking the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, shortening the voyages between Europe and the far east by months. In Cape Town, there was fear and loathing about the Canal.

And so, to South Africa, let’s retrace our steps to February 1869.

It began, as such stories often do, with a wisp of smoke on the horizon.

According to the local newspapers, the fire that would become known ominously as the Great Fire of 1869 was first spotted on the 8th February. The conditions were perfect for a catastrophe. Southern Cape berg winds, searing, north-westerly to north-easterly gusts, swept down from the heights. Born of a low-pressure system sliding from west to east, they could reach gale-force strength, tearing through valleys like invisible predators. By the time the flames were first seen near Knysna, the air shimmered with heat, the humidity was almost non-existent, and the vegetation which was parched after years of relentless drought, stood waiting, tinder-dry.But in February 1869, the fire dominated every horizon. From its first sparks, it began a horrifying march: sweeping west towards Swellendam, east to Uitenhage, and threading through the Langkloof valley north of the Outeniqua Mountains. Then, inexorably, it spilled down towards the coast, devouring all in its path, Great Brak River, Victoria Bay, Knysna, Plettenberg Bay. ]]> History Sun, 06 Jul 2025 08:56:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 230 - From Knysna’s Burning Forests to Tolstoy’s War and Peace: The World in 1869 0 0 Des Latham full 18:27 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1570965 https://iono.fm/e/1570965
First, a word about the Boer Basotho War of 1865-1868. The 1850s and 1860s marked a period of profound demographic disruption for the Basotho as the borders of Moshoeshoe the First’s kingdom shifted repeatedly under pressure from colonial conflict and Boer expansion, waves of refugees poured both in and out of the territory.

By 1865, the population of what is now Lesotho was estimated at 180,000 which was a sharp increase from five years earlier.

Then drought and a three year war against the Boers of the Free State had induced famine by 1868, and Moshoeshoe the First was running out of options as some of his people left the region. The war had created an immediate famine condition, exacerbated by the drought, and this had a knock-on effect when it came to politics and human migration.

After the territorial competition between the BaSotho and their African neighbours subsided to some extent as the Basotho emerged as a nation, the struggle against the Boers of the Free State gained momentum. Growth in the economies of both the Free State and Basotho had produced an ongoing competition for land and when drought struck, it stimulated violence.

It’s important to stress how the Free State economy had shifted from herding cattle to sheep — mainly as a result of Great Britain’s demand for wool. The Boers regarded the English as an oppressive occupying force, but that didn’t stop farmers of the Free State making a buck off the empire when they could.

This is reflected in trade data - in 1852 exports from the Orange River Sovereignty to Natal, the Cape and England totalled 256 000 pounds, with wool making up 230 000 pounds of that trade.

In a census of 1856, Boers had 1.2 million sheep and goats, and only 137 000 head of cattle. But the golden years of wool exports were over by the mid-1860s. The terrible droughts of 1860 and 1861 were known as the Red Dust when the Caledon River dried up for the only time in anyone’s memory.
If you want the full background, I covered the outbreak of the Boer Basotho war of 1865 in an earlier episode, along with the causes. The drought, and the scorched earth policy adopted by Free State president Johannes Brand, left Moshoeshoe with little choice. He could either surrender and be known as the Basotho King who gave away his people to the Boers, or he could ask the British to declare Basotholand a British Protectorate.

Some have said cynically that the British were entertaining this anyway, hungry for more land and even more so after the discovery of diamonds — but that’s tautological when it comes to Basotholand. The diamond discovery took place after Basotholand was folded into the British empire.

Still, we need to burrow into how this all worked out, the diplomacy and wheeler-dealing was extraordinary. By the end of 1867 the successes of the Boer commandos in their raids into Basotholand had put an end to the prospect that the Free State burghers would voluntarily submit to the reimposition of British control.
Eugene Casalis, the French missionary who had spent so much time in Basotholand, sailed to England from France to urge the British Government to intervene. This was not a lightweight ecclesiastical mission, Casalis had established a mission station at Morija at the foot of Moshoeshoe’s royal mountain Thaba Bosiu in 1833. He translated the gospel of Mark into isiSotho, and was revered for his political advice to Moshoeshoe.

The Duke of Buckingham who had succeeded Lord Carnarvon as Colonial Secretary in March 1867, was all ears. They say timing matters, and it so happened that CB Adderley who was parliamentary Under-Secretary was in favour of intervention provided it could be managed without expense.

IE, without sending an army to fight the Boers.
On the 9th December, Buckingham instructed Wodehouse to treat with Moshoeshoe. ]]> History Sun, 29 Jun 2025 10:34:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 229 - Moshoeshoe and the Red Dust: How War and Famine Led to British Rule in Lesotho 0 0 Des Latham full 21:59 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1568527 https://iono.fm/e/1568527 I was flabbergasted when receiving the Paypal payment. We have communicated over the years so this is just to say, thank you from the bottom of my heart Richard. When I’m next in Ireland, I promise to buy you a couple of rounds of St James’ Blessing.
What’s this? A cacophony of digging? Must be significant.
The date is somewhere in March 1867. A month after young Erasmus Jacobs had found an interesting stone near Hopetown near the Free State Border, but also near the newly formed Transvaal and Griqualand.
The world of diamonds swirls with myth and legend, fiction, fact. Diamonds glitter with dangerous promise — alluring but transient in their fortunes, hard as truth, and just as capable of cutting those who reach for them unprepared.

The rock that was found at Hopetown was placed on the table of the Cape Assembly shortly thereafter by Sir Richard Southey, the Colonial Secretary with the words

“Gentlemen, this is the rock on which the future success of South Africa will be built…”
Before Southey’s dramatic flourish, the initial response from officialdom was disbelief. For as long as anyone could remember, and this went all the way back to the VOC in 1660s, there had been rumours of great mineral treasure in the north.

A kind of disinformation campaign was launched by Jan van Riebeeck because from the time of his arrival he expressed belief in the possibility of a successful search for the traditional golden realm of Monomotapa. It was imperative to drum up more cash for the new tavern of the seas, and he was trying to convince the VOC of the exaggerated value of their new outpost.
And women in South Africa were taking notice, which probably from a 21st Century point of view appears somewhat unlikely. Mary Elizabeth Barber had an important role to play in South Africa's geological science.

The year 1867 was characterised by drought, and a severe depression made worse by reports that the completion of the Suez Canal would ruin all trade with the Cape.

So it wasn’t a moment too soon, so to speak, that Diamonds were discovered. Nearly two hundred years had passed since van Der Stel’s memorable expedition across what he called de Groote Rivier, the Gariep, the Orange. IT was on the Orange River, sixty kilometres above its junction with the Vaal River, that a village sprang up.

Hopetown. By all reports a thriving little settlement, with a number of farms dotted along the river banks nearby. The Koranna and the Griqua lived nearby, at the towns of Pniel and Hebron.
Switch to 1867. Picture the scene, sheep and goats, Erasmus Jacobs were doing what Boer boys did, he was roaming the veld, playing on the edge of the river. Here were garnets with their rich carmine flush, the fainter rose of the carnelian, the bronze of jasper, the thick cream of chalcedony, agates of motley hues, rock crystals shining in the light like beckoning stars. Lesser stones, not diamonds, nor valuable gems.

From one of these multi-coloured beds Erasmus and his siblings filled their pockets with stones thinking they could play a game of ducks and drakes. For the uninitiated town based gaslight grazer, ducks and drakes is the game of skimming stones.
Whomever skims the stone the furthest or with the most hops, wins. Simple game, but when you have no toys, stones are your friends. Luckily for the future of South Africa, Erasmus decided against skimming the diamond, and took it home. There it joined a pile of other shining stones he’d collected like a magpie. It was odd, this stone, and his widowed mother Mrs Jacobs mentioned it to a neighbour, the farmer Meneer Schalk van Niekerk. ]]> History Sun, 22 Jun 2025 10:20:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 228 - From Skepticism to Stampede: The Diamond Rush Awakens 0 0 Des Latham full 24:40 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1566395 https://iono.fm/e/1566395
For soon, the earth will yield its glittering secret — the diamond — and with it, fortunes will rise, empires will stir, and the southern tip of Africa will be irrevocably transformed.

But before we reach that seismic revelation, we journey first into the twilight of a king’s life — to the basalt crown of Thaba Bosiu, where Moshoeshoe, the great architect of Basotho unity, faced the gravest challenge yet to his people’s survival.

The year is 1864, and a new figure steps onto the veldt’s political stage — Johannes Brand, recently elected President of the Orange Free State. With his arrival came the end of internecine Boer squabbles. Now, unity of purpose would drive their ambitions — and that purpose turned toward Lesotho’s land.

Brand lost little time invoking Article 2 of the Treaty of Aliwal North — a clause etched into colonial parchment, defining the boundary between Free State territory and Moshoeshoe’s realm. He wanted it honoured, and in the Boers’ favour.

The British High Commissioner, Philip Wodehouse — successor to Sir George Grey — responded, dispatching Aliwal North’s Civil Commissioner, John Burnet, to parley with Moshoeshoe.

There, among the towering ramparts of Thaba Bosiu, Burnet argued the line was law — the Warden Line, drawn in 1858, marked Moshoeshoe’s northern limit. Yet Basotho families still tilled and dwelt across it.

Not out of defiance, but memory — for those lands were ancestral, soaked in history and spirit. To demand a retreat across the Caledon River would have meant inciting his own chiefs, rupturing the very fabric of the Basotho world.

Brand, determined to halt the Basotho’s slow advance toward Harrismith and Winburg, convened the Volksraad. A special session summoned Governor Wodehouse, pleading for intervention to preserve peace — or impose it.

By October 1864, Wodehouse had the contested boundary beaconed. But in a private memorandum — shaped by voices like Burnet’s — he concluded what Moshoeshoe already knew in his bones: no treaty or beacon could reconcile the irreconcilable.

For the Free State clung to the ink of 1858 — a document where Moshoeshoe had affixed his name to the Warden Line. But treaties are made on paper — and people live on land.
On the 14th of November, Moshoeshoe called a *pitso* — a major assembly of his chiefs. It was a moment to speak freely, to vent frustration, and to wrestle with the reality of what lay ahead. In the end, they publicly committed to accepting Wodehouse’s ruling.

Molapo and Mopeli, though reluctant, began evacuating their villages. In the days that followed, a steady stream of men, women, and children made their way south — driving cattle, carrying bundles of corn, and taking with them whatever possessions they could manage.

When Moshoeshoe appealed to President Brand for time to let Molapo’s people finish harvesting, Brand agreed. They stayed through the summer, gathering the last of their crops, and left again in February 1865.

By then, the land was quiet. According to British reports — and Moshoeshoe’s own understanding — the disputed territory now stood empty of Basotho.

But what neither he nor the British authorities knew was that the Boers were not content to leave it at that. A commando had already been mustered — eager to erase the memory of their defeat in 1858, and ready to strike.
South Africa’s history is marked by sudden turns — moments of violence, moments of discovery. Buried treasure, both literal and political, lies hidden until, almost by accident, it surfaces. Often, it’s not strategy or foresight, but chance — a misstep, a stray decision — that reveals the vast wealth beneath.
While the Boers and the Basotho were locked in brutal conflict, fighting for control of fertile valleys and mountain strongholds, something altogether different was unfolding a short distance away.
A diamond would be discovered. ]]> History Sun, 15 Jun 2025 10:31:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 227 - Diamonds, War, and Destiny: Moshoeshoe, the Boers, and the Stone That Changed South Africa 0 0 Des Latham full 26:45 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1564099 https://iono.fm/e/1564099
British Kaffraria — that volatile strip of land east of the Kei — had been the stage for repeated wars between the British Empire and the amaXhosa. By 1866, the inevitable had come to pass: the territory was formally annexed to the Cape. This was not a popular move in the Cape Parliament. Most members balked at the idea, not out of principle, but pocket — British Kaffraria was a drain on the Treasury, propped up entirely by funds from London. The Cape, in its self-conscious autonomy, wanted no part in the bill.

But Attorney General William Porter reminded his fellow parliamentarians that their indignation was selective. The Cape itself, he said, could not “talk big and look big” when its own house was being kept warm with British money. Independence in name meant little, he warned, if the machinery of government still ticked by the grace of Empire coin.
But before the ink was dry on the annexation, another, more immediate matter took precedence — the fate of the amaMfengu, along with the amaNgqika and amaGqunukhwebe. The structures of amaXhosa political authority had already been dismantled within British Kaffraria. Now, as the imperial tide rolled further inland, it was the amaMfengu who found themselves repositioned — this time as subjects to be moved, their loyalty rewarded not with land, but with a fresh dislocation.
Soon, the area around Butterworth became an amaMfengu stronghold. Many local amaXhosa were absorbed into their ambit — politically subdued or socially assimilated. For the British, this migration had a twofold effect. It removed thousands of Black residents from British Kaffraria, freeing up land under Crown control. And it advanced a broader goal: clearing the way for the Cape Parliament to annex the territory, albeit reluctantly and under pressure from Westminster.
Just to flick the future switch for a moment — Back to the Future, in 2003, a constellation of dignitaries descended on Phokeng for the coronation of Kgosi Leruo Molotlegi of the Bafokeng. That’s near Rustenberg just for clarity. Among them were Nelson Mandela, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, First Lady Zanele Mbeki, and the Queen Mother of Lesotho. A drought pressed down on the land in 2003, dry and unforgiving, but the dusty heat did little to mute the occasion’s quiet grandeur.

For a small nation to command such presence — to draw the gaze of the region’s most prominent figures — spoke to something more than mere ceremonial gravity. It hinted at a deeper, long-cultivated influence. This is the story of how the Bafokeng came to be recognised as one of South Africa’s most quietly successful peoples — not by avoiding the tides of history, but by learning, early on, how to navigate them. From their dealings with the Boers and Paul Kruger, to their survival under apartheid’s grip, the Bafokeng carved a path few expected — and fewer still understood.
There’s an almost whispered history here, a counterpoint to the dominant narrative of dispossession and defeat. The Bafokeng lived on land of consequence long before that significance was measured in ounces of platinum. It wasn’t until the metal was prised from the earth beneath their feet that the rest of the country — and eventually, the world — began to pay attention. But the roots of their agency run deeper, older. They reach back to a time when Paul Kruger was still cobbling together unity among the Voortrekkers, long before his epic confrontations with the British had begun. ]]> History Sun, 08 Jun 2025 09:56:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 226 – The Estate Agent of the Transvaal: Paul Kruger, Mokgatle, the amaMfengu Crossing, and the Battle for Land 0 0 Des Latham full 26:19 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1561655 https://iono.fm/e/1561655
By the time the great Griqua migration reached what would become Griqualand East, others had already begun trickling into this remote and mesmerising landscape — a highland plateau that straddles the transition between KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, hemmed in by the southern Drakensberg.

At over 1,600 metres above sea level, winters bite hard here when the frost laces the sandstone ridges, and the mornings arrive cloaked in icy mist. But come spring, the veld stirs with startling vigour: the ground blushes green, and indigenous flora such as Watsonia pillansii or Pillans watsonia, Dierama reynoldsii fairy bell or hairbell, and the fiery Kniphofia caulescens — the Drakensberg red-hot poker, thrust their blooms skyward.

Aloes cling to rocky outcrops, and if you're lucky, you might glimpse the iridescent flash of a malachite sunbird, the Nectarinia famosa, feeding on nectar, or hear the distinct call of the ground woodpecker aka Geocolaptes olivaceus echoing from a sandstone cliff.
After an arduous few weeks from their farms near Philippolis, Kok’s people arrived at Ongeluk’s Nek and you know if you’ve listened to the previous podcast why it was given this name. ON the way they had passed passed through part of land claimed by Basotho king Moshoehoe, around the Hangklip area — that’s just south east of Zastron today.

Then began the arduous process of clearing a road down the mountain starting at Ongeluks Nek. It was no child’s play. Every morning, according to the annals, men set about with pick and crowbar, hammer and drills, powder and fuse to dig out a track down the mountainside.

It took weeks for the track to be hacked from the rock, and the 2000 men, women and children, their dogs and livestock, managed to slide and roll down the side heading towards a small settlement about six kilometers north of where the town of Kokstad is today.
The Griqua had finally, in their minds, arrived at their promised land. Here were rolling hills, the lower Maloti, sweet tasting river water, springs, green grass. In the ravines there were forests and the Griqua began to cut down these trees to build houses.The fledgling Griqualand state began to emerge, murderers were executed, criminals were tried and convicted and the Volksraad gathered every six months to discuss laws. This elementary form of democracy featured lengthy discussions and very little note-taking. A chief officer was elected, called a Kaptyn like the Khoekhoe leaders of old, and a privy council or executive council as it was also known was setup. ]]> History Sun, 01 Jun 2025 10:41:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 225 - Between Diamonds and Desolation: The Griqua's Journey to East Griqualand 0 0 Des Latham full 19:07 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1559491 https://iono.fm/e/1559491
We’re going to trace the arc of Southern Africa’s climate, beginning in the early 19th century, before turning to the decade under review — the 1860s — and following the path of the Griqua Great Trek into Nomansland.

First let’s get our heads around the cycles of drought and flood in southern Africa.

The pernicious climate.

As Professor Mike Meadows of UCT’s Environmental Sciences Department observed back in 2002, South Africa’s climate has long danced to an unpredictable rhythm — one marked by dramatic shifts in both rainfall and its timing. Precipitation follows a kind of cycle, yes, but one that keeps its own secrets. Some years bring bounty, others drought, and the line between the two is often sharp and sudden. The climate, in short, plays favourites with no one — and when it comes to rain, it can be maddeningly capricious.

So while the calendar may promise a rainy season, it rarely tells us how generous the skies will be. The patterns are there — but the quantities? That’s anyone’s guess. South Africa, after all, is a land of dryness. Over 90 percent of its surface falls under what scientists call “affected drylands” — a polite term for places where water is scarce and the margins are thin. The rest? Even drier. Hyper-arid zones, where the land holds its breath and waits. And by the mid-19th century, much of this land was beginning to fray under the strain — overgrazed, overworked, slowly giving way to the long creep of degradation.
South Africa’s landscape is anything but simple. It’s rugged, sculpted by time, with steep slopes and a dramatic stretch from the tropics to the temperate zone. But the story of our climate doesn’t end on land. It’s shaped by a swirling conversation between oceans and continents — a conversation held over centuries by systems with lyrical names: the Mozambique Channel Trough, the Mascarene High, the Southern Annular Mode, and the twin dipoles of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Then there’s the heavyweight — the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, or ENSO — which has long held sway over our rainfall and drought cycles.

The dry was one of the motivations for another Great Trek about to take place.

The Griqua’s who’d been living in the transOrangia since the late 1700s began to question their position in the world. With the Boers now controlling the Free State, and Moshoeshoe powerful in Lesotho, it was time to assess their options.
In 1861, the Griqua joined the list of mass migrations of the 19th Century. There had been the effect of the Mfecane, then the Voortrekkers, and now, the Griqua. Two thousand people left Philippolis to establish themselves in Nomansland, far to the east, past Moshoeshoe’s land over the Drakensberg. The reason why historians like Cambridge’s Robert Ross call it spectacular was the road that the Griqua cut for themselves across the high ridges of the mountains, a remarkable feat of engineering for the time. ]]> History Sun, 25 May 2025 09:34:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 224 - El Niño’s and Al Nina’s and the Griqua Great Trek to Nomansland 0 0 Des Latham full 22:53 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1557140 https://iono.fm/e/1557140
A very quick thank you to Professor Johan Fourie at Stellenbosch Department of Economics who invited me to be part of a workshop about improving the visibility of economic history. What an amazing experience.

This episode of our series is following on from 1863, into 1864, where the movement of people became as demographic phenomenon — driven by economics and innovations.

Let’s swing our attention to Robben Island, it’s a warm morning in November 1863 and a bearded German arrived armed with various photographic apparatus and guns, he was on an expedition. German tourists can be found on Robben Island these days, but they don’t carry guns and their cameras are Canons.

Gustav Fritsch had arrived with many other accoutrements - because he was on a scientific mission.

He was an anthropologist, and part of a curious genre now largely forgotten — the “racial type” photographer — men who believed the camera could capture the science of human difference, stamping evolution’s hierarchy onto paper.

In their lens, the body became data.

A century and a half later, modern influencers use images to shape a kind of social order — their self-curated faces, botox-bright and algorithm-approved offer a new kind of taxonomy, no less performative, and perhaps no less pseudoscientific.
So as our friend Gustav Fritsch set up his apparatus and guns, there on the windy but warm Robben Island of November 1863, he became part of what would be the field of criminology and .. eugenics.

In this period, the use of photography was part of a privileged administrative practice, part of medical anatomy, anthropology, psychiatry, part of the professionalised emerging social sciences, tying in public health, urban planning, sanitation.

It was at this point that the two divergencies in the science began to take shape, one was honorific, honouring the differences, noting the diversity, exciting the senses with these truly stunning pictures of South Africans in 1863, versus the other, the repressive, the oppressive. Stamping people with their racial characteristics.
Unlike today, each picture took at least 20 seconds to complete. Imagine asking your contemporary subject to sit dead still for 20 seconds while you point your iPhone at their noggin. 20 seconds is longer than an entire TikTok video that explains the meaning of life.

But there is not doubt, that the most remarkable thing about Fritsch’s photos were the diversity. He photographed many chiefs and their families, capturing African nobility at the time. His image of amaThemba chief Stokwe ka-Ndlela is slightly blurred, Stokwe refused to sit still. Other images of the incarcerated on Robben Island are historic, folkloric and well, just stunning. These include Xoxo on of Ngqika, brother of Sandile, Siyolo kaMdushane, one of the Gcaleka chiefs, Dilima, son of Phato of the Gqunukhwebe.

This strange German was doing South African history a favour, recording the regal faces of amaXhosa royalty for posterity. After Robben Island, Gustav Fritsch and his apparatus rolled along in an oxwagon to Cathcart in the eastern Cape where he took more photos of Anta kaNgqika the 3rd paramount chief of the amaRharhabe, whereupon Fritsch continued to Stutterheim, where he set up his stool and massive tripod and took remarkable photos of Sandile kaNgqika.Not satisfied, this 19th century paparazzi, this collector of images set off northwards to Bechuanaland. He photographed Bakwena chief Sechele I a Motswasele or "Rra Mokonopi" as well as his son Sibelo. Bamagwatho chief Kama was next, grand old man of Botswana. The ancestor of the famous Khama family of the twentieth century.
And while Gustav Fritsch wandered the veld with his camera and his paraphernalia, convinced he was capturing some scientific truth, the people he encountered were being absorbed into a global archive — not as individuals, but as specimens, artefacts. ]]> History Sun, 18 May 2025 09:20:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 223 - The Calliper and the Lens: Gustav Fritsch in the Southern Light (1863–1865) 0 0 Des Latham full 23:27 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1554592 https://iono.fm/e/1554592 We’ve just entered the period of 1863 to 1865.
It’s also time to take a quick tour of 1863 as is our usual way. While the Transvaal Civil War has ended, the American Civil War is still going gangbusters. In the last 12 months, momentous events have shaped world history. Abraham Lincoln signed the the Emancipation Proclamation in January of 1863 making the abolition of slavery in the Confederate States a War goal. A speculative mania followed in 1853/4, alarming the Government of the Cape.

In the 1850s, a wave of speculative mining booms swept across the globe, driven by dramatic gold and mineral discoveries in places like California, Australia, and South Africa. These were fuelled by exaggerated rumours, newspaper hype, and dubious prospecting claims. Tens of thousands of hopefuls chased fortunes, often to remote or inhospitable regions, believing the next strike was just over the ridge.

This era gave rise to a kind of "treasure hysteria", where wildcat ventures and fraudulent schemes—what some dubbed “red herrings”—diverted investors and prospectors alike.

King Moshoeshoe the first of the Basotho had taken a great deal of interest in the Transvaal Civil War. The Orange Free State had been instrumental — and in particular — it’s new president Johan Brandt, in ending the inter-Boer battles.
He was also growing more concerned by the signs of increased mining activity which had been going on west of his territory. Ancient peoples who predated the Khoe in the northern Cape had taken advantage of these minerals, there is archaeological evidence they were using iron from the area dug from pits 6000 years Before Present, around 4000 BC. Remarkable really, the use of iron in Southern Africa predates European Iron Age use by 3800 years.
There is an excellent short book published by John Smalberger in 1975 called A history of Copper Mining in Namaqualand published which I’ve used as one of the sources.

A specialised company called Phillips and King began exporting the ore in 1852 — a small 11 tons loaded on board a steamer called the Bosphorus which sailed out of Hondeklip Bay. They built a 140 meter long wooden jetty to facilitate loading here.

A speculative mania followed in 1853/4, alarming the Government of the Cape.

In the 1850s, a wave of speculative mining booms swept across the globe, driven by dramatic gold and mineral discoveries in places like California, Australia, and South Africa. These were fuelled by exaggerated rumours, newspaper hype, and dubious prospecting claims. Tens of thousands of hopefuls chased fortunes, often to remote or inhospitable regions, believing the next strike was just over the ridge. ]]> History Sun, 11 May 2025 09:50:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 222 - Global events 1863, Namaqualand Copper and Gunny Sack Shacks 0 0 Des Latham full 24:52 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1552184 https://iono.fm/e/1552184
As you heard in episode 220, this was the making of a new president and one who’d take the Trekker Republics into the 20th Century, albeit in the midst of the Anglo-Boer War.

There had been a rapid and real effect — as the farmers took up arms against each other, the Transvaal’s economy collapsed. This weakened the government’s ability to back up its stated authority.

By now the tiny independent States of Lydenburg and Utrecht had joined the Transvaal accepting the authority of the Transvaal. They had been outliers since the trekkers first arrived in those regions, fifteen years earlier.

To recap - In 1859, Transvaal President, Marthinus Wessel Pretorius, was invited to stand for President in the Orange Free State, many burghers there now wanted to unify with the Transvaal. They were mainly worried about how to deal with King Moshoeshoe of the Basotho.

The Transvaal constitution that he had just enacted made it illegal to hold office abroad, still Pretorius won the Transvaal election, then Volksraad attempted to side-step the constitutional problems by granting Pretorius half-a-year of leave. They hoped some kind of solution would be found — Pretorius left for Bloemfontein and appointed Johannes Hermanus Grobler to be acting president in his absence.
Up stepped Stephanus Schoeman from the Marico region who unsuccessfully attempted to use force to supplant Johannes Grobler as acting president. Schoeman believed that the presidency should have been granted to him as the new Transvaal constitution stipulated that in the case of the president's dismissal or death, the presidency should be granted to the oldest member of the Executive Council. Schoeman was three years older than Grobler.
Forward fast to 1863, Kruger had defeated Schoeman at a skirmish outside Potchefstroom. He had also managed to convince some of the supporters of rebel in the Heidelberg district to switch sides, and had ridden back to Pretoria with a local farmer of high standing, Jan Marais.

There a council of war determined that rebels like Schoeman were taking advantage of a disagreement between the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. The two fledgling Boer Republics could not agree on where the boundary lay between them.

Transvaal President Van Rensburg duly assigned Kruger the duty of riding to the Free State to settle the question of the border - and he left almost immediately, taking a group of burghers with him as security. Further West, the Marico district was a hotbed of rebel activity and the commandant there, Jan Viljoen, heard about Kruger’s mission and organised a commando.
On the way to Potch, a spy warned Kruger about what awaited. He changed course, and set off with a small detachment to confront Viljoen while Kruger’s 2 IC, Veld kornet Sarel Eloff dashed forward to seize a nearby kopje - the all important high ground. Viljoen is so happened, was also on his way to the very same kopje.
One of the aspects of this conflict which is interesting is how Kruger used his spies or messengers as he called them. They were feeding him information daily, information about what Schoeman and Viljoen were up to. The capacity to recon an enemy was one of the defining strengths of the Boer military system, and would be sharpened constantly over the coming century and a half.
Folks, there are remarkable resonances in this apparently distant little civil war. When the Union of South Africa was achieved, Bloemfontein was nominated as the seat of the Supreme Court of the union. Cape Town and Pretoria shared power, parliament in Cape Town, Pretoria the seat of government. The Free State is slap bang in the middle — so they got the Supreme Court.
These historical instances reflect a legal and political philosophy that, in the aftermath of internal conflict, prioritising national healing through amnesty can be more beneficial than widespread punitive actions. ]]> History Sun, 04 May 2025 09:35:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 221 - Free State Judges, the Transvaal Civil War and the Architecture of Deliberation 0 0 Des Latham full 17:27 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1550222 https://iono.fm/e/1550222
Episode 220 deals with the start of the Transvaal Civil War, and quite a bit about Paul Kruger’s early life.

The American civil war was raging in 1862, and there’s nothing like a war to trigger innovation — if you excuse the pun. Richard Jordan Gatling patented his terrifying Gatling gun featuring multiple rotating barrels driven by a hand crank, allowing operators to unleash a relentless hailstorm of bullets—up to several hundred rounds per minute.

Its distinctive mechanical whirr echoed across battlefields, marking a chilling shift toward modern, industrialized warfare. While undoubtedly efficient, the Gatling gun also embodied a grim reality: the age when technology would reshape combat forever had arrived.

Just in time to cause more chaos in the already bloody American Civil War.

What is less known these days is that there was another Civil War involving descendants of Europeans, and this was going on in South Africa. The AmaZulu had just wrapped up their own recent Civil War as you’ve heard. All manner of brutal and uncivil conduct marked this period in South African history, as neighbour turned against neighbour and the bonds of society frayed.

The Boer Republics had been riven by conflict since the days of the Voortrekkers, but in 1862 perhaps inspired in part by the American civil War, the Boer Republics went from squabbling to skirmishing. There’s no proof that the carnage of the United States directly influenced South Africa, but there is proof that the Boers knew about it.

Later, during the apartheid period of National Party Rule, this Transvaal Civil War was deposited in historical file 13, almost expunged, because it contradicted the prevailing political ideology where it was all the whites against all the blacks. Anything that detracted from this nationalist agenda was taboo.

The modern architects of African nationalism, too, often reshape the past to suit their narratives, discarding inconvenient histories into their own version of "file 13."Compared to the carnage in America, where an estimated 750 000 people died, the South African version was far less bloody. A few dozen dead and wounded. A handful of skirmishes was the real effect, which took place in what is now Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the North West Province - but at the same time as the American Civil War which ran from 1861 to 1865. The Transvaal Civil War started in 1862 and ended in 1864.
While less gory, it was emblematic of the frontier streak embedded in the first generation descendants of the Voortrekkers.
According to the constitution of the Republic, the Hervormde Church was the state church. Its members alone were entitled to exercise any influence in public affairs. Whoever was not a member of the Hervormde Church was not a fully-qualified burgher.

Paul Kruger belonged to the Christelljk-Gereformeerde Kerk founded recently, in 1859, by Dr. Postma, at Rustenburg. This church became known in South Africa as the Dopper, or partly Canting Church. The derivation of the word Dopper is not completely clear, but it was believed to have come from the word dop, a damper or extinguisher for putting out
Candles. ]]> History Sun, 27 Apr 2025 09:30:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 220 - The Transvaal Civil War of 1862-1864 and Paul Kruger’s Dopping Doppers 0 0 Des Latham full 22:24 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1548257 https://iono.fm/e/1548257
Sir Philip Edmond Wodehouse, born in 1811, eldest child of Edmond Wodehouse who married his first cousin Lucy, daughter of Philip Wodehouse, uncle Philip to Sir Philip Edmond.

How very Victorian. Queen Victoria herself, who married her first cousin Prince Albert—did allow and even encourage cousin marriage, particularly among royalty and the upper classes to consolidate power, property, and lineage.

But it also increased the risk of birth defects by 2 percent, and if both parents carry a recessive gene mutation, their child has a 25 percent chance of expressing the disorder.

Scientists have a well-worn phrase for this — its called inbreeding.

Wodehouse junior entered the Ceylon Civil Service in 1828, and was installed as superintendent of British Honduras between 1851 to 1854. From there he sailed to British Guiana where he served as Governor between 1854 to 1861 — before heading to the Cape in 1862.

It’s illuminating to touch on Sir Philip Wodehouse’s disastrous time in British Guiana. Two years after he took office in the South American country, the Angel Gabriel riots broke out.

His implacable opponent was John Sayers Orr, whose nom de guerre was the Angel Gabriel, was half Scottish, half African. Edinburgh’s Caledonian Newspaper of the time reported that his mother Mary Ann Orr was a respectable coloured woman and married to a respectable Scot — John Orr senior.

Young John Sayer Orr was rabidly anti-papal, hated the Pope and had an anti-Catholic obsession. He took to the Guianese streets with bullhorn in hand, whereupon the distant Glasgow Herald noted he spoke “rampant anti-papist froth and lies..”
Between 1850 and 1851 he popped up in Boston, then New York, Bath in Maine, and Manchester in New Hampshire. In 1854 he was hustled off by police in Boston. Apart from the usual racial insults levelled at him, the Boston police report says he had more impudence than brains ..

“…who with a three cornered hat and a cockade on his head, and old brass horn .. took advantage of the political excitement .. travelled around the city …tooting his horn … collecting crowds in the streets, delivering what he called his political lectures and passing around the hat for contributions…”

Sounds like a modern political influencer, the bullhorn, the disinformation, the extreme rhetoric, not to mention his hat which is literally crowd sourcing.

He was arrested at least 20 times for what was called his international harangues tour — where he’d shout confusing messages like

“Scorn be those who rob us of our rights — purgatory for popery and the Pope — Freedom to man be he black or white — Rule Britannia…!!”
Bizarrely, the resonances to today’s crazy politics continued, Orr was associated with the fantastically named Know Nothing Party in America. Wait to hear about this bunch, you’ll recognise bits of modern USA.

Members of the movement were required to say "I know nothing" whenever they were asked about its specifics by outsiders, and that providing the group with its colloquial name.

Before you wonder aloud what relevance all this has, let me quickly point out that the so-called Know Nothing Party had 43 representatives in Congress at the height of its power in the late 1850s.
In 1855 this strange 19th Century character pitched up in British Guiana, and Sir Philip Wodehouse had his work cut out. Soon Orr was up to his old tricks, walking about with his bull horn, carrying a flag and a British imperial badge, followed by a group of …. Well .. followers. They were not repeating they Knew Nothing, but attacking the British establishment.
We'll also hear about the Angel Gabriel riots. By 1862 Wodehouse who survived a public stoning in Guiana, had arrived in the Cape as Governor. Here he was to face the implacable enemies - the Westerners and the Easterners. Two parts of the Cape that did not get along. ]]> History Sun, 20 Apr 2025 09:41:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 219 - The Snarled Chronicle of John Orr, Wodehouse Blues and Mercantile Matters 0 0 Des Latham full 18:36 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1546220 https://iono.fm/e/1546220
How did people go about their day to day lives, and what was life really like by the mid-19th Century South Africa? This period was dominated by agriculture, it was before the discoveries of most of the valuable minerals that turned the region from a sleepy agrarian backwater into one of the most dynamic economies in the world.

Cape Town had been the fulcrum around which all European expansion rotated, the southern tip of Africa had to be navigated by all the empires of Europe, first Portuguese, then Dutch, then English. So naturally Cape Town had developed quite a sense of self importance.

Some vicious and malicious Joburgers claim it continues to suffer from a superiority complex today.

All in good spirit of course.

It was a distant port, and if a Voortrekker or AmaZulu king travelled to Cape Town overland, it was like setting sail into an insecure future. The slow wagons cruising overland from the Waterberg to Cape Town took about as long as the maritime trip from Liverpool to Cape Town — two to three months.

Both routes - whether sea or land — were rife with danger.

During this perilous chapter of history, seafaring was still a high risk venture. Meanwhile, those who braved the land faced their own litany of dangers — wagons toppled on treacherous trails, lions prowled the edges of camps, venomous snakes struck without warning, and bandits lurked in the shadows. The veld itself, like the capricious ocean, seemed to conspire against the traveller, offering up a relentless gauntlet of threats to navigate.

This experience meant the journey men and women were hardy, a tough breed. Most actually walked the trip, sometimes riding their horse, but mostly leading the oxen as the wagon creaked and squeaked, rumbled and tinkled over rocky landscape.

African migrants walked from the transOrangia and deeper, into what is now Botswana, all the way to Cape Town to work on farms. That took weeks, sometimes, months. AmaZulu kings like Shaka thought nothing of walking 300 kilometres to visit his distant homesteads, taking a fortnight to recon his land.
Physiology was actually different — people had straighter spines at this time in world history — there were fewer eye problems, stronger limbs. But they lived shorter lives in general, medicine was a distant luxury for most.
19th-century Southern Africans, like many pre-industrial populations globally, generally had better postural alignment and physical conditioning compared to sedentary modern denizens of the ethernet.
Ethnographic and missionary accounts from the era—such as those by Dr. David Livingstone and Thomas Baines—frequently remark on the exceptional physical endurance of local populations. Many African societies, particularly among pastoralist and hunter-gatherer communities like the San, Tswana, and Zulu, were noted for their upright posture and ease of movement over long distances.

The strength needed to walk along the tracks and slopes of southern Africa is well known, the pursuit is replicated today with the wonderful trails around the countryside.
But it wasn’t all milk and honey, of course.

The fatality rate remained high until the end of the 19th Century, although in South Africa, people were generally living longer, particularly in the Cape. ]]> History Sun, 13 Apr 2025 09:33:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 218 - Lifestyle Update 1861 and an Ode to Landscape Motion Intensity and Physiology 0 0 Des Latham full 18:49 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1543380 https://iono.fm/e/1543380
Not to mention Chris whose significant support means I can host the series long term on iono.fm - and also a shout out, very modern that, a shout out, to Francois at iono.fm who has patiently helped me out when technical blapses creep in.ventually on April 12 1861, the American Civil War began with the bombardment of Fort Sumner in South Carolina.
In sunny South Africa, the American Civil War was going to reverberate in many ways.

Firstly, the War created a Cotton Crisis and helped foster investments in Natal cotton farms. Before the war, most of Britain’s cotton came from the Southern U.S., the slave plantations of the south. But the civil war disrupted these supplies, leading to a massive shortage.

British textile mills were scrambling by year-end, and south Africa was on the radar along with other regions. The Natal government encouraged cotton growing, and for a brief moment in time, it was seen as a cash crop to grow. But the reality was, the soils, climate and shortage of labour made it unsustainable long term.

Importantly, the British reassessed their strategic imperial priorities, and realised that the American Civil War exposed their fragile imperial control in distant lands.

Despite the fact that a liberal Government was in power in the Britain, the Cape Colony and Natal became more strategically important as London sought to secure shipping routes and resources. The Suez Canal was still being constructed, the only way to India was around the Cape.

It was the influence of slavery and labour policy that had a profound ideological impact on southern Africans. It led to a future connection, and Confederate influence inside South Africa. This is prescient, but important. The Boer Republics in particular took a great deal of interest in the break-away American states. The mindset, the republicanism, and sympathies with the pro-slavery states of the Confederacy all resonated with the Republics, particularly the ZAR.
By 1860 Sir George Grey had thrown virtually the entire amaXhosa leadership into prison — Robben Island to be precise.

Maqoma, Mhala, Xayimpi who’d overrun the military villages in the Eighth Frontier War, Silo, Xoxo, Stokwe. There were many amaThembu amaGqunukhwebe, Ndlambe, Ngqika chiefs and councillors marooned on Robben Island, where the winter winds howled across the flat land, where there was little protection from the extreme weather. ]]> History Fri, 04 Apr 2025 10:32:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 217 - Lovedale, amaXhosa Chiefs Languish on Robben Island and the American Civil War 0 0 Des Latham full 19:43 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1541477 https://iono.fm/e/1541477
The heat is building up, and the conflicted relationship between King Mpande kaSenzanghakhona and his son, Cetshwayo kaMpande, is growing more complex by the minute.

But this being Zululand, that wasn’t the only competition in town.

There was an older son of Mpande, called Hamu, who was his first-born son by Nozibhuku, who in turn was the daughter of the much respected chief Sothondose of the Nxumalo people. If we turn our thoughts to the succession process of the AmaZulu which has always been a tricky trail, this episode will serve to illuminate the razor-sharp line royal heirs must walk.

Sothondose you see was Mbuyazi’s brother. And if you recall, Mbuyazi was the man who had been killed along with seven of his brothers and half brothers at the Battle of Nondokasuka by Cetshwayo. King Mpande had publicly referred to Mbuyazi as his heir apparent, and Cetshwayo thought he was a better candidate.

The plot thickens. It more than thickens, it congeals like thick red blood, spattered many times this episode. There is a Shakespearian correlation between his epic tales and those of the AmaZulu, where both are interlaced with human truths.

This week’s tale is a mist-mash of Macbeth, Richard the third, Henry the Sixth Part three. Perhaps you could include others, but let’s leave it at that for now.
IN Zululand, Mpande was king and he was apt to change his mind about his heir apparent. Cetshwayo had worked himself into the position by dint of killing Mbuyazi, and had begun to refer to Mpande as ixegwana, little-old man. Or Oomie which is why calling some middle-aged men Oomie can get you into trouble.

Hamu kaMpande was an insidious man, a persevering leader who wriggled about, an indulgent man according to oral tradition as well as the written descriptions we have of him.

Flabby, with the immense thighs of the house of Senzangakhona.
Hamu led the Ngenetsheni clan, and had supported Cetshwayo during the recent Civil War, where Mbuyazi had been defeated. That was the case even though his grandfather, Sothondose, was Mbuyazi’s brother. In other words Hamu fought against his Great Uncle.

Blood, it seems, isn’t thicker than water—unless it’s pooling in a cauldron of treachery and Macbethian dread.

Hamu also resented his bad luck, descended from Nzibe who ranked behind Mpande’s other sons. He liked to show off his bling so to speak, and gathered a massive isigodlo of women, 300 in all, and bragged about being quasi-independent of Mpande.
Cetshwayo kept a beady eye on these two, and there were confrontations with them, one took place in 1857. But nothing was resolved. Initially, Mbuyazi’s remaining brothers turned out to be more of a threat than Hamu and Maphitha, and this is where the Shakespearian blood letting began in earnest.

Cetshwayo wanted to kill Mbuyazi’s thirteen year old brother Mkhungo. Someone tipped off the teen that the death squad was on its way and he fled to safety in Natal across the Thukela River. Other members of his direct family were already seeling refuge there, his mom Monase and Sikhotha his half-brother.
shake ]]> History Sun, 30 Mar 2025 10:05:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 216 - Mpande and Cetshwayo’s Shakespearean Drama Continues, it’s all King Lear, Richard III and Macbeth 0 0 Des Latham full 22:49 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1539164 https://iono.fm/e/1539164 This southern land, swept by thunderstorms that appear as if by magic, and lash the landscape, rumble across the stubby veld, slinging lightning like a million volt silver sjambok, shaking rocks with their deep growls, bring everything back to life. The air before this denizens of the blue sky pass by is sullen, the horizon hazed over, after the rains everything is crisp, visibility can change in seconds from a few hundred metres to a few hundred kilometres.

I was raised in Nkwalini valley in northern Zululand, where the mysterious Mhlathuze River flows powerfully after these storms, the valley is ringed by mountains that rise from 650 feet above sea level feet to over 3000 feet a few minutes drive up around Melmoth. And from these heights, you can see the Indian Ocean 40 kilometres away after one of these refreshing storms.

Southern Africa had been drying out substantially throughout the first half of the 19th Century. Historian Charles Ballard notes that climatic research has pointed to opposite extremes of weather patterns in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

The climatic regime in southern Africa of dry and warm conditionsin the early nineteenth century was the reverse of the Northern Hemisphere's colder and wetter weather at this time. Some animals, like humans, would not survive this —others like the ostrich were in their element.

Turning to Natal, much of the interior was unstable, drought and famine led early white settlers to believe it had always been devoid of people whereas it had been abandoned. There is a difference between the two concepts — never settled or previously settled?

Nguni speaking refugees, not always amaZulu, arrived back in their homes in Natal through this period only to find that the settler community considered them to be aliens and a race of "vagabonds."

It became a conventional ideological tool for those who sought to justify the expropriation of land. The people were driven away by a long list of threats, military, environmental, meteorological.

With that preamble, let’s focus initially on the strange saga of John Dunn who has appeared in all his curious glory in prevous episodes. Cetshwayo gave John Dunn ten oxen and a tract of land. By July, the former border agent had resigned his job and moved into Zululand permanently. He’d had it with the British. The tract of land given to Dunn was extensive, in the immediate coastal region of southern Zululand known as Ungoye, which extended from Ngoye forest all the way down to the lower Thukela. Shortly after he moved in, Dunn took many wives. By1860 he was regarded as one of the most influential chiefs in the Zulu kingdom, ruling over more than 50 square kilometers of land and thousands of subjects. By 1860 Dunn was the main source of fireams entering Zululand, and these items rapidly replaced cattle as the main payment for lobola. ]]> History Sat, 22 Mar 2025 08:13:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 215 – Ostriches Trump Elephants in 1860 and John Dunn: Musket Trader Extraordinaire 0 0 Des Latham full 25:26 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1537173 https://iono.fm/e/1537173 It’s hardly ever a quiet day in sunny South Africa.
In the eyes of most folks of the south, the Windy City features as a minor point on the urban map and in popular consciousness. The people of the city however are fiercly patriotic, and fiercely independent.

Always smaller than Cape Town in terms of population size, never the seat of government, it’s enormous importance as a premier centre of trade and finance in southern Africa has been readily overlooked.

Yet from the 1850s all the way through to the 1880s, Port Elizabeth was called “The Liverpool of the Cape” and for some years in that period, was the centre of the Cape’s economy. Coming soon, however, was the discovery of Diamonds that would shift power to Kimberley, then later in the 1880s, to gold and power would shift again to Johannesburg.

The period of the mid-19th Century, saw the financial heart shift from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth although the elites of Table Bay continued to hold sway. A commercial elite of merchants, accountants, lawyers and other professions controlled the economies of Cape Colonial towns. Cape Town was the seat of government, it’s population had grown to 25 000 people and was easily the largest urban centre in southern Africa.

There were only 17 joint stock companies in 1859. Only five towns outside Cape Town, Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth had local banks. There was a cozy and close link between the merchants of Cape Town and the government. Similar links existed between local government officials and merchants in the smaller towns which enhanced the ability of local commercial heavyweights to control trade through their districts.

There was a constant tussle between the local merchants and the businesses that controlled the ports. Port Merchants were closer to the maritime traffic, closer to the heart of the empire, London, and acted like a commercial filter between the periphery and the centre.
In 1857 Merchant John Paterson gathered a few like-minded entrepreneurs around him and floated the Standard Bank of Port Elizabeth. It sank almost immediately, funds were hard to come by. These merchants however had direct links with London, they bypassed the Cape Towners — and by this time half the ships sailing between South Africa and Britain were leaving from Port Elizabeth.

Paterson gathered his entrepreneur pals together again in March 1859 and sailed to England where he launched his prospectus the the Standard Bank of British South Africa in April 1860.
A Group of Cape Town merchants were not to be outdone by this eastern Cape upstart and in July the London and South Africa Bank .. henceforth to be known as the L and SA Bank, came into being.

Governor Sir George Grey was very interested in all of these moves, and is believed to have intervened to help the Cape Town group as they negotiated for a charter and necessary capital.
Port Elizabeth traders regarded the L and SA bank in a negative light. Despite their reservations, they could not deny the power of the bankers of Cape Town — a branch of the L and SA bank was opened in Port Elizabeth in 1861, and eventually, The Standard Bank’s progenitor, Paterson, managed to scrounge together the funds and opened in 1862.
South Africa was changing fast by 1860. In Natal, Grey believed the answer to the chronic labour shortage was the introduction of indentured Indians. These were to make their way to Natal over the next few decades, but Grey’s initial request was rejected by the Indian Government.

Speaking of success, that is a not a word you’d probably have used to describe the Boer Republics of 1860. They were sinking deeper and deeper into confusion and outright impotence. ]]> History Sun, 16 Mar 2025 01:44:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 214 - Booming Port Elizabeth, Cunning Cape Town, Indentured Indians and Quarrelling Republics 0 0 Des Latham full 24:43 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1534730 https://iono.fm/e/1534730
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. ]]> History Sun, 09 Mar 2025 01:12:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 213 - Grey Mediates, Boshof Fulminates and Moshoeshoe Vacillates before the Treaty of Aliwal North 0 0 Des Latham full 21:45 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1532403 https://iono.fm/e/1532403
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. ]]> History Sun, 02 Mar 2025 01:37:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 212 - The Basotho-Boer War of 1858 leads to a Burgher Backfire 0 0 Des Latham full 23:15 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1530135 https://iono.fm/e/1530135
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. ]]> History Sun, 23 Feb 2025 01:32:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 211 - “Native” Hut Taxes, Blackbirding and other Revelations of 1857 0 0 Des Latham full 22:31 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1527885?v=1 https://iono.fm/e/1527885?v=1
Last episode we plumbed the depths of the amaZulu civil War battle of Ndondakusuka, this episode we’re skirting Moshoeshoe’s Basotho mountains with the BaPhuthi people.
Before we kick off, just a quick note about terminology and the fact that South African History is a terminological nightmare.

Not my words, those of historian Clifton Crais.

As we all know, living on this mercurial landscape, with our mercurial brothers and sisters, shape-shifting appears to be our national sport. Names and places are changed at the drop of a politicians ribbon. As Crais noted, its called Historical Ethnonyms.

Historical ethnonyms are names that different groups of people have been called over time, often by outsiders. These names can change due to politics, cultural shifts, or language evolution, and some may become outdated or offensive.

So its with that carefully crafted bit of age-restriction warning that we’ll plunge into the fizzy waters of what Barbarians mean. In a nutshell, Barbarian means ” the “raw,” the “primitive.”

On closer inspection those terms mean ungoverned, not-yet-incorporatedoughtful folks, there’s no understanding that people can voluntarily go over to the barbarians. I mean, think about the Vikings for a start. And one persons Barbarian is another person’s Warrior tribe.

So why the explanation? Today’s episode deals with the Baphuthi, about whom many smart thinkers have deployed historical ethnonyms. Post enlightenment bigwigs, those Johnny coke-bottles geniuses, liked to define things. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, bless his powdered nut, case in point. His stages of man starts with the savage, who is a hunter, moves towards barbarian, who is a herdsman to the civilised man, a tiller of the soil. A farmer.
By the mid-19th Century classifying colonial subjects by these criteria determined how they’d be treated. IT is important for our story to understand that there was a geographical element to the ethnic classification. When authorities summed up the situation at any time, representations of the type of environment were crucial. Historian Laura Mitchell has written about this phenomenon, its a rejection of the simplification of settler meets native or coloniser meets subject narrative. More about how the social bandits seize the day on the bad lands, the border lands.
The BaPhuthi people are part of our story about social bandits - particularly by the mid-19th Century. They gathered in the eastern part of the Eastern Cape, on the border with what was to become Basotholand, Moshoeshoe’s land.

They were diverse in origin, these BaPhuthi, comprised of Basotho who did not support Moshoeshoe, San, and a hodge-podge of Nguni speaking societies. The ancient ways of the San mingled through this group, based along the Maloti-Drakensberg and they did not regard the landscape as marginal. ]]> History Sun, 16 Feb 2025 02:58:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 210 - Social Bandits on the Borderlands and other hybrid tales of Nomansland 0 0 Des Latham full 20:23 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1525688?v=1 https://iono.fm/e/1525688?v=1
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. ]]> History Sat, 08 Feb 2025 23:51:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 209 - Cetshwayo attacks Mbuyazi at the Battle of Ndondakusuka where the Crocodiles Feast 0 0 Des Latham full 21:50 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1523524 https://iono.fm/e/1523524
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…” ]]> History Sun, 02 Feb 2025 09:41:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 208 - Believers vs Unbelievers, Ancestor Veneration and the Stupifying Logic of Global Millenarianism 0 0 Des Latham full 25:38 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1521236 https://iono.fm/e/1521236
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. ]]> History Sun, 26 Jan 2025 09:07:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 207 - A Moon of Wonders and Dangers, Supernatural Horsemen and HMS Geyser Turns Tail 0 0 Des Latham full 24:41 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1519109 https://iono.fm/e/1519109
It’s an episode that will begin a series of episodes which are clouded by a fine bloody mist, and a fog of confusion. We’re going to look at the amaXhosa Cattle Killings of 1856-57 and then the Zulu’s most bloody civil war clash, the Battle of Ndondukasuka.

One was a millenarian movement gone hopelessly wrong, the other was the old story of a young prince seizing power from the heir apparent.

Both epics are an exploration of human consciousness and both changed South African history.

Cetshway kaMpande of the amaZulu was amassing great power under the very nose of his dad, King Mpande.

Hold on, Before we head off to Zululand in forthcoming episodes, we’re going to peruse southern Transkei.

Alongside a magical river called the Gxarha. The little river is about 20 kilometers long, a tiny snakes’ tail, a meandering whispering essence, slithering through deep ravines and splashing in splended mini-waterfalls.

This is a case of dynamite in small packages because the river harboured dark secrets. It was to bare witness to a catastrophe.

The twists and turns of this saga are echoed in the twists and turns of the river, it’s a squiggle of a sprint for those tiny twenty kilometers. Cliffs and thick forest, more a jungle, make it impossible to walk along its bank for very far, and giant shadows are cast at dusk and dawn from the strelitzia and the reeds. A sand bar blocks its final sprint to the sea which bursts open in summer, a blend of bush, cliffs, forest and water.

It was a day in April 1856, the exact day is lost in time, when two youngsters, Nongqawuse who was an orphan of 15 and Nombanda, who was about 8 or maybe 10, left their homestead on the Gxarha river. Nongqawuse’s uncle, Mhlakaza, asked them to chase birds away from cultivated fields.

As they shooed the birds away in the early morning of that April day, Nongqawuse heard voices. She turned and standing inside a nearby bush were two men. They gave her a message which she was to relay to Mhlakaza when she and Nombanda returned.

“Tell that the whole community will rise from the dead, and that all cattle now living must be slaughtered for they have been reared by contaminated hands because there are people about who deal in witchcraft…”

The fusion of faiths and the belief in shades were intersecting in this youngsters’ mind. She had heard the stories about previous prophecies as she grew up, about Mlanjeni the Riverman and Nxele the wardoctor. The violence and upheavals of the Frontier Wars were paralleled by a huge spiritual upheaval which resulted in a clash of Xhosa and Christian religious ideas.
During the next thirteen months of this cattle killing between April 1856 and May 1857, about 85 per cent of all Xhosa adult men killed their cattle and destroyed their corn in obedience to Nongqawuse's prophecies.

It is estimated that 400,OOO cattle were slaughtered and 40,000 Xhosa died of starvation. At least another 40,000 left their homes in search of food. But it was to have another effect. After a dogged 80 years of resistance to colonial expansion, the amaXhosa struggle collapsed by their own actions - and almost all their remaining lands were given away to white settlers or black clients of the Cape government. ]]> History Sun, 19 Jan 2025 09:04:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 206 - Nongqawuse’s Bush of Ghosts, Mhlakaza’s Anglican Episode and Sarhili Goes to Gxarha 0 0 Des Latham full 21:15 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1516986 https://iono.fm/e/1516986
Sprinkled with tales of Hoffman.

That would be Johannes Hoffman commonly known as Sias Hoffman, the first president of the Orange Free State who signed the Bloemfontein Convention with the British in February 1854.

Regarded as a shrewd and able merchant, he had been disabled in an accident, but that didn’t stop Hoffmann from wielding political power. He was also a fundamentalist voortrekker, hard core. Hoffman was one of the representatives of the Smithfield District in the Orange River Sovereignty during the negotiations between Boers and British.
Both Hoffman and his State Secretary Jacobus Groenendal were disabled and their government to quickly gained the nickname 'the crippled government’ which is not only wicked, but wouldn’t fly in today’s equitable lexicon.
Groenendaal had been born in Holland then travelled to South Africa as a teacher in 1849.
Hoffman was a friend of Moshoeshoe of the Basotho, conciliatory towards the Griqua who lived in the transOrangia, and pretty distrustful of Pretorius’ more militant Boers. His friendships with the black and coloured people living around the Free State caused deep mistrust amongst his fellow Boers. Hoffman's term in office was also short-lived, just under one year, thus the crippled government epithet.

As a gesture of good faith, Hoffman had given a present of a keg of gunpowder to king Moshoeshoe. His fellow burghers found this an unwise move, over-friendly and potentially dangerous for the survival of the new state. Relations between the Boers and the Basotho were less than cordial with the border dispute unresolved. What sealed Hoffman’s fate, however, was not the gift itself so much as the fact that he tried to hide his actions from the Volksraad and the Orange Free State parliament.
Living in the Caledon Valley and Orange River confluence areas were the Thlaping - a combination of Tswana peoples who had gathered in the area during the Difaqane, loosely led by Adam Kok but ostensibly under their chief Lephoi. French missionary Jean Pierre Pellissier set up his station at a place called Bethulie and by 1854 more than 3 000 Tswana, Thlaping and others lived there.

They were a pretty mixed community, escaped Rolong, Sotho, Tswana and a number of Bastaards as they were known, Khoi and freed slaves — and many of these with special skills. Ironically, many of the former slaves were literate, which made them influential members of the community.
Inside this sprawling Free State land of 80 000 square kilometres lived 10 000 Boers and English along with about 30 000 Griquas, Rolong and Thlaping.

While Hoffman focused on local diplomacy, Treasurer Jacob Groenendaal and a 26 year-old Irish land surveyor called Joseph Orpen wrote the Free States’ first constitution. And this was far more sophisticated than the Transvaal Constitution which was based on the Trekker 33 point manifesto and the Old Testament.
In the Cape, the growing density of farm settlement had led to the post of Surveyor General way back in 1826. This officer would oversee surveys within the colony, promote a trigonometrical survey and then produce a map of the Cape and if possible, beyond.

Charles Cornwallis Michel who was an energetic colonel of the Royal Engineers set about his task. He also had a perchant for sketch and watercolour. Unfortunately for everyone, except for greedy speculators, he could not complete his task effectively. An enormous backlog of farm and town plot diagrams awaited approval and by mid-1830s, the task was deemed impossible for Michel and his two assistants. ]]> History Sun, 12 Jan 2025 08:47:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 205 - A Crimean/Russian Struggle Thread, Two Disabled Free Staters and a Surveyor Surge 0 0 Des Latham full 23:46 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1515298 https://iono.fm/e/1515298
First up, a quick thank you to Adi Badenhorst at AA Badenhorst family wines in the Swartland of the Cape — your gift was extraorindarily generous and well received. I am truly indebted to you. And to all those folks sending me tips and notes, thank you its gratifying to receive correspondence from such learned people!

Straight to our episode 2024, Planet Earth 1855, Cetshwayo kaMpande grows powerful and Natal Land Realities.

A legend is the only way to describe the amaZulu king who was going to dethrone his father Mpande kaSenzangakhona, usurp his brother’s right to rule, and later in life, destroy an entire British column at Isandhlwana. In this episode we’ll deal with the initial years of his life.

Folks tend to focus on Shaka when it comes to important Zulu warriors, but by the time we’re done, you’ll agree that Cetshwayo was probably more significant. I’ll end the editorialising there - let’s head over to the eastern seaboard of South Africa, into Zululand across the Thukela.

It’s 1855.

Mpande had overthrown his half-brother Dingana, and one of his professed goals was to stop the internecine conflict that had riven the house of the Zulu. Peace is what he strived for, and so he set about creating sons unlike Shaka and Dingana who had their offspring killed and tried to insure themselves against being bumped off by their own children by just not getting their wives or concubines pregnant.

Easier said than done.

Mpande had at least 30 sons with his wives, believing that protection lay in numbers.

Problem was, there will always be someone who thinks they’re better than the eldest son of the Great Wife. And the eldest son of the Great Wife will always believe he should be king. Fade up the ominous music.

And thus, in a nutshell, Cetshwayo.
The settler port village of Durban had gone through various ructions by the mid-1850s. For some distance around the port and into the interior, English settlers had replaced the original Dutch farmers with the stipulation that a farmer could own only one farm of 2500 acres and security of tenure had improved. Originally tenure was a measly 15 years - then changed to perpetuity. Marking out the farms was done on horseback at walking pace. One hour each way. Four hours later, that was your farm.

Of course most mustered the fastest horse they could find, some even changed horses, then tried to gallop or canter the four hours. Land sizes could top 5000 acres by cheating in this way.
Simultaneously a clash of ideas between the indigenous population of South Africa and the British Government was most marked in Natal.

Most of the region is suitable for farming in some manner — the region can be divided, pretty broadly, into two zones. The interior grasslands and open tree savannah, and the coastal bush and forest. The grasslands were not ideal for arable agriculture, but were great for livestock farming. The coastal zone was a different story — more rain fell along the coast, it was more suitable for farming — and that’s why sugar became such an important story in Natal a little later.
With that, its time now to step back and peer inscrutably at what was going on internationally in the year 1855. The Panama Railway became the first railroad to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, long before before the time of the Canal which was built between 1904 and 1916.

In 1855 Alexander the Second ascended the Russian throne while in China, the Taiping Rebellion rolled on — the Taiping army of 350 000 invaded Anhui in the east of the country.

Van Diemen’s land was seperated from New South Wales and granted selfgovernment and later in the year, renamed Tasmania. For the wine connoissours listening, including Adi Badenhorst I hope, the Bordeaux wine classification system was first listed in 1855. ]]> History Sun, 05 Jan 2025 10:21:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 204 - Planet Earth 1855, the Regal Cetshwayo kaMpande and Natal Land Realities 0 0 Des Latham full 19:52 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1514659 https://iono.fm/e/1514659
It is 1854, almost mid-way through the sixth decade of this momentous century and the region that’s under our gaze is the northern Limpopo territory, the Waterberg. Those who live there today will know of its grandeur, and its extensive mountain ranges, riverine bush, delightful geology.

Thaba Meetse is the northern Sotho name for the Waterberg, where the average height of the peaks here are 600 meters, rising to 2 000 meters above sea level.

The vegetation is officially known as dry deciduous forest, or just the Bushveld to you and me. The original people here date back thousands of years, early evolutionary stages of hominid development can be traced here, so in some ways, it’s part of the story of human existence on the planet.

Its all about the type of rocks here, and the soils. Clamber amongst the red koppies and ravines and you can look out over the bush veld, with it’s minerals such as vanadium and platinum, part of the Bushveld Igneous complex I spoke about in episodes one and two. Tectonic forces forced the rocks upwards, creating the famous Waterberg, the Thaba Meetse ranges, rivers deposited sediment and in these sandstone layers, you’ll find the famous caves surrounded by cliffs hundreds of feet high, rising from the plains.

Scientists and palaeontologists tracked our very first human ancestors who lived at Waterberg as early as three million years ago, and inside the cave we’re going to hear about, Makapansgat, skeletons of Australopithecus Africanus have been found. Homo Erectus remains have also been found in the cave.

This site has yielded many thousands of fossil bones, and what is known as The Cave of Hearths preserves a remarkably complete record of human occupation from Early Stone Age “Acheulian” times in the oldest sediments through the Middle Stone Age, the Later Stone Age and up to the Iron Age. It also is where one of the earliest Homo sapiens remains were found, a jaw found in the cave layers by archaeologists. The lime enriched deposits and dry conditions within the cave have allowed for the exceptional preservation of plant, animal and human remains as Amanda Beth Esterhuysen points out in her 2007 Wits University PhD.
So its really metaphorical — an iconic cave because this is where the Boers and the Kekana people were going to go to war. Part of our story this episode is about a track, a wagon trail, that passed between the ivory hunting centre of Schoemansdal, Soutpansberg and the newly established Boer town of Pretoria and which cut straight through the middle of Kekana chief Mokopane’s territory. And inside this territory is Makapansgat.
Since the first trekkers had arrived in 1837, the Langa and Kekana people who lived in the Waterberg had watched in some disquiet as the numbers of Boers increased over the years. It was almost two decades after Louis Trichardt had wheeled his wagons through the Waterberg, and by the mid-19th Century there wasn’t a week that went past without hunters or prospectors wandering through.

It’s a double irony then to relate that both the Langa and Kekana had origins further south, they were part of the amaNdebele who had fled from Northern Zululand during Shaka’s reign, related to the amaHlubi, and had been involved in some land seizing themselves. Don’t simplify history, its more radical than a buffet hall of red berets.
King Mghombane Gheghana of the Kekana, and Mankopane of the Langa, were not prepared to accept Trekker overlordship like they had fought against Mzilikazi’s overlordship. They rejected the trekker system of labour where every black adult male was supposed to work for the Boers for nothing.
Mokopane by the way is a northern Sotho form of Mghombane Gheghana, and he was known throughout the territory as Mokopane. ]]> History Sun, 29 Dec 2024 08:39:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 203 - The Siege of Makapansgat and Misnomerclature 0 0 Des Latham full 24:03 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1514179 https://iono.fm/e/1514179
For the trekkers, the promised land was at hand. The high veld, parts of Marico, the northern Limpopo region, the Waterberg, the slopes of the Witwatersrand into the lowveld, the Free State with its rocky outcrops and vastness, the dusty transOrangia.

In the Caledon Valley, Moshoeshoe was monitoring the Dutch speakers who were now speaking a combination of languages, morphing the taal into Afrikaans.

Further east, King Mpande kaSenzangakona of the Zulu had been keeping an eye on the colonial developments while indulging in expansion policies of his own. This period, 1854 and 1855, is like a fulcrum between epochs. The previous lifestyle of southern Africa, pastoral and rural, was running its final course, the final decade before precious mineral discoveries were going to change everything.

Let’s just stand back for a moment to observe the world, before we plunge back into the going’s on in the Boer Republics. Momentous events had shaken Europe, a succession of revolutions which had somehow swept around Britain but never swept Britain away.

This is more prescient than it appears. These revolutions are forgotten now, they’re an echo but in the echo we hear the future. The 1848-1855 revolutions were precipitated by problems of imperial overload in Europe.
Liberal nationalism was also sweeping the world, and the American constitution was on everyone’s lips.
Copies of the American Constitution were cropping up in the oddest places. Like the back of Boer ox wagons and inside the churches, alongside the Bibles. American missionary Daniel Lindley who you heard about in our earlier episodes, the man from Ohio who had started out life in south Africa as a missionary based near Mzilikazi of the amaNdebele’s great place near Marico. He had copies distributed to the Boers.
This is important. There is a direct link between the American constitution, South African concepts of what democratic rights were, which you could then track all the way to the 1994 New Constitution after apartheid.
Schoemansdal, to the north, and the basis of ivory trade, was much bigger and richer than Potch. The Schoemansdalers looked down their noses at the Potchefstroomers — it was an ancient Biblical pose — it was hunters and shepherds versus farmers, Cain versus Abel. The clash between settled and nomadic societies.

One of the dirty little secrets of South African life in the mid-19th Century was how successfully these new arrivals in the north, the trekkers, had decimated the elephant, rhino, lion, leopard, crocodile, and hippo populations. Schoemansdal was living on borrowed time.

The story begins with a hunting party seeking white gold — ivory. An elephant hunt.

It also begins with a massacre, and ends with a siege of a cave.

The Nyl Rivier was always disputed territory, particularly since chief Makapan and Mankopane, otherwise known as Mapela - Nyl means Nile and the Boers had renamed this river for all sorts of important resonant reasons. This river is a tributary of the Limpopo and it is located in the northern part of the Springbok flats.There are two main versions of what happened, and I’m going to relate both, then we shall try to extricate fact from fiction. This episode will deal with the initial events, and next episode we shall conclude the saga with it’s terrifying cave fighting and ultimate South African symbolism.

The Langa and Kekana people first experienced trekkers in 1837 when Louis Trichardt entered their territory — from then on a steady trickle of trekkers could be found inside Langa and Kekana territory. The area we’re focusing on is close to where the town of Potgietersrus would be founded, the modern day town of Mokopane.
We can begin to connect our histories here. Makapan, Mokopane, Mankopane, Potgieter. ]]> History Sun, 22 Dec 2024 09:26:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 202 - America’s Constitutional link to Boer Republics and a Cave Looms large 0 0 Des Latham full 24:30 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1512553 https://iono.fm/e/1512553
Quickly.

The arrival of governor sir George Grey in 1854 heralded a new epoch. Previous governors had been Peninsular war Veterans, they’d fought against Napoleon. This one was the first who was the child of a veteran of the war against Napoleon, and a person who was schooled in liberal humanism.

He was also a Victorian, steeped in the consciousness of evolution, principled and simultaneously, flaunting truth. A fibber who was in a delirium of post-renaissance spirituality, combining dialect and salvation.

You heard about George Grey’s time in New Zealand last episode, and here he was, the new Cape Governor. So without further ado, let’s dive into episode 201.

He was free from prejudice against black and coloured people, and all indigenes as such, firmly believing from his own insight into the Polynesians cultures, the Maori, that there was nothing to distinguish them in aptitude and intelligence from anyone else in mankind. The same applied to Aborigines and black South Africans he believed.

At the same time, Grey wanted indigenous people to wean themselves from what he called barbarism and heathenism. By suppressing tribal laws and customs, and incorporating indigenes into the economic system through labour and industry.

During his short stint in Australia, he had set the Aborigines to work building roads, and those who worked hardest, earned the most. At the same time, he ruthlessly suppressed any sort of push back from the Aborigines, then the Maoris, and now he brought this brand of colonialism to South Africa.

Dangling the carrot of labour, then applying the stick of punishment. The Cape colony was his laboratory in the Victorian age of discovery. An intellectual exercise. There was quite a bit in it for him of course. An ideologue and highly learned, he had written the New Zealand articles of Representative Government, an act that led to him being knighted.

Sir George.

Utopia beckons those who are imbued with internal fire — it’s only now and then that history provides a crack into which people with this sort of vision can plunge. A man or woman appears at a particular point in time, restructuring entire territories and societies by dint of their character, and their timing, their epoch.

During this time, a powerful figure with a vision for change could restructure an entire land before his minders back in England could do anything about it. Correspondence with the antipodes, New Zealand and Australia, took nearly a year for an exchange of letters to take place. Six months one way, six months return. In the meantime, an industrious social engineer could get very busy indeed.

South Africa was closer to the centres of power, the new steam driven ships could do the return journey in four months, but that was more than a financial quarter in modern jargon. A person with initiative could launch quite a few initiatives before the folks back in London put a stop to their initiating.
The biggest problem at this moment for Grey was not the amaXhosa or AmaZulu or Basotho, nor the Khoe, or the Boers.

IT was the British colonial office. They were in the throes of recession not expansion. Retrenchment and withdrawal.
Grey pondered the solution. Five thousand white European immigrants should be brought in he wrote, the occupy British Kaffraria. There was a certain problem, and that was the amaNqika Xhosa lived there at a pretty squashed density of 83 people per square mile. To give you an idea of how squashed this was, the Cape colony population density of 1854 was 1.15 per square mile at the same time.

The second conundrum was accessing cash to construct all these new schools and public buildings. Grey sent a letter to the Colonial office outlining his needs — this new plan would require 45 000 pounds a year. ]]> History Sun, 15 Dec 2024 08:42:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 201 - Labour, Lovedale and Roads are all the Rage in 1854 0 0 Des Latham full 25:09 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1510099 https://iono.fm/e/1510099 When I began the series in 2021 after some years of planning, I had no idea what would happen. Diving into the shark tank that is history podcasting took a great deal of forethought. One person’s history is another persons’ propaganda after all, social engineers rewrite the past to suit their own agenda’s and this series has been based on our people’s stories first.
Endeavouring to let the folks of the south talk for themselves, which of course, can threaten folks’ world view about their origins, or their personal narrative. It is rife with risk.

So it’s with some relief to report that the response has been overwhelmingly positive. This series is now the third most shared podcast in South Africa — a stunning revelation given that I am doing this solo. There is no marketing team, no financier, no patron, just me and you the listener.

Thanks to Francois at iono.fm for the growth in advertising, nothing for mahala I guess. Speaking of filthy lucre, I have a PayPal account for donations which can be found on desmondlatham.blog. The funds go towards the series audio hosting fees. The third video episode is about to land on YouTube, so things are happening.

With that craven bit of begging, let us continue for we are going to spend this episode meeting Cape Governor, Sir George Grey. He is probably the most influential Englishman in both New Zealand and South Africa’s history, playing a key role in the annexation of Maori land, he spent time as a Governor of Australia. Very much an administrator of his time, he believed in educating the masses, and put his money where his mouth was, founding Grey’s College in Bloemfontein in 1855, then Grey’s High School in Gbeberha a year later.

In between, all manner of shenanigans were recorded. But wait. As we hear about Sir George, I’ll introduce his amaxhosa alter ego, Manhlakaza, aka Wilhelm Goliath, who was the first amaXhosa Anglican in South Africa.
Manhlakaza’s relationship with the Archdeacon of Grahamstown, Nathanial James Merriman, was going to change the whole course of South Africa’s history. Don’t take my word for it, this is the view of many who know much more than me about these things, particularly the fantastic historian Jeff Peires.

Here were two people, opposites. Grey and Goliath.

Their tale is tantamount to the gears of history turning like a great, soot-streaked clockwork, steam-punk cogs groaning under the weight of human ambition and magical ether, while the past, a fog of coal-smoke and brass, hisses and sputters, propelling the unwieldy engine unsteadily into the unknown.

The allegorical story this episode contains metaphors and illustrations of an era.
Grey believed white and black people were essentially the same, it was only culture and backward rituals that separated the races. Grey wrote regularly about how aborigines and later amaXhosa

“…are as apt and intelligent as any other race of men I am acquainted with…”
“They are subject to the same affections, appetites and passions as other men…”

Simply put, he thought that the Aborigines, the Maoris, the First People’s of Canada, the Khoekhoe, the Nguni and Tswana speaking south Africans, all wanted to become Englishmen but couldn’t because they were trapped by the barbarous customs and rituals enforced by their older generation.
At the same time, the colonial in him believed that no Aborigine, or Maori or African culture, was worth the grand heights of English culture. Still, that didn’t stop him personally conducting a major contribution study of the Maori language and folklore. That study is regarded one of the most important research into early Maori ways — a contradiction considering that he didn’t hold the Maori ways in high regard.
What a strange character. ]]> History Sun, 08 Dec 2024 08:45:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 200 - Sir George Grey’s Racial Amalgamation Thesis, its Maori Roots and Opiate Dependency 0 0 Des Latham full 21:27 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1507863 https://iono.fm/e/1507863 We need to assess what has happened — standing back a bit to view the scene from where we’ve arrived - 1853 in the main with a smattering of 1854. The amaXhosa had lost a great deal of land to the English Settlers, the Coloureds, Khoe and Boers, as well as the amaMfengu refugees who were allies of the colonists. The coloureds and Khoekhoe had then lost some of their land to the colonists post 8th Frontier War. Each epoch saw a tussle over the territory.
AmaXhosa chiefs realised by the mid-Nineteenth century that they were fighting for survival. A semblance of joint understanding was starting to spread out from southern AFrica into the interior, but not in the sense of any co-ordinated response to a colonial threat. The vast majority of African chiefdoms facing expanding settler frontiers were still responding locally, their response fragmented because the vast majority of African chiefs still regarded each other as more dangerous enemies - so their joint response to this growing threat was haphazard.
AS the first people’s faced annhilation, what distinguished the amaXhosa in a kind of historical contradiction, is that they did not diminish the numbers after each pushback — their numbers actually increased. This is not what happened to the Khoe and San who were pushed off their land by the new arrivals, the Nguni, then the next arrivals, the Europeans. The First people’s of south Africa almost disappeared from the landscape as they were defeated.

Not so the amaXhosa.
Last episode I spoke of the historical Doppler Effect, and how folks approach the past, and this episode it’s Leon Festinger’s Cognitive Dissonance theory. A simple example of this is that when people smoke, and they know smoking causes cancer, they are in a state of cognitive dissonance. The behaviour is smoking, and knowing it causes cancer is the cognitive dissonance bit when they continue to puff away.

When Individuals form a group try to avoid disharmony by seeking consistency in beliefs. This is a central tenant to being human.

However, it was this basic principle that was going to lead to the coming Cattle Killing extravaganza. Mlanjeni’s prophecy continued — despite the fact that he had failed in his mission, he had not failed in his message.
It is not a surprise therefore to hear that the next complex prophet in our tale of magic and mystery hailed from southern Transkei, and lived alongside the Gxara River which is just north of the Great Kei River Mouth.

This is a place I know well, having regularly hiked from the Kei mouth Ferry along the beach to a nearby place called Qholora near the Ngogwane River in the mid-1980s. The riverine bush here is thick, mysterious, ancient and haunting. It seeps into your consciousness like the fingers of God, prodding your imagination, assailing your senses with sight and sound — and smell.
The reason for spending time on the flora is because the next character to emerge in this saga who is going to alter South African history was a young Xhosa girl, Nongqawuse. It is these sights and sounds, this landscape that etched into her mind because it was from inside this landscape from bushes growing near her village, two strangers would appear in a bush and tell her that salvation for the Xhosa lay in killing all their cattle. ]]> History Sun, 01 Dec 2024 09:37:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 199 - Cognitive Dissonance, Desiccated Hags, a Trail of Tears and Ssehura Baartman 0 0 Des Latham full 22:30 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1505559 https://iono.fm/e/1505559
Apple has listed this podcast as one of South Africas five shows they liked in 2024 — and we are also the third most shared podcast in South Africa on all Apple Podcasts.

Unvelievable, ongelooflijk, Ngiyamangala, Ke Makatsoa!

I am delighted — and indebted to you the listener who has shared this show with friends and family. Thank you everyone!

With that unadulterated self adulation out of the way, back to 1853.

As you know, this series constantly shuffles between world events of the time, and incidents and events in southern Africa.

In China the Taiping Rebellion rolled on— a civil war between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Hakka-led Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The war had started in 1850 and would only end in 1864.

It’s believed between 20 and 30 million Chinese died in this war, about the same number who died in World War One. By comparison, the 8th Frontier War which had just ended in the eastern Cape was trifling - unless of course you were one of the 16 000 amaXhosa or 1400 of the British soldiers and settlers who died.

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was dreamed up by a prophet just like the 8th Frontier War. In the southern African case, Mlanjeni had fused Christian and amaXhosa cosmology into a generated a cult-like following. In China it was Hong Xiuquan, an ethnic Hakka man who had proclaimed himself to be the brother of Jesus Christ and who led the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Also in 1853, the first passenger railway in India began running between Bombay or Mumbai as it’s now known, and Thana was inaugurated in 1853. In the same year, Manchester was granted city status in the UK, and the first public aquarium opened in London.

Yellow Fever killed 8 000 Americans in New Orleans, that’s one reason why we get Yellow Fever shots — because yes folks — it kills you as quickly as a vaccine hesitant with spasmodic dysphonia.
The Swiss watch company Tissot was founded in 1853 and soon the biggest market for Tisso watches, in those days was … Russia. Ironic, considering Russia and a host of countries had gone to war in the Crimea. A Time to die. The first potato chips, or chips as we call it, were prepared and sold by George Crum in New York.
Christian Doppler the Austrian mathematician a physicist died in 1853, famous for his discovery that the observed frequency of a wave depends on the relative speed of the source and the observer.

It’s called the doppler Effect.

Some could argue that there is a doppler effect in historical views, just as the perceived pitch of a wave changes with movement, historical events are viewed differently depending on the distance in time from the event. To stretch this metaphor further, perception is influenced by position, shaped by cultural, geographical and ideological positions. The closer you are to the event, the more intense it is. Thus, the Historical Doppler Effect.
The Crimean War kicked off in October 1853.
Word of these events, of course, were rippling across the planet, sometimes taking months to reach the furtherest corners. The Boers in South Africa for example were acutely aware of the Crimean war, and that their enemy the English were involved. ]]> History Sun, 24 Nov 2024 09:18:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 198 - 1853: The Crimean War, Historical Doppler Effects and Quitrent in Keiskamma Hoek 0 0 Des Latham full 21:12 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1503238 https://iono.fm/e/1503238
The 8th Frontier war, which began on Christmas Day 1850, was going to end eventually although as with all conflicts that stretch into years, most of those involved despaired believing perhaps the guns would never fall silent.

A British government under Russell had come a cropper partly because of the way in which this war dragged on, it led to Sir Harry Smith losing his job as Cape Governor, and Sir George Cathcart had arrived to escort the conflagration to its spluttering expiration.

Lord Earl Grey had lost his job as Colonial Secretary, only a few weeks after he’d fired Harry Smith. Among the amaXhosa, things were actually not much better. The overall situation was different from the previous war, because there was no longer any attempt at a central command, or even unity of action.

Chief Sandile of the amaNqgika had told his warriors to avoid gathering in large numbers, preferring quick and dirty small raids to anything large scale. Committing acts of mischief of all kinds as the British referred to it. For both the settlers and Xhosa people who were trying to get on with their lives, the unstable frontier was a torturous concoction of blood, sweat and tears.

It was actually the Khoekhoe rebels under leaders like Willem Uithaalder who were determined to hold out whatever happened. This position was reinforced when the British conducted a show trial of a man who has been treated very badly by History, by the name of Andries Botha.

A Khoe veteran — former of the Cape Mounted Rifles.

He faced two treason trials, the first ended in 1851, but the settlers were baying for his blood as a former Cape Mounted Rifles commander who was accused of switching sides to fight with the amaXhosa. As you’ll hear, he hadn’t.

In May 1852 he was re-arrested and marched into a court where Judge Sir John Wylde presided in what became known as South Africa’s first show trial — foreshadowing others such as the Rivonia Treason Trials where Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life on Robben Island. It as an unprecedented event this 1852 show trial, the first of its kind in the Supreme Court of the Cape Colony. Previously the trials had been dominated by the almost ritualised sentencing of rebellious slaves, but this one was the first politically charged trial taking aim at an indigenous person, a man of Southern Africa, not a rebellious slave from Madagascar or West Africa.

Botha was defended by two of the Cape’s top lawyers, Frank Watermeyer and Johannes Brand. In what amounted to an unsightly rush, he was sentenced to death in spite of a strong defence, however the outrage that followed led to the death sentence commuted to life in prison.

The amaXhosa were exhausted and in Febuary 1853, Sir George Cathcart, like his predecessors, had tired of greedy colonists making quite a bit of cash out of this war. They hiked up their prices for all goods, horses, oxen, feed, leather goods, food.

After protracted negotiations, Sandile and Maqoma surrendered, along with their chiefs. They were pardoned by Cathcart, who had promised they would not be arrested like Siyolo, in exchange for an unconditional surrender.
And so dear listener, the end of the eighth frontier war was inconclusive. At first glance, it appeared the British had prevailed, the amaXhosa had been vanquished. It had cost close to three million pounds, 16 000 Xhosa had died, 1400 British and colonials.

It had given the world something called the Birkenhead Drill, women and children first. It had also revealed to planet earth, a modern war where a guerrilla-style army with experience in the bush had forced the conventional army into unconventional tactics. ]]> History Sun, 17 Nov 2024 09:25:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 197 - The Show Trial of Andries Botha and the Forgotten Significance of the 8th Frontier War 0 0 Des Latham full 22:15 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1500949 https://iono.fm/e/1500949
A trend had been sweeping British colonies by the mid-nineteenth century where the coming commonwealth was intent on running its own affairs on a country-by-country basis.

The first self-governing colony of the British Empire you could say was Massachussett’s in 1630 showing how long the Americans had been tugging at the British leash before they began their war of independence. But to be strictly accurate it was really the Province of Canada in 1841, and all colonies of British North America became self governing between 1848 and 1855 — except Vancouver Island. Australia was a bit more complex, there were six settler colonies which each achieved self-governing status over quite a long period, between 1852 and 1901.

Well Seven if you include New Zealand, sorry Kiwis, the English system kind of lumped Australasia together.

There had been a tension growing between the mother-country with it’s erratic political system, and the colonies. The plethora of politics that blew back and forth on the headlands of the British voter was head spinning - but by 1850 the British bureaucracy began to gain prominance and in the halls of power, it was whispered that public jobs were going to be based on merit rather than patronage.

As this liberalisation of the system back home began to shake the dusty and cobweb strewn hallways of ancient Britain, the philosophy drifted outwards, like an informed mist, towards the distant colonies.

The problem for the colonists was the liberals wanted black people to have rights, the conservatives vacillated. Settlers almost to a man preferred indigenous people of the colonised territories to avail themselves as labour without recourse to the same rights as themselves.
You’ll remember last episode we met new Cape Attorney General William Porter, an Irish democrat who wanted to extend the rights afforded white colonists to all who lived in the Cape.

He arrived in Cape Town in 1839 and was acutely aware of the changing winds back home when it came to bureaucracy.

Confounding a quick solution to the debate about who should be allowed to vote was the fact that officials in the Cape couldn’t get along. Chief Justice Wylde wanted to have a seat on the proposed lower house of a new Cape Legislature, even though he was a technocrat.

Porter himself hankered after a seat in the House of Assembly proposed as Attorney General that officials should be allowed to stand for election without being held responsible to Parliament for their official acts.
Everyone agreed however that the concept of a franchise system was important, and the franchise must be low enough so that everyone had a shot of being allowed to vote. Disallowing coloureds the vote had been the major reason at least two Colonial Secretaries had delayed self-government in South Africa. This was known as the Cape Qualified Franchise. What we must keep in mind is that the ideology of utilitarianism mixed with evangelicalism was characteristic of the new order. However, it was tempered by fear. There were two factions debating this in 1850 through to 1853. One faction sought a narrowly based electorate to be achieved by high property qualification, and the other a widely based electorate to be achieved by a low property qualification.
Speaking of the war, it was about to come to an end. Burned itself out so to speak.

When Lieutenant Colonel Cathcart had arrived in the Eastern Cape, his initial strategy of ending the war was to do what other British commanders had done, start building fortified posts. ]]> History Sun, 10 Nov 2024 09:14:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 196 - An Irishman-penned Cape Qualified Franchise Constitution and Boots Cathcart on the Ground 0 0 Des Latham full 23:02 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1498534 https://iono.fm/e/1498534
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. ]]> History Sun, 03 Nov 2024 09:07:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 195 - Mpande’s Mswati beef, a bit about Reserves and Bantustans and a Lashing of Self Government 0 0 Des Latham full 25:30 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1496145 https://iono.fm/e/1496145
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! ]]> History Sun, 27 Oct 2024 09:39:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 194 - The Battle of Berea leads to an Anglo-Basotho Mutual Admiration Society 0 0 Des Latham full 21:23 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1493825 https://iono.fm/e/1493825
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. ]]> History Sun, 20 Oct 2024 08:16:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 193: Guthrie’s 1852 Four-Colour Problem, Sports Schedules, Mobile Frequencies, AI, and the Battle of Berea 0 0 Des Latham full 23:28 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1491490 https://iono.fm/e/1491490
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. ]]> History Sat, 12 Oct 2024 08:55:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 192 - The Sand River Convention, the Transvaal slash Zuid Afrikaanse Republiek dot co dot za 0 0 Des Latham full 22:24 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1489270 https://iono.fm/e/1489270
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. ]]> History Sat, 05 Oct 2024 13:14:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 191 - Trekkers' Bob-and-Weave Politics, Meneer Van Der Kolff forges a signature and a library burns 0 0 Des Latham full 23:48 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1487061 https://iono.fm/e/1487061
The sinking of the HMS Birkenhead off Gansbaai, south of Cape Town - and event which led to the famous phrase women and children first in maritime lore.

All of course also linked to the fierce 8th Frontier War of South Africa because there were hundreds of troops on board this ship when it went down - it is believed 445 drowned or were killed by sharks. The chronicle of what happened is riveting.

The terrifying ordeal for the survivors of this ship became part of the mid-nineteenth century Victorian consciousness. The sinking of the Birkenhead also remains one of the greatest maritime disasters off South Africa's coast. But the fact that every one of the women and children aboard survived the wreck owing to the gallantry and discipline of the men on board has been immortalised in maritime lore.

The soldiers of the British Army regiments, and the sailors and marines under Captain Robert Salmond, jeopardised their own chances of survival by putting the 'women and children first’.

It stems from the ongoing 8th Frontier War I’ve been covering now for a couple of episodes.

The British fighting the amaxhosa were in need of reinforcements, particularly the 74th highland Regiment which had already borne the brunt of the fighting along the Amatola ridges and valleys. Mount Misery had caused hundreds of casualties.

In many ways, The Birkenhead was also a symbol of the age of innovation, she was one of the first iron-hulled ships ever built for the Royal Navy and was converted into a troop ship. As she was being laid down the Navy switched it’s main propulsion to propellor from paddle wheels, so the vessel ended up converted from frigate to troop carrier.

The Birkenhead was among the early attempts to marry sail and steam and rigged as a brigantine with two masts, a third being added later. She was powered by two 564 horsepower steam engines from Forrester & Co that drove a pair the 6-metre paddle wheels. .

As part of her conversion to a troopship in 1851, a forecastle and poop deck were added to increase her accommodation, and a third mast was added, to change her sail plan to a barquentine.

Although she never served as a warship, she was faster and more comfortable than any of the wooden sail-driven troopships of the time, making the trip from the Cape in 37 days in October 1850.

However, it was a journey HMS Birkenhead would make for the last time in January 1852. Under command of Captain Robert Salmond, it steamed to Portsmith in the first week of January to pick up troops from ten different regiments, including the 2nd and the 74th. On the 5th January she sailed across the Irish Sea to Queenstown and picked up officers wives and children.
All told there were 479 soldiers on board and more than 50 women and children, as well as a crew of 125. That was a total of 693 people stuffed into an iron hull less than 64 metres long and just over eleven metres wide - about the width of a tennis court.
Even though she was thought of as well built, the early iron used in shipbuilding was quite brittle and tore easily compared to iron of later ships.
Upon arrival at Simons Bay, most of the civilians disembarked, leaving only seven women and 13 children on board. Fuel, food and nine horses and forage were loaded along with more passengers, then HMS Birkenhead set sail again at 18h00 on the 25th February, heading for Algoa Bay and East London.

Captain Salmond made a few hasty calculations and sailed close to the the coast heading south east towards Cape Agulhas. Time was of the essence, but two factors transpired against the ship. One was the compasses were registering small errors making navigation tricky, and the other was a strong south-east current was sweeping into Walker Bay and carrying the ship closer to shore than the crew realised.
The were heading towards Danger Point, and the rocks. ]]> History Sun, 29 Sep 2024 09:30:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 190 - The Birkenhead Drill 'Women and Children First’ tragedy and amaXhosa messages moving at the speed of light 0 0 Des Latham full 21:49 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1484708 https://iono.fm/e/1484708
It was the first in a series of World's Fairs, exhibitions of culture and industry that became popular in the 19th century.

Famous people of the time attended the Great Exhibition, including Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Michael Faraday, Samuel Colt, writers like Charlotte Brontë, Charles Dickens, Lewis Carroll, George Eliot, Alfred Tennyson, and William Makepeace Thackeray.

Schweppes was the official sponsor. The Great Exhibition was a celebration of modern industrial technology and design - mainly for the British who were trying to show how through tech, the world would be a better place - leading the nations in innovations so to speak.

Six million people, equivalent to a third of the entire population of Britain at the time, visited the Great Exhibition, averaging over 42 000 visitors a day, sometimes topping 100 000. Thomas Cook managed the travel arrangements for the Exhibition, and made the equivalent of 33.2 million pounds in today’s cash - or 186 000 pounds back in 1851, and promptly used the money to found the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Science Museum, as well as the Natural History Museum.

Inventor Frederick Bakewell demonstrated a precurser to something that we know as a Fax Machine. The New Zealand exhibit was well liked, featuring Maori crafts such as flax baskets, carved wooden objects, eel traps, mats, fish hooks and the scourge of the British army in Kiwiland, their hand clubs.

A couple of conservative politicians let it be known they were not happy about the Exhibition, saying visitors would turn into a revolutionary mob. Considering that Karl Marx was part of the visitors - perhaps not unsurprisingly.

But did Karl Marx use the services of Thomas Cook?

Not exactly a question destined for a dissertation.

This Exhibition went on to become a symbol of the Victorian Era.

Meanwhile … a serious War in one of its colonies, the Cape was more than disquietening - it appeared this war was more a Victorian error. AS in mistake.

amaNgqika chief Maqoma was causing Harry Smith sleepness nights, and Colonel Fordyce and his colleagues were fighting for their lives along the Amathola mountains.

The Waterkloof ridges — in a place to the west of Fort Beaufort — was where the Khoekhoe and coloured marksmen made their greatest impact. The ex-Cape Mounted Rifles members amongst the rebels had other uses. They understood the British bugle calls, having been trained by the British, further exasperating men like Henry Somerset and Colonel Fordyce.

The amaXhosa and Khoekhoe rebels were also much more organised than in previous wars against the invaders. They targeted the Messengers reading updates from British commanders intended for Grahamstown and been reading the reports, and some of the rebels were actually being supplied directly from Grahamstown itself.
Then Henry seemed to receive an injection of spine - of determination. On November 6th 1851 he massed two large columns, one under Colonel Fordyce, and the other led by Colonel Michel. Unbeknownest to him, this was to be Fordyce’s last mission.

Michel’s column had to advance up the Waterkloof aka Mount Misery, while Fordyce’s column would wait above, on the summit. Michel would drive the rebels up the mountain, Fordyce would trap them and voila! Victory.

It didn’t quite work that way. ]]> History Sun, 22 Sep 2024 09:34:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 189 - Karl Marx at the Great Exhibition, Eyre's Great Cattle Patrol and Smith gets the boot 0 0 Des Latham full 20:32 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1481021 https://iono.fm/e/1481021
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. ]]> History Sun, 15 Sep 2024 09:26:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 188 - Hymns echo in the Waterkloof ravines as Khoekhoe snipers take aim at British officers 0 0 Des Latham full 24:28 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1478603 https://iono.fm/e/1478603
To the north, in the mountains of the BaSotho people, King Moshoeshoe the first was not idle in early 1851and his patience with his own kith and kin as well as with the Boers and the British had worn out.

When word of Mlanjeni the prophet reached the BaSotho - and how his new message of salvation through a mixture of Christianity and amaXhosa religion had resonated with so many, Moshoeshoe kept a clear head.

He had allowed the French missionaries and Casalis in particular to operate within his kingdom and trusted the man in black, but now the exuberant revival of traditional customs and rituals and warfare began to sweep through LeSotho — a millenarian moment.

Mlanjeni’s reputation caused a relapse among the BaSotho converts, led by a local diviner called Mantsopa who began to build a formiddable reputation as a soothsayer. She could predict victories in war it was said, and in 1850 and 1851 the revivalist movement grew more powerful. Moshoeshoe was always cautious when to came to religion, as you’ll hear when we return over the coming episodes to the mountain kingdom.
Mlanjeni’s reputation caused a relapse among the BaSotho converts, led by a local diviner called Mantsopa who began to build a formiddable reputation as a soothsayer. She could predict victories in war it was said, and in 1850 and 1851 the revivalist movement grew more powerful. Moshoeshoe was always cautious when to came to religion, as you’ll hear when we return over the coming episodes to the mountain kingdom.
Moshoeshoe took note of this reaction and how the racial and political message was deeply felt by his people. And yet he continued to attend French missionary Casalis’ church services out of good faith, and ensured that the missionaries were protected.

He also reinforced to all that he was a man of his word.

This is the really incredible thing, whereas most others around him were quite ready to go on some terminal quest to kill all the invaders, he was first and foremost, a realist. This all began to come to a head as the 8th Frontier war exploded when the British officials in the Orange River Sovereignty demanded restitution for cattle raiding.
And now it’s time to return to the story of Thomas Stubbs. His part in this epic drama is seemingly insignificant, and yet it is more important at second glance. What, would you say, could really be important about a small-scale import export trading rebel who was a part-time saddle artisan from Albany ?

A man who’s father Henry made money trading illegally with the amaXhosa?

As I mentioned in passing last episode, in some ways, Stubbs set off a series of what became known as special force tactics in the British Army. He wasn’t alone in the period, the British Army was coming up regularly against unconventional soldiers experts in their own bush and veld. In India, Canada, Australia, the middle East.

But what was really important about Thomas Stubbs was how he approached tactical issues in the bush. The entire British military experiment in the mid-19th Century was all about seeing what was going on— marching around — bugles, classic red tunics, polished buttons flashing in the midday sun where they’d strut about. You know the saying, no-one goes out in the midday sun except mad dogs and Englishmen. ]]> History Sun, 08 Sep 2024 09:22:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 187 - The Albany Rangers and Mantsopa the soothsayer emerges amongst the BaSotho 0 0 Des Latham full 22:26 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1476333 https://iono.fm/e/1476333
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. ]]> History Sun, 01 Sep 2024 09:24:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 186 - Cognate Epistemology, TikTok and Nkosi Sandile assaults Alice 0 0 Des Latham full 22:20 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1474089 https://iono.fm/e/1474089
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. ]]> History Sun, 25 Aug 2024 09:17:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 185 - The Kat River Rebellion and the Mistress of Southern Africa is threatened 0 0 Des Latham full 22:47 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1471817 https://iono.fm/e/1471817
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. ]]> History Sun, 18 Aug 2024 09:50:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 184 - A Fort Hare rout, “Vieux d’Afrique” Somerset and a British rethink about the role of chiefs in Africa 0 0 Des Latham full 22:41 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1469434 https://iono.fm/e/1469434
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. ]]> History Sun, 11 Aug 2024 09:00:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 183 - Maqoma lectures lecherous missionary Brown and the pendulating Hermanus Matroos 0 0 Des Latham full 20:09 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1467435 https://iono.fm/e/1467435
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. ]]> History Sun, 04 Aug 2024 09:15:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 182 - The English Column’s Desperate March to Fort White 0 0 Des Latham full 19:01 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1465052 https://iono.fm/e/1465052
When the firing began, one of the companies of 73rd Regiment had just entered the pass and it’s Captain JC Gawler explained later about the confusion.

Last episode we heard all about the long column of British troops strung out more than two kilometers up this pass, and how Mackinnon, along with the Xhosa police fighting alongside the British and the Coloured Cape Mountain Rifles had emerged at the top.

Bugles were blasting off below, sounding the advance call, but the British troops were not sure what that meant - either run up the slopes, or turn to fight their attackers.

What was even more bizarre in spite of the volleys going off and the sounds of Xhosa muskets echoing off the rocky cliffs, Mackinnon refused to believe that his column was being attacked.

This was supposed to be a show of force said Governor Harry Smith, not a real attempt at arresting Sandile the Ngqika chief. Major John Jarvis Bisset managed to convince the lieutenant Colonel the Xhosa were in fact attacking — Mackinnon regarded the amaXhosa as savages who couldn’t properly organise a fight of this sort.

He’d also convinced himself that Maqoma and others who’d been hell bent on war were being ignored by the amaXhosa chiefs, a very bad miscalculation. His hesitation some say was actually caused by shock, then having to accept the truth. Only the very best commanders and leaders are able to quickly rally themselves in a time of crisis and I’m afraid Mackinnon was not one of those.

Bisset was, however, and he appeared to take over matters to some extent. It was his duty he said to plunge back down the gorge to take command of the ragged column and Mackinnon agreed.
But a quick word about Tiyo. He’d been the first black minister to be ordained overseas, and overseas happened to be Scotland. He’d married a Scots Woman, and been the first to translate an English classic into isiXhosa. And which classic?

Pilgrims’ Progresss. The firsts continue- his eldlest son was the first black doctor in the Cape, his second eldest son Johna Henderson Soga is revered as the first amaXhosa historian.

Third son was a vet. All his sons were educated in Scotland. But that was in the future.

Right now, Tiyo had made his way back to Keiskamma Hoek with his Scots bride, aged 21. As the lovebirds disembarked from their voyage in Port Elizabeth, a settler shouted they were “the shame of Scotland”. ]]> History Sun, 28 Jul 2024 09:01:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 181 - The amaXhosa ambush Mackinnon’s column and a quick introduction to Tiyo Soga 0 0 Des Latham full 10:21 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1462841 https://iono.fm/e/1462841
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. ]]> History Sun, 21 Jul 2024 09:44:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 180 - Missionary Browns’ philanderings and the Redcoats face Christmas armageddon in the Boma Pass 0 0 Des Latham full 24:03 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1460232 https://iono.fm/e/1460232
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. ]]> History Sun, 14 Jul 2024 09:25:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 179 - A messianic prophet emerges in 1850: Mlanjeni the Wardoctor 0 0 Des Latham full 20:46 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1458078 https://iono.fm/e/1458078
Moshoeshoe was gaining power amongst the Basotho, and to the east, Mpande continued to dream of crushing the amaSwazi.

But to the South on Christmas Day 1850, another frontier war in a long and bitter series between the Cape colony and the amaXhosa erupted in the wake of the witchcraft eradication processes enforced by Governor Harry Smith.

I spent much of last episode explaining the religious and social ethos and differences between the empire and missionaries on one side, and the amaXhosa and their spiritual leaders on the other.

Mlanjeni one of these spiritual leaders was the driver of this attempt by the amaXhosa to throw off the yoke of the empire. Andries Stockenstrom had been warning the British for some time that their tone-deaf and blunt attempts at destroying the power of the amaXhosa chiefs was not just chafing the people of British Kaffraria, but becoming dangerous.

Smith had been compelled to maintain a heavy force of patrols in this territory to enforce the removals of the amaXhosa from land now allocated to English farmers and dislodge those who’d returned to places from which they’d already been driven.

It was like the very definition of madness. The British authorities were repeating exactly what they’d done to the Xhosa before the Seventh Frontier War of 1846 and 1847.

Since then they’d been very busy.

The British had laid out an extensive series of roads and forts, centred on King Williams’ Town which was the main pivot for this grid of power in and around the Amatola mountains. The town was about 22 kilometers south of the base of these picturesque peaks, on the banks of the Buffalo River which provided protection against assault from the high ground.
It was the Boma Pass down to the Keiskamma River that troubled the British soldiers most, it also extended upwards into the Amatola mountains behind the Fort to a point known as Keiskamma Hoek — the source of the Keiskamma where another mission station called Uniondale was located. This is not to be confused with the town of Uniondale in the Karoo.

After looking out from Keiskamma Hoek, taking in the scenic views, swept up in the wonder of the beauty of this region, you’d climb back on your intrepid pony and head back down the trail past Fort Cox and Burnshill, towards Fort White, and then onwards another 30 kilometers or so to Fort Hare.
Many military historians have fixated on the British propensity to forget what they’d learned in previous wars, it was a kind of disease of the age, which would become a pandemic during the Anglo-Boer War, then a catastrophic forgetfulness by the First World War.
The Khoekhoe were now extremely angry at the British authorities for messing around with the Kat River Settlement agreements, and the Boers had been embittered by Harry Smith’s unilateral annexation of the TransOrangia region. This grew into a seething hatred when Smith had a young Boer called Thomas Dreyer executed.
With so many Boers gone in the Great Trek, the British had to rely on the Khoekhoe and unfortunately for the people of the Kat River, the people now being called the coloured people, opprobrium and malice were heaped upon them. Who needs enemies when the British treated their friends like this? ]]> History Sun, 07 Jul 2024 09:53:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 178 - A string of forts and Captain Maclean’s amaXhosa police recruits take revenge 0 0 Des Latham full 22:22 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1455939 https://iono.fm/e/1455939 In numerology the digits 1 and 7 are significant,1 represents new beginnings and leadership, while 7 is often associated with spirituality and introspection.
So it’s no mistake this this episode probes spirituality and introspection - and leadership.
Not that I necessarily ascribe to the tenets of numerology, but its a useful way into a sensitive subject.
By mid-19th Century, most of the game of the Cape, from the north, the east to the south, had been shot out. The amaXhosa had been driven across the Fish River in 1812, out of the Kat River Valley in 1829, then right past the Keiskamma River in 1847.

None of the land they lived on west of the Kei was secure, no longer did the sons of the chiefs leave their dad’s homesteads to seek out their own virgin territory because there was none left.
In the old days, when a man died his hometead was burned down and vacated where as now and the new cattle enclosure was built back to back with the old one. Dwellings were clustered closer together, and not everyone lived near a river unlike the century before.

This was change, and now drought took on calamatous forms. Before the people could move to water now they were stuck on the landscape. So it was not surprising that given the pressures of people and animals, the first great cattle lungsickness to be registered in this region followed hard on the land losses of 1850 to 1853.

The amaXhosa men were now labouring for the very people who had supplanted them, deprived of their means of subsistence and independence. Many amaXhosa had worked for the farmers and settlers before this time, and contrary to most reports, many were quite happy to do so because they earned cash, and left when they felt like it.

The standard of living on these farms determined how long the workers remained at least until this period of our history. The option of leaving at their own discretion eroded rapidly as the access to cattle as wealth eroded. The smaller Xhosaland could no longer support the population. Even within Xhosaland the men and women were now unconsciously working for the settlers by growing forage they sold to the farms, and then making some money to buy textiles and pots and pans.

Here is the crux of the contradiction in colonialism. That the people who bought the clothing preferred to buy this clothing than manufacture their skin karosses of yore, and yet, by doing so, they were becoming dependent on the cash they made from their labour.

As colonial intervention increased, a seachange in Xhosa politics took place. The petty rivalries of the various chiefs was encouraged by some of colonial officials, the divide and rule precursor and the new governor Sir Harry Smith was particularly active in his attempts to divide the royal line of the amaXhosa and the commoners.

This was not working. He’d try to ban lobola, he’d tried to usurp the power of the chiefs, but the commoners did not buy into the British plan. It was such a cynical move that the commoners despite little access to power, preferred their chiefs and an age of proper resistance to colonialism began.
This is the period that saw the rise of leaders who would be recalled all the way through the struggle period during apartheid, names like Hintsa, Sarhili, Ndlambe, Chungwa, Maqoma, Tyhali and Sandile.
As I’ve pointed out through this series, the grafting of two types of cosmology together, the ancient African legends and power ethos, with a salvation tale through the story of the cross, featured throughout our history of connection. ]]> History Sun, 30 Jun 2024 09:18:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 177 - The Missionaries position on sex and British administrators refuse to learn 0 0 Des Latham full 20:04 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1453817 https://iono.fm/e/1453817
This was based on a nonracial qualified franchise - all adult males who had occupied property worth at least twenty five pounds for a year were eligible to vote. Porter had toiled on the draft of this document for the also newly minted Governor, Sir Harry Smith, who sent it to London.

Porter later in 1850 had a complete change of heart as utilitarian liberals tend to do, he denounced the option of univesal suffrage — at least for men of all colours — as threatening to the colony with its in his words, “communism, socialisms, and red republicanism which had caused so much mischief in France….”

There had been an attempted major communist revolution in France in 1848, which spilled over into other parts of western Europe including the land that would become known as Germany. This horrified utilitarians everywhere, no less so in the Cape Colony.

As the ship bearing Smith’s new constitution headed north, another was heading south and crossed each other somewhere out there on the wild untamed ocean. It was a dispatch from Colonial Secretary Earl Grey who proposed sending Irish convicts to the Cape.

Smith announced this proposal to the horrified residents of Cape Town and immediately aroused a storm of agitation against the Governor. The settlers had been considering representative government for some time and this suggestion of Irish convicts arriving backfired — driving many more of the moderate thinkers into the arms of those who were agitating for some form of independent governance.
The colonists regarded the Irish as a threat to their respectability and citizens used the concept as a weapon to attaack the oligarchy that ran the Cape at the time. It was a legislative council, nominated by Governors not elected by the people so it had been tainted constantly by allegations of corruption, nepotism, and a host of other maladies associated with power wielded too long by men who were mostly too greedy.

The convicts duly arrived on a ship called Neptune, but they were refused entry to Cape Town, and the men sat in chains in Simon’s Bay for five months. Eventually in 1850 the ship was ordered to sail away.

One of the main antagonists in this crazy story was a man called John Montagu. He had been alarmed by how the Irish convict idea had radicalised even his mild-mannered friends, and so he demanded that Smith reimpose some kind of authority and stop this movement towards representative government.

Montagu argued that the whole idea was anti-English, not what the British should be supporting, so Smith delayed the implementation.

But what was going on was very very interesting. The hullabaloo had revealed two very distinct political movements inside the Cape. One was conservative, pro-English and pro-British government, led by Montagu, joined by the big merchants of Cape Town. They were also joined by the Eastern Cape settlers led by their flag bearer, Grahamstown Journal Editor and land speculator Robert Godlonton. Another powerful figure joined this conservative echelon, and that was the newly arrived Anglican Bishop, Robert Gray.

A newspaper called the Cape Monitor was launched in October 1850 by these conservatives.

The second political movement were the radicals, both British and Afrikaner, led by John Fairbairn, Christoffel Brand, Francis William Reitz and Andries Stockenstrom. They regarded the conservatives as a corrupt bunch of nepotists, an oligarchy, but they were divided by what to do about frontier policy. Fairbairn used his newspaper the South African Advertiser to defend the rights of blacks, while Brand preferred to defend the rights of the Dutch descendents against the oppression of old-English money elites. Stockenstrom had his own varied approach to both. ]]> History Sat, 22 Jun 2024 15:06:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 176 - Cape Conservatives vs Radicals in 1850, a synopsis of souls and climate dystopia 0 0 Des Latham full 21:18 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1451450 https://iono.fm/e/1451450
Before we dive into the latest incidents and events, let’s take a look at what was going on globally as everything is connected.

In France, citizens are able to use postage stamps for the very first time, a series called Ceres, which is also a place in the Western Cape. The Austrian Army invades Hungary entering the countries two capitals, which back in 1849 were called Buda and Pest. Next door, Romanian paramilitaries laid into Hungarian civilians, killing 600 in what we’d call ethnic cleansing.

The second Anglo-Sikh war was on the go in India, and the British suffered a defeat at the Battle of Tooele, while across the ocean in Canada, the Colony of Vancouver Island was established. This is important because that’s where one of my ancestors eloped later in the 19th Century for the metropolis that was Beaufort West.

Elizabeth Blackwell was awarded her M.D, thus becoming the first women doctor in the United States, and the Corn Laws were officially repealed by the UK Parliament. These were tariffs and trade resctrictions on imported food — including all grains like Barley, wheat and oats. I mention this because the repeal spelled the death knell to British mercantilism — skewing the value of land in the UK, raised food prices there artificially, and hampered the growth of manufacturing.

The Great Famine of Ireland between 1845 and 1852 had also revealed a real need to produce alternative food supplies through imports. It was this change that led to free trade finally being ushered into Britain — and of course this created opportunities for Southern African farmers.

It’s also the year the first Kennedy arrives in America, a refugee of the Irish Famine.

More prosaic perhaps, in New York on a cold February day, President James Knox Polk became the first president to have his photograph taken, while Minnesota became a formal US territory and the settlement of Fort Worth in Texas is founded.

In July, a slave revolt at the Charleston Workhouse breaks out led by Nicholas Kelly, but plantation owners manage to suppress the revolt and hang 3 of the leaders including Kelly. Later in September, African-American abolitionist and hero Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery.
And importantly for our story, Sir Benjamin D’Urban, after whom Durban in KZN is named and one of the Governors of the Cape, died in Montreal, Canada.

Back to the Cape, because the anger at Harry Smith’s new policies were curing, nay, ripening, stewing, brewing amongst the amaXhosa.

Arriving in the Eastern Cape, Harry was committed to reinstating the D’Urban system with which he had been associated - and which Lord Glenelg back in the colonial office has rejected.

But now Earl Grey was in the colonial hot seat back home and he gave the thumbs up. Smith set to work sorting out the administration, appointing members of the settler elite to official positions including Richard Southey as his personal secretary. AS a close colleague of Grahamstown Journal Editor and rabid anti-Xhosa Robert Godlonton, he was chosen for his anti-black bias.

If you remember how Smith had arrived, placing his foot on amaXhosa chief Maqoma’s neck, and his new edicts including the creation of British Caffraria — the previously known ceded territory —you can imagine how he was regarded further east.
What is not common knowledge these days is that there was great demand for children under the age of ten to work in the Western Cape. Of course, this was not a proper labour environment, and the shift meant that these young boys and girls, and their mothers and fathers, were being turned into indentured labourers. This was a free market situation of the amaXhosa being able to hawk their labour for a fair price.

Many were told they would be paid a wage, only to find that the terms of contract were vague, they were now receiving unspecified promises and the fabric of rural life based on marriage and female ]]> History Sun, 16 Jun 2024 09:49:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 175 - A whip around the world in 1849 and a wide-angle view of Cape Society 0 0 Des Latham full 19:46 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1449407 https://iono.fm/e/1449407
First off, a big thank you to all the folks who’ve supported me and for sharing so many personal stories of your ancestry. Particularly Jane who is a font of knowledge about the Williams family, and John who’s been communicating about the Transkei.

Please also sign up for the weekly newsletter by heading off to desmondlatham.blog - you can also email me from that site.

When we left off episode 173, King Mswati the first was running out of patience with his elder brother Somcuba. Voortrekker leader Hendrick Potgieter had also left the area north of the Swazi territory, settling in the Zoutpansberg. It was his last trek.

He’d signed a treaty with Bapedi chief Sekwati, which had precluded any proper agreement with the other Voortrekkers around Lydenburg. With Potgieter gone, however, things were about to change.
We need to swing back across the vast land to the region south of the Vaal River because dramatic events were taking place in 1848 - clashes between the British empire and the trekkers. By now, the area between the Orange and the Vaal was an imbroglio, elements of every type of society that existed in southern Africa for millennia could be found scattered across the region.

Hunters and gatherers, pastoralists, farmers, San, Khoesan, Khoekhoe, BaSotho, Afrikaners, Boers, mixed race Griqua and Koranna, and British settlers could be found here. In some cases different combinations of these peoples lived together cheek by jowel, many combinations of cultures, languages and political systems. A classic frontier situation, with intermingling and very little structured relationship charactersing the mingling. Some of the San, Khoekhoe and even Basotho were now incorporated as servants of the Boers, and each of those groups were divided into rival political commuties.

Bands of San still hunted through this area, despite attempts to eradicate them, a kind of ethnic cleansing you’ve heard about. In the south east, on either side of the Caledon River, rival Sotho states existed, under Moshoeshoe, Moletsane, Sikonyela, and Moroka — each of these had their own tame missionary living alongside as an insurance policy against each other and the British and Boers.
By 1848 the new Governor of the Cape, Sir Harry Smith, had begun to experiment with British expansionism that he’d observed in India, assuming British culture and traditions, the empire’s institutions, were superior to all other. Smith loved to oversimplify complex problems, and the made him a natural expansionist and a man likely to make big mistakes. Within two months of arriving in Cape Town in December 1847, he had extended the frontiers of the Cape Colony to the Orange River in the arid north west of the Cape. This was between the area known as Ramah and the Atlantic Ocean. He’d annexed the land between the Keiskamma River and the Kraai River Basin in the east, booted out the amaXhosa, and annexed two contiguous areas as seperate British colonies — British Caffraria between the Keiskamma and the Kei River, and a second area that became known as the Orange River Sovereignty between the Orange and Vaal Rivers. Pretorius was so incensed that he began fanning the flames of anti-British opposition, or probably to be more accurate, anti-Smith opposition. This resentment boiled over in July 1848 when Pretorius with commandants Stander, Kock and Mocke led a powerful force of 200 Transvalers and about 800 Free Staters along with a 3 pounder artillery gun into Bloemfontein. The preamble to the Battle of Boomplaats had begun. ]]> History Sun, 09 Jun 2024 09:18:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 174 - The 1848 British defeat of the Boers at the Battle of Boomplaats near Bloemfontein 0 0 Des Latham full 23:14 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1447136 https://iono.fm/e/1447136
Last we heard how Hendrick Potgieter’s Voortrekkers had camped at a new town they named Ohrigstad in 1845, after leaving the are around Potchefstroom. Potgieter wanted to move further away from the British, and he sought a new port to replace Durban which had been annexed by the English.

The area around Ohrigstad had a major drawback, apart from the fact it was already populated by the Bapedi. The lowlands were rife with malaria. Within a few weeks of arriving in the rainy season of 1845, men women and children began dying. The trekkers realised they had to move once more so families packed up their wagons and trekked to higher ground 50 kilometers south.

The named the new town Lydenburg and established a new Republic named after the town. The Boers were gathered across the Vaal now, deep into the lowveld, spreading out across southern Africa. They had congregated around towns like Winburg, Potchefstroom, Ohrigstad, Lydenburg.

Local African chieftans had to decide how they were going to face this arrival, was it a threat or opportunity? Later it would obviously become clear that the boers arrival was a threat, but this wasn’t the case at first in spite of modern assumptions. They were new power brokers, thinly spread, a minority on the ground and the Bapedi Chief Sekwati quickly came to the conclusion that the trekkers were an opportunity rather than threat.
So when Hendrick Potgieter and his trekkers rolled onto the landscape, a meeting was arranged between the Boer leader and the Bapedi chief. On the 5th July 1845 a Vredenstractaat was signed - a treaty - which granted the Boers the land east of the Steelpoort River. As I pointed out last episode, many of the Boers who had trekked with Potgieter took exception to this treaty. They said he was acting dictatorially, and wanted more of a say in how these treaties were being signed.
King Mswati of the Swazi’s who lived south east of this region was aware of what was going on. The Boers understood that he also laid claim to the Steelpoort, and had been fighting constantly with Sekwati about who had the right to this region. Mswati met with this group of disatissfied Boers, and told them that the Bapedi were his subjects, he’d defeated them.
The Boers under Potgieter and the second group who regarded themselves as independent of Potgieter’s actions continued to settle on Bapedi land and friction developed. The Bapedi took a liking to the Boer cattle, and raids escalated quite quickly into full-blown attacks between the two groups on the veld. Sekwati had heard about the Boers and Mswati’s recent talks, so naturally he was suspicious of their motives.

The Bapedi king encouraged the raiding of Boer cattle so by 1846 bad faith seemed to imbue all negotiations. Then an incident occurred that escalated matters. According to the Bapedi annals, the Boers complained that in joint Boer-Bapedi hunting parties the Bapedi had taken more than their allotted share of game. The Boer annals report something much more violent.

That was the Bapedi raid on a Boer laager at Strydpoort, just south of modern day Polokwane. The trekkers were particularly angry because the Bapedi raided the laager on a day that most of the men were away hunting with a section of Bapedi, leaving the women alone. It was the women who fought off the attackers. There are poignant stories told by trekkers who survived how the women were knocked flat on their backs every time they fired these huge heavy muskets, leaving them bruised and battered but unbowed.
There is further intrigue. The Trekkers had no idea about who owned which bit of land, they naturally assumed that Mswati was the overlord considering his people’s military social structure, similar to the amaZulu who by now, they knew well. What followed was intrigue, mystery, myth and of course, war. ]]> History Sat, 01 Jun 2024 19:19:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 173 - Boer women fight off the Bapedi, Mpande interferes in Swazi business and Potgieter’s last trek 0 0 Des Latham full 25:44 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1445089 https://iono.fm/e/1445089
Some of the articles and the fledgling laws and rules were going to crop up throughout the history of South Africa, all the way through to the time of apartheid, and even to the present.

If you recall, the Natal Boers and the Vaal Boers had been in dispute — largely because of the difference of opinion between their two leaders, Hendrick Potgieter on the highveld, and Andries Pretorius who had been based in Natal.

With the British declaring sovereignty over Natal, many Voortrekkers upped and offed, trekking back over the Drakensberg back to the transOrangia region, and up along the Vaal, while some ended up further north.

So we’re going to take a look at this period. In 1849 there was a temporary union between the communities north of the Vaal, who adopted what amounted to the basis of what was to become the Transvaal Constitution. This constitution continued until the foundation of the South African Republic — which was only repealed in 1901 when its provisions ceased to be applicable.

That is except for the application of the Roman-Dutch system of law. The thing to keep in mind was that the 33 Articles cannot be regarded as a formal constitution. For a start, there was no definition of various authorities in the State, and most of the 33 Articles were concerned with the procedure in the Courts.

When it came to matters of Government, even the most elementary kind, the Articles were silent. Each emergency that arose subsequent to it’s ratification in 1844 led to a rewriting of the Articles to cover for the gaps in how to manage the state. Even the Volksraad was referred to in the vaguest terms possible. Often when disputes arose, another constitution, that of the Winburg Boers, regulated the Articles.
Another character we’ve met pops up again. Johan Arnold Smellekamp - a citizen of the Netherlands. If you remember a previous podcast, he’d popped up in Natal and told the Volksraad in Pietermaritzburg that the Dutch Royal family was taking an active interest in the Voortrekkers.

He’d stretched the truth to say the least, and had many members of the Volksraad convinced that if they fought the English for Natal, the Dutch would come to their aid. Holland did not.
King William II rejected the proposed connection between the Netherlands and the Voortrekkers of Natal and before the year was out he apologised to White Hall for the affray caused by Smellekamp and his activities. That didn’t stop the self-aggrindising Smellekamp, who returned to Natal in 1843 but was refused entry into Port Natal by the British.

So he headed to Delagoa Bay instead, and after the creation of the 33 Articles in 1844 and the declaration of independence by the Potch Winburg republic by Hendrick Potgieter, Smellekamp popped up once again, riding into Potch that Winter.

This is where things get really interesting.
Partly owing to Smellekamp’s persuation, and partly driven by his own obsessions, Potgieter made the fateful decision to organise a new trek at the end of 1844, heading towards Delagoa Bay. After a few weeks they arrived at a site they called Blyde River. Happy River. Potgieter believed that this site was only three days ride from the sea. He was wrong. They setup a new settlement and promptly named it Andries-Ohrigstad. When Potgieter’s wagons rolled onto the hills of Ohrigstad of course, they were not empty of people — and this is again where the story gets more interesting — the plot thickens to a consistency of treacle. Because the people he met there were the baPedi, who’d been forced out of their ancestral land by the amaNdebele of Mzilikazi two decades earlier.
Take a look at a map and the location of iSWatini. By now it was being ruled by a very young King Mswati the First. ]]> History Sun, 26 May 2024 09:14:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 172 - The Republic of Potchefstroom, Potgieter treks into Bapedi country and Mswati faces rebellion 0 0 Des Latham full 19:58 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1442737 https://iono.fm/e/1442737
It’s from the Prologue to the first story called the Clerk’s Tale and the story is imbued with what modern academics call masculine authoritarianism. It’s about women’s power actually, and insubordination — the plot dealing with a woman called Griselda who rises the highest position of hegemonic power. She becomes the honoured wife of a wealthy lord through utter submissiveness and essential silence.

To many modern folks, she represents a kind of prescriptive antifeminist propaganda — in other words — a very accurate description of the medieval period. Others say the strong and silent type is fundamentally insubordinate and deeply threatening to men and the concepts of power and male identity.
What is this I hear you ask, why is Zwangendaba part of the History of South Africa? Well, as we all know, lines drawn on maps are cartographical magic codes, and the real world has no place for smoke and mirrors.

Once again, we must go backwards to go forward. Zwangendaba was a King of a clan of the Nguni or Mungoni people who broke away from the Ndwandwe Kingdom alliance under King Zwide. After defeat of the Ndwandwe forces under his command by Shaka, Zwangendaba gathered his clan and fled their home near modern the town of Pongola. This dispersal was part of the movement of the people we call the Mfecane.

Remarkably, Zwangendaba led his people, who took on the name the "Jele", on a wandering migration of thousands of kilometres lasting more than thirty years. Their journey took them through the areas of what is now northern South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi to Tanzania. The Ngoni, originally a small royal clan that left Kwa-Zulu Natal, extended their dominion even further through present-day Tanzania, Malawi, and Zambia when they fragmented into separate groups following Zwangendaba’s death. ]]> History Sun, 19 May 2024 09:29:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 171 - Zwangendaba’s exodus from Pongola to Lake Tanganyika and the story of the Ngoni 0 0 Des Latham full 20:45 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1440114?v=1 https://iono.fm/e/1440114?v=1
The town is Cape Town — Sir Harry won’t hang around there for too long, he as you know from the previous episode, has returned to South Africa to take up his new position as Governor of the Cape.

Sir Harry was the former civil commissioner of the de-annexed Province of Queen Adelaide in the Eastern Cape and in June 1840 he’d left Cape Town to take up a post as Adjutant-General in India. There is this incredibly long history of connection between India and South Africa, and people like Smith were part of that history.

Others of course are people like Gandhi, but that’s a story for further down the road.

Smith was courageous, whatever other faults he may have had, and was involved in a sensational victory at the Battle of Aliwal in India on 28 January 1846 during the first Anglo-Sikh War.

That victory led to a promotion to Major General, and he was offered an accepted a baronetcy. The British parliament formally thanked Smith, and then returned to England where the extremely bloated ego he’d developed over the past few decades was further fluffed up.

While in England he’d spent a lot of time with the Duke of Wellington who’d defeated Napoleon, and with the Duke’s support, he convinced the British government that the festering sore of the Eastern Cape of South Africa could be healed.

This expensive disaster after disaster he said could be resolved quickly, and even more importantly, cheaply.
When he returned to England in 1847, Harry Smith was treated like royalty, greeted at Southampton by artillery salutes, church bells rang, thousands of people cheered him, a special train was laid on to take him to London, where he received the freedom of the Guildhall.
He dined with Queen Victoria, and was pretty much the first authentic military hero of the Victorian era. Waterloo was 30 years earlier, a long way off, and there’d been very little military glory since.

Thus, Wellington whispered in the ears of the powerful, and that is how Harry Smith was appointed the new Governor of the Cape, strategically important but infuriatingly complex.
All settlers agreed, the Queen had made a perfect appointment. As we’re going to hear, this was going to be possibly her worst appointment anywhere up to then. All the hero worship was going straight to this little man’s head. He was short, so by little I mean horizontally challenged.
Doing the hard work of making sense of negotiations were the translators. These were men, black and white, who had a vast influence on our history. Smith said to Sandile that he should leave Grahamstown and go to his people, whereupon the translators claim Sandile said “No — I will stay today near you, my former and best friend…”

Historians believe these exchanges were embroidered, altered, and added to the misunderstandings. Many of the translators were sons of missionaries, or settlers who’d grown up speaking amaXhosa fluently. But they fed Smith what he wanted to hear.

The very same translators had been at work when Sandile was taken into Grahamstown to be placed under house arrest so you can see that their editorialising was having an effect on history. ]]> History Sun, 12 May 2024 09:56:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 170 - Harry Smith returns as the conquering hero and humiliates Maqoma while translators muddle along 0 0 Des Latham full 25:04 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1437955 https://iono.fm/e/1437955
When we left off in episode 168, pressure was being exerted on the Kat River Settlement by the new Governor, Sir Henry Pottinger.

A quick revisit. The Kat River Settlement came into being in I829 after a clash on the eastern border when the authorities of the Cape Colony expelled amaXhosa from land around the source of the Kat River.

To prevent them from re-occupying the area when the soldiers withdrew, the colonial government decided to settle it with English settlers and Khoekhoe and bastaards. Andries Stockenstrom who was then the Commissioner General of the eastern districts, wanted to intersperse the two races and give them equal quantities of land. But his superiors insisted on placing the khoe in the most exposed military positions, then gave the Khoe smaller land-grants than the English settlers received.

What is really fascinating is how many types of people lived in this small area — people who differentiated themselves based on their ancestry. The party at the confluence of the Kat and Mankanzana Rivers for example belonged to that class of mixed race South Africans known to the colonists as 'Bastaards', who had adopted Dutch clothing, religion, technology and language, and did not associate themselves with their Khoi heritage.

In May 1847 Governor Sir Henry Pottinger appoint a bankrupt farmer and a man who was known as a great hater of the Khoekhoe to oversee the Kat River Settlement. Thomas Jarvis Biddulph was appointed magistrate and immediately there were issues. Andries Stockenstrom said Biddulph’s moral character “could not bear scrutiny” and the new magistrate launched into a series of verbal and physical attacks on the Khoekhoe living along the Kat River and Blinkwater.
He called them “a lazy set of paupers” and said that they would be better served working as labourers for the English settlers and the Boers. Just to reinforce his view, Biddulph pulled a tax stunt — increasing their tax from eighteen pence to six shillings. From eighteen cents to sixty cents. How about that for a tax hike, that’s 43 percent. If you tried that these days, the scratching sound of matches would be heard across the land.
This historic site didn’t have long to go before it would be eviscerated by colonial jealousy. Even the former supporters, the missionaries, appeared to lose faith. One of the most ardent was Henry Calderwood. His idealism had evaporated — living on the frontier had shattered his liberal attitudes, and now he seemed to swap one obsession for another.
One of the things that had driven Pottinger up the wall was the fact that the amaNgqika had continued to insist that they were at peace without admitting that they had been defeated, and by Sandile’s refusal to resume negotiations. On the 7th August 1847 Sandile’ had been formally declared a rebel.

Then the whole situation worsened, and fast. Pottinger resorted to proclaiming that the amaMfengu, the Boers and the Khoekhoe who fought with his regular soldiers could seize whatever they liked from the amaXhosa. The full-scale invasion of the Amathola’s began again on the 29th September 1847, and every grain pit was emptied, every single animal seized. ]]> History Sat, 04 May 2024 16:56:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 169 - The Kat River Settlement seethes and the inglorious treachery of Sandile’s arrest 0 0 Des Latham full 23:02 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1435976 https://iono.fm/e/1435976
Not that the Cape had not been crucial since the days of the Dutch East India Company, the VOR.

As you heard last episode, the British government has fallen, Robert Peel had resigned on 19 June 1846, in the wake of political divisions that followed the repeal of the Corn Laws. The imposition of import duties on foreign corn had been attacked for making bread expensive. And yet, the Laws were more than a concession to farmers and landowners — they were also the symbol of a barrier against free trade.

Ah yes, the logic and philosophy of lassaiz faire capitalism.

The repeal of these laws and the change going on must not be underestimated. We forget these things, so long ago, at our peril. For we have similar debates going on today, globally.

In 1846, the repeal of the laws took place in the midst of the great Irish Famine, which led to so many Irishmen and women fleeing their homeland for America — where they changed that country forever too.

While the financiers muttered about all the advantages of free trade, they of course made sure to leave out one country in their calculations.

India.

This was always the exception.

Still, the financiers were pontificating about how the empire itself was sort of redundant, and as everyone glanced around for the good and the bad, many found themselves wondering about southern Africa.

This region assumed a pivotal role inside British politics, as it was going to do for the next 150 years. You see, the whole of South Africa was the embodiment of wasteful expenditure without a discernable return on commercial investment. It was a total liability except for the Cape of Good Hope with its strategically important naval base which allowed the British to cover the South Atlantic and the approaches to the Indian Ocean.

Into the political breach strode a man who arrived with Lord John Russell’s administration, and he was the third Earl Grey, who took over from William Gladstone as Secretary of State for War and the Colonies.

Grey was a free trader, imbued with the spirit of the elixhir of cash, the medicine of dosh, and imperial matters were the third Earl Grey’s passionate interest. He was a technocrat with a mission, and wrote a book where he pointed out that the great object of possessing colonies was to also possess a monopoly over the commerce.
Grey turned his gaze to Sir Peregrine Maitland. The governor was 70, and the stress of the Seventh Frontier War had turned him into an octagenarian. A younger man was needed. Someone who could sign up young amaXhosa and turned them into Sepoys, and they’d police their own people.
This is where another colonial springs into our view, a man who was called a violent-tempered martinet, greedy and ambitious. Sir Henry Pottinger. He’d spent most of his life in the East, and had just retired as the first Governor of Hong Kong.

He’d secured Britain’s commerce with that vast country called China, and when he sailed home in 1846, he’d been received as a hero. He’d been given a handsome pension for life and was telling all and sundry he hoped to become the governor of Bombay, which we now call Mumbai.

The last thing he wanted was to be sent to South Africa. So when Grey met with Sir Henry, the latter bluntly refused the Cape Governorship. Eventually, Grey was forced to cough up a vast salary of ten thousand pounds a year and promised that the Cape Town post was temporary.
Pottinger was to last ten months in South Africa. It’s thought too that his governoship, which was often like a hurricane of unsparing ill-will and excoriation, was also the most significant of the first half of the 19th Century. ]]> History Sun, 28 Apr 2024 09:12:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 168 - Earl Grey and the irascible Sir Henry Pottinger leave their mark on South Africa 0 0 Des Latham full 23:27 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1433750 https://iono.fm/e/1433750
Leading this army were officers steeped in the traditions of empire, and marching under their command were men from across Great Britain and beyond. They were poor, some with debts to pay back home, many were recruited from the haunts of dissipation and inebriation as historian Noel Mostert notes one officer saying in a somewhat sneering tone.

But that’s a bit harsh, because when we read the journals of these soldiers, they’re full of character and intelligence, adventurers of their time whatever your political view. Half of these British soldiers were actually from Scotland and Ireland, they weren’t even English.

It was the officers who’d neered at the colonials, openly, and it was the officers who symbolised the rotten core of this empire with it’s rampant class lunacy. It was only on rare occasions that rank and file soldiers made it to the heady ranks of the officer corps, and promotion was painfully slow. The officer class was notorious - it took the Crimean War before the British Army was dragged into the 19th Century. Up to the Seventh Frontier War it functioned as it had for hundreds of years — a place where the chinless wonders of the Empire could seek fame and fortune while retaining their artificial edifice of class.
Then there was the South African bush which was a frightening experience for the British soldiers, it’s alien succulents a bizarre sight for the British. At night, as they soldiers lay in this bush, they could not light their pipes or a fire. At the first sign of a glimmer, the amaXhosa would open fire from several directions and while their aim was not good, the British didn’t take a chance and spent most of their time in their camp lying down out of sight.

Sir Peregrine Maitland’s large army mobilised in June 1846, and lumbered into the Amathola’s looking for Rharhabe chief Sandile. They were also trying to corner Phato of the Gqunukhwebe closer to the ocean, along with Mhala of the Ndlambe — both were lurking somewhere between the Keiskamma and Kei Rivers. Colonel Henry Somerset swept the coastal regions, as Colonel Hare and Andries Stockenstrom scouted the Amatholas.
On the 11th August 1846 Maitland made his decision.

This was an exact copy of the decision made by Harry Smith in the previous Frontier War, who told then Governor Sir Benjamin D’Urban that a strike across the Kei River was required — a decisive strike.

That’s because Harry Smith was a man of action, fully believing in the power of power.

In the previous war, the Sixth Frontier War of 1834 to 1836, Smith wanted to strike Hintsa. That highly regarded amaXhosa chief had been killed by the very same Smith. Now here was Hintsa’s heir and his son, Sarhili, facing another British veteran of the war against Napoleon. ]]> History Sun, 21 Apr 2024 09:41:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 167 - Maitland dithers, Stockenstrom sallies forth into the Transkei and biblical storms change everything 0 0 Des Latham full 22:27 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1431655 https://iono.fm/e/1431655 If you remember, Sir Peregrine Maitland declared war on the amaXhosa chief Mgolombane Sandile Ngqika on 1st April 1846 — but the eastern Xhosa, the Gcaleka under Sarhili, had remained out of the latest war - at least for now.
The amaXhosa have notched up two major victories against the British, one in the Amatola mountains where Sandile ambushed Gibson’s column, destroyed over 60 wagons then attacked a second wagon train from Grahamstown on its way to Fort Peddie with supplies which lay just over sixty east.

More than 40 wagons were destroyed in the second attack, and the English cavalry and infantry were forced to shelter inside Fort Peddie with it’s 8 sided earth walls. Phato of the Gqunukhwebe had been particularly successful — but the amaXhosa were going to commit a cardinal error in warfare.

Allow hotheaded soldiers to dictate tactics.

On the 28th Mary 1846 the largest amaXhosa army in the Eastern Cape since the failed attempt at taking Grahamstown in 1819 surrounded Fort Peddie. The warriors hadn’t needed much convincing, because the British were now torching every single amaXhosa homestead they came across.

The fort was a strategic target. It developed from a frontier post established in 1835 and named Fort Peddie, named after Lieutenant-Colonel John Peddie who led the 72nd Highlanders against the Xhosa in the Sixth Frontier War.

Eight thousand men from every clan from chieftans west of the Kei River had joined forces and at midday they launched their attack on the strong defensive position. Fort Peddie had been regarded as a relatively safe outpost, surrounded by the resettled amaMfengu people, as well the Gqunukhwebe who had been allies of the British. But no more, Gqunukhwebe chief Phato had switched sides and he was eyeing the amaMfengu for special attention.
As the tension rose in the fort, and awaiting the inevitable amaXhosa assault, a terrible incident was recorded which further damaged the British soldier’s honour.

It was 26th May and Lindsay unleashed his rage up on a young colonial boy .. a wagon driver .. who had refused to go out and cut wood in fear of the surrounding amaXhosa.

In what can only be called a shocking display of bombastic lunacy, Lindsay had this young teen tied to his wagon and was then subjected to 25 lashes. This after the child changed his mind and said he would go out into the bush, preferring to take his chances with the amaXhosa than the lash. Too late said Lindsay, it’s the lash for you.

Ten days after the Peddie assault, Siyolo and Mhala moved towards the Fish River crossing points separately. There was enough British ammunition at the strong points on both sides to replenish the amaXhosa’s gunpowder barrels.
Henry Somerset, yes the very same man we met so many episodes ago, was leading a force of cavalry nearby. They’d been sweeping the countryside, and came across the tracks of Mhala’s army, after a short skirmish the amaXhosa disappeared. But soon the cavalry came across the soldiers of Siyolo, Mhala’s nephew. Caught in the open along the Gwangqa River. The amaXhosa were to suffer a major defeat. ]]> History Sun, 14 Apr 2024 09:06:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 166 - Colonel Lindsay lashes a local lad, Fort Peddie attacked and the Battle of Gwangqa River 0 0 Des Latham full 20:53 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1422655 https://iono.fm/e/1422655
Tola had hacked off a prisoners hand to free Tsili from his shackles, the prisoner was thrown into a nearby river and died. The British demanded Tstili and Tola be handed over but imiDange chief Nkosi Bhotomane refused.

Rharhabe chief Sandile was approached but he’d had enough of the English authorities, and refused to hand over the two. This was ostensibly what set off the War of the Axe, or the War of the Bounday as the amaXhosa called it.
Maitland declared war on April 1st 1846 and lieutenant Governor John Hare launched their preemptive strike into Xhosaland. It took almost two weeks to assemble the troops while the Governor issued orders for all missionaries to leave emaXhoseni.

Many white traders had already been killed by this time, the rest scattered from Xhosa territory.
On the 11th April Colonel Somerset led three columns across the Great Fish River, then the Keiskamma. He was heading towards Sandile’s Great Place alongside Burnshill — the abandoned Glasgow missionary society’s station on the slopes of the Amathola mountains. That’s east of where the town of Alice is today.

The British were advancing in classic British style, 125 wagons each drawn by 24 oxen, a five kilometer long column of men. The Dragoons were mounted on their heavy chargers, dressed in red tunics and their blue forage caps, the Cape Mounted Rifles on their smaller Boer ponies, dressed in green tunics and brown breeches, blending into the countryside.

The infantry marched behind, dressed in scarlet jackets with white cross belts and white trousers and their cylindrical hats, called Albert Shakos that tapered to protect against the sun. You can imagine the scene, hundreds of troops on horseback and marching, the dust lifted off the trail, and very soon, the infantry began to discard their thick red coats.

These soldiers began this war dressed like they dressed for a European battle, by the end, they would all look very different. They replaced these Albert Shakos with forage caps, or large Boer hats, they ditched their heavy backpacks for much lighter knapsacks, and they put away their leather collars.

Somerset was pleasantly surprised to find no amaXhosa warrior in his way as his force arrived at Burnshill. After setting up camp there and leaving the wagons under Major John Gibson, he marched off into the Amathole valley on the 16th April, leading 500 men.

Watching him were thousands of amaNGqika warriors, many armed with muskets. They began peppering the British with heavy albeit inaccurate fire.
Maqoma was a highly experienced commander and recognized the British had a major weakness. Their baggage train. It was under his prompting that the other Xhosa commanders agreed to strike the wagons rather than aiming at the infantry. IN the late afternoon of the 16th as Somerset was toiling in the Amathola valley the Xhosa made their move. ]]> History Fri, 05 Apr 2024 19:40:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 165 - Sandile ambushes a British column, Captain Bambrick’s skull and Somerset’s humiliation 0 0 Des Latham full 19:17 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1420824 https://iono.fm/e/1420824
They were led by Lieutenant J Stokes — this small team of five were surveying land for the site of the new fort.

Little did they know that their crossing of Block Drift into Ngqika country was a small initial skirmish that was going to lead to war. Some say war was coming anyway, however their blatant trespass definitely applied the amaXhosa chief’s minds as you’re going to hear.

They’d crossed over from the Ceded Territory where forts were allowed, into Xhosa territory where forts definitely weren’t and why they did this has been debated.

Conservative preacher Henry Calderwood if you remember had also been shocked by the news and wrote a letter warning the Cape Governor of this umbrage.

Chief Mgolombane Sandile of the Rharhabe was under pressure from other chiefs, and his young warriors. Sandile had been thrown into his role almost a decade earlier and faced crises after crises. His older brother Maqoma despised him, no worse, hated him and mainly for his superior rank. Sandile however, was no fool, his speeches that have been written down prove he was an agile thinker and he determined policy only through consultation with another brother, Anta and a wise counsellor, Thyala. The latter lived near Sandile at the Burns Hill mission.

There was an obvious and steady march to war once more on the Eastern Cape frontier.
Sandile decided to go and visit the engineers himself to see what they were up to. A lot has been made of this visit — that he arrived with a full war party and was aggressive. It so happened that shortly before he set off, he’d received a letter from the English administrator of the Ceded Territory, Charles Lennox Stretch who was based in Fort Beaufort.

It was a letter of complaint about cattle theft and about an incident where Sandile had slapped an trader who’d insulted him, then taken goods from his shop. Sandile sent his reply saying that both the Governor of the Cape Sir Peregrine Maitland and Stretch were rascals, and that the traders were under his feet as chief and he’d do what he liked with them, and those who complained about cattle theft should shut up.

It was in this dark mood that Sandile arrived at Block Drift — at the site of the proposed fort. The five British soldiers in the survey camp were shaken by his attitude, and Lieutenant Stokes sent an urgent message to Fort Beaufort for reinforcements.
A darkness seemed to hang over the region through that February, the traditional month of thunderstorms which cracked open the skies, and mirrored the sentiment of both amaXhosa and settler. This year was dry, despite these flashing storms, little rain had fallen increasing the sense of foreboding.

For the amaXhosa, this constant threat of an invasion of their land appeared to be attached to genocidal intent. The land rooted their ways and the settlers had made it clear that they wanted nothing to do with the Xhosa culture, their ancient way of life was anathema to these new arrivals. As with other areas of the globe, the immigrants were encroaching not only on territory, but on the very idea of autochthonous survival. ]]> History Sun, 31 Mar 2024 09:23:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 164 - British sappers cross Block Drift into Xhosaland setting off a chain of events on the eve of war 0 0 Des Latham full 21:37 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1418805 https://iono.fm/e/1418805 This new man of action governor had some doubts about a few things here in sunny South Africa.
He doubted the effectiveness of Andries Stockenstrom’s Eastern Cape Ceded territory system for a start. He would sort that he thought with the introduction of a new system which was actually an old system. More about that later.

Maitland also doubted the effectiveness of two other treaties signed by his predecessor Sir George Napier with Griqua leader Adam Kok the third and King Moshoeshoe the First of the Basotho.

But we need to turn south, back to the Eastern Cape Frontier.

The 1840s were a high point of settler power in the Eastern Cape and wool was driving development. As the state expanded, pressure grew on the Ceded Territory, between the Fish and Keiskamma Rivers.

It was also a time of reinforcing both the military forts around the frontier, and the communication systems. Starting in the mid-1830s, the British had extended their forts and signalling systems. They had been caught off-guard by the amaXhosa who’d raided the Eastern Cape without warning at the start of the Sixth Frontier War and it was imperative they improve their communication.

After the frontier war of 1835-6, the planning of the system of frontier defence fell on the Royal engineers including Lieutenant-Colonel Griffith George Lewis and Captain WFD Jervois, as well as a civilian employee of the War Office, Henry L Hall.

Lewis commanded the Royal Engineers in the colony at the time. He repeatedly expressed his frustration at the tardiness of the British government in allocating funds for the effective defence of the frontier districts. These funds of course were squeezed out of the British taxpayer, so the political leadership would not always release investments of this sort immediately.

Lewis was one of those folks we come across every now and again, someone who seems to understand the big picture and the need for action. He wrote extensively on frontier defence policy, and complained that for years after the close of the war no clear decisions had been taken on how funds were to be utilised. His warnings like those of Sir John Hare the lieutenant Governor of the Eastern Cape were not being heeded.

Jervois built the stockades at Peddie, Trompetter’s Drift, Double Drift and fort Brown, all found in the frontier districts of the Eastern Cape. Jervois would end up in the Channel Islands by the way, and designed and built a whole series of fortifications that were to become famous during the Second world War.

The imperial government also approved of Lewis’s scheme for ‘signal towers’, and new roads and bridges to improve communications between these forts and the headquarters at Grahamstown where new barracks were to be built on the old Drostdy Ground.

Lewis had been instrumental in building a series of towers to improve communications with Fort Beaufort and Fort Peddie, starting from Fort Selwyn in Grahamstown. The survey to establish suitable points on which to erect the stations was done by Henry Hall, stationed in the Eastern Cape in the period 1842–1858.
Robert Godlonton had decided that his Grahamstown Journal was going to up the ante once more when it came to both the Kat River settlement where the khoekhoe lived, and the Ceded Territory. Appropriating the language of civilisation, Godlonton wrote in the journal that

“…Colonisation would be then synonymous with civilisation, and the natives instead of being depressed or destroyed, would be raised from their wretched grovelling condition and participate in all the advantages which civilised government is calculated to bestow.”
The fact that the amaXhosa people did not regard themselves as in a grovelling condition was utterly ignored by Godlonton. ]]> History Sun, 24 Mar 2024 09:27:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 163 - British engineers build forts and semaphores while disabled chief Mgolombane Sandile signs a treaty 0 0 Des Latham full 23:05 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1416734 https://iono.fm/e/1416734
First, some housekeeping. A huge thank you to all my supporters, the podcast just passed 1.3 million listens, so there’s a large number of folks out there who’ve found this series useful.

I’m so delighted that our crazy tale here on the southern tip of Africa has resonated with so many people. The response has utterly stunned me, thinking when I started that being so battered by headwinds as we are at the moment, cynicism would sink the show.

But it’s the opposite. To all the hundreds of listeners sending emails over the last 24 months, your personal stories and responses are all noted and stored. There’s a treasure trove of stuff which I’m going to try and use where appropriate. If you’d like to contact me please send a mail to desmondlatham@gmail.com

Or head off to my site desmondlatham.blog there’s a contact form there and a newsletter sign-up.

And now back to the mid-1840s.

When we left off, Moshoeshoe and Adam Kok had signed a Treaty with the Cape Governor which gave them formal power over their territory. And as you know if you listened to episode 161, the definition of exactly what was their territory was somewhat hazy.

By now the BaTlokwa, the Koranna and the Voortrekkers amongst others, had taken issue with this treaty, saying Moshoeshoe and Kok had no control over their people.

There was a flourishing trade across the Orange, tying Cape Towns like Beaufort West, Graaff-Reinet and Grahamstown were directly linked to the settlements to the north by these trade routes. The Griqua received their gunpowder from these towns and sold their cattle and ivory there for example. The Orange River was a significant challenge, at this stage there was no bridge or ferry and when it flooded, weeks could pass before wagons could cross. The British presence was concentrated in Colesberg where the civil commissioner with the wonderfully memorable name of Fleetwood Rawstone served for 21 years. He was subordinate to the Lieutenant Governor of the eastern Province held through the crucial years of the 1840s by Lieutenant Colonel Hare who lived in Grahamstown.

After the return of Jan Mocke, Jan Kock and the Modder River Boers from Natal, life became more difficult for the British commissioner. The Treaty signed between the Griqua and the Cape Colony in 1843 was supposed to bring permanent peace to the Transorangia region but was predicated on the fact that the Griqua were supposed to pacify the Boers. The Boers totally rejected that premise. In November 1844, the Boers had enough and a commando was assembled under Jan Kock which rode to Philippolis, where a Griqua commando had been also been assembled and awaited their arrival.

A Mexican standoff developed. It’s defined as a confrontation where no strategy exists that allows either party to achieve victory. Just as an aside, the cliché of a Mexican standoff is best known in Westerns, and probably the most memorable would be Sergio Leone’s 1966 Classic The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
Governor Maitland was deep in thought back in the Cape. He’d quickly assessed the rising tension across the Orange, as well as in the eastern Cape. He was another Peninsular war vet, commanding a Brigade at the Battle of Waterloo. Maitland had been part of the army that defeated Napoleon and his bravery during that Battle had brought him a formal vote of thanks from the British House of Commons. ]]> History Sat, 16 Mar 2024 12:35:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 162 - The 1845 Battle of Swartkoppies, Divide and Rule and a Bloemfontein origin story 0 0 Des Latham full 23:29 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1414488 https://iono.fm/e/1414488
It must be the home of the BaSotho.

Many South Africans make the fatal mistake of thinking that Lesotho is such a small place, reliant on its big neighbour, it is basically another province of the RSA.

My friends, harbouring that misconception will get you in deep trouble. Its not size that matters, its pure unbridled pride. Moshoeshoe and his descendents have fought long and hard for independence, albeit in a nation surrounded by a single other nation.
By the mid-1940s, Moshoeshoe had turned to the British authorities and their policies were more favourable to him than those of the Boers. The British at least at this point showed no sign of coveting his land, nor had they ill-treated his people, unlike the amaXhosa to the south.

Moshoeshoe was being kept up to date about diplomatic events by the influential Frency missionary, Eugene Casalis. By 1843 the Paris missionaries had realised that the biggest threat to Moshoeshoe and his Basotho were not the English, despite the bad blood between the French and the English, but the trekboers.
This is important because the Boers didn’t see the Basotho as original owners of the land, they say the owners as San. In the years of discussions, letters, meetings, official notes, logs, missionary biographies, it became obvious that to the Boers, the San being the original owners, meant that the Basotho couldn’t really own the land at all.
Basotho national existence began in the midst of what we’d call settler colonialism as well as the intra-African wars between rulers like Mzilikazi, Mantatisi, Shaka. It’s remarkable because this is one of the African states that grew out of a response to invasions by brown, black and white.

Sotho oral tradition speaks of the royal family line of Bakoena Ba Mokoteli — which forms the totemic core of Basotho aristocracy, and existed way before these invasions.

Casalis and his colleagues became Moshoeshoe’s external voice, writing his communications, and despite their patriotism as Frenchmen, they regarded the British in the Cape as their allies.
The reason is simple. France had zero interests in southern Africa by now, so this decision to sidle up to the Brits in Cape Town was not a contradiction.
By 1844 treaties with Adam Kok and Moshoeshoe were concluded, with the eye-catching line in both agreements where each undertook to be “the faithful Friend and Ally of the colony…”
This was not regarded as a valid claim by the trekboers. Nor Moshoeshoe’s implacable enemy, Sekonyela of the Batlokwa people among others. ]]> History Sun, 10 Mar 2024 09:08:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 161 - Moshoeshoe signs a Treaty then collects gunpowder and horses 0 0 Des Latham full 21:44 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1411922 https://iono.fm/e/1411922
Last episode we heard about the period 1840-1843 in the southern Caledon River valley, and how the Voortrekkers like Jan Mocke were flowing into land that Moshoeshoe of the BaSotho believed was his. That was setting up a classic situation where land was the core of the ension.

A lot of what we’re looking at today is centred on a town largely forgotten these days, Philippolis. If you drive along the N1 between Bloemfontein and Colesburg, turn off at Trompsburg and head south west along the R717 for around 45 kilometres. It’s not far from the Orange River, and it’s history is certainly chequered. It’s also the home town of writer and intellectual Laurens van Der Post and former Springbok Rugby player Adriaan Strauss.

On the 22nd October, 1842, the country beyond the Orange River to the north-east of the Cape Colony was proclaimed British Territory and the sphere of operations of the Cape British military garrison was considerably enlarged. The emigrant Boers based in this region reacted with anger, it was Adam Kok the second the Griqualand leader who had requested protection from the British because of the increased numbers of trekkers in his vicinity. Between 1826 when Kok arrived and the 1840, Kok had managed to get along with the Boers, but the Great Trek had changed everything.

The London Missionary Society had founded Philippolis in 1823 as a mission station serving the local Griqua people, named after the man you heard about last episode, Dr John Philip, who was the superintendent of the Society from 1819 to 1849.

Adam Kok II settled in Philippolis with his people in 1826 and became the protector of the mission station, on condition that he promised to protect the San against the aggression of the Boers. Kok was supposed to promote peace in the region, at least that was the brief from the London Missionary Society.

Instead, carnage ensued as the Griqua used Philippolis as a base for a number of deadly commandos against the San people - virtually wiping them out in the area. Ironically, the Griqua worked with Boers to conduct their raids. This violated the agreement made between the London Missionary Society and Adam Kok II and eventually the San were driven out of the area.
When the Voortrekkers began showing up nearby at Colesberg which was one of the main jumping off points of the Great Trek and tension grew between the trekkers and the Griqua.
1844 - like 2024 - was a leap year. And coming up was a momentous moment. In May 24 1844 the first electrical telegram was sent by Samuel Morse from the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. to the B&O Railroad "outer depot" in Baltimore, saying "What hath God wrought”.

Considering that the telegram and later the radio led to television and then social media, perhaps we should all wonder What Hath God wrought.

In June of 1844 the Young Men’s Christian Association was formed, the YMCA, setting off a chain of events culminating in the song of the same name by the Village People. History is not all skop skiet and donder.
Back on the dusty flatlands around Philippolis, Adam Kok and the Boers were blissfully unaware of the significance of all of these births and deaths across the Atlantic Ocean.

Further south, in the Cape, the newly created road boards were hard at work as I mentioned, building new routes out of Cape Town, connecting the Colony to the most important port in the southern hemisphere.
By this point, there were steamships operating between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, which oftened called in at Mossel Bay.
Other ships began flocking in huge numbers to a bunch of islands off Namaqualand .. the Great Guano Rush had started at the end of 1843 and really got going in 1844. It was discovered that vast deposits of guano on uninhabited island. ]]> History Sun, 03 Mar 2024 08:51:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 160 - A tour of Philippolis, an 1844 update, the Great Guano discovery and the Merino sheep miracle 0 0 Des Latham full 23:19 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1409692 https://iono.fm/e/1409692
If we take out a map of south Africa and reconsider the regions, it will become quite apparent that the main demarcation is geographical, geological, the main points of reference are the rivers and the mountains, the desert and semi-desert, the good soils and the bad.

Take a look at a map of the region to the south west of the Drakensberg, for its this area way down to the Orange River and extending towards the Kalahari and the Richtersveld that we’re going to focus on in this episode.

There is a direct correlation between the British seizing Natal from the Boers, and the effect on the Basotho, the Griqua, the baTlokwa amongst others. The Voortrekkers who refused to take an oath of allegiance to the British Queen Victoria trekked back up over the Drakensberg. And it was the vast majority.

Some of these would head north, some south west.

Most headed back south were not going to where they began, the Cape Colony, but to try and negotiate or seize land between the Cape and Natal.

This was not empty land and I’m going to explain what happened after 1843, after the English flag began to flutter from the Fort in Durban.

Slow as wagon travel was, the speed with which the Boers had spread themselves across so much of southern Africa in such a short time had taken everyone by surprise - it had taken six years.

The Cape Governors were totally unprepared for this migration. Their narrative had been that these Europeans would find inland Africa far too unforgiving and then return to the Cape where they’d settle down and pay their taxes. When they left in the late 1830s, Cape Governor Sir Benjamin D’urban was anxious, his successor Sir George Napier was even more so.

The Boers trundled into the interior and directly into the seething hinterland, shattered as it had been by Mzilikazi, Shaka, the BaTlokwa, and of course, the Griqua and Bastard raiders who travelled like Boers, on horses, with hats and guns.
It’s hard for many to fathom these days in the 21st Century, post-apartheid, in a land so riven by what seems to be race-based antagonisms, that back in 1843 by far the most caustic, acrimonious, begrudging and irreconcilable emotions were those felt by the Boers against the British. Their anti-British sentiments were fixed although on an individual basis, the two people seemed to get along. When deserting British soldiers appeared in their midst, Boer mothers and fathers were not averse to their daughters marrying these men.
The Boers began to concentrate on the high Veld and across the orange, but for many, the crucial state was Natal. They had gained bloody victories over the amaZulu here, Blood River was their covenant, a lasting affirmation of God’s great plan for the Boers, part of their Exodus narrative, his support of them in smiting the Philistines, the heathens, their dark enemies. Jan Mocke was one of these men on the extreme edge of this sentiment.
What had emerged to startle the British, was the power of the voices of Boer Women. They had seen the resistance of their husbands weakening, they’d heard the disparate arguments, the egos where their men had come to blows after a couple of brandies, and told British offiicals to their faces that they’d walk out of Natal Barefoot across the Drakensberg if necessary to die in freedom.

As Noel Mostert points out, the Boer women, like amaXhosa women who’d also been busy stiffening their men’s spines, were force that could never be ignored. They were active, demanding and the handmaidens to their history. ]]> History Sun, 25 Feb 2024 09:41:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 159 - Boer women as handmaidens to history and the swirling social dust storms in TransOrangia circa 1843 0 0 Des Latham full 22:35 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1407173 https://iono.fm/e/1407173
Thanks to listener Mushe for the suggestion.

By the mid-fifteenth century Shona-speaking immigrants from Zimbabwe settled across the Limpopo River and interacted with the local Sotho inhabitants. As a result of this interaction, Shona and Sotho led to what is now regarded as a common Venda identity by the mid-sixteenth century.

Venda-speaking people live mainly in the Soutpansberg area and southern Zimbabwe, but they also once lived in south-western Mozambique and north-eastern Botswana.

Venda grammar and phonology is similar to Shona, particularly western Shona and Venda vocabulary has its greatest equivalent in Sotho. Phonology is the branch of linguistics that deals with systems of sounds within a language or between different languages.

According to most ethnographers it is not only the Venda language, but also certain customs, such as the domba pre-marital school, that distinguish them from surrounding Shona, Sotho-Tswana and Tsonga communities.

First a quick refresh. We heard in one of earlier podcasts about the Mapungubwe kingdom which lasted until the 13th Century - following which Shona speaking people’s moved southwards into the Soutpansberg region over the centuries.

Archaeologists have established that by the fourteenth century, or the late Mapungubwe period and what is known as and the Moloko, the early post Mapungubwe kingdoms emerged in northern Transvaal. This is where the forebears of the Venda come in.

Zimbabwean ceramics help a lot here, they were produced by Shona speakers and their fourteenth century distribution demarcated the Shona trading empire centred around Great
Zimbabwe.

The rulers at Great Zimbabwe controlled most of the country between the Limpopo and Zambezi rivers until smaller trading states broke away in the fifteenth century. I’ve covered this in great detail in Episodes 5, 6 and 7 if you want to refresh memories.

We also know that trade between these early kingdoms and the east coast was established, goods like gold, ivory, and copper were traded with Arabic and Portuguese merchants. The Venda were directly impacted by this trade, along with another unique group called the Lemba who are directly related to ancestors who actually traded all the way from Yemen in the Middle East. More about them in a few minutes.

Ceramics help us piece together the past more effectively, the period of Shona and Sotho interaction eventually involved into more than a mere overlap of these ceramic styles, because for the first time different stylistic elements appeared on the same vessels.
These Letaba pots have also been unearthed in the eastern Transvaal or Limpopo Province as its now known. It is interesting that these ceramics are still produced today, these Letaba pots and ceramics are made by the Venda, the Tsonga, the Ndebele, but anthropologists and historians believe the style itself is distinctly Venda in character.
The Venda kingdom pretty much stretched from the Limpopo River in the north to the Olifants and Ngwenya River, or Crocodile River, in the south, but by the time Louis Trichardt rode through their land in 1836, the great Venda empire had almost vanished, torn up by external threats — damaged by the amaNdebele and even amaZulu raiders.
The second group who could be found in this territory are the Lemba. They remain one of the self-defining groups of the region who have a stunning origin story. I am going to tread quite carefully here because there’s science and then there’s oral tradition. As you’ll hear, the Lemba believe they are related to the lost Tribes of Israel, and have recently demanded that they be recognized as such.
Their narrative and origin story links them to the Middle East and the Judaism and there is DNA evidence to back them up. ]]> History Sat, 17 Feb 2024 13:11:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 158 - Venda kingdoms and the Lemba Yemeni enigma 0 0 Des Latham full 19:43 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1404928 https://iono.fm/e/1404928
On the 24th May 1842 King and ka Xoki snuck out of the Port Natal region heading to Grahamstown in the south. That was a thousand kilometre journey which was going to take 10 days.

Averaging 100 kilometres a day on a horse was some feat. Ndongeni Ndongeni Ka Xoki had already given King his Zulu nickname -Mlamulankunzi which loosely translated means a peacemaker among bulls.

This was regarded as a mark of respect and admiration and there’s a lot to admire about King as well as Ka Xoki. They had agreed to take a dispatch to Lieutenant Governor Colonel Hare in Grahamstown for Captain Thomas Smith who’d been shamed by the Boers at the Battle of Congella which I covered last episode. King was young and adventurous, he was an elephant hunter and a trader and came to South Africa as an 1820 Settler at the age of six. He was a frontiersman and an excellent rider who could and did turn his hand to anything it seems. Ndongeni ka Xoki had worked for King for a few years by this time.

There’s also been a great deal of hooplah, disinformation and propaganda about King’s ride. The popular view of Dick King over the decades has been moulded by the Durban public memorial - it is an equestrian statue on the Esplanade - now Margaret Mcadi Avenue.
The main Dick King statue presents the sole figure of King as the heroic if exhausted rider, but there is a missing Ndongeni on his horse. Protestors who defaced the statue in 2015 of course had no idea about that, they were throwing paint at all colonial era artefacts - equal opportunity statue painters. It was midday on the 24th June when Boer lookouts spotted a schooner called the Conch rounding the Bluff and sailing into the bay.

It was a trading ship not a war ship, so the boers relaxed. They shouldn’t have, because the wily and wicked English had a surprise up their sleeves.
Crouching below decks were 100 Grenadiers of the 27th Regiment under command of Captain Durnford, a few others were on deck but dressed in civilians clothes.
Trickery and deceit — how very English. ]]> History Sun, 11 Feb 2024 09:24:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 157 - Dick King and Ndongeni Ka Xoki’s epic ride leads another d’Urban to Durban 0 0 Des Latham full 23:12 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1402264 https://iono.fm/e/1402264
Just a note - the 27th Inniskilling were an Irish infantry regiment of the British army, formed in 1689 so they’d been around the block so to speak.

Boer commander Andries Pretorius had called his men to where he’d setup camp at Congella and by the time this battle commenced, there’d be more than 200 ready to face Smith’s professional soldiers.

The British were hopelessly optimistic in their plans as you’re going to hear. Some of the English traders left at Port Natal, Henry Ogle for example, had warned Captain Smith that his force was somewhat underwhelming and that the Boers were not to be taken lightly.

Smith unfortunately had no choice but to impose himself.

He’d marched to Durban from Umgazi, and the last orders he’d received from Cape Governor Sir George Napier was to secure the bay for the British Empire. I’ve already explained that back in England, the Secretary for War and the Colonies Lord Stanley had changed his mind and ordered Smith back to base but his letter was going to arrive woefully too late.
Captain Smith was aware of the Boer capacity to fight in bush, so he ordered his men to march along the beachfront. A stunning full moon was shining, causing the waves to fluoresce.

Anyone who’s marched on a beach knows that its very difficult, made worse by the horses and of course, dragging the three guns along - while they were obviously now clearly visible to anyone lurking in the bush on the dunes.

It was low tide, so the going was good at first as the hard sand made things a little easier. The British also deployed a howitzer on a long boat from the Mazeppa which was how folks made difficult trip between ships at anchor in Durban Bay and across the dangerous sandbar to the beach.

Smith was hoping that the longboat could row to the beach at high tide to offload the howitzer — but that was seven hours away. There were a lot of what if’s that dogged Smith’s plan as you can see.
Pretorius had also given strict orders that no Boer should fire until the British troops were within 100 metres of the camp. The burghers waited until at Pretoriu’s command, five shots rang out. An ox at each of the three gun carriages was shot dead by the sharpshooters only a few metres away in the bush. That wasn’t all, Lieutenant Wyatt and a private of the Inniskilling regiment were both shot in the head and killed instantly.

Pandemonium broke out in the British ranks.

The surviving oxen panicked, but were now dragging the gun and a dead ox with them, while the canon were actually pointed away from the Boer laager so couldn’t even be brought to bear and fired. The British in their redcoats dived onto the sand, firing back into the darkness.

The soldiers were caught in the full moon light which back in these days of zero light pollution, was like a flare in the sky.

The English were in big trouble. ]]> History Sun, 04 Feb 2024 09:32:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 156 - The Battle of Congella leaves 34 British soldiers dead on a moonlit Durban beach 0 0 Des Latham full 21:19 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1400143 https://iono.fm/e/1400143
The years between 1840 and 1843 were a fascinating mix of economic development and military endeavour.
We will be returning to the arrival in Port Natal aka Durban of Captain Smith and his 263 men and unfortunately, there’s going to be fisticuffs, bullets, death and traitorous acts.
But it is true that the most significant development in South Africa after 1835 was the expansion of agricultural production. Luckily for us, an organisation called eGSSA, founded in 2004, is the virtual branch of the Genealogical Society of South Africa, and provides a virtual home for everyone from the beginner to the most advanced family historian.
And buried in their digital archives are digitalised copies of the Cape Frontier Times, a publication that began it’s life in Grahamstown in 1840. In between notices about births, marriages and deaths, that are known by old school editors as hatches, matches and dispatches, is a great deal of material about money, commodities, the economy.
Americans had also just discovered what was known as Cape Gum. This weeps from a tree known as Acacia Karoo or the Karoo thorn, or if you’re into Latin, the Vachellia karroo. What was going on as well was the genesis of an African peasant producer of agricultural goods — and these producers of food would become very important as our story progresses through the 19th Century.
Moving along.
You heard last episode how Cape Governor, Sir George Napier, the one-armed veteran of the peninsular wars against Napoleon, had signed an order for Captain Thomas Smith and his 263 to march to Port Natal, and seize the valuable port for the British.
That of course, was going to be opposed by the Boers. Adding fuel to the propaganda fire apart from the Volksraads decision in Pietermaritzburg to kick amaZulu out of southern Natal and the midlands, was the sudden an unexpected arrival in Port Natal of an American ship called the Levant. ]]> History Sat, 27 Jan 2024 11:39:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 155 - The Eastern Cape economy surges and the Americans visit Port Natal as tension rises 0 0 Des Latham full 21:50 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1398035 https://iono.fm/e/1398035
Joining the Bhaca were the San raiders you heard about in episode 152. The area around the Umzimvubu River had been unstable ever since the amaBhaca fled to the region during Shaka’s time, and the amaBhaca now lived west of the amaPondo who were ruled by chief Faku ka Ngqungqushe. It’s important to note that both the amaMpondo and the amaBhaca used to live further north in Natal before Shaka’s fractious wars began and led to the movement of the people known as the Mfecane.
The amaPondo did not trust the amaBhaca, calling them thieves. The arrival of the Boers in Natal meant they had a powerful new possible ally — but they quickly learned that the Boers were not to be trusted either as you’re going to hear in this episode.

Faku regularly communicated with the Voortrekkers, and now that the amaBhaca had made the fatal decision to steal more than 700 head of cattle from the trekkers near Weenen, along with 50 horses, the Volksraad in Pietermaritzburg had had enough.

They met in November and ordered Andries Pretorius and commandant Hendrik Stephanus Lombard to lead a commando of 260 Boers to extract maximum revenge from the amaBhaca. Chief Fodo of the Nlangwini who lived between the Bhaca and the Boers had also been raided, so he and about a hundred of the Nlangwini warriors joined the Boer commando seeking their own form of restitution.
In the ensuing attack, 26 men, ten women and four children were killed, and the boers seized 3 000 cattle as well as 2 000 sheep. The numbers have been contested over the years, but the fact that women and children died was confirmed.
However, it was their decision to seize at least 17 of the amaBhaca children they said had been orphaned in the attack that was going to lead to a great deal of interest by the anti-slavery lobby in the Cape — and in England.
Chief Faku wrote a letter around this time to Governor Sir George Napier, expressing his fear that he would be next, that the Boers were seizing livestock and children willy nilly south of the Umzimvubu River, and that matters could not continue and begged to be placed under the protection of the British Government.
on August 2nd 1841, the Raad took the rather unwise decision to force all these amaZulu squatters off the farms. It went further, ruling that none had any right to claim any part of Natal at all.
They should be removed, resolved the Volksraad, to the tract of land between the Umtamvuna River and the Umzimvubu River. ON the surface, this appeared to be a reasonable suggestion, the land is excellent here, enough water and good soils. However, no-one had bothered to ask the local African clans what they thought of this basically, forced removal and furthermore, someone already lived there.
On August 21st, Lord John Russell instructed the Governor to make arrangements for the reoccupying of Port Natal.
This is where Captain Smith would make his appearance and the coming march overland to Port Natal was going to be arduous indeed. ]]> History Sun, 21 Jan 2024 10:26:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 154 - The Swellekamp grifter and Captain Smith marches from the Umgazi River to Port Natal 0 0 Des Latham full 24:35 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1395867 https://iono.fm/e/1395867
Born on 19 March 1813 in Blantyre, Scotland, he was the second of seven children and employed at the age of ten in the towns’ cotton mill. This was way before rules about these things, and this ten year-old worked twelve hours days as a piecer, who’s job it was to lay broken cotton threads on the spinning machines.

He was drawn to the teachings of local evangelist, Thomas Burke. He studied medicine, and then was ordained as a minister of the church at the Charing Cross Medical School. A chance meeting with south African Scots missionary Robert Moffat in London was to change his life.

Moffat was running the London Missionary Society’s station at Kuruman, and Livingstone asked him if he “would do for Africa” as in survive.

“I said he would” Moffat wrote later, “if he would not go to an old station, but would advance to unoccupied ground, specifying the vast plain to the north where I had sometimes seen in the morning sun, the smoke of a thousand villages where no missionary had ever been…”

Forgive my pathetic attempt at a Scots accent.

Young David Livingstone was going to take that to heart over the next few decades and would become known as the greatest missionary in Africa, even though the truth is he converted only one person to Christianity.

He left England for the Cape in November 1840, and spent most of his time on board studying Dutch and seTswana. Joining him on board was someone else we’re going to hear quite a bit about in coming episodes, another LMS missionary called William Ross.

You know how everything connects one way or another.

So we have Livingstone and Ross sailing to southern Africa - imbued with the concepts of evangelical christianity with it’s core message Influenced by revivalistic teachings in the United States, Livingstone entirely accepted the proposition put by Charles Finney, Professor of Theology at Oberlin College, Ohio, that "the Holy Spirit is open to all who ask it".

For Livingstone, this meant a release from the fear of eternal damnation. And being an earnest young man, he felt that folks should hear about this. Initially he wanted to go to China, but the looming first Opium War led to the London Missionary Society directors deciding southern Africa was safer.

Livingstone and Ross landed in Simon’s Bay in March 1841 after a stop off in Brazil. Livingstone stayed at Dr Philip’s home in Cape Town. Philip spoke quite a bit about how he believed in the policy that all people were equal before God and the law and Livingstone believed that too.

Clearly then Livingstone was not going to be welcomed by the Boers and British settlers most of whom by now definitely did not believe this message. Livingstone sailed up the coast to Algoa Bay in May and then he took a two month ox-wagon trek along with William Ross to the Kuruman Mission. There he immersed himself in Tswana life and trekked more than a thousand kilometres to Mabotse in modern day Botswana which is near Zeerust.
The Boers in Pietermaritzburg had gone through a combination of good and bad. In 1839 more than half a dozen people had died when a candle tipped over in one of the houses there, burning down 13. The blaze was made worse by the gunpowder stores in most of the houses, and the fire was so intense, it set fire to nearby wagons.
Hendrick Potgieter based on the high veld had still not reconciled with Andries Pretorius - but things were about to change. ]]> History Sun, 14 Jan 2024 08:37:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 153 - Dr Livingstone disembarks and Pretorius and Potgieter bury the hatchet 0 0 Des Latham full 19:34 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1393330?v=1 https://iono.fm/e/1393330?v=1
And what a remarkable story this is so hold onto your horses! Literally as it would appear.

What has been re-discovered recently is the identification of a plethora of mounted frontier raiding groups and how these had impacted the interior of Southern Africa, and in particular, the mountains north-east of the Cape Colony.

Certain frontier raiding groups often referred to simply as ‘Bushmen’ were really comprised of members from many formerly distinct ethnicities, and included the progeny from subsequent inter-marriage.

Cultural and ethnic mixing, the advent of the horse, the increased access to guns and ammunition, and the need for identity to adapt to these changes, resulted in a volatile mix indeed.

There were freed slaves, Khoesan, San, and English soldiers who’d gone AWOL, as well as descendants of former VOC soldiers who were Swedish, German, Swiss, and Dutch.

There’s a correlation here with the American Frontier experience, where men and sometimes women, armed with muskets, bows, and spears, wearing feathered headgear or wide-brimmed trekboer hats and riding horses, raided their neighbours for cattle and horses or exchanged these valuable resources for corn, tobacco, dogs and alcohol, much like other nineteenth century frontiers.

There the roaming bandits were the Jumanos, the Lakota, the Metis, all became seminal in the B-grade Western movies of the 1950s.

South Africa’s bandits and raiders were arraigned across a large area, but perhaps the most interesting were those living in the amaTola mountains, a mixture of people who were on the fringes of society.

Because horses were only introduced to the Drakensberg in the 1830s and production of hunter-gatherer rock art in that region had almost entirely ceased by the 1880s, horse paintings are comparatively tightly pinpointed in time, unlike virtually all other categories of images in southern African rock art.

San paintings of this time reveal quite an astonishing fact, these people had a mixed material culture, the paintings who San and others who were not San working together, carrying firearms, riding horses with their dogs running alongside, carrying spears and bows, and importantly, dancing their trance dances.

The area I’m addressing lies between the Mzimvubu River and the Tina River, across the central Drakensburg in other words, across both sides of the escarpment, stretching from Giants Castle in modern Kwa-Zulu Natal to Mount Fletcher in the Eastern Cape and Matsaile inside Lesotho.

Glancing at a map, and tracing folks living in this area in 1840 you’d find the Voortrekkers arraigned inland from Port Natal, around Pietermaritzburg, and up to the headwaters of the Umgeni, the Mooi River and Bushman’s River just below Giant’s Castle.
From here the San Raiders controlled the landscape, along the ridges of the Drakensberg south westerly to Mount Fletcher, in the slopes above the Senqu River or the headwaters of the Orange Riverif you prefer.

This overlooked where the Bhaca lived, south east of them, the amaMpondo, further south the Mpondomise, then further the amaThembu, to their east and south the amaXhosa could be found and to their south, the English settlers in Albany. I hope you can feel the proximity of these amaTola raiders because everyone in these areas were somewhat fearful of the gangs of men on horses.

The San raiders were based in that mountain redoubt between Giant’s Castle and Mount Fletcher and they were surrounded by enemies but also prospective allies. This mountain redoubt was getting a bad name, and soon would be identified on maps from the 1840s onwards as nomansland. ]]> History Sun, 07 Jan 2024 09:45:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 152 - The amaTola San raiders of the Drakensberg: Horses, plant meds and the Chacma Baboon 0 0 Des Latham full 26:03 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1392655 https://iono.fm/e/1392655
Given our crisis in education these days, its perhaps another of our historical ironies that state funded schooling was offered by 1839 and 1840 in the Cape, something that was unparalleled at the time except for Prussia and a handful of New England states in America.

No-where else in the world at the time could state funded free education be found.

Yes, you heard that right, South Africa was an early adopter of free education.

Another growing phenomenon at this moment was the building of roads, something that was sorely required in a region as vas as southern Africa. After the Sixth Frontier war of 1834-5, municipal government began to develop, and a new Legislative Council was struggling to make sense of the existing political system.

All members of the council were appointed by the Governor, and only gained the right to alter the Charters of Justice, or the law, in 1844. Christoffel Brand, editor of die Zuid Afrikaan, and Robert Godlonton editor of the Grahamstown journal, both talked of an elective assembly. Godlonton added that he preferred to see the Eastern Cape achieve independence from the Cape.

These erstwhile journalists were merely repeating conversations that were taking place across the British Empire in the fourth decade of the 19th Century. In Australia for example, the 1840s were years of conflict, as British settlers increasingly moved out away from towns seeking new farmland, First Nations fought back and resisted this expansion. Violence ensued.

Squatters, who leased large pastoral lands from the colonial governments in New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria and into Queensland and South Australia, increasingly gained political and economic influence. They became wealthy off the land leased at low rates, stocking them with thousands of sheep, with their fleeces sold into the British market. Many squatters, with time and money, stood for election to parliament to set the laws and rules in their favour. Wool was also going to become the Cape’s main resource shortly.

The gloom of the trekkers leaving the province had been replaced by an economic upturn — the Cape Colony finances were in a much healthier condition than they had been ten years earlier.

Governor D’Urban, who’d left for home, had earlier launched a campaign to simplify the fiscal system and by 1840 the campaign had begun to bear fruit. The collection of taxes by Colonial Secretary John Montagu resulted in the Cape finally wiping off its public debt and re-paying the British government in full.

Customs revenues were rising, the slave compensation fund had helped, and the delivery of stores during the Sixth Frontier war bolstered imports, while exports grew. Wine farms had experienced a drop in sales starting in 1825, but wool had largely replaced this commodity.

Merino sheep had been acclimatised in Albany district around Grahamstown just before the war of 1834, and suddenly there was a lot of money to be made farming these animals for their wool. Within ten years, by the 1850s, wool would outstrip all other Cape exports put together. Just like in Australia.
To his credit, Sir George Napier wanted to improve this situation and following a report prepared by Colonial Secretary John Bell for his predecessor D’Urban, Napier turned to a fascinating man called Sir John Herschel.

He was a famous astronomer, who was collaborating with Thomas Maclear, the Cape Astronomer Royal at the private observatory at Claremont near Cape Town. And this of course, is why we call Observatory Observatory.

Loved by the students, loathed by their parents, a place of excellent entertainment to this day, Obs is a seminal party centre, characterised by the smell of cannabis on Lower Main Street.
Sir John Herschel had a cunning plan. He began to develop a system that bore his name, whereby two classes of schools were recognised. ]]> History Sun, 31 Dec 2023 09:05:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 151 - The polymath Sir John Herschel, his free school system and other 1840 interconnections 0 0 Des Latham full 22:08 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1392152 https://iono.fm/e/1392152
Adding to the selfserving histrionics, Episode one of this series has just made to Spotify’s fourth most listened to podcast in South Africa for 2023. More gasps of disbelief.

When I began this enterprise in February 2021 it was a giant leap into a possible abyss, a leap into the unknown, and possibly a foray into catastrophe. One person’s historian is another person’s spin doctor you could say.

As 2024 beckons, I need to mention that my site, desmondlatham.blog has a donation panel. The hosting services are not free and so far I’ve tried to avoid mentioning moolah — its base and depraved. However, debasing and depraving is required as the cost of all of this has to be covered some how.

So you’ll see a donate button on desmondlatham.blog, click on there and there’s a Paypal QR code on the page. If you’d prefer to EFT or something, send me an email at desmondlatham@gmail.com.

With that slightly odious begging bowl moment out of the way, back to our tale.

We’re going to hear about Dingana’s death, It’s late January 1840, and word reached the Voortrekker BeesKommando that Dingana had been defeated at amaQongqo, he was on the run.

Although commandant Andries Pretorius believed this was true, the Boers wanted to follow up on the amaZulu King’s defeat to deal with the remnants of his army. AS you know, Ndlela kaSompiti the general had paid for the defeat with his life, Dingana had him killed but the surviving army was still out there, on the flat lands west of the Lebombo Mountains.

But by throwing Ndlela’s body out for the wild dogs, the jackals, the hyenas and the vultures, Dingana had broken the tradition of burying respected elders and royalty. Many of his own followers took exception to this act and realised that his behaviour belied his weakness, so more decided to throw in their lot with Mpande kaSenzangkhona.

On 3rd February, 220 Boers detached from the BeesKommando for a quick recon towards the Pongolo river after being informed that Dingana’s general Nongalaza was chasing Ndlela’s shattered impi south. Maybe they’d catch these warriors in a pincer, there were reportedly around 3000 still alive and unhurt — at least 2000 others had either died or were wounded and no longer a threat.

Hundreds of warriors were indeed in the vicinity, heading back home towards the Mfolozi from the Pongola River, but this was summer and summers are often characterised by thick mist in the valleys. It was under cover of this mist belt that that warriors managed to avoid the Boers, hiding in the kloofs and caves and inside the dense riverine bush.
A small group of men and women were caught in a cave, the men were killed, the women seized.
Then 250 burghers were mounted up in a larger commando and headed north east from the White Mfolozi to the Pongola river to join up with Nongalaza’s amaZulu.
They met up with Nongalaza on the 5th February, who told them that Dingana had made it across the Pongola River and was fleeing into amaSwazi country with a few close adherents and his mother and some sisters.

He was headed towards the Lubombo Mountains. Now anyone who has travelled here will know of the Ghost mountain, the combination of blunt hills and thick sub-tropical bush, the sandy trails and possibly, the ghostly stories.
When he realised that Nongalaza’s men had turned around, he stopped with his retinue at a small hilll south of the Lubombo Mountains called Hlathikhulu. Peering at these mountains in February 1840 was Dingana, who took stock as he settled in to a makeshift royal residence on the forested slopes. His isigodlo was put in place and he named this eSankoleni, a place of seclusion, the secluded spot.
This was his last place, and instead of seclusion, it was going to be a place of execution. ]]> History Sun, 24 Dec 2023 09:29:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 150 - Dingana assassinated near Ghost Mountain and the cultural appropriation tale of the toyi-toyi 0 0 Des Latham full 22:56 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1390761 https://iono.fm/e/1390761
We’re entering the 1840s where momentous events would continue to shape South Africa’s future.

After Shaka’s death in 1828 his half-brother and murderer, Dingana, was supposed to usher in stability. Instead, Dingana embroiled the AmaZulu in one war after another, trying to defeat Mzilikazi of the amaNdebele, fightign the baTlokwa, the amaSwazi, the Boers, and now, his own Royal line.

By ordering Mpande’s assassination, he had set off a chain of events that was going to boomerang on him and the coming Zulu Civil War had been in the offing for some time.

He’d also set off his own demise by failing to kill Mpande, who then fled across the Thukela River with over 17 000 adherents and about 35 000 cattle.

Mpande had met Voortrekker leader Andries Pretorius and negotiated with the Voortrekkers as the man they now called “The Reigning Prince of the Emigrant Zulus”. A Boer deputation of 28 men under the leadership of F Roos had visited him at his homestead not far from Port Natal in October 1839, where he offered to pay them the cattle owed by Dingana, over 19 300, and ceded the bay of St Lucia to the Boers.

Mpande also promised not to undertake any military activity without Voortrekker leader Andries Pretorius’ knowledge.

Then as if to reinforce his power, he turned a blind eye to the killing of a much feared induna called Mpangazitha kaMncumbatha who was of the amaNdwandwe. Zwide’s people.

Mpangazitha had become an influential and brutal induna operating alongside Dingana, and one day he was killed in full view of the trekkers.

This shocked the visiting Boers, who watched as the induna was dragged, then beaten by successive men armed with fighting sticks, his blue robe spattered with blood as he was bludgeoned to death.

Mpande later said he didn’t order this killing, Mpangazitha had brought it on himself by his bullyboy tactics — the other induna just had enough of this egotistical man who’d committed a long list of human rights abuses against other people’s over the past decade.

Live by the sword, die by the knobkerrie I guess.

By Christmas, however, the British were gone from the garrison at Port Natal, Captain Jervis had sailed away with the British administration now mistakenly of the belief that the violence in Natal had dissipated.

Then Dingana sent a famous message to the Boers in Pietermaritzburg by the end of 1839, trying to discredit Mpande.

“He is not a man…” the messengers said “…he has turned away his face, he is a woman. He was useless to Dingana his master, and he will be of no use to you. Do not trust him, for his face may turn again…”
Coming from a man as pernicious as Dingana was rather hypocritical.
Ndlela’s impi on paper at least, looked the better of the two. Dingana had pulled together the top notch amabutho, the iziNyosi, the uDlambedlu, the imVoko which had remnants of the umKulutshane regiment. They’d been joined by the uKhokhoti, who’d also been at the Battle of Blood River/Ncome.

Mpande’s general Nongalaza led amabutho like the imiHaye who’d joined up with remnants of the imVoko who’d switched sides as well as the uZwangendaba who were a bit like a mercenary division drawn from the homesteads called the umLambongwenya, uDukuza and isiKlebhe.

Mpande’s army included the veterans iziMpohlo, formed during Shaka’s time, these were older men, scarred in battle and seeking one more victory before they’d retire to their imizi.

Not only were Mpande’s men feeling more optimistic, they knew that somewhere to their west the Voortrekkers were heading their way. Between these two organisations, most warriors fighting for Mpande were convinced they were going to win.

The canny Mpande had pulled off a diplomatic move of note. Had he waited for the Boers to arrive, he would have lost face — by striking first he was waging war without the muskets and the horses. ]]> History Sun, 17 Dec 2023 09:49:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 149 - Mpande defeats Dingana at the Battle of amaQongqo and Bhibhi the beautiful is killed 0 0 Des Latham full 24:04 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1388224 https://iono.fm/e/1388224
Their role was to stabilise the Natal region after a year of extreme violence, the Voortrekkers and the AmaZulu king Dingana were fighting tooth and nail.

Jervis as you heard was one of the characters in our history that crop up here and there and are able to act as neutral arbitrators between different factions.

Gambusha the trusted inceku sent by Dinanga had arrived at the British camp on 23 February 1839 and said that the AmaZulu were on the brink of ruin and would accept any terms that Jervis would propose.

Gambusha also asked for the British to consider allying themselves with the AmaZulu to oppose the Voortrekker expansion, Dingana wanted British protection. Jervis could not do this, saying that his role was to act as a go-between and could not take sides. Gambusha took that message back to the Zulu king.

On the 23rd March two inceku called Gikwana and Gungwana returned to Port Natal with 300 of the Boer horses they had captured in the year of fighting as a sign of good faith. Voortrekker leader Andries Pretorius then arrived as you heard, calling himself the “Grand Commandant of the Right Worshipful the representative assembly of the South African Society at Natal.”

Had business cards been a thing back in 1839 that title wouldn’t fit on one side.

Nevertheless, peace talks were now underway. Eventually the terms were agreed — that Dingana would return all the muskets, horses, sheep and 19,300 cattle he’d taken from the trekkers and allow them to live unmolested south of the Thukela River.

IN turn, the Boers would assist the Zulu should they come under attack.

It was also agreed that from now on, all AmaZulu emissaries who crossed the Thukela River should carry a white flag indicating who they were, and that those found without this pass would be shot on sight. Pretorius also demanded that Dingana should send a messenger directly to him in Pietermaritzburg when they were ready to hand over the cattle and other goods. The British were to be left out of future meetings.
The problem for Dingana, is that he was now trying to carve out new territory that was in the name of the Swazi king Sobhuza the First. And the reason why it was a problem was the Swazi could fight like the amaZulu.

And yet, Dingana was also using Pretorius’ final demand as part of his political strategy, because when men married, they would have to be given land for their homesteads. By occupying vast tracts of Swazi land, Dingana would also be reinforcing his own political power, colonising new vistas for the Zulu.

There was another reason why Dingana was focusing on the amaSwazi, a people whom the AmaZulu looked down on. Attacking them would be part of an ihlambo, a washing of the spears, a purification ceremony bathed in blood marking the end of the period of mourning set off by the humiliation of being defeated by the Boers.
This washing of the spears would mean the evil spirits that caused the defeat, the umnyama, the evil influence, would be pushed away into the territory of the foe.The Swazi now faced a amaZulu invasion which began in the winter of 1839, a far more threatening action than any of the previous raids. This was an attack of colonial occupation by four Amabutho, the umBelebele, the uNomdayana, umKulutshane and the imVoko. Klwana kaNgqengele led these regiments, a man from one of the most powerful chiefly houses, the Buthelezi.
It was Mpande kaSenzangakhona who was going to change the equation.

Dingana’s half-brother had been in hiding after another attempt on his life by the capricious Zulu king, and in September 1839 he had fled across the Thukela River with 17 000 people, and 25 000 head of cattle. ]]> History Thu, 07 Dec 2023 15:06:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 148 - The AmaZulu routed by amaSwazi Widow Bird warriors and Mpande’s exodus 0 0 Des Latham full 24:35 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1386707?v=1 https://iono.fm/e/1386707?v=1
The abolition of slavery led to the creation of several private commercial banks, which then offered cheap credit to wage-labour employers. The British parliament allocated £20 million as compensation for those who had previously owned slaves and were now stripped on their erstwhile ‘property’ in inverted comma’s — to be shared out across it’s territories.

Of the twenty million, £1,247 000 was allocated to the Cape.

Though a certain proportion of this money got stuck in Great Britain in the hands of agents as we’ve heard in previous episodes, the amount that arrived in the Cape Colony, mainly in 1836–37, quintupled the sum of money in circulation.

This in turn caused a raising of prices, it was inflationary, and also led to increased labour costs.
Some of the money was invested in new banks, as well as providing capital to build new houses around the Cape. One of these was the Eastern Province Bank which launched in 1838 in Grahamstown - which went on to become Barclay’s Bank, and during the sanctions period of apartheid, it morphed into First National Bank.

Compensated emancipation at the Cape was a major social rupture, ending as it did 182 years of legal slavery, changing the legal status of these 38 000 people.

The slave-like apprenticeship period that followed emancipation in 1834 had now expired. Khoi, and other members of the free black community continued to work mostly in farm
employment, although a few became market gardeners or joined the small but growing artisanal class in the villages of the Western Cape.’

Emancipation at the Cape freed slaves into the category "free black," which encompassed all people of colour native to the Western Cape: "Hottentots" was the colonial term for the Khoi and "Bushmen" the colonial term for the San, "Bastards" were those who had a white father, Khoi mother and "Bastard Hottentots" were those who had a slave father and Khoi mother.

By the time of emancipation, the slave population of the Western Cape was predominantly
creole, including descendants of slaves brought from the west and east coasts of Africa, Madagascar, India, and the Dutch East Indies, and children born of a slave mother and a free father.

The close cultural and social relations between Khoisan and slaves and the incorporation of the Khoisan into the Cape colonial economy, also contributed to the heterogeneous culture of the rural poor at this stage.

The introduction of "prize negroes," who had been "rescued" from other nations' slave ships by the British and brought to the Cape from 1808 to 1815 and then again in the 1830s to remedy the labor shortage in the Western Cape, also served to increase the polyglot nature of the rural poor of the Western Cape.

This diversity of geographical and cultural origins affected the emergence of an official racial terminology to cover all of these groups to simplify matters.

Thus while the category of "free black" continued to be used into the 1840s in government correspondence regarding labor legislation. But from 1837 the statistical Blue Books began listing people of Khoi and San descent, free blacks, “prize negroes," and freed people under the category “Coloured."

The slave owners were a leisure class and now slaves were free, it was the start of the fourth decade of the 19th Century. The slaves had the skills, the leisure class, did not, and now this leisure class really needed the new banks.
So the abolition of slavery resulted in the liquidation of at substantial portion of the capital that had been invested in the individuals who were enslaved. ]]> History Sun, 03 Dec 2023 10:54:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 147 - Coloured enters the lexicon in 1838 as Captain Jervis reports his coal find 0 0 Des Latham full 27:06 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1384345 https://iono.fm/e/1384345
Ndlela kaSompisi the general had ordered messengers on ahead of the Amabutho who were now force marching back to the east, to the Great Place. The izinceku advisors rushed back warning Dingana that he should evacuate his beloved emGungundlovu as the Voortrekkers were on their way — his army had suffered a terrible defeat.

Msiyana kaMhlana who led the imVoko Amabutho regiment had told the izinceku that the king should make for the south side of the drift across the white Mfolozi, to a place called emVokweni.

IT was one of his larger homesteads, and gave him the option to make a loop north if pursued.
It was a day later that another messenger hurried up to Dingana and told him as he hunkered down at emVokweni that Pretorius and his WenKommando had arrived at the Mhlatuze River, and was about to cross. The Zulu king ordered that his beloved emGungundlovu be raised to the ground, along with two other large amaKhanda nearby.
On the morning of the 20th they saw emGungundlovu in the distance, wreathed in smoke, much of it still burning. It was a vast complex, the fire would burn for days. About half an hours ride away, they stopped once more and formed a laager near the place of death, KwaMatiwane. At that point they were unaware that the bones of their comrades were lying in the open only a short distance away.

The trekkers began to loot what they could from the smoky ruins of Dingana’s great place, and there was a great deal that had survived the fire. First however, they were determined to find out where the colleagues lay.
One of the men found Retief’s leather briefcase and peered inside. This is where the story is disputed by some historians because the Boers pulled out a document, the treaty apparently ceding Natal to the trekkers.

I have explained how this document is of historical interest, but utterly irrelevant in the debate about land in Natal. Dingana as you know by now, had signed it to pacify Retief, to lull him into his final meeting where the Zulu king had managed to convince the Boers to leave their guns outside, only to be murdered.
It was a chance discovery on Christmas Day that almost brought calamity to this WenKommando.

Pretorius was suffering from the wound he’d received at the Battle of Blood river, but was alert enough to interrogate a man who’d been discovered hiding close to their camp at emGungundlovu.

This was no ordinary man however, he was a decoy. Bongoza kaMefu of the Ngongoma people had realised that the trekkers were after the king’s cattle, and their determination to seize the property booty of this entire campaign could be their undoing.

Bongoza approached Dingana and suggested a plan to lure the Kommando onto the thornbush veld around the White Mfolozi, where they’d be susceptible to ambush. Nzobo kaSompithi who had rejoined the king’s main retinue agreed. ]]> History Sun, 26 Nov 2023 08:39:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 146 - The Battle of oPathe where Bhongoza and Hans Dons earn oral history stripes 0 0 Des Latham full 23:00 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1381900 https://iono.fm/e/1381900
This battle has seared its way into South African consciousness — it is so symbolic that its reference frames modern politics. Just when someone comes along and pooh poohs Blood River’s importance, events conspire against them.

And so, to the matter at hand.

We join the two forces preparing for battle on the evening of 15th December 1838, the amaButho arraigned in their units below the Mkhonjane Mountain east of the Ncome, and the 464 Voortrekker men waiting inside their 64 wagons.

Joining them was Alexander Biggar the Port Natal trader and 60 black levies, Biggar wanted revenge for the death of his son Robert killed by the AmaZulu at the Battle of Thukela.

Also at hand were Robert Joyce and Edward Parker, aiding Voortrekker commander Andries Pretorius as intelligence officers. Both were fluent in Zulu and had already passed on vital information to Pretorius about Prince Mpande who had to flee into exile. Dingane had tried to have his half-brother assassinated - the paranoid Zulu king thought Mpande was planning to oust him as he had done to his half-brother, Shaka.

The scene was set folks for this seminal battle at a picturesque place.

The laager had been drawn up in an oval shape on the western bank of the Ncome river, to its south was a deep donga about fifty meters away that had been scoured by rain, and this ran into the Ncome with banks that were over two meters high. While AmaZulu warriors could hide in this donga, it really worked in the trekkers favour because it broke up the ground - they could not charge the wagons but had to clamber over the trenchlike ledge and were then easy pickings for the Boer sharpshooters.

The Eastern side of the laager faced the Ncome River - about 80 meters away and this was regarded as even more difficult to assault. The River bank was muddy, and covered in reeds, making the approach almost impossible to achieve with any speed. Almost half a kilometer upstream, this river broadened into a marsh dotted with deep pools and crossing at that point would be almost impossible.

Downstream from the laager was a very deep hippo pool or seekoeigat as it was known, so deep that the Boers couldn’t feel its bottom with their long whipstocks. No AmaZulu warrior would be crossing there either.

More than half a kilometer downstream was a well used drift, and south east of the Ncome was a broad open plain dotted with small marshes and pools, and further south east lies the Shogane ridge, more than a kilometer away.

It was summer, and the rains had come. The river was flooding which was to further complicate the AmaZulu assault.
On the other side of the River, near Mthonjane mountain, Zulu commander Ndlela kaSompisi and his two IC Nzobo were finalising their plans on the night of 15th December 1838.
IT was well before dawn on the 16th December that Ndlela ordered his warriors to rise and prepare. ]]> History Sat, 18 Nov 2023 20:14:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 145 - The seminal Battle on the Ncome known as Blood River 0 0 Des Latham full 26:00 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1379516 https://iono.fm/e/1379516
The Battle of Blood River - or Ncome River - is etched in the consciousness of South Africans. While the gory details are not contested, its historical significance has been seized on by different political factions since the 16th December 1838.

The day itself is a public holiday which we now call the Day of Reconciliation. Before that it was known as Dingane’s Day or the Day of the Covenant, or the Day of the Vow.

Anything thought of as a covenant or a vow comes with baggage.
Gert Maritz had died at the age of 41 on 23 September - suffering from dropsy, heart disease and half of the Voortrekkers had setup a second laager across the Little Thukela River, fearful of leaving their fort in case another Zulu army bushwhacked them.

They had sent a deputation to elicit support from other trekkers in the transOrangia region, and in the highveld along the Vaal River. Only Karel Landman remained as a senior leader in Natal, but help was on its way in the form of a man who was half dragoon, part brigand, mostly hero.

And that was Andries Pretorius.

He was born in Graaff-Reinet and his family had prospered, owning several farms around the frontier town. He was fifth generation southern African, his ancestors dated back all the way to the early Dutch settlement in Table Bay. His ancestor, Johannes Pretorius was the son of Reverend Wessel Schulte of the Netherlands. Schulte had been a theology student at the University of Leiden when he changed his name to the Latin form of Schulte and therefore became Wesselius Praetorius, with an ae, then later Pretorius.

His deep connection with Africa leant weight to his other important characteristics, an imposing man, tall and imbued with a captivating personality to boot. He was a skilled commander of men, adept at the irregular nature of frontier warfare.There was a lot of movement at the end of 1838, because not only had the British soldiers arrived in Port Natal and Pretorius’ kommando had headed off to Dingane, but Prince Mpande was on the run from his half-brother Dingane as well.

He wasn’t alone - Mpande was joined by an estimated 17 000 of his followers after Dingane had made moves to assassinate his half-brother he regarded as an increasing threat to his rule. Dingane’s actions followed the defeat of his army by the trekkers at Veglaer, weakening his power in the eyes of his subjects.
On 6 December 1838, 10 days before the Battle of Blood River, Pretorius and his commando including Alexander Biggar as translator had a meeting with friendly Zulu chiefs at Danskraal, so named for the Zulu dancing that took place in the Zulu kraal that the Trekker commando visited.

It was during this relatively friendly occasion that important information was passed along, and now Pretorius became aware of Prince Mpande’s new refugee status, an important character in the coming power play. It was immediately apparent to Pretorius that the Zulu king was in a more precarious position than he had been a few months earlier. ]]> History Sat, 11 Nov 2023 14:58:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 144 - Mpande evades Dingane’s assassination plot, the British seize Durban and Pretorius plans a covenant 0 0 Des Latham full 26:21 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1377132 https://iono.fm/e/1377132
He was trying to make Andries Stockenstrom’s eastern Cape Treaty System a success and this was not an easy task. Napier’s main pressure however was financial. Before he left Britain, the Colonial office had made it clear that they would not accept another war in the Eastern Cape.

IT had cost the government dearly, 14 years after the English settlers landed the British were forced to defend their subjects during the the Sixth Frontier War. Hundreds of soldiers and their material had cost tens of thousands of pounds. The cost of the colonies was a major factor in the government's financial difficulties. The British Empire was vast and expensive to administer — someone had to pay for the upkeep of the colonial military, the infrastructure, and the salaries of colonial officials.

In the period of 1834-1838, the British government spent an average of £12 million per year on the colonies. This represented a significant portion of the government's budget - in 1837 for example the government spent £12 million on the colonies plus £15 million on the army.

According to the Hansard archive of the House of Commons, the British government's budget in 1838 was £51,524,110 with the largest categories of expenditure the army, navy, and interest on debt. These categories accounted for over 70% of the total budget.

The cost of the colonies had a number of consequences for British politics. Lobby groups were — and remain — a powerful force in British politics, and they opposed any policies that would increase the cost of the colonies, while helping the maintain a system that was dominated by the aristocracy.

Overall, the cost of the colonies was a major factor in the British government's financial difficulties and it also had a significant impact on British politics and the economy in the period of 1834-1838. The British national debt grew significantly in the period from the £796 million to £829 million or 4.2%.

On the other hand, Britain was benefiting from the colonial access to raw materials, such as cotton, sugar, and timber. These were used to support British industries, particularly textiles manufacturing and shipbuilding. Of course, the colonies created new markets for manufactured goods which actually help boost the economy and create jobs as well.

For investors, the entrepreneurs and connected royalty, it was an opportunity to earn large returns from these seized territories by building infrastructure, developing new industries, and starting new ventures. The strategic importance of its colonies also helped England maintain its global power and influence.

For example, Gibraltar was a key naval base that helped England to control the Mediterranean Sea, India was also a key strategic asset, as it helped England to maintain its power and influence in Asia and Cape Town remained a strategic asset on its main supply routes to the far east.

It’s time to cast our eyes further afield, as we do in this series just to understand how southern African events were often part of a much broader scope. This was the period of burgeoning colonial expansion globally and those who lived on the land before the arrival of European settlers were fighting for their survival.

Early settlers could also begin to take advantage of iron based tools being manufactured in Britain - particularly ploughs. There were many examples. Cast iron ploughs for example which were inexpensive to produce although they were relatively brittle. ]]> History Sun, 05 Nov 2023 09:28:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 143 - The World in 1838, New Veld Tech and Plough Enhancements 0 0 Des Latham full 20:48 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1374796 https://iono.fm/e/1374796
With that said, picture the scene. We are standing on the western slopes of the Drakensberg, looking out across the Caledon Valley. The rivers we see here flow westward, into the Atlantic Ocean. Far to the south east lie the villages of the amaThembu on the slopes of the mountains that are now part of the Transkei. This is a follow up episode of a sort from episode 141, because last week we spoke about the Orange River, and the Caledon River is a tributary of the Orange.

It rises in the Drakensberg, on the Lesotho–South Africa border, and flows generally southwest, forming most of the boundary between Lesotho and Free State province. The Caledon flows through southeastern Free State to join the Orange River near Bethulie after a course of 480 km. Its valley has one of the greatest temperature ranges in South Africa and is an excellent place to grow maize or other grains.

But in April 1835 Moshoeshoe was eyeing the equally verdant land to his south, amaThembu land and led a powerful and large expedition of more than 700 men along with a hundred pack-oxen loaded with food south easterly over the Maloti mountains towards these people.

At first his raid went according to plan, he seized a rich booty of cattle. The amaThembu were also facing raids from the other direction, the British who were conducting their Sixth Frontier War so they were in a rather invidious position.

Moshoeshoe was blooding his sons Letsie and Molapo in battle. They had become restless back at his Morija headquarters and their frustration grew when Moshoeshoe denied them permission to attack the Kora who’d setup camp nearby.

As the Basotho withdrew after the raid, they were ambushed by the amaThembu and lost most of their livestock. Worse, Moshoeshoe’s brother Makhabane was killed and he suffered heavy casualties. Moshoeshoe would never again send another full-scale expedition into amaXhosa or amaThembu territory.

This change of strategy was fully supported by the missionaries who had begun living with Moshoeshoe’s people. What followed would be a remarkable partnership which is still hotly debated today and the interests of the missionaries would be further expanded or extended by the interests of the Basotho leader.
Another interesting change was taking place for the people of this mountain territory, driven by missionaries both the French and the English. This is because the religion of the 19th-century Sotho speakers was defined chiefly by its outward manifestation, the signs on the land, the animals, things going on that you can hear, smell, touch, see.

Religion, as the Sotho term ‘borapeli’ illustrates, was what people did and not what they
believed. This is a fundamental foundational difference that stymied the first missionaries at first.

The translation of molimo as God inaugurated a new era where there was a fixation on linear progression in an age of evolutionary thinking, where Protestantism was the theology. How did Molimo interlink with Tlatla-Mochilo? For the missionaries, this was an immense philosophical wrestling match.
This is where Tsapi, a man described as Moshoeshoe’s advisor and diviner re-enters our story for a moment.

Thanks to one of my listeners who is a descendent of Tsapi by the name of Seanaphoka for providing some more background.

Tsapi was actually the first son of the Bafokeng Tribal Chief Seephephe. Tsapi had a sister called Mabela, who was Moshoeshoe’s first wife and as Queen Consort she took the name MmaMohato.

Tsapi became Advisor and Senior Council member of Moshoeshoe. ]]> History Sun, 29 Oct 2023 09:33:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 142 - Moshoeshoe the beard-shearer and the complex theological soup of the BaSotho 0 0 Des Latham full 23:05 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1372411 https://iono.fm/e/1372411
First a little admin - a big thank you to for tuning in. This series has passed one million listens, the response has been staggering.

When I began planning the history of South Africa podcast three years ago, it was literally a step into the deep end of audio production.

Nothing can truly prepare you for such an enterprise — and this is a solo job. It’s me, the hundreds of books collected over decades, the journals, the papers, the travel, the experience and you, the listener.

So without resorting to too much grandiose baloney, let me just say thank you. Without your support and wonderful emails and messages, this would have been an awful lot harder.

With that little detour out of the way, back to our story for this week.

We need to switch our gaze back to the northern Cape, circa 1838 and 9, and spend time discussing what was going on along the Orange River that in many ways is similar to the Nile and the Niger Rivers. The Orange River is smaller, but it also flows through an extremely arid zone like the Nile and the Niger, and like those waterways, it is a lifeline for animal and human life over a large area.

It was towards this riparian zone that the colonists were expanding, and ahead of them the Khoe, the Oorlam, the !Kora.

Then the Voortrekkers left in their hundreds, the flood turning to thousands, they weakened the Cape frontier substantially because it was a loss of military power. This happened as the trekkers themselves destabilised the interior of the country, and the British administration feared that they’d face dispossessed Africans who would become a nightmare as they entered the Cape, economic and war refugees.

Examples were the amaMfengu who had fled the Mfecane, now they faced more destabilisation as hundreds of men riding horses and carrying guns made their way out of the Cape.

By this time in the colony, most of previous Governor Benjamin D’Urban’s comprehensive programme of reforms had been accomplished, including the establishment of a Legislative Council, the introduction of a Revised charter of Justice, emancipation of the slaves and the beginnings of municipal government so that the locals could manage themselves.
As we continue with the series, that narrative of haste will be our companion. When we look at the goings on, we must extend our gaze beyond the borders, most of which are merely lines on maps. Regions are tied together through the shared use of water and other resources. In this episode we’re going to look north, and try to understand the link between the people of the Cape, and the people of Namibia.

Two people in particular. The San and the Oorlam and their relationship with the Orange River.

Between 1800 and 1839 the San had been virtually exterminated as a people. They had stood in the way of the first trekboers through the turn of the century, and the expansion could only continue into the welcoming environment of the eastern transOrangia region after the San of the Sneeuberg had been pacified.

This had been both a violent and a subtle and insidious practice, including gift giving, mainly alcohol. Even peaceful trekkers had undermined the San resistance by pure dint of infiltration into their territory. Once the colonists had established themselves beyond the Sneeuberg, the San were unable to prevent the destruction of their lifestyle. It was a similar story for the Khoekhoe.

Those who were not killed or captured retreated deep into the deserts or the inhospital areas of Bushmansland so that they could survive.
The !Kora were various clans who lived in a fluid situation in the interior of the country, and anyone who chose a raiding, roving mode of existence were likely to be called Koranna regardless of their ancestry.
But they had made excellent use of two major introductions into South Africa.

The Gun and the horse. ]]> History Sat, 21 Oct 2023 19:40:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 141 — An ode to the Orange River and San spoor blows in the wind 0 0 Des Latham full 26:08 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1370045 https://iono.fm/e/1370045
In South African history and general memory there are major confrontations which are part of modern consciousness. These would be things like the Zulu defeat of the British at Isandlhwana, the Anglo Boer War, and in the 20th Century, the Border Wars, and the ANC and PAC struggles against Apartheid.

However, this battle of Gatslaager — the laager that would be renamed Vegslaaier or fighting laager, is one of the most important that has been forgotten in the annals of time.

So it was ten am and swarming down from the hills to the east of the Gatslaager were the experienced and mostly married warriors, the creme de la creme, the most feared. The laager was protected on the east side by the Bushman’s River which was flooding, and if you glanced at a map, the laager was south west of where the town of Escourt is today.

Ndlela then issued the command to halt, and the Amabutho stopped well out of range of the Voortrekkers Sannas on open ground to the north and west. He formed his troops up in their classic three tiers, the chest and two horns, taking his time.

Inside the laager, Erasmus Smit the predikant and the Volk fell on their knees and prayed.

“May he grant us the victory, if we have to fight … strengthen our hearts…”

Seventy five Voortrekker men, and a handful of the more hardy women and boys, were now facing the full might of the Zulu army, an army of 10 000. It seemed a hopeless cause. But there were a few things in the Voortrekker’s favour.
The flooding Bushman’s River for one. Another was the approaches had been setup so the Amabutho had no place to take cover as they assaulted the wagons. The Boers also had a canon.
Meanwhile,

Far far away to the north, Mzilikazi Khumalo of the amaNdebele had turned into a violent refugee after being defeated by a force of Boers, Griqua and Barolong in November 1837 at eGabeni.

Mzilikazi himself had escaped the attackers by pure chance, he’d gone north in the face of threats by Bapedi-Balaka ruler, Mapela. It wasn’t just the Boers and the Griqua, the Barolong, the Bakwena, and the baTlokwa who were raiding in the highveld and down in what now is modern day Botswana.

The amaNdebele had a violent relationship with Batswana. ]]> History Sun, 15 Oct 2023 08:32:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 140 - High Noon at Gatslaager & Mzilikazi barges into the Batswana 0 0 Des Latham full 18:52 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1367693 https://iono.fm/e/1367693
And if you’re following, you’ll know that a large Zulu army is camped to the north of Ndondakusuka, led by Mpande Senzangakhona.

We’re getting straight down to business, its the 17th April 1838 and after crossing the mighty Thukela, the Grand Army surrounded Ndondakusuka.

This first engagement was short and sharp. Virtually all the inhabitants, mainly women and children, were killed, and the village was burned to the ground. The Grand army commanders, Robert Biggar and John Cane, failed to take much notice of the scant number of warriors that seemed to be defending this valuable umizi.

As I mentioned in Episode 138, it was home to one of Dingana’s most feared warriors, Zulu kaNogandaya who’s experience as a commander stretched back to before Shaka. He was actually on top of a nearby hill watching his home burn to the ground and his people being slaughtered. He was joined by Mpande and the other commanders doing what they always did, viewing the battle from a high point so they could direct their men.

The Grand Army of Natal had fallen into Mpande’s trap. 7000 Zulu warriors were ready to go, and on Mpande’s orders, the amabutho began advancing southwards in two columns, then deployed in the classic two horns and a chest formation.

Down at Ndondakusuka, the Grand Army was milling about, pillaging what they could find, particularly the cattle.

They still did not know what was coming towards them through the Zululand bush.

The isifuba or central section was aiming straight at the Grand Army as the invisible two horns or izimpondo approached on either side.

There were 18 English, alongside them 30 Khoesan hunters, joined by 400 Africans all armed with muskets standing around Ndondakusuka.

In addition, there were 2400 African warriors fighting armed with spears and shields fighting with the white traders against the Zulu. All of them had a bone to pick with the AmaZulu, and the feeling was mutual.

The Zulu amabutho were moving quickly through the broken ground out of sight of anyone in Ndondakusuka which had been built la short distance from the Thukela River.

So the Grand Army was now in a real predicament because their escape route was growing narrower by the second.

The survivors ran back to Durban. Some had managed to make it to where they’d left their horses, and rode into the port that very night, bloodied and cowed.

The residents panicked when they saw this bedraggled Grand Army stagger into town, because they knew as sure as the sun would rise from the east that close behind these defeated men was Mpande’s warriors.

But by pure chance, a ship called the Comet had anchored in the bay on 29th March, it had sailed from Delagoa Bay after its captain William Haddon had fallen sick and needed to recuperate.

Most of the residents and missionaries and their families boarded the vessel, while some citizens remained on shore. More Grand Army stragglers arrived over the next two days, all reporting that the Zulu army was indeed close behind.
And so, back to the main group of Trekkers.

Their headquarters however remained at Modderlaager, mud laager, which was a very unpleasant place now. It was overpopulated, it stank, disease had spread.

It was also not in the best place to defend against an enemy attack. Landman decided to shift the laager to another spot further along the Bushman’s river or the Mtshezi River, to Gatslaager, or hole laager.

The trekkers were aware they would probably come under attack again and increased their patrols, searching in particular for Zulu spies. They captured dozens of men, who were interrogated and most were summarily executed, shot and then left on the veld. Most of these were innocent bystanders but the Voortrekkers weren’t considering justice, only survival. ]]> History Sat, 07 Oct 2023 18:58:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 139 - The Battle of Thukela/Dlokweni, Durban is sacked and the Republiek Natalia proclaimed 0 0 Des Latham full 23:37 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1365284?v=1 https://iono.fm/e/1365284?v=1
Nowhere on earth was safe — in southern Africa for example it had exacerbated droughts for most of the first three decades of the 19th Century. The fact that the Voortrekkers were being rained on in 1838 was something of a return to normal after the long dry.

According to scientists, the most sustained period of stratospheric dust was between 1807 and 1830, precisely at the period dominated by Shaka and then Dingana in the eastern part of southern Africa. There is a very close link between history and climate.

In the northern hemisphere, records were tumbling. Unlike southern Africa there were summers of continuous rain up north, grain harvests failed completely in Germany, France and the British isles.

When Tamboro exploded in Indonesia in 1815, it spread ash far and wide — and has now being blamed on what was being experienced by the northern hemisphere. A dust veil swept over the north, and distorted the normal wind patterns.

In the Eastern Cape, the drought patterns had complicated British Settler lives between 1821 and 1823 — a searing drought which drove most of the new farmers off their land — to become more embroiled in hunting and commerce.

Tree ring analysis shows how precipitously the climatic variation affected Zululand in particular in the first two decades of the 19th Century. While this was not the main reason that the powerhouses of the AmaZulu became so centralised, it was all part of the cause of the social and political changes.

By the 1830s the introduction of new farming techniques around Port Natal or what was now being called Durban was a revolution — I’ve mentioned this in earlier podcasts and for good reason. Crop cultivation had increased and surpluses were reported — the growth of the large black peasant society in Natal during the first half of the 19th Century was a significant event.

Dingana was outraged by how the former refugees that had fled his rule had apparently appeared to be prefer to live around the Port than return to Zululand. The fact that he had taken to burning down the umizi of chieftans he didn’t like didn’t help his cause either. So the English traders who were now taking up arms against him weren’t just an irritation, they were becoming a centre of power that threatened the Zulu king’s power ethos.

While the Boers were considering their next moves, planning to conquer Dingana, the British further south were facing a conundrum. If they left the Voortrekkers to do what they wanted, there was every chance that the interior of southern Africa would become more unstable rather than less.

Some may find this difficult to comprehend, but back in the late 1830s the expansion of the trekkers throughout the interior was thought of as a threat not a stabilising factor by the English authorities. They didn’t see it as christians subduing the heathens, rather as unrestrained expansionism by a group of people that were not under their control.
Another major event shook the eastern Cape in 1838, Andries Stockenstrom was going to resign — for the second time after he’d taken off back home to Sweden in the previous decade.
As Stockenstrom bade his eastern frontier adieu, he was replaced by a military man called Colonel John Hare who arrived in 1838 with a kind of defeatist attitude, and was almost immediately out of his depth. He relied on information from two sources who were like yin and yang. These two chaos-ridden forces were Charles Lennox Stretch and John Mitford Bowker.
Meanwhile, the English traders in Durban were planning was an attack on Dingana’s umizi for a second time, their first had gone so well and they were supposed to be coordinating their military manoeuvres with the Boers. ]]> History Sun, 01 Oct 2023 00:57:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 138 - The yin and yang of Stretch and Bowker and the Grand Army of Natal marches again 0 0 Des Latham full 23:45 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1363153 https://iono.fm/e/1363153
When the settlers in the Cape heard about Piet Retief’s fate followed shortly afterwards by news of the massacres of hundreds of Voortrekkers along the Bloukrans, Bushmans Rivers, many nodded knowingly. The stories of the AmaZulu military prowess had circulated for decades, Shaka first, then Dingana. Many of the Cape citizens had feared for the Voortrekkers, and now their fate seemed to be sealed.

The Capenaars said the Voortrekkers had been warned but thought of themselves as immune, protected by God, deterministically predisposed to rule supreme over their fellow black man.

Weenen had sent shock waves of existentialism through the Voortrekker consciousness.

An immense year, this, 1838 —. Queen Victoria of Britain was crowned at Westminster Abbey in London - and Dingana had referred to the new Queen in his comments to the missionaries before he killed Retief. Alfred Vail and Samuel Morse made the first successful demonstration of the electric telegraph in front of the world - and Morse code was launched which is still in use today.

It’s April 1838 and in United Kingdom, the principle of the People’s Charter was drawn up, a charter which called for universal suffrage, for the right of women to vote. It would be a century before that happened of course.

Meanwhile, as these technical and social innovations were being cooked up, at Doornkop and Modderlaager, below the brooding Drakensberg, the Voortrekkers were aching for revenge.
By now Andries Potgieter had arrived with his posse, joining Piet Uys and his smaller group, and they had contacted the English traders in Durban with a view to conduct a co-ordinated attack on Dingane along two fronts.
Ultimately it was decided that the Boers should move out on April 5th and 347 men were to ride in two divisions, with division a symbolic description of this force. They were quite divided and were not going to act in concert in the coming commando which was eventually nicknamed "Die Vlugkommando" for all the wrong reasons. ]]> History Sun, 24 Sep 2023 01:33:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 137 - The Vlugkommando of April 1838 and a hard rain continues to fall 0 0 Des Latham full 24:50 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1360828 https://iono.fm/e/1360828
By the morning of the 17th most of the families camped along these streams and rivers were dead.

Within a few hours the right horn and the centre sections of the army had overrun the outlying Voortrekker camps, now the left horn prepared to assault Gerrit Maritz’s laager.

The Zulu army on the left flank initially approached the Viljoen camp, and Gert and Karel Viljoen, Gert Combrink, Izak Bezuidenhout, Meneer Schutte and Strydom, rode out to confront the attackers in an attempt to protect their families. Acting like plovers, the decoys split up in full view of the Zulu warriors, Gert and Izak riding towards the Bezuidenhout camp, and the others towards Englebrecht and Bothma camp.
They were looting anything of value as they went, and as I mentioned at the end of last episode, their discipline was slipping. The left horn now rounded on Gerrt Maritz’s laager, which was heavily defended unlike the other trekker camps, and he threw back the first attack. Many narratives of the future were being created about this defence, campfire stories of stoic action, including one where Martiz’s ten year old son armed himself with a pistol and fired on the Zulu while his mother and other women carried ammunition back and forth while still in their dressing gowns.
The Boers gathered back at Doornkop and revenge was on their lips. The sounds of weeping filled the air and for the next few days, outlying trekkers staggered towards this safe centre.

The Voortrekkers had lost more than 600 of their people. IT was the biggest calamity to befall any of the settler parties by a long way — a significant event in the story of South Africa. The place where the main massacres took place is marked today by the town of Weenen, Place of Weeping.

110 trekker men had died, including the 60 at kwaMatiwane, 56 women were dead, but shockingly it was the number of children wiped out — 185 that really was an abomination and embittered the Boers. The AmaZulu did not fight like the amaXhosa they realised too late. For centuries they’d lived alongside the Xhosa, sometimes within their kraals, and never had they witnessed such cold blooded killing of infants and women.

Then there were 250 coloured and Khoesan servants also speared to death by the Zulu — everywhere gore splattered the landscape — the Boers had lost one tenth of their population, and one-sixth of their men.

The Zulu had killed everyone and everything, cats, dogs, even the chickens.
However, in making a surprise attack, Dingana and his advisors had totally underestimated the Trekker’s fighting spirit and their grit, even when facing odds of 30 or 40 to one. They had discovered that even when at a disadvantage, the Boers provided a sting.

So it was with some irony that the first to respond to the Zulu attack on the Voortrekkers were the English who rode out from Durban. ]]> History Sun, 17 Sep 2023 02:39:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 136 - The place of weeping earns its name and the“Grand Army of Natal” marches off 0 0 Des Latham full 27:04 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1358453 https://iono.fm/e/1358453
Missionary Owen watched the killings through his telescope until he couldn’t take it any more and collapsed in shock.

The Zulu king was not done, he’d ordered his amabutho warriors to seek and destroy the Voortrekkers who’d camped along the rivers below the Drakensberg where they’d arrived in large numbers expecting Retief’s negotiations to have ended well. Retief had thought so too, particularly after he’d returned Dingana’s cattle rustled by Sekhonyela of the baTlokwa.

About a thousand wagons had descended the passes, and the Zulu were determined the Voortrekkers were not going to remain on the land they’d invaded.

The vultures, wild dogs, and hyenas, jackals began to feed on the bodies strewn about kwaMatiwane near emGungungdlovu where Retief’s men had met their grisly end, while Owen and his family trembled with fear nearby.

Were they going to be next they wondered.

Dingana had sent a message as Retief was killed saying their were safe, but who believed the AmaZulu leader about anything?
Meanwhile, some of the warriors were going through the Boers baggage and inspecting the muskets that had been piled outside the main gate. Puffs of dust appeared from the south, and from there two horseman and their small travel party appeared at emGungundlovu.

Talk about bad timing.

It was James Brownlee who was a very young translator and a trainee missionary, and the American Henry Venables. They had picked a particularly bad time to ride up to Dingana’s Great Place.
From a Zulu perspective, Dingana’s orders for his amabutho to kill the Voortrekkers was a matter of business as usual, this was the normal way of things when a chief was disgraced and executed. His family and adherents would be bumped off, or “eaten up” to use the Zulu phrase, so that there would be none alive to avenge the king.

The Voortrekker livestock would be seized and the king would redistribute these beasts amongst his amabutho, exactly as the Boers had been doing amongst their Kommando members after the raids on Mzilikazi. And like the Boer raids on Mzilikazi, very few women or children were to be spared by Zulu warriors.
The Zulu army of about 5000 crossed a famous river at a famous point, the Mzinyathi or Buffalo River near Rorke’s Drift. How ironic that 42 years later, the very same crossing would see English soldiers fleeing from Cetswayo’s warriors after the Battle of Isandhlwana hunted across this very same Drift.

So the 5000 warriors marched along the Helpmekaar heights towards the Thukela River close to the confluence with the Bloukrans through the second week of February 1838.

By now most of the trekkers had scattered through this territory, in little family encampments of three or four wagons over a large area. Only a few had taken the English traders warning seriously and established defensible wagon laagers.

Most did not, they just outspanned where they were and began enjoying the fruits of the veld.

Many of these had headed off on hunts, leaving their families alone with their Khoesan servants, and to them, the AmaZulu warriors were going to do what the amaNdebele had done in August 1836.

Fall upon the wagons and kill everyone they could find. ]]> History Sat, 09 Sep 2023 08:30:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 135 - The Zulu army overruns the Voortrekkers along the Bloukrans and Bushman’s River 0 0 Des Latham full 27:59 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1356316 https://iono.fm/e/1356316
It is also crucial as you’ve heard that we dig deep into the events because today there’s a huge debate about what I’m going to explain next, what documents still exist about what happened, and who owns what when it comes to land in South Africa.

Specifically, land in KwaZulu Natal.

What exactly did Dingane agree to sell to Piet Retief? Why did he agree to do this when he had told the missionaries and his own people that he wouldn’t part with land at all?

It’s incredible to think that this one year, 1838, has sparked so much discussion — and that people today quote one fact after another to back up their political position on this matter.

So to the story at hand.

Piet Retief had struggled to hold the Voortrekkers together when he’d arrived back at the main trekker encampment at Doornkop. Piet Uys had arrived from the Highveld on the 15th December 1837, having heard that Retief’s visit to the AmaZulu king had gone well and he brought news of just how decisively amaNdebele chief Mzilikazi had been dealt with.

Uys was also reclaiming his leadership role over the Voortrekkers of Natal which didn’t go down well with Retief. Gerrit Maritz was his usual refereeing self interjecting between the two, and Uys agreed on the 19th December and after four days of argument to take the oath of the constitution to support Retief’s vision, but only after he consulted with his Volk, his followers.

These followers were on their way down the Drakensberg. It one of the life’s ironies that by the time he arrived back in Natal on the 24th January 1838, Uys had completely changed his tune. IT was on that date that he dictated a letter to Governor D’Urban back in Cape Town to the effect that he was now totally against Retief’s “sinister designs…” — and I’m quoting directly.

Sinister designs? Over what?

Retief it appeared and as we know was true, was planning to launch an independent state in Natal and Uys in what could be called a giant stab in the back, wrote to the British governor that he and his Volk were actually reaffirming their loyalty to the Crown. The English crown.
Retief of course was heading to the upper reaches of the Caledon valley on a quest ordered by Dingana to retrieve cattle stolen by the baTlokwa from the amaHlubi.
By inference, Dingana wanted Sekhonyela to pay for his transgressions and the Boers believed he was testing their somewhat flimsy relationship. Retief believed that the goodwill that would be generated by returning the cattle would lead to Dingana handing over some of that precious land controlled by the AmaZulu king.
He wrote a letter to Dingana informing the Zulu king of the successful raid on his enemy, the baTlokwa. By now, Dingana had almost gone into shock about something else. On the 2nd January he’d been informed by Owen the missionary about Mzilikazi’s fate and the utter thrashing he’d received at eGaneni, how his people had fractured and the erstwhile leader of the Khumalo clan had fled across the Limpopo River.

Another enemy, dispatched by the Boers, the Zulu had failed to defeat this man, but not the boers.
IT was the 25th January when the Trekkers gathered and prayed for protection, then a few days later, the party of 100 rode out with the cattle, and the 15 Zulu attendants including two indunas.

Piet Retief wrote his last letter to his wife on the trail to emGungungdlovu.

“I was deeply affected at the time of my departure … It was in no way that I feared for my undertaking to go to the king but I was full of grief that I must again live through the unbearable dissension in our Society, and that made me feel that God’s kindness would turn to wrath…” ]]> History Sun, 03 Sep 2023 09:37:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 134 - Lightning kills 12 Boer horses then the wizards die 0 0 Des Latham full 31:54 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1353779 https://iono.fm/e/1353779
When Piet Retief first met the Zulu king, he failed the grasp the extent to which this man’s authority was was based in what historian John Laband calls a combination of mystical ritual and naked power politics.

That Dingane was a despot is clear but what was less understood was that his people allowed him to be so — that he could only make major decisions about political strategy with the input of important men and sometimes women, of the kingdom. The small inner sanctum of power, the umkhandlu, was a council that included the abantwana, the princes of the royal house.

Alongside these aristocrats were the izinduna, state officials that were appointed as commanders of the Amabutho regiments, some ruled over entire districts and administered justice in the king’s name.

Anyone was free to become an induna, unlike the umkhandlu, but only after members of the aristocracy were unavailable to take up that position. Because these induna were appointed, they had more to lose and did the king’s will more amenably.

Even so, one of these induna was going to balk when Dingane ordered him to kill Piet Retief and his small party of men that had been negotiating land in the first week of November 1837. More about that at the end of this episode.

Dingane’s main induna was Ndlela kaSompiti, his other was Nzobo kaSobadli, and both of these induna were of royal blood - linked to the royal house.

Oddly enough, the physical proof of their position was the permission to grow long fingernails.
Men of high status grew their nails, particularly thumbnails, longer than an inch and a half as a sign that they did not have to do manual labour, they were freed from having to hold hoes or wield implements.

They also wore another symbol of power, the ingXotha, a massive and heavy brass armlet that reached from elbow to wrist and looked a bit like an ancient Greek arm shield.
When Piet Retief arrived at emGungundlovu on the evening of 5th November 1837 they would not have noticed these emblems. The Zulu men were essentially semi-naked, only the ornaments, arm bracelets, beads, brass, worn below the knee and around ankles, bands of beads slung over the shoulder, indicated power. You had to look closely to be certain.
It so happened that Dingane was fully aware of who had done the rustling but he wanted Retief to pass a test. The Boer leader must embark on a quest, the Zulu king demanded the amaBunu prove themselves to him.

The baTlokwa it so happened had been rustling for the last two years anyway, this was not a recent phenomenon. So far, Sikhonyela had refused to send any of the cows back, and had insulted Dingane saying

“Tell that impubescent boy that if he wants to be circumcised, let him come and I’ll circumcise him…”

The Zulu custom of circumcision had been stopped in Shaka’s time as you know, but the baTlokwa continued with this rite of passage.

The baTlokwa lived on the upper reaches of the Caledon Valley, around more than 300 kilometers from where Dingane lived.

Retief knew that Dingane knew the real criminals were not him, but also realised it was an opportunity to demonstrate beyond doubt the good faith of the Boers and that Dingane was demanding proof of goodwill beyond mere words or little signed documents. ]]> History Sat, 26 Aug 2023 19:32:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 133 - Umkhandlu long thumb nails and tales of ill-gotten grain 0 0 Des Latham full 26:47 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1351412?v=1 https://iono.fm/e/1351412?v=1
Gangans — which is Khoesan for thank you.

Voortrekker leader Piet Retief knew that he had to negotiate for any land in Natal with the Zulu king Dingane. So with that in mind, he left his family on the top of the escarpment as you heard at the end of last episode, taking four of the wagons and a small party of 15 men over the side of the Drakensburg by way of what we now call Retief’s Pass in October 1837.

He was still hopeful that Gerrit Maritz would join up with him so he loitered for a while at the base of the Drakensburg. Realising after almost two weeks that it was a futile to continue to delay, he turned for Port Natal, or what was now called Durban.

The first negotiations he needed to conduct were not with the AmaZulu, but the fractious and rebellious Durban traders. If any land was going to be seconded to the Voortrekkers, he needed to clear any plans with the semi-desperate crew living around the fledgling port.
It took 90 hours to ride from the base of the Drakensburg mountains to Durban - and the exhausted group of trekkers rode into the harbour town on 20th October. Like other visitors, Retief was shocked to note that there were “53 Englishmen, no white women, only black ones…”
Dingane was also acutely aware that in military matters, he was in a somewhat weakened position. All the reports he’d heard about the British and how they’d defeated the amaXhosa with their firearms and horses had shaken the Zulu king. He’d also heard about the attack on Mosega, and was about to hear about how Potgieter and Uys had driven Mzilikazi from eGabeni forever.
Back in Cape Town, British officials were growing concerned. They heard about the amaNdebele’s fate, and how the Voortrekkers were now heading to Natal. Instead of stabilising things, the Boers appeared to be causing one war after another.
Shortly afterwards the Boers saddled up for a much more difficult mission - to approach Dingane to try and get the king’s permission to settle within his land. They couldn’t just ride in, first they sent a message to one of the most important characters of this part of our story, a missionary called Reverend Francis Owen of the Church Missionary Society.

Important because he was going to be an eyewitness to brutal events.

Owen and his wife were not alone at emGungundlovu.

His sister was there too, and an interpreter, an artisan builder and mechanic Richard Hulley, Hulley’s wife and three children as well as Jane Williams, his Khoesan servant. They’d rolled up to Dingane’s great place in the second week of October 1837.
This less than a month before Retief was going to show up. ]]> History Sun, 20 Aug 2023 12:13:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 132 - Piet Retief rides into Natal and land is on the agenda 0 0 Des Latham full 23:51 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1344321 https://iono.fm/e/1344321
Then in midyear, he’d been attacked again by Dingana’s impis — he’d managed to survive that invasion but things were looking very bad as he hunkered down in his imizi of eGabeni in the Marico area of what is now north west province.

Across southern Africa, movers and shakers were moving and shaking.
By now, Durban was a busy place. Dingana was vacillating about its future. Trader John Cane who was well ensconced inside Zulu life managed to negotiate with Dingana to allow the traders some latitude — to remain for now — with assistance from Gardiner despite his invidious position.

If you remember, Dingana had told Qadi chief Dube to bring him poles for his palisade, although some Zulu oral tradition says Dingana killed Dube for dancing better than him, but either way there’s no disputing what was now an open clash between the Zulu king and the white traders.

Dingana had demanded the Qadi refugees be sent back across the Tugela River, the traders refused and then began to fortify Durban. The crisis now brought into sharp relief the role of ex-military men like Alexander Biggar. The former captain and paymaster of the 85th regiment had been cashiered from the British Army in 1819 following a scandal - he basically misappropriated regimental funds and was stripped of his rank.

Dingana’s threats reminded Biggar of Nxele the wardoctor and the amaXhosa, and being military minded, he realised this threat provided him with a perfect opportunity. He was elected as commandant of the Port Natal Volunteers, and organised local men, black and white, into a body of troops, and appointed captains to oversee this group.

OF course he appointed his son, Robert, as well as John Cane and Henry Ogle as Captains, and this so-called army began to fortify Durban stockade. Not done, Biggar issued a proclamation in May 1837 calling on the inhabitants of Durban to hold themselves ready in cheerful obedience to his orders.

In the third quarter of 1837, Potgieter and Retief were making their way to the edge of the escarpment with the Voortrekkers, from where they were going to split. Retief was going to make his way down the Drakensburg to Natal, and Potgieter was going to turn inland — staying on the high ground.

The Voortrekkers were still plodding their way along the Sand River heading in a north easterly direction, and taking note of the empty plains which Mzilikazi had purposefully used as a buffer zone. On the 1st September 1837 they camped near where the town of Senekal is today, then continued east passed where the modern town of Paul Roux lies.

Then they arrived at the edge of the escarpment, near Warden in the Free State. While Maritz and Potgieter disagreed, they agreed on one thing, and that was the need to destroy the amaNdebele, determined to evicerate the threat from the Marico region and to claim back their cattle still held by Mzilikazi.

They were also obsessing about something else.

Maritz and Potgieter wanted to recover the thee very young Liebenberg children who had been seized by the amaNdebele warriors after they were found hiding in the camp overrun by the the year before during the battles along the Vaal.

Sara, Anna Maria and Christiaan.
. ]]> History Sun, 13 Aug 2023 09:53:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 131 - Sharpened horns at the battle of eGabeni and the story of the Liebenberg girls 0 0 Des Latham full 25:47 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1342337 https://iono.fm/e/1342337
At about the same time and as you’ll hear next episode, a large Voortrekker commando of more than 360 Boers, Griqua and the Rolong warriors were going to gather with the intent of finishing off Mzilikazi Khumalo. The amaNdebele king had arrived back at Mosega in the Klein Marico valley, and had also just fended off an impi sent by Dingana.

By now, the number of trekkers arriving at Thaba ‘Nchu area had increased to a few thousand, including a large party under Pieter Jacobs that had left the Beaufort West district.

These were the remnants of the Slagter’s Nek rebellion, they were relatives of the Boers who’d been hanged 22 years earlier. I covered the Slagter’s Nek rebellion in episode 74, the bitter resentment about what the British had done had never been forgotten nor forgiven.

And here was the result, dozens of families from Beaufort West and elsewhere, determined to escape the might of the British Empire in their little wagons, determined to seek freedom on the expansive veld, the deep African hinterland with all its mysteries and excitement.

There was also Jacob de Klerk who’d left the Baviaan’s River district - 62 families in 30 wagons. Another important group were the 100 trekkers led by 72 year-old Jacobus Johannes Uys which had departed from the Uitenghage district in March 1837.

The real leader of this group, however, was his son, Piet Uys. He’d befrended Louis Trichardt a few years before - and was called dynamic — energetic — charismatic. Uys had also visited Dingana two years before to sound out the Zulu king’s views on possibly granting land to the trekkers in Natal.
Uys was well liked in the eastern Cape — and when he arrived in Grahamstown en route to the hinterland, a deputation of 1820 British settlers turned up to present him with a huge Bible bound in leather from Russia and inscribed with a stirring message that God would guide the Voortrekkers because the Volk had faith.
By April 1837, Dingana was even more troubled by the Qadi people and specifically, their chief Dube kaSilwane. They inhabited a small territory to the north of the Tugela in the vicinity of where Kranskop is today. Dube was often referred to a peace-loving, but some say this was post ipso facto because a lot of men killed by Dingana were characterised as peace-loving.

But just to explain further, Zulu oral history says that Dingana had Dube killed for no other reason than he excelled during a dancing competition in which the Zulu king was participating.

Very ancient rule there. If you have a dancing king, don’t show off and make him look like an amateur. Bad career move.

Uvezi, uNonyanda Mgabadeli goes the most famous izibongo zikaDingana, — Vezi Nonyanda, Mgabadeli means the Prancer and this is how the entire 430 line poem about Dingana starts. ]]> History Sun, 06 Aug 2023 09:25:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 130 - Piet Uys’ 1820 Settler Bible and the Qadi cut poles 0 0 Des Latham full 18:29 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1337157 https://iono.fm/e/1337157
Coming soon towards the Ndebele, were the Boers intent on delivering a coup de grâce.

Time to talk a bit aobut Daniel Lindley the American missionary who had been living at Mzilikazi’s main imizi Mosega in the Klein Marico valley, and who had left in a hurry along with the other missionaries after the Boer raiding party shot up the homestead.

If anyone was qualified to attend to both amaNdebele and Boer mission needs it was Lindley. There is even a town named after him in the Free State which unlike so many others, has retained its name from its origin. Lindley actually became more famous administering to the Christian needs of the Boers in Natal — not the Free State — so the Free Stater’s named a town after him.

Lindley had been brought up in the American west, he was a dead shot as well as a fearless horseman which made him quite a hit with the Boers of 1837. This was no soft little Englishman, oh no, this was a man of the plains. But he was also an ordained Presbyterian minister, and intellectually stringent. When Potgieter and Maritz returned from their raid on Mzilikazi in early 1837, they relied on Lindley’s skills with animals and his hardy attitude while they had very little time for the other two missionaries who appeared lost on the veld.

Daniel Lindley was born in Pennsylvania alongside a tiny stream called Ten Mile Creek in August 1801. His father founded Ohio University, so its no surprise that the lad was quite an academic.
Back in southern Africa, by the 1830s the political face of the region north of the Orange River and east of the Kalahari Desert was profoundly transformed. Farming communities in the early phase of these changes — say from 1760 onwards, were comprised of a few hundred chiefdoms, small fluid clans and tribes if you like, but by the 1830s there were three large centralised African kingdoms.

The AmaZulu in the East, the abakwaGaza or the Gaza as they’re better known, in the north east and the amaNdebele in the west.
But by the 1830s the Swazi were emerging once more as a power player on the veld. Just to remind ourselves, the kingdoms both centralised and less-centralised were characterised by three clear social divisions — and all were definitely not equal.
At the top was the aristocracy consisting of the ruling family and a number of other families who were allowed into the rarified atmosphere of elitism through ties of descent, or political loyalty, or a combination of the two.
And to the south, Port Natal had become an important stop over for many ships, British traders were interested in this little bay with its excellent products collected by traders who were subject to Dingane’s rule. The traders did not like being ruled by this Zulu king and were making plans to change up the power base of what was to become Natal.Speaking of the English, a Swede-Dutch mixed man was now back in the Cape running the Grahamstown and frontier districts. Andries Stockenstrom had sailed back from his temporary exile in Sweden, and was now the lieutenant governor of the eastern Cape. Lord Glenelg the Colonial Secretary was a liberal and wanted liberals to run the show in Southern Africa and Stockenstrom, despite being a Boer, was also a liberal.

Stockenstrom was more in step with the thinking of the missionaries, not the settlers. This was to have repercussions for both the English administration and the 1820 English — and the Boers. ]]> History Sat, 29 Jul 2023 14:21:00 +0200 0 0 EPISODE 129 - Lindley blesses the Boers, a sweep of 1837 and Stockenström’s bitter end 0 0 Des Latham full 23:04 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1334741 https://iono.fm/e/1334741
A compounding problem for Mzilikazi was how he’d treated the indigenous Sotho speaking people of the area north of the Vaal. He’d failed to assimilate them into his system of control completely, rather using some as Hole, who were basically domestic and community menials — servants.

Others who were overcome by his warriors were assigned to villages of their own where they herded cattle for him under traditional chiefs but under surveillance of an Ndebele regiment and sometimes, one of his wives. There were those allowed more freedom to pursue their lives automously but paid a tribute. All of this meant that they weren’t his allies, which also meant when the Boers rolled onto the veld, the Sotho viewed them Boers with antipathy, wary but not always as enemies.

Mzilikazi had a community of 60 000 people — possibly 80 000 say historians, but only a tiny percentage of these were warriors, perhaps 4 000 in total at the apex of his power.

Mzilikazi was, in a word, a despot. But a complicated despot. Mzilikazi demanded a strict adherence to Nguni and Khumalo traditions.
Meanwhile, at Blesberg near Thaba ‘Nchu, the Voortrekkers had elected Piet Retief as the new governor and commandant general of the new Volksraad of April 1937. Potgieter had been replaced by Retief, but had no intention of relinquishing power.

This is where the almost reverend Erasmus Smit enters our story once more. He met with Retief who told him that the following Sunday he would be formally inducted as the custodian of the Voortrekkers spiritual needs, he would become a full dominee.

It would take place, said Retief, after Smit’s sermon. So on the Sunday Smit duly delivered his sermon then waited for the commander to make the announcement. Instead, and to his horror, members of the Volk stood up and shouted objections to his appointment.

The humiliation complete, Retief cancelled the inauguration and poor meneer Smit retired to his wagon to quaff a few brandies no doubt. Shattered and disappointed, he was visited by Retief that night who said that they would eventually have to announce him as dominee, because the Voortrekkers were still relying on the Wesleyan missionaries and the American missionary Reverend Daniel Lindley for their marriages, baptisms and funerals.
And speaking of the English, they were indeed beginning to view Port Natal with more interest.

While Cape Town and Port Elizabeth remained far more important, the hunter traders at Port Natal nagged the governor to consider annexing Natal as a new colony.

Their overriding motives were economic and traded hides, furs, Ivory, tallow, horns and plant oil and these folks were linked directly to the British financiers who put up the money for their exploration and their exploits. These hunter traders were the first external group or class of individuals to respond to economic opportunities and the political risks that lay in exploiting the natural wealth of Natal and Zululand.

Most of the hunter-traders like Henry Francis Fynn had gone to far as to marry into Zulu society so valuable was this opportunity. ]]> History Sun, 23 Jul 2023 10:56:00 +0200 0 0 EPISODE 128 - Dingane smells blood and Retief leads the United Laagers 0 0 Des Latham full 24:38 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1332132 https://iono.fm/e/1332132
But the wonderful response I’ve received overall has been a big surprise, a motivator so thank you for your comments. I have a website www.desmondlatham.blog, which is stuttering along and in the future, shall be more responsive as I incorporate some of the ideas sent through by listeners.

Back to where we left off in episode 126 — as Gerrit Maritz and Hendrick Potgieter rolled south trying to get away from Mzilikazi Khumalo’s amaNdebele warriors after their audacious raid on his main homestead in the Klein Marico valley. The main target of their raid, Mzilikazi, along with the man known as Kaliphi his 2 IC, were 50 miles north of Marico when they raided and avoided death by Voortrekker musket.

The returning party of trekkers were exultant, having dealt the amaNdebele a severe blow, 107 horsemen made their way back along with 58 Baralong footmen carrying shields and assegais herding 6 500 cattle and thousands of sheep, two ox-wagons with the three American missionaries, their two wives, and two young children.

The commando trekked through the entire first night away from Mosego in the Klein Marico valley without taking a break. They rested for an hour at 11 :00 the next morning, then trekked on until late the following night.
It was imperative for Maritz and Potgieter’s men to make it to the south side, so the trekkers built a raft of tree trunks to ferry the missionaries wagons across the river, everything was now wet, and just to add to their suffering, the drizzle turned to heavy rain.

Wagons safely across, the commando stopped at Kommando Drift for a few days — it took that long to herd the remaining cattle across.

Then just to celebrate, the burghers shot an ox to eat and hunted game to add to their meagre rations. A preliminary redistribution of the cattle was conducted at Kommando Drift with the Baralong, the Griqua and the Kora receiving their share of the spoils.
The victorious raiders triumphant return was going well.
The lion share of the raided livestock went to the trekkers, who began divvying up the loot at Blesberg. The Potgieter trek party believed they were owed a greater portion to compensate for the terrible losses at the Vaal River and Vegkop battles.

As the bickering worsened, the demographics of this area began to change.
A week or so after Potgieter trundled off to seek his fortune across the Vet River, something very important took place further south. On the 8th April 1837 Piet Retief crossed the Orange River leading a significant party of trekkers — 100 wagons with 120 men. Size matters folks, and when he heard about this, Maritz eagerly sought Retief’s support. He knew that Retief was respected, a man who had the ear of even the British back in the Cape.

Retief was 57 years old and while not being young, was restless.
Retief eventually published a memorable document on 22nd January 1837, his manifesto which functioned as a kind of declaration of independence for the Voortrekker farmers. It has echoed over the ages, and as we cover various political moments in the coming episodes, you’ll hear these echoes. Everything is connected. ]]> History Sun, 16 Jul 2023 05:42:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 127 - Predikant blues and Piet Retief’s manifesto 0 0 Des Latham full 21:32 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1328897 https://iono.fm/e/1328897
Mzilikazi of the Khumalo. The man born in Zululand, the raider of many across southern Africa, he who had defeated numerous clans on the highveld, the Hurutshe, Barolong, Batlokwa. The BaSotho feared him, the BaTswana hated him.
The external threat to the Voortrekkers suppressed internal divisions, but that wouldn’t be for very long. Gerrit Maritz had arrived in transOrangia with a huge trek party, 700 men women, children and servants.

One hundred of these were Boer men - a relatively large company of soldiers if you take the firepower of the day into account.
Gerrit Maritz was not your average trekboer, he was a wagon maker from Graaff-Reinet, prosperous, more middle class if you like than working farmer type. He was well educated compared to other Voortrekkers, and young - in this 30s. A large man, dwarfing most around him, his upper lip clean shaven as was the manner back in these days, but he sported a beard — noticeably darker than his tawny coloured hair.
He also painted his wagon light blue, not the usual green adopted by most Voortrekkers which allowed them to blend a little better into the Veld — not for Maritz. He also dressed up, long coat, top hat, latest fashionable trousers. Maritz could crack a joke, but was also a pillar of the Dutch Reformed Church. He regarded the Doppers, the extremist arm of the trekboers, the most thin lipped and orthodox of the church members, with contempt.
The amaXhosa had just done that against the English, and the amaNdebele were the new challenge to the Boers.
The trekkers also were motivated by a more primordial need - revenge. The amaNdebele had killed their men, women and children. This could not go unpunished. They also wanted to recover their looted livestock and wagons thus sending a message throughout southern Africa like the ripples of a pebble in a pool — do not fight us, there will be a payment.
So enter stage left, Erasmus Smit and his memorable wife Susanna. She was also living in Graaff-Reinet when her brother Gerrit suggested they trek out of the colony to escape the clutches of the evil English in 1836.
She and Erasmus Smit joined the Maritz trek with her husband in a wagon on loan from her brother. As they travelled, Smit conducted church services three times on a Sunday, and on Wednesday and Saturday evenings. Erasmus was a lay preacher, he’d been trained by the Netherlands missionary Society between 1809 and 1829, but he was never formally inducted. Susanna his wife was the official who greeted churchgoers — the helpmeet as they were known.
Susanna Smit wrote in her diary as the family departed for Thaba ‘Nchu “de Heere leide het Kroos der martelaren uit van onder Ingelsche verdrukking” — or The Lord led his progeny of martyrs away from English oppression.
And its back to the Kommando we now return.

A second section or detachment led by Gerrit Maritz left the following day, with the men wearing distinctive red ribbons around their hats. So who was in overall command? The Kommandant or the President? They were leading two different sections, companies if you like.

Historians generally agree that it was Maritz, not Potgieter, who were the leaders although he didn’t have the military experience. As with everything African, leaders get to divvy up the spoils and treasure, so this question was going to emerge later in a pointed fashion.

These 107 Voortrekkers, plus 100 auxiliaries, including 40 mounted Griquas under Pieter Dawids, were joined by 60 members of the Barolong tribe on foot led by chief Matlaba. ]]> History Fri, 07 Jul 2023 04:51:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 126 - A Voortrekker commando takes revenge and the sedulous Susanna Smit 0 0 Des Latham full 23:11 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1326929 https://iono.fm/e/1326929
This was an important clash, pitting Andries Potgieter’s second in command and brother in law, Piet Botha against Kaliphi, who was responsible for the entire southern reaches of Mzilikazi’s territory.

They had failed to overrun the Voortrekkers, but had decimated the Liebenberg party a few kilometers upriver, catching the small group unawares. That was also after destroying the Erasmus party and its wagons, although Petrus Erasmus and his son as well as Pieter Bekker made their escape.

But Erasmus had no idea what had happened to his two others sons. They were missing.

The other group that was virtually wiped out was the Liebenberg party was under command of Gotlieb Liebenberg senior, a 71 year old man, who’d left the Colesberg district seeking greener pastures. The trek party was made up of his wife, four sons and a daughter — all of whom were married — along with 21 children and a Scottish meester, or school master called MacDonald.

Liebenberg’s trek had been overrun from a section of the amaNdebele, the boers desperately rushing to pull their wagons together as the warriors descended.

The first inkling that the main Voortrekker party had of their fate was a disselboom that Botha’s laager had seen being dragged past by oxen as you heard last episode.

Nkaliphi had sent a smaller force onwards to launch an assault on this little Boer party at the same time that he’d attacked the larger Kopjeskraal laager. All six of the Liebenberg men were killed, along with 12 of their Khoesan servants. Two of the women were killed and six of the 21 children. The others were saved by a miraculous intervention further strengthening the narrative about chosen people.
Back at Mosega, near the Marico River, Mzilikazi was indeed planning a second major assault. He wanted the Boers crushed so that none would ever enter his country again, determined to eliminate what he correctly perceived as a real threat to his rule over this valuable land. He mobilised as many of his men as he could. Living with him were American missionaries Doctor Alexander Wilson, Daniel Lindley and Henry Venables. They had all been shocked when tye Ndebele returned with the Boers wagons and cattle, hearing that Stephanus Erasmus’ camp was destroyed and two of his children killed.

They were even more horrified when they heard that Mzilikazi was sending thousands of his men back to finish the job. While some have said that he was to mobilise 6000 soldiers, historians believe the number was about 2000.

Nkaliphi was placed in charge once more, and received strict instructions. All the Boer men and boys were to be killed, but all the women and girls were to be spared and brought back to Mosega, along with all the Voortrekkers herds of cattle and sheep. A classic amaNdebele raid, kill the possible threats, the men and boys, and bring the valuable women and girls to the king.
This was the build up to the incredible Battle of Vegkop, where Mzilikazi's warriors were finally beaten in a major confrontation with the Voortrekkers. This was an historic battle, a seminal moment, it has resonated down the ages. ]]> History Sun, 02 Jul 2023 04:36:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 125 - The Battle of Vegkop pits the Voortrekkers against the amaNdebele 0 0 Des Latham full 31:18 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1324426 https://iono.fm/e/1324426
If you remember, Potgieter had warned his followers camped the Sand Rivier not to cross the Vaal River into Mzilikazi’s territory, or they’d be attacked.

We’ll come back to what happened when a small group decided to ignore his orders in a moment.

Some explanation is required about what the difference is between a trekboer, and a Voortrekker.

The drosters, or raiders, had preceded the Voortrekkers, and in many ways, they had scarred the landscape and warped the perception of folks who dressed in trousers and carried muskets. The frontiers mixed race groups that had pushed out of the Cape starting early in the 18th Century, more than one hundred years before the Voortrekkers, had ploughed into the people’s of inner southern Africa, and these same people were to become the agterryers of the Boers in the future.

The Voortrekker Exodus was one of many early 19th Century treks out of the Cape by indigenous South Africans. There was a northern boundary and the Kora, Koranna, Griqua, basters and other mixed groups expanded this boundary, speaking an early form of Afrikaans, simplified Dutch, indigenised if you like.
The Zulus and Ndebele, and others, who were going to face the new threat on the veld, did not have the long history of fighting the Dutch and the English and did not really understand how to avoid suicidal full frontal suicidal attacks on entrenched positions — they were machismo to the max — believing that a kind of furious sprint towards the enemy would overcome everything.

The Boers had another system which was perfected on the open plains of southern Africa. They would ride out to within range of a large group of warriors, an ibutho, and fire on them while keeping a sharp eye out for possible outflanking manoeuvres. The warriors would persist in a massed frontal attack, and the Boers would ride in retreat in two ranks.

The first would dismount, fire, remount and retire behind the next line of men who would repeat the action. They would load as they rode, some could do this in less than 20 seconds, or they would hand their rifles to their baster agterryers who would hand them their second musket, increasing the volume of fire.

They would draw the enemy into the range of the rest of the Boers inside the laager, and these would open lay down a deadly fusillade, usually stalling the enemy’s assault and demoralising the attackers. Sensing victory, the an assault force inside the laager would ride out, routing the enemy.
The Voortrekkers departed from these eastern and north eastern locales in more cohesive groups, bound by religion. The differences that emerged the factions, were group based on the leadership of individuals, whereas the trekboers of earlier times had been far more isolated, small nuclear families roaming the vastnesses, the Karoo, the scrublands, the men often taking Khoi and Khoisan mistresses or wives. The earlier frontiersmen were like hillbillies facing off against each other sometimes — squabbling with neighbours.

The new moral code that imbued the Voortrekker way demanded conformity, it knitted the Groups together, and there would be no compromise or adaption of the Khoe or Xhosa way of life that had characterised earlier trekkers.
Meanwhile, carnage. ]]> History Sun, 25 Jun 2023 04:54:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 124 - The difference between Trekboers and Voortrekkers and the battle of Kopjeskraal 0 0 Des Latham full 23:55 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1321775 https://iono.fm/e/1321775
Also a big thank you to all the listeners who’ve reviewed this podcast on iTunes and elsewhere, it’s pushed the series into the top 20 or so at least according to Apple, and there’ve been close to 800 000 listens.

With that slightly self-serving service announcement, back to the real world of the third decade in the 19th Century.

Last episode we heard how Harry Smith was busy ridiculing the amaXhosa culture and religion, and planning to destroy their chiefs in order to ensure they would be pliable to the British government’s needs in the coming years. We’ll get back to Colonel Smith in future episodes.

Moshoeshoe’s kingdom had taken shape, and to his north, the kingdom of the BaTlokwa, who were led by Sekhonyela, the son of MaNthatisi. While she had been regal, stately, and charming, he was equally tall, but was surly and aggressive where she had been tactful. He was a capable war leader however, and Moshoeshoe had never managed to defeat him - in fact he had forced the BaSotho leader to hand over Thaba Bosiu to him in 1824. In the continuous war between Moshoeshoe and Sekhonyela, the greatest treasure was the Caledon River Valley - a land of water, pasturage, and defensive buttes and other landscape strongholds.

The Batlokwa ruled the upper valley, the north, and by 1835 Sekhonyela had emulated Moshoeshoe in forming alliances with the Drosters - the Griquas and other mixed race groups that were living along the western edge of his land.
The Drosters had been repeatedly defeated by Mzilikazi and he stood menacingly in the path of the Trekkers pushing north across the Vaal River - a confrontation was unavoidable. It had been a remarkable journey for Mzilikazi from the area at the headwaters of the Black Mfolozi in north Western Zululand, up on the highveld to the Vaal River. As he roamed, he killed off all competitors, particularly members of his own family, similar to what Shaka and Dingane had done.

He ran his kingdom as a Zulu, he also had age based regiments, he also forced his warriors to fight for him before they could marry, usually taking about 10 years, the unmarried men known as the amaJaha. The older men who were the members of the ibutho, had many wives and children, large herds, and took captives from war, who did the chores around the homestead, enslaved.
By the early 1830s these Ndebele were happily ensconced north of the Magaliesburg mountains with its excellent water and pastures. And its warmer than other areas of the highveld, with its ridges covered in thick vegetation. Despite controlling territory all the way south of the Vaal and for hundreds of kilometers around this central point, Mzilikazi was paranoid about his safety.
is diplomacy was specifically aimed at preventing others like the Drosters heading into his land from the Cape - and here he completely underestimated the Voortrekkers.

They conformed to no treaty either, which is not what Mzilikazi had expected.

Leading the most significant of these trek parties was Andries Hendrik Potgieter who was a farmer from the Cradock District who’d departed from his beloved Klein Karoo in December 1835. There were 49 armed men and teenage boys over 16, he led 50 wagons, and was joined by Charl or Sarel Cilliers as he became known, who lived near Colesberg. He had 25 adult men in his group, and included a ten year-old Paul Kruger as I’ve mentioned. ]]> History Sat, 17 Jun 2023 22:38:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 123 - The Voortrekkers as Israelites and Mzilikazi is about to become Pharaoh 0 0 Des Latham full 27:12 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1319554 https://iono.fm/e/1319554
They were naturally anti-establishment if you like, while being presented as ultra conservative in their religion. In modern terms this implies certain characteristics which I creates a classic misreading of who they were.

Remember the first trekkers were not averse to marrying Khoekhoe and even amaXhosa women, it was only later that their conservatism morphed into a belief in racial separation.

You know enough by now not to make the mistake of double-guessing our ancestors based on modern politics and society’s rules, the prism of the present is a social blindfold when it comes to perception. It gets the crude and raw politician of any epoch into a logic gridlock, an intellectual cul de sac.

There was no doubt that the actions of Lord Glenelg when he took over the Colonial Office in 1835 exacerbated the Boers perceptions of the English. Remember how he’d met Andries Stockenstrom the Dutch Swede who had briefed him about how the Khoekhoe servants were treated in the Cape. Glenelg then overturned decisions to move the frontier to the Kei river, an action which marked him both as a blunderer and a misguided liberal.
It is true that this story became the most deeply embedded consequence of the war in the colonial pysche, it was an imprint that never faded, it was bitterly mulled over for the next one hundred years, and it was also in an ironic mental shift, the moment that the English speaking settlers became African. They’d been thrown under the colonial bus by both their King and country.

They suddenly realised that their homeland was no longer their friend, the political leadership of the British govenrment had turned them into aliens, they no longer recognized themselves as English. This would take another generation or two to play out, but folks, it was a moment.

What we have to understand is that while this was going on in relation to the 1820 Settler stock, further north east, in Port Natal, the settlers there were very much in favour of the British government. They were two different sets of English speakers, which we kind of lump together.

Interestingly enough, something like this was also going on in Canada and in Australia and New Zealand. The English speakers there were grappling with their own nationality.
For the Boers, Glenelg’s decision was easier to cope with than for the 1820 Settlers — the Boers had never trusted the English so it was time to leave. The boers had always directed their own fate, while the 1820 settler was implacably tied to their countries foreign policy. The Boers were interested in land, but didn’t really care for Glenelg’s annexation of the province of Queen Adelaide - they’d still be vassals to the British empire there anyway. ]]> History Sun, 11 Jun 2023 03:48:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 122 - Lord Glenelg moulds a troublous history 0 0 Des Latham full 21:24 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1317169 https://iono.fm/e/1317169
But before we return to what was going on there, we need to swing around southern Africa for a little update about what else was happening circa 1835 and 1836.

The Voortrekkers were coming.

Dingane was marauding - or more accurately - impis representing Dingane were marauding.

Port Natal traders were conniving.

The Koranna and the Griqua were expanding.

The British were conquering.

By now Moshoeshoe of the BaSotho was facing influx after influx, including word that more than 8 000 and possibly as many as 12 000 people mostly of the Rolong chief Moseme had arrived at Thaba Bosiu, his mountain redoubt.
But there were also Griqua under Barend Barends amongst these, and Bastaards under Carolus Baatje.

He welcomed these immigrants hoping for some protection against the Kora people, brigands who were operating with virtual impunity across the Orange River, predating on African groups as far as Ndebele territory along the Vaal.

But the Kora heyday was over, by 1835 Moshoeshoe’s sons Letsie and Molapo were bent on proving their manhood and planned on attacked Kora villages seeking bigger herds and more women. Moshoeshoe got wind of the plan and stopped them, fearing they’d both die in the attempt. And yet, their attitude was a precursor to the Kora’s final comeuppance.

Moshoeshoe was an expert at avoiding trouble if he could. He was going to need all his diplomatic skills because his territory was facing buffeting. At the beginning of 1836 as the Voortrekkers were beginning to appear and the Kora who had been strengthened by some Xhosa refugees from the Sixth Frontier War who’d scattered seeking a new home.

These Xhosa settled at Qethoane under chief Mjaluza, joining the Kora people living along the Riet River - just west of where Kimberley is today. Soon Moshoeshoe was hearing reports that Mjaluza was demanding a kind of travel and protection toll from BaSotho trying to return to Lesotho from the Cape colony. Mjaluza was also seizing their cattle.

A short while later he was informed two of his son Letsie’s councillors had been killed by Mjaluza. That was that for the bandit Xhosa chief.

Rumbling along slowly, at 5 miles a day - about 8 kilometers on average, were two main leaders we heard about and will hear about again. Louis Trichardt and Lang Hans Janse van Rensburg passed Suikerbosrand which had been the scene of a recent battle between the Zulu and the Ndebele, then turned towards the Olifants River and descended down the valley through a mountain range they named Sekwati Poort after the Bapedi Chief Sekwadi.

He welcomed the travellers, they were passing through after all and he had nothing to fear from the Boers. Travelling so closely however, was proving a problem for Van Rensburg and Trichardt. The Boer leadership had always been prone to infighting and their relationship was no different.

The conflict was sparked over Trichardts advice, which as actually good advice in retrospect, that Van Rensburg should stop killing so many elephants. His wagons were now groaning with ivory, wiping out entire herds, and expending a vast quantity of gunpowder. He’d need that to fight off rampaging hordes said Trichardt. ]]> History Sun, 04 Jun 2023 16:43:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 121 - Lang Hans Janse Van Rensburg’s fatal ivory obsession and the peho slippery snake 0 0 Des Latham full 20:09 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1314715 https://iono.fm/e/1314715
Moshoeshoe was at great pains to avoid fighting the Ndebele impis, and in 1828, he had delivered oxen to Mzilikazi with the message that

“Moshesh salutes you, supposing that hunger has brought you into this country, he sends you these cattle, that you may eat them on your way home…”

Later Moshoeshoe would send cattle to the British governor Sir George Cathcart in a similar attempt at placating a threatening power. That would not work out - but it did work with Mzilikazi, who did not send another attack on Moshoeshoe, although he continued predating on neighbour Sekhonyela. Mzilikazi had also found it easier to plunder the Shona across the Limpopo anyway.

From 1831 the Ndebele chief was also defending himself from attacks by the Zulu because Dingane ordered his impis into the highveld at times. Of course, the Griqua to the south were also of some concern to Moshoeshoe, but the Kora were a much bigger problem. Nothing was quiet in this part of southern Africa in the third decade of the 19th Century.

In June 1833, what we know as LeSotho came into being for the first time and their creation was observed by French missionaries who wrote down everything they saw. French Protestants reached Thaba Bosiu from Cape Town via Philippolis, and of these, Thomas Arbousset was probably the most eloquent.

On the 29th June 1833 he wrote that Moshoeshoe,

“… has a Roman head, an oval face, an aquiline nose .. a long chin, and a prominent forehead, his eye is lively, his speech animated, and his voice harsh….”

Later Arbousset’s fellow missionary Eugene Casalis would jot down a few thoughts in his memoirs, and his notes were more exaggerated and flowery

“…I felt at once that I had to do with a superior man, trained to think, to command others, and above all himself. ..”
And thus, in1833 the two French missionaries arrived, Eugene Casalis and Thomas Arbousset, along with a third Frenchman called Constant Grosselin,

Remarkably, because they were tough back in 1834, Arbousset was a Huegenot of only 23, and Casalis was just 20. Grosselin was 33, a Catholic who converted to Protestantism, a mason, a tough subordinate.

Krotz the freed slave guided them to Thaba Bosiu and this is where the first proper descriptions were noted about the bones scattered on the veld — and they saw the signs of the devastation that had been visited up these people, it was clear that many battles had been fought along the Caledon valley. ]]> History Sun, 28 May 2023 05:01:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 120 - Ploughs in the Platberg, the BaSotho, the MaBuru, MaNyesemane and the BaKhothu 0 0 Des Latham full 22:09 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1312451 https://iono.fm/e/1312451
Sorry about the graphic description there, but by the time you’ve finished listening to this episode, I’m sure you’ll agree with the somewhat over the top analogy.

We must step back in time, from where we left off last episode, 1835, beginning of 1836 just to understand who King Moshoeshoe was, and what he means today. During his dramatic youth, events among the northern Nguni people who lived below the mountain escarpment, were going to impact the people who we now called the Basotho.

Before these sudden surges of people and the destruction caused by the Ndebele and the Ngwane, the people of the Caledon valley and into the hills above lived in small segmentary chiefdoms - where the chiefs made political decisions after consulting councillors and headmen.

The wars of Zwide, Dingiswayo, Senzangakhona and Shaka, then Dingane after him, had profound repercussions throughout the entire region as you’ve heard. For some on the high veld, the effects were catastrophic, Matiwane of the Ngwane had fled north as Shaka expanded his control, leaving his home along the Umfolozi River and attacking the Hlubi, who lived at the source of the Tugela River on the highlands. Some of these defeated Hlubi made it to Hintsa as you’ve heard, and by 1835 had marched into the Albany District seeking refuge, and being used as labourers.

Small world they say.

It was into this fractured society that Moshoeshoe had been born. Isolated and conservative, their culture had been utterly disrupted. Fields were not being cultivated and entire ruling family lines had been destroyed, vanished into the African air. Virtually every MoSotho had been driven from their homes, subjected to suffering and deprivation, human remains littered the landscape - and would be found for another decade.

Crunch Crunch went the oxwagons in 1836. ]]> History Sun, 21 May 2023 12:24:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 119 - The saga of Moshoeshoe, how his grandfather was eaten, and mystical advisor Tsapi 0 0 Des Latham full 20:09 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1310046 https://iono.fm/e/1310046
Dozens of wagons, which would become hundreds.

Trundling along at about 5 miles a day, the Voortrekkers were leaving the Cape for their promised lands - albeit yet unidentified. This was a case of being pushed out at least in their minds - culturally, ideologically, fundamentally, they felt they did not belong in the Cape and the Karoo, they had been alienated in the land of their birth by the dreaded English.

These initial trundling wagons were the first major parties of Boers under Andries Hendrik Potgieter and Charl Celliers - aka Sarel.

We’re going to travel with these men and women, and also join African leaders like Moshoeshoe, Mzilikazi and Dingane, as they watched the approach of heavily armed and well organised settlers. Some of these regents saw the Boers as a threat, others as an opportunity.

Andries Hendrik Potgieter was a resolute and single-minded farmer from the Cradock District in the Eastern Cape who had decided to leave with a group of extended family, neighbours and friends - 40 men and boys, about the same number of women and girls, more than a hundred Khoesan slaves all aboard more than 50 wagons.

It was December 1835 when they crossed the Orange River, joined in a while by Charl Celliers’ trek party which included 25 men, attenuated by the arrival of Caspar Kruger’s small section - the one in which a very young Paul Kruger travelled.

These two parties had crossed the Orange River separately, and it wasn’t a crossing for the faint hearted - the river was flooding and the horses and oxen swam to the northern bank as the wagons and the trekkers and their other goods managed to float across on rafts made of the willow trees that grow along the banks.

As the women stepped onto the northern side, they began to sing hymns, here they were arriving on the hallowed land that they’d been hearing about for years. They had left the hated English behind, anything was better than that.
More fuel was thrown on the fire of bitterness when word filtered through to the frontier Boers that the English had fibbed about the compensation that was going to be paid to former slave owners after emancipation - less than half of the 3.4 million pounds worldwide was now available, and the British had put a price of 73.9 shillings on each slave.

73.9 shillings and 11 pence to be precise.

That’s about 10 rand in today’s currency - a lot of money in 1835 - but almost insulting isn’t it? Ten bucks for a human. The Boers thought so too - they regarded their slaves as far more valuable than a measly 73.9 shillings and 11 pence and were outraged.

So no compensation for the war, then what of their slaves?

Slavery was banned in December 1834 as you heard, and the slave owners were supposed to be compensated but here was London, reneging on another promise. The British government said that all compensation would only be paid out in England - and Glenelg rejected an appeal from the Cape that payments be made locally. How was that going to work, most of the Boers never travelled to Cape Town, let alone to London?
They were brought to the Cape from the first days of the VOC back in 1652. Most were southeast Asian Catholic converts from the island of Ambon, and soon this phrase, Merdeka, came to mean any creole mixed race person, or free black.

Just to add a layer of irony here because this is South African history, the first known Merdeka to the Cape was Anthony de Later van Japan who was actually from Japan, and eventually freed along with his wife Groot Cathrijn van Bengale. She was from a region of modern day Bangladesh. Anthony de Later van Japan’s foster parents were Japanese slave owners Johan van Nagasaki and Johanna van Hirado. Anthony it is thought was a child surrendered as debt bondage back in Japan. ]]> History Sun, 14 May 2023 09:51:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 118 - Voortrekkers cross the Orange River carrying ancestral blood from the orient 0 0 Des Latham full 25:01 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1307530 https://iono.fm/e/1307530
The Great Trek as its known had begun by mid-1835, and to be honest, was a medium sized Trek already. It had been a steady flow across the Orange River for decades, led by the trekboers, traders and hunters steadily rolling their wagons inland.

They were following the trailblazers, the Kora, Bastaards, Oorlam, Kora.

Some of the traders didn’t come back, and not because they died out there on the distant veld. Now, they liked what they saw along the Orange River, across the Klein and main Karoo, over the Drakensburg mountains all the way to Marico, pushing onwards through the Kalahari, into what is now southern Angola, across the Soutpansberg.

This episode we’ll hear about the early travellers, the outliers, the adventurers, the dreamers. Humans are naturally motivated to see what’s over the next hill or river, to quench a curiosity thirst, to seek a greener grass.
But first, we need to end this Sixth Frontier War, a guerrilla war where the British had been outfoxed across the Kei ravines and Amatola fastnesses by the amaXhosa. The Colonial Office was counting the cost and it was expensive to keep thousands of troops on the move, and to keep paying the Khoekhoe solders.

455 farms had been burned and the losses to the Colonial treasury was already 300 000 pounds, more than one hundred settlers and soldiers had died. Hundreds of xhosa warriors and civilians had been killed, thousands of head of cattle eaten by both sides as they relied on food on the hoof in these times of chaos.

Hintsa’s son Sarhili was now Xhosa regent following the shooting of Hintsa.

The unpleasant truth for Colonel Harry Smith to accept was that the British army and its auxiliaries were in a bad way. While the Xhosa continued to move about the territory, the British could not. Colonel Henry Somerset was swanning about in Grahamstown, well fed and clothed, but many frontier posts were running out of food and uniforms that had turned to rags. Provisioning was inadequate worsened by disorganisation. ]]> History Sun, 07 May 2023 08:54:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 117 - The Sixth Frontier War ends in a draw and Trekboers like Louis Trichardt seek the promised land 0 0 Des Latham full 21:15 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1305394 https://iono.fm/e/1305394
D’Urban had summarily annexed the troublesome region around the Stormberg mountains and all the way to the Kraai River in the north where 150 Boer families lived - they were now automatically members of the empire. They did not want to be and many would join a Great Trek being planned out of the Cape Colony.

D’Urban had also decided to annex the territory extending all the way to the Kei River for the British - and to allow the Mfengu to settle on some of this land as a buffer zone against the amaXhosa.

By advancing the Cape Colony’s to the Kei, Sir Benjamin D’Urban was making himself responsible for a huge chunk of southern African territory. At the time, his decision was welcomed by all settlers as well as the military.

The dark ravines of the Kei, these high redoubts where the amaXhosa had led the British army on a goose chase, were now within his control, so too the Amatola mountains, where Maqoma and Thyali the Xhosa chiefs had led him on a frustrating slow dance of frustration and angst. The folks who were much more uneasy about all of this was the British political establishment back home - wars cost money and the Frontier War was very expensive.
The Mfengu were granted safe passage from Hintsa's TransKei into the Colony. Dozens of wagons trailed him, then came the 16 000 Mfengu on foot, driving 22 000 head of cattle and thousands more goats. Those sitting on the west bank of the Kei would have heard them first, because the mist was thick down along the river, and the Mfengu emerged from the cold dank whiteness, the dawn spectacle complete.

Men ahead with the cattle, followed by the young boys who were shoeing the goats along, behind them the women and girls carrying their possessions on their heads - they crossed the river using long sticks to balance, and as they went they were singing a new song called Siya Emlungweni,

“We are going to the land of the right people…” they sang, most believing they were going to be as independent as they had been before in northern Zululand before Zwide and Shaka’s violence drove them away almost two decades earlier.

Watching this jaw-dropping scene was British officer, Captain James Alexander, who wrote that as far as he was concerned,

“Nothing like this has been seen, perhaps, since the days of Moses…”
Colonel Smith headed off eastwards with his men, and with Hintsa, the king was supposed to direct the British soldiers to where the Settlers cattle could be found. Of course he was going to do nothing of the sort.

By daylight of the 12th May, Smith was beginning to smell a rat. Hintsa had been closely watched by the Corps of Guides, led by one of the more veld aware English settlers called George Southey - at one point another guide called Cesar Andrews had drawn his gun because Hintsa suddenly dismounted his horse and walked up a hill. ]]> History Sun, 30 Apr 2023 10:04:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 116 - A murder most foul and the British wilt as the guerrilla war weakens resolve 0 0 Des Latham full 25:11 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1303239 https://iono.fm/e/1303239
These glorious mountains were going to lead to one of the more inglorious moments in British military history. By early April 1835 the Boer commandos, Scots 72 highlanders, English settler corps, and the Cape Khoe regiment were trying to dislodge the amaXhosa from their mountain fastness. The strange army of men who distrusted each other, this marching formation of mutual suspicion, began to seize Xhosa cattle and raze their homesteads.

Most of the engagements were unremarkable, the Xhosa refusing to stand and fight against overwhelming odds, the British troops becoming frustrated. IT was a stalemate broken here and there by bizarre incidents.

Like the clash on April 7th where one of the Scots highlander officers emerged from battle with an assegai stuck out of his back. A soldiers remarked “There’s ane of them things sticken’ in ye, sir!” To his shock.

Still, they believed the Xhosa were retreating eastwards to the Kei, towards their regent, Hintsa. In terms of their food and resources, the amaXhosa had suffered hugely, most of their cattle had been taken, they had very little food.

What was anathema to the warriors had also been observed - the British had shot women and children.

Unable to come to close quarter fighting, the men of the empire had resorted to opening fire on the homes and into the bushes indiscriminately, also firing their canon into the huts.

This was not how the Xhosa fought a war.

The amaxhosa were taking note about how the British treated women and children when fighting, and that was not good news for British women and children in the future.

Colonel Harry Smith spurred his horse across the Kei River at Noon on the 15th April 1835. It was the first time that the British army or a colonial army had entered the country of Gcaleka and the first time that they'd aimed at their king, Hintsa.

So in April 1835, the Mfengu chiefs approached Smith’s soldiers, and swore allegiance to the British, now and in the future. A remarkable event really. ]]> History Sun, 23 Apr 2023 08:35:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 115 - Hintsa becomes a hostage and the Mfengu become British 0 0 Des Latham full 23:42 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1300725 https://iono.fm/e/1300725
His mission station at Butterworth across the Kei River had been a place of refuge for the Mfengu people - a mysterious group of refugees who had left northern Zululand during the times of Zwide - and over the next twenty years had been buffeted from place to place like the chosen people of Israel, finally arriving in the green rolling hills alongside Butterworth mission where they heard the biblical messages from men in black like Ayliff - and these resonated.

Weren’t they of the same - these people who’d been kicked out of their land by the Zulu pharaoh and then sent from pillar to post, first into the hinterland through what we know as the Free State today, then down the side of the Basutho, finally wedged alongside Hintsa; of the Gcaleka.

The amaXhosa chief gave them protection, thousands eventually settled, the Ngwane people had found their home.

But things were unstable - next door in the Ceded territories, Albany, the former Zuurveld, along the Amatola’s, in the Kei River ravines, the British and the Rharhabe Xhosa were fighting the Sixth frontier war. The Mfengu however were in danger.
It was ugly, in Grahamstown in March 1835. Military reinforcements had arrived, the Xhosa had retreated, the hotheads in the town became noisy, a powerful mixture of hatred, connivance and corruption.

Ah yes, dear friends, that old South African tradition - now fully restored by our latest government. Corruption. It rolls off the tongue like a rolling blackout does it not?
The settlers who had found their voice gathered and looked with decided laser like focus on the recently vacated Xhosa land, particularly the watered slopes of the Amatola Mountains.

Holden Bowker wanted this land - and wrote later that

“It was far superior to other parts .. far too good for such a race of runaways as the …blacks…”

He used a pejorative term here. Even though they were on a war footing, the Grahamstonians decided to light their lamps, shining in the Eastern Cape dark as a sign of their confidence that the amaXhosa had been beaten.
After many weeks of hesitation, Sir Benjamin D’Urban finally decided it was time to move into the Amatolas in force. You’ve heard how Colonel Smith had been bush there already, but it was this much bigger army that the British thought was required to finally subjugate the Xhosa.

He arrived at the Base Camp of Fort Willshire on 28th March 1835, then the lumbering wagons rolled off towards the Amatolas on the 30th - his convoy stretching five miles which was quite mad because the Amatolas were only 20 miles away. ]]> History Sun, 16 Apr 2023 11:16:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 114 - The British clamber up the slopes of the Amatolas chasing Xhosa ghosts and the mysterious Mfengu 0 0 Des Latham full 25:14 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1298613 https://iono.fm/e/1298613
Mauritius had banned slavery on the 1st February 1835 as South Africa had done in December 1834.

The British began their counter attacks on the Xhosa chiefs who’d invaded across the ceded territories, into the Cape, and wreaked so much havoc - the Sixth Frontier War was rumbling on.

Another major event had been brewing for some time. The trekboers had been chafing under the rule of the English and each new law that was supposed to protect the Khoekhoe from abuse, then the ban on slavery, led to the Dutch decedents recoiling seeing these as actions designed to destroy their way of life.

It was a litany of abuse as far as the Boers were concerned, including the horror of the Slagter’s Nek rebellion, the bungled hanging of the rebels, the use of English as the official language, they were under siege, it was all too much and these were the push factors.

But there was the pull factor - those distant landscapes, those far-off mountains that seemed to beckon to the youngsters and those with adventure in mind - this beckoned towards adventurers like an African Medusa. The fact that the land was occupied was of secondary importance, and like Medusa, was imbued with malice and risk.

By 1830 the echo of the hills yonder became an obsession for some of the trekboers.

1930 was also the year that the 19 year-old Karel Trichardt met with Hintsa between the Kei and Bashee rivers and asked him for land - and was awarded a 90 year lease on 101 square kilometers near the Kei River. This was not what the British had intended with their segregation of the Colony and the Xhosa areas across the Kei. Trichardt in particular was going to be a thorn in the English side.There were two of the three missionaries still operating amongst the Xhosa, but even these eventually fled. John Brownlee who was safe at his mission station on the Buffalo river, alongside Dyani Tshatshu’s Tinde people, found that they turned against him. Tshatshu himself came to Brownlee one night and said the Tinde were going to war against the British, calling on the missionary to join him. Brownlee said he could not, other missionaries heard about this in Grahamstown and sent wagons to get him out - he refused.
He and his family were going to pay for his stubbornness. ]]> History Sun, 09 Apr 2023 12:09:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 113 - Guerrilla warfare throws up a challenge while Jannie Hostage and Ou Blouberg plan their escape 0 0 Des Latham full 21:35 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1296567 https://iono.fm/e/1296567 He wasn’t there for long. As a man of action he was determined to chase down the amaXhosa who had begun to retire back east across the Fish River by the end of the first week of January 1835, driving thousands of cattle, sheep and horses before them.

The dithering Colonel Somerset was busy trying to secure the road between Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth, and by the end of the first week of January a separate force of 400 armed volunteers had raided Thyali’s Great Place and torched the entire homestead.

Way beyond the Kei River, Hintsa glowered as he received reports of his amaXhosa chiefs and their successes against the settlers. For some time he had hesitated in taking up arms against the British and the trekboers who were inexorably moving towards him, but it was now time to make a choice.

Hintsa had tried his best to stay out of the encroaching settler cross hairs - telling the British since they’d taken control of the Cape in the early 1800s that he wanted to be friends. He remained neutral during the quarrels between the Rharhabe Xhosa and the British, he’d stopped the Xhosa youngsters fighting against the British in 1819, only to see Nxele the Wardoctor attack Grahamstown. But he’d known for some time that the menace was approaching, land was the treasure and the approaching settlers wanted his land.

Things weren’t a simple matter however - remember that he had hated Nqgika the Rharhabe regent and that had fractured a Xhosa response to the colonial expansion. But Now Nqgika was dead and Hintsa’s chiefs were calling for him to get more involved in this Frontier War.

ON the other side, Harry Smith’s Peninsular buddy, Major William Cox of the 75 Regiment was leading the charge towards him. Hintsa was told of the destruction wrought on Thyali’s Great Place, his fortress had been torched. Kraals had been burned to within a mile of the missionaries station run by another William, a Chalmers this time. If you recall last episode, Chalmers had written letters in support of Maqoma and Thyali offering peace terms. These were promptly rejected by Harry Smith.

This put the missionaries in a rather invidious position, they were now more associated with the colonial government than ever. When Chalmers worked up the courage and approached Maqoma with Harry Smith’s rejection of his peace plan, open hostility was the response.

Thyali moved further into the Amatolas after his Great Place was torched, and Chalmers tried to get another message to the amaXhosa chief in what he described as the “lurking place”.

Meanwhile, the amaXhosa wave that had washed across the frontier lost momentum. The energy sapping last three weeks had been driven by frustration and anger that had boiled over in the years of ignominy, and like all wars driven by revenge, when the emotion is sapped, the morale tends to wither.
At first, Harry Smith was to counter attack in the classic tradition - trying to entice his enemy out of their lair, then defeating their army in one large scale full frontal battle. Smith planned open ground fighting making the warriors emerge from their mountain and thick bush retreats.

But the amaXhosa had learned a thing or two about fighting the British and they weren’t going to be sucker punched like this. ]]> History Sun, 02 Apr 2023 13:27:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 112 - Hand-to-hand fighting along the Great Fish River 0 0 Des Latham full 21:22 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1293882 https://iono.fm/e/1293882
Fort Beaufort and Fort Willshire were the main centre of British operations to the north of Grahamstown as the war began. Fort Beaufort was particularly strategic because of its proximity to the Kat River Settlement.

The amaXhosa avoided attacking this Settlement but that was going to change. They were hoping that the Khoekhoe would rise up alongside the amaXhosa and defeat the settlers, but the Khoekhoe and the amaXhosa had a far longer tradition of competition over land and resources. This was far more deeply etched into the narrative of both people’s than the simple colour of skin debate.

Smaller centres such as Bathurst and Salem closer to the coast were also coming under attack, situated between Grahamstown and the sea, or a possible escape route for the settlers and the Boers who could not keep fighting inland. When the British had established the 1820 Settlers, they had densely parcelled these farms together as a forward barriers against the Xhosa who may advance across the Fish River.

And now the amaXhosa were advancing across the Fish River but over the last 14 years, the military presence and preparation here had dwindled and the settler unpreparedness for war was almost total. Betrand Bowker wrote scathingly of how the settlers of the Lower Albany region had “scarcely any guns and most of them who did, did not know how to shoot … just us brothers and a few others…”
So it was on the sixth day that Sir Harry Smith galloped into town, his 600 mile epic ride at an end but his mission just beginning.

When he’d passed a rider hurrying to Cape Town from the frontier, he read the letters and was horrified to read Somerset’s suggestions that Grahamstown be abandoned. When he arrived in that town on the evening of the 6th, he noted the chaotically arranged barricades and he thought it a helpless muddle.

He was fresh enough to fight a battle, and his eyes were waspishly alert as Noel Mostert notes - what he saw struck him as ridiculous - so ridiculous that he almost burst out laughing as he rode through town such was the higgledy piggedly nature of the sandbags et al.

He didn’t laugh out aloud because watching him were men and women - the settlers - who’d lost family members and who’d lost everything. The town was overcome with melancholy, with consternation. But what made Smith really angry was the unmilitary appearance of the settlers, who he said were “shuffling about like an Irish mob at a funeral…” their firearms slung about their bodies, swords stuffed into belts. ]]> History Sun, 26 Mar 2023 09:03:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 111 - Harry Smith arrives in panic-stricken Grahamstown in January 1835 and stiffens settler spines 0 0 Des Latham full 23:33 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1291755 https://iono.fm/e/1291755
When it began Hintsa the Xhosa regent did not join in, but something that was first called Maqoma’s war was eventually to be known as Hintsa’s war because of what happened to him.

The amaxhosa were assaulting the frontier across a wide region from the Winterberg down to Algoa Bay. The English settlers fled to the towns of Bathurst, Grahamstown, Fort Beaufort, Salem. The Boers had setup laagers or entered the towns, the entire frontier was aflame.

Governor D’Urban had left it too late to travel to the frontier to intelligence gather, and now there was a full-blown war on the go. The entirely unanticipated invasion of the Colony had unleashed widespread panic and confusion in the Albany, Somerset and Uitenhage districts and the amaxhosa had inflicted significant damage on the settlements.

As you heard last episode, the missionaries were left alone by the rampaging Xhosa - who differentiated between an enemy and a friend.

Back in Cape Town, Sir Benjamin D’Urban was in a panic of his own. It was at this moment that he turned to one of the most extraordinary men of the age, Colonel Henry George Wakelyn Smith.
He'd fought with the Duke of Wellington in Spain where he met his wife who gave her name to Ladysmith.
Juana Maria de lost Dolores de Leon was only 14 when he met her.
Harry Smith was 24, and within two weeks they were married and basically from then on, she never left his side. I suppose you could say there was only a ten year age difference, but this was 1812. Juana, aka Lady Smith, travelled with Harry in the camps, from battle scene to battle scene, witnessing his fighting at close hand, each battle praying her beloved “Enrique” would emerge unscathed. And each battle he did indeed.

Back on the frontier, the shock of the amaXhosa invasion had utterly popped the Settler smugness bubble. The fact that the amaXhosa were not intimidated by the empire and colonial power was frightening to men and women who were afraid of their own bureaucrats. The Settlers had been totally indifferent to the suffering of the amaXhosa on the frontier - and for that they were now paying a heavy price. ]]> History Sun, 19 Mar 2023 04:38:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 110 - Sir Harry Smith, his petite guerriere espagnole Lady Smith and the revenge of the amaXhosa 0 0 Des Latham full 22:07 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1289215 https://iono.fm/e/1289215
On the frontier, a sequence of unfortunate events were to take place which provided the spark that ignited a war. Albany Civil Commissioner in Grahamstown Captain Campbell was a man of the colonies, a settler with their interests at heart although ostensibly in the pay of the empire. Andries Stockenstrom who was one of the more astute frontier experts had left the Cape at the very moment that his deft touch was sorely needed when it came to the amaXhosa.

Tensions had also been growing between the British officials of the Cape bureaucracy and settlers about how to treat the amaXhosa and Khoekhoe.

The British thought they’d been quite clever over the past few months. They had restricted the flow of gunpowder to the frontier just in case the Boers became even more rambunctious about the coming emancipation - but all the British really managed by doing this is to reduce the colonists firepower on the eve of the Sixth Frontier War.

The Cape authorities were trying to limit the supply of muskets and gunpowder to burghers on the frontier because they heard that many of these were supplying weapons to the amaXhosa. Which is true, but for every action there’s an equal reaction as you’re going to hear.

Back in England, incidents and accidents, events and fires had shocked the nation and the small colony of the Cape was hardly on the radar of the ruling folks and the citizens.

In October of 1834, the British Houses of Parliament or the Palace of Westminster as it was known, had been destroyed by fire - both the House of Commons and the House of Lords of the British Parliament had gone up in flame.

Maqoma’s mother Notonto heard about the planned hostilities and walked the thirty kilometres from her house to her son’s to remonstrate and warn him against fighting the British. She had seen too many of her people dying in previous wars against the empire - but Maqoma was beyond reason. ]]> History Sun, 12 Mar 2023 01:06:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 109 - Maqoma’s war begins as the amaXhosa invade the Colony in December 1834 0 0 Des Latham full 22:44 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1286824 https://iono.fm/e/1286824
In July 1832 Frontier military commander Colonel Henry Somerset went on leave - his father the former governor Lord Charles had died in 1831 and Henry had to head back to the old country to sort out the extensive estate.

Andries Stockenstrom, his nemesis, was also going to leave the frontier in 1833, first to London where he tried to lobby the government to give him more authority - and when the Colonial authorities refused - he sailed back to his ancestral land - Sweden.

We should feel a pang of pity for Stockenstrom, his father had been assegai’d to death by the amaxhosa and his only son, an infant, had just died of illness in South Africa. The mental anguish had driven him away from his beloved frontier, and his adopted territory.

Another character of the moment arrived in Grahamstown in July 1832 - Colonel Richard England. He was supposed to keep things sunning smoothly while Henry Somerset returned home.

Colonel England was not going to run things smoothly, for he immediately stepped up the patrols following up on cattle rustled by the amaXhosa, and thus increased tension.

As you know, these raids were supposed to be organised and focused, all they really did was commit the same crime in return - often rustling amaXhosa cattle from villages that had nothing to do with the theft. Their chiefs were first in line when patrols returned and had the most to lose from thieving - other chiefs further away knew this and used them as cover.

The instability inland and along the coast was something to behold in the years between 1832 and 1835. South African history is cluttered with the the sound of bones being crunched by hyenas, eyeballs being feasted upon by vultures, and a cacophony of chaos.

Forgive the histrionics, but I’m sure you’ll agree once you’ve heard what happened over the next five years. For those who would blame one side or another exclusively, there’s bad news. Everyone was involved in some kind of nefarious activity it was just a matter of the degree of nefariousness, or your support for one side or the many others.
IN 1832 Mzilikazi sent an impi northwards, all the way across the Limpopo and into Shona territory in modern day Zimbabwe. The Zulu heard about this, and Dingane thought it an ideal moment to teach the former Khumalo chief a lesson. The Zulu Regent ordered Ndlela kaSompisi along with a large Zulu army to raid Mzilikazi’s territory centred on the Magaliesberg mountains west of Pretoria, at a place called Dinaneni - or Wonderboompoort as we call it today.

During fierce fighting close to the Apies River, Ndlela took on Mzilikazi himself in a right royal battle.
In November 1833, while Henry Somerset was away dealing with papa Charle’s will and trust, Colonel England arrived in Fort Beaufort to drive Maqoma and his people away from the Mankazana River, below the scenic Anatola mountains. England was more a colonial’s man - a fundamentalist if you like.

A two year drought had placed more pressure on the settlers and the amaxhosa. Colonel England didn’t care - and another empire deployee called Colonel Thomas Wade appeared who made matters even worse. ]]> History Sun, 05 Mar 2023 00:55:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 108 - Mzilikazi empties the lower Vaal, Sir Benjamin D’Urban arrives and slaves are emancipated 0 0 Des Latham full 26:09 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1284495 https://iono.fm/e/1284495
The traders around Port Natal by now had mostly married Khoekhoe or AmaZulu women and were part of the Zulu landscape, but by 1834, colonial authorities were going to become far more interested in this part of southern Africa.

By now Charles Maclean aka John Ross was in his late teens - he’d arrived as a 9 year-old, Thomas Halstead had arrived as a 14 year-old in 1825, also living close to the port was were John Cane, Nathanial Isaacs and Henry Ogle.

Only one dwelling in the port looked vaguely European, the fort and none had what could be called furniture. Most of the structures were the Zulu beehive design, and the traders wore a combination of Zulu costumes and basic garments sewn from skins, with homemade straw hats. The whites had taken local wives or concubines, known as iziXebe, some had Khoisan wives and servants.

The traders had paid lobola for the women, handing over goods and cattle to the bride’s father to pay him for his loss of labour in the family units because it was the women who did most of the work in AmaZulu society.
Cape Governor Sir Lowry Cole received a report that the Americans had been trading with the Zulu and seemed to be the vanguard of a possible attempt at seizing this area for themselves. Cole wrote to the Colonial Office saying “how embarrassing such a neighbour might eventually prove…” to the Cape.
So he turned to Scottish assistant Staff Surgeon at the Cape garrison, Dr Andrew Smith. There are few official expeditions in the history of South Africa about which less is known than that of Dr Andrew Smiths’ visit to Dingane in 1832. The real motive for the expedition was never outlined, and its a black hole in the South African Archives, as well as the Public Record Office in London. No official report exists.
While this was causing some excitement, things were happening at a place called Knysna.
The good Ship Knysna was built in the Knysna lagoon starting in 1826 when her keel was laid, and she sailed on her first voyage with a cargo of timber for Cape Town in July 1831. The Knsyna was still sailing around the English coast in 1873. ]]> History Sun, 26 Feb 2023 00:52:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 107 - Dr Andrew Smith, his mysterious Dingane expedition and a bit of XGaoXna- Knysna 0 0 Des Latham full 24:23 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1282101 https://iono.fm/e/1282101
Maqoma had been ejected from his beloved region below the Amatola mountains of the Eastern Cape, to be replaced by the new Khoekhoe dominated Kat River Settlement - a buffer zone for a buffer zone.

It was a time of punitive patrols sent forth by the British to search for rustled cattle, across the Fish River, into amaXhosa territory. Known as the Patrol System, or the Reprisal System, based on the Spoor Law these all described a process where patrols would follow the tracks of stolen cattle. The military patrols were a combination of the British and Khoekhoe cavalry which would seize the same number of cows stolen from settlers farms from the first amaXhosa settlement they came across.

Whether the people living within were guilty or not. The authorities supposition was that it was impossible that the people living in the kraal to be unaware as the rustled animals were led past their homes - so they were treated as accessories.

The Kat River Settlement had not ended the turbulence along the frontier, because this reprisal system increased tension. The British believed they had no other choice because of the amaXhosa’s intransigence about the frontier, the 1820 settlers distrusted both the British officials and the amaXhosa, and the Khoekhoe.

As I’ve mentioned, a frontier is a zone of intersection of cultures with those presuming to be the most developed culture alienating itself from the others. By June 1831, Andries Stockenstrom was firefighting along this frontier, while his nemesis, Colonel Henry Somerset, was setting the region aflame.

Somerset began to blur the lines between a patrol and a commando which was to have repercussions for everyone on this frontier. Henry and Andries continued to quarrel about all of this - because the final sanction for any commando rested on Andries Stockenstrom’s shoulders, but Somerset had evaded this chain of command, this organogram, by bypassing Andries and appealing directly to the Governor Sir Lowry Cole. Henry was British, the Governor was British, Stockenstrom was a Swedish-Dutch Boer.

You can see where this is going.

AS I’ll explain next episode, affairs on the frontier were sinking even faster and deeper into a muddied scene of ignorance, brutality and reactive consequences as the gestures of what Noel Mostert calls “limited military minds” were to show.

But now its time to leap back on our trusty trekboer pony, and ride to Port Natal where the traders were learning to deal with the new Zulu king, Dingane.

The first traders who met Dingane were afraid of him. He had piercing eyes, keen and quick, nothing escaped him it appeared. Isaacs met him and said that he was quelled by the Zulu kings “piercing and penetrating eyes” which he rolled in moments of anger.

Dingane’s Zulu accent was Qwabe, he spoke in the amalala style, the one that Shaka had joked about so much, calling himself Dingane, whereas the official pronounciation amongst Zulu perfectionists was Dingana.

This is what his amantungwa purists would have said, Dingana - behind his back of course. Within a few months, the colonists were describing Dingane as weak, cruel, indolent, capricious, and even more prone to human blood than the monster Shaka. ]]> History Sun, 19 Feb 2023 09:29:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 106 - Rustling along the Amatolas in 1830 and Dingane’s black liver 0 0 Des Latham full 22:35 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1278512 https://iono.fm/e/1278512
After the 1828 battle, Hintsa of the Gcaleka line of the amaXhosa and Nqubencuka who was his rival, fell out spectacularly over the division of the spoils. They had gathered a booty of women, children and cattle. The British took about 70 children back to the Colony, but appeared to be disgusted when the amaThembu and Gcaleka amaXhosa seized civilians after for themselves.

Not long after this, Hintsa’s Bomvana allies attacked two of Ngubencuka’s subordinate clans - and the amaThembu gave up their territory closer to the coast and moved further north.

Enter Ngqika’s eldest son Maqoma - who will feature over the next quarter of a century of South Africa’s amazing history.

He was around 30 years old when he emerged following his father’s death, and his military leadership was going to become legendary. The British afforded him the kind of respect that they’d later afford their Zulu enemies, he was to receive many verbal salutes over the next decade or two. On the frontier, he was regarded by all who met him as gallant and bold - although that didnt’ stop the Cape administration from evicting him from his land.
By 1829 however, Maqoma like his father Ngqika, had taken to the bottle - and in particular - to brandy. He moved his Great Place nearer to Fort Beaufort because it had an excellent canteen, and his love of Cape Brandy became notorious.

Andries Stockenstrom was the Commissioner-General of the entire frontier, and Colonel Henry Somerset was its military commandant, and technically subordinate to Stockenstrom. However, it was never properly communicated who was in charge of whom.

Neither Stockenstrom nor Somerset could operate on the basis other than their own wilfull characters which was going to cause disruption along the Eastern Cape frontier. ]]> History Sun, 12 Feb 2023 09:27:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 105 - The Kat River Settlement of 1829 and how Maqoma was evicted 0 0 Des Latham full 24:40 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1276043 https://iono.fm/e/1276043 the sound of gunfire and the smell of blood.

With that slightly theatrical introduction, let’s delve into one of these moments during the period of the Mfecane - a battle that has taken on various forms in the telling based on what your political persuasion may be.

This is the battle of Mbholompo.

The battle of what? many listeners would muse.

Yes folks, this rumpled sounding clash, the word conjuring up images of wordplay, Mbholompo, has as its main player a man called Matiwane of the Ngwane.

We have met him in passing but now we’ll spend time telling at his tale and he has some significant storytellers backing him up. One is Albert Hlongwane who published a book in 1938 called “history of Matiwane and the amaNgwane Tribe, as told by Mzebenzi to his Kinsman, Albert Hlongwane”.

Landdrost of Albany, Major WB Dundas, was growing more concerned. Drawing on his experience he first led a commando against Matiwane which was to end in bloodshed - but his main reason to head off into the Transkei was to secure labourers for the settlers of Albany.
The British soldiers and Khoekhoe gunmen were joined by the Thembu warriors who then moved east of Mbashe surrounding the Ngwane before dawn on the 27th August 1828. ]]> History Sat, 04 Feb 2023 15:36:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 104 - Matiwane’s Ngwane massacred at Mbholompo and Hintsa's ama-Bulu 0 0 Des Latham full 20:32 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1273637 https://iono.fm/e/1273637
This was the first of a series of incidents which convinced Griqua captain Barend Barends to put together a massive commando and deal with the Ndebele once and for all.

Barends is regarded as the founder of Griqualand, he settled north of the Orange River early in the 19th Century - and was the first Griqua to do this. He was also more adventurous than his fellow people, and was a profoundly focused Griqua nationalist.

His spirit still moves the people of Griqualand today - it is a fiercely independent folk who live around Kuruman, to Upington, Kimberley. The land there is fierce as well - only the hardiest people can take the splendid isolation of the searing summer temperates and the freezing winds in winter.

Barend Barends had left the Cape because he disliked the Dutch and the colonists generally - and he refused to cooperate with authorities when they demanded he hand back escaped slaves. He was far away from their centre of power - who was going to try and stop him?

He became known as a protector of runaway slaves, a man whose name was whispered amongst the slave community of Cape Town, his towns a place for the so-called Hottentots to reach if they could across the barren Namaqua wastes - and past the unfriendly Dutch farms.

Barends was also a staunch paternalist when it came to the Tswana around him presuming that his people were a cut above - he was condescending at times. And he was luke-warm about Jan Bloem’s first plan to raid Mzilikazi.
Mzilikazi attacked Griqua hunting parties north of the Molopo River. Barends himself had hunted there, and he’d traded with the Hurutshe folk who by now had been turned into one of the Ndebele vassal peoples.

Mzilikazi is also reported to have told Barend and his Griquas to steer clear of the Ndebele land which the Griqua had regarded as their ivory hunting grounds. This was not acceptable to the Griqua view of themselves as superiors to the Tswana, the Sotho, the Ndebele.

By early 1831 Barend Barends began to talk in messianic terms - that he was sent by God to sweep Mzilikazi and his “gang of blood thirsty warriors from the fine pastures and glens of the Bakone country…” as Robert Moffat the missionary wrote in his book “Missionary Labours”.

The Bakone country was the highveld just fyi.

Barend said he wanted to emancipate the people of the region from Mzilikazi’s thrall.
I’ll return to what Mzilikazi was up to by 1833 and it will be a story of blood, gore, pain and suffering, raiding, raping, pillaging and other inappropriate activities because now allow our gaze to swing south once more.

Here the relationship between the missionaries, the amaXhosa and the settlers was growing more and more complex. The missionaries thought amaXhosa were living in sin and cursed by damnation, the amaXhosa thought the missionaries were borderline insane and I’ll explain why - although its nicely summed up by one young woman quoted by the Scots missionaries of the time.

“I am young, and in health, I have a husband and we possess corn, and cattle and milk. Why should I not be happy? Why do I need more?”

Such disregard for the soul horrified the poor missionaries, so did just about everything about the amaXhosa, their nudity, the circumcision dances, and missionaries reporting that their land

“… is filled with fornication, whoredom, and all uncleanness, witchcraft, their doctors, polygamy, conversations full of frivolousness and filth…” ]]> History Sun, 29 Jan 2023 09:19:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 103 - Barend Barends battered and the men in black on the frontier 0 0 Des Latham full 25:58 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1271143 https://iono.fm/e/1271143
The development of the highveld to the late 1820s is quite a tale, with the first Tswana people made their way here by the 1100s, although much of the high ground was avoided.

However, by the late 1600s, people had moved onto hilltop defensive locations through the region.

Rooikrans for example, a small stone-walled Sotho, Tswana and Pedi site on the Waterberg plateau north west of the Witwatersrand. There was also a similar development at Bruma on the Linksfield Ridge right in the heart of Johannesburg. I used to walk up that slope from the back of my house and the original stone settlements had been frittered away by Boer and British defenders during the Anglo Boer war who used the 500 year-old Tswana stone to build Sangars and trenches.

So over hundreds of years, the original peoples of the highveld moved about a great deal, sometimes living on hilltops, sometimes in the valleys depending on how politically stable it was. Oral tradition points out the Hurutshe founded the hill-top village of Chuenyane - also called Witkoppies, which is near Zeerust by the early 1500s. By the 17th Century, there was significant Tswana state growth in the west where it is warmer than around Johannesburg, with the rise of the Kwena and Kgatla dynasties, but these shattered in the 18th Century as trading power shifted north.

If you’ve followed the series to this point, you’ll remember the descriptions of the trading routes from Delagoa Bay and how they criss-crossed central southern Africa. There were even traders who arrived here from the West Coast, modern day Angola. By the end of the 17th Century, the transvaal Ndebele began to emerge - and by the 18th Century they were regarded as a separate people by the Sotho, Tswana and Pedi speakers.
They became known as the Matabele, and they lived on the steepest hills where they built fortifications around the Waterberg plateau. The southern Trans Vaal Ndebele were spread over the Witwatersrand high veld adjoining the Drakensberg, up to where Pretoria is today and they were in this region by the end of the 17th Century. They all trace their history to a man known as Busi, and the dating of this man is around 1630-1670.

Busi’s son was called Tshwane, and that’s why we know Pretoria area today as Tshwane - because that was its first name. Oral stories are a bit more murky when it comes to the northern trans vaal Ndebele, who settled west of the Waterberg Plateau in the 1500s.
Some headed further west across the Limpopo to the Tswapong hills in eastern Botswana. While they were migrating north west, the other transvaal Ndebele called the LAka aka, Langa, and the Hwaduba, remained behind in the WAterberg plateau. These people clung onto their linguistic identity, they spoke an Nguni language, whereas the others to the west became Tswana, Sotho, and Pedi speakers.

One man by the name of Mogale refused to dilute his language, and it is his name that morphed into the Magaliesberg - that wonderful and imposing steep and craggy range of mountains the west of Johannesburg. The very phrase sounds Afrikaans - Magalies, but it is actually an early Ndebele word from the 1500s.

By Mzilikazi’s time in the mid-1820s, there was significant jostling for territory and ascendancy around inland southern Africa. A series of small wars amongst the Tswana which have become known as the ivory and cattle and fur wars, and some known as the Wives wars, were on the go around this time. ]]> History Sun, 22 Jan 2023 09:24:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 102 - Tales of the Trans Vaal and how Magaliesberg got its name 0 0 Des Latham full 24:38 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1268907 https://iono.fm/e/1268907
They anticipated that Shaka’s death would lead to a civil war, and that they’d be targeted in the coming political storm. Most fled their homesteads and clambered aboard the schooner Elizabeth and Susan to depart for Algoa Bay.

On the 28th September, word was sent by Shaka’s murderers, his brothers Dingane and Mhlangana, that the traders were assured of friendship and protection - and Dingane in particular had asked them not to leave.

However, the traders had seen what happened when the Zulu fought over succession, and understood the power of the regiments so they let caution eclipse valour and most sailed away on the Elizabeth and Susan on December 1st.

They returned to Port Elizabeth, but not before Dingane’s messenger arrived - both he and Mhlangana sought the support of Cape officials and with that ringing in his ears, Francis Farewell scarpered.

Meanwhile Shaka’s Bhalule imp was still away on campaign, so the abantwana wanted to avoid more conflict with the amaMpondo, the Bhaca, and other neighbours. If the colonists left, and without their powerful army, perhaps these other smaller nations would try and seize cattle or attack the outlying Zulu homesteads.

Before he was murdered, Shaka had been raising an entirely new regiment of youths called the iziNyosi the bees - and Dingane and Mhlangana added weight to this young ibutho by forming another called uHlomendlini, the Home Guard.
Dingane and Mhlangana began to circle each other like angry lions, mistrust and antagonism developing literally by the day. It had been all very well in killing Shaka, a bit like the moment Caesar was stabbed. Now what? Who is numero uno, and who isn’t?

At first, they worked in concert, sending a joint force of the uHlomendlini and iziNyosi under Mbopha’s tight command to deal with Nandi’s other son and Shaka’s half brother - Ngwadi kaNgendeyana.
It was in late November when this dispute was brought before the royal house and the nobles of the realm.

The main interrogator was Ngqengelele kaMvulana, Shaka’s protege who’d been appointed induna of the Buthelezi people. Sitting near Ngqengelele was Noncoba, Shaka’s half-sister - Nandi’s daughter.

Also present, and apparently the person who took control, was aunty Mnkabayi - Nandi’s sister. It is said by the oral storytellers that despite all these powerful men hanging about, it was Mnkabayi who really ran the show.
It must have been quite a sight on that day because Mnkabayi arrived at this most symbolic of Zulu gatherings dressed as a man. ]]> History Sun, 15 Jan 2023 08:34:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 101 - Mnkabayi dresses like a man and Dingane drowns his brother 0 0 Des Latham full 21:41 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1266944 https://iono.fm/e/1266944
But no! This series has managed to climb 6 places on Apple’s South African podcast top 20, we’re at 16 on the hit parade and passed 500 000 listens!

Sorry, this sounds self-serving, and probably is, it’s just so exciting to see how many people are interested in this unique place called South Africa, with its crazy paving history and characters that Edgar Allan Poe wouldn’t dream up in a thousand years.

So with that self-important note - let’s head on back to 1828.

Lord Charles Somerset’s perfidious tenure had ended, that period of post Napoleonic nepotism. In Liverpool, the centre of the trading world in the first half of the 19th Century, laissez-fire oceanic liberalism was raising its genteel bewigged head. The principle of free trade was growing. And in conjunction with this new economic free trade a new kind of radical liberalism was surging it was the time of a new philosophy of the rights of the human individual.

This is no small matter, as Adam Smith would agree.

You could argue that if it wasn’t for Doctor John Philip, with two p’s, one L and no S, South African history would be quite different. By the second half of the 1820s the majority of the Khoekhoe had no other employment than as farm labourers, mainly for the trekboers.

Dr John had summed up the situation in the Cape and his grim memorandum had led to the establishment of a commission of inquiry. He was fighting for what he called “the emancipation of the wretched aborigines of South Africa…”

If you remember an earlier podcast, Dr John Philip had single-handedly convinced Sir Rufane Donkin the acting governor to take action to protect the Khoekhoe labourers from abuse suffered on farms.

Dr John had returned to England by mid-1820s, and was a force of nature, persuading the public there that they should enjoin him in the mission to ensure that all men and women living in southern Africa should be regarded as equal.
Andries Stockenstrom was no longer the landdrost of Graaff-Reinet, the British had given him a new title. He was the Commissioner General of the frontier, and his new seat was in Uitenhage. This Afrikaner was one of two colonists appointed to the new Advisory Council which helped govern the colony. He was in his middle thirties and during Dr John Philip’s great trek around the Cape, they’d both spent many days arguing and debating about the rights of the Khoekhoe.

And so it was, in April 1828, four months after being installed as Commissioner General, Stockenstrom sent a memorandum to Major General Bourke about the Khoekhoe, and recommended precisely what Dr John Philip had been suggesting. A law that would sweep away all restrictions on the Khoekhoin, and put them on an equal footing with the colonists.

Gasp. ]]> History Sat, 07 Jan 2023 12:30:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 100 - Ordinance 50 shock, Dr John’s mission and Wesleyans vs polygamy 0 0 Des Latham full 20:00 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1266044 https://iono.fm/e/1266044 It provided added incentive for Shaka’s enemies inside the Zulu to move against him, the members of the Royal house were conspiring to kill him and had been for at least four years.

Remember in early 1828 Shaka had sent the impi to raid the amaMpondo in an attempt at wiping away the tears of his mother Nandi’s death, and also to keep his army on the move which is often the best option when there is treason in the wind.
Once the army had returned from their raiding along the Umtata River, they had no break – Shaka sent them away once more, in the opposite direction.

The failed embassy led by James Saunders King returned to Port Natal on 17th August 1828. Sothobe who was Shaka’s emissary bluntly laid the blame for the fiasco in the Cape on King, and Shaka was humiliated.

King returned with Isaacs on two ships, the Helicon and the Elizabeth and Susan, and when they hove off Port Natal on 17th August 1828, King was pale and sick. Isaacs had to carry King to his residence at Mount Pleasant.

On 19th August Isaacs broke open the boxes supposedly for Shaka which contained a few sheets of copper, a piece of red broadcloth, a few medicines, knives and trinkets.

King had added a mirror or looking glass as it was known – and it was also an expensive luxury back in 1928. He also tossed in a few beads.

When Isaacs arrived at kwaBulawayo with the presents, Shaka was contemptuous of the gifts and suspicious of the seals being broken.

Shaka demanded that each gift be described, and when he was shown the ointments, Isaacs explained they were for healing wounds and the Zulu king exclaimed

“do you think we are such scabby fellows as you are…”

Later Shaka asked for the medicine that changed the colour of hair, the black oil, otherwise he was totally underwhelmed by the gifts.

“…these are of no use to my subjects, they are not troubled with the disorders you mention, the best medicine for them is beef…”

While all of this diplomacy was going on, the Zulu king had sent his army to Soshangane kaZikode of the Gaza Kingdom north of Delagoa Bay. This latest impi was going to take a very long trek, heading to the high ground 130 kilometers north west of Delagoa Bay. It overlooked the malaria and tsetse fly infested country of the bushveld around the Olifants .. the Lepelle River – which the Zulu called the Bhalule.

This was to be known as the Bhalule expedition, and was Shaka’s last. ]]> History Sun, 01 Jan 2023 08:48:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 99 – Shaka assassinated by muddle-headed brothers Dingane and Mhlangana 0 0 Des Latham full 24:25 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1265467 https://iono.fm/e/1265467
The isigodlo where his women lived was vast, built on elevated ground overlooking the entire ikhanda it was 360 meters long and 35 meters wide and housed probably 200 women in about fifty huts.

Each hut was of large and kept extremely neat and tidy as was the wont of the women of the king. They were arranged around a series of enclosures of different shapes, oval, circular, triangular – the floors hardened earth and compressed cow dung which turns a kind of dark green and smell’s fresh which is kind of hard for people to believe who’ve never lived in a home comprised of this material.

The reason why it was so hard was the earth was from anthills squeezed together with dung – then dried and polished to a glass like consistency that shines like a mirror. It feels like marble, cool to the touch in the shade away from the blazing Zululand sun. It sets as hard as concrete.

Shaka knew that the white traders at Port Natal offered him a form of protection and they represented a form of the future, as contradictory as this sounds to us today. He moved away from the north, away from where the Ndwandwe had predated, away from the Portuguese centre of Delagoa Bay, and closer to Grahamstown, which he knew about, also Port Elizabeth which had been described to him, and Cape Town which had been featuring in Zulu stories for some time.

Along the Thukela, a few kilometers north of Mvoti, lived the Cele, and his favourite induna Magaye kaDibandlela. But something was bothering this Zulu king – it was the ongoing feud between the traders, King and Farewell which I mentioned last podcast.
James King was also showing signs of illness. Farewell and King had by now become part of Shaka’s chiefdoms, he allowed them to develop their own herds, along with Ogle, and Fynn.

This was how it was in Shaka’s time.

He wanted to send a delegation of his induna to visit the British in the Cape and to discuss future ties.The timing, however, wasn’t great. That’s because it was only a few weeks after they were told of this diplomatic mission that Shaka’s mother Nandi died.

This changed everything. She had been managing the zulu king’s domestic arrangements and was central in his life.

She passed away in October 1827, although some report it was August – at eMkhindini umuzi which is part of the kwaBulawayo group of umuzi near Eshowe. It’s about five kilometers from the main homestead.

Still, the important fact is not the exact spot, the what happened afterwards. Nandi was of the Langeni people, and the descendents have many stories of what he did afterwards.
So too do the traders like Fynn and the youngers, Nathanial Isaacs.

Each appears to try to outdo the other in the stories of murder and mayhem. ]]> History Sun, 25 Dec 2022 09:18:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 98 – Nandi dies, Zulu diplomats in the Cape & Shaka raids the amaMpondo 0 0 Des Latham full 23:19 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1264212 https://iono.fm/e/1264212
By 1826 Fynn had been living basically as a Zulu at Mpendwini, near the Mbokodwe stream which is close to Isipingo south of Durban.

Last week I explained how Shaka had donated three herds of cattle to Fynn so he could set up his important Umuzi. One of the herds was payment for helping defeat the Ndwandwe. Fynn by now was given a Zulu name, Mbuyazi – which means long-tailed finch, a bird, of the bay. One of his praise songs was all about the Finch, a fiscal shrike, which is particularly vicious in how it hunts – by impaling insects on thorns.

Fynn was Shaka’s favourite mercenary, a killer, and one of the few that Shaka allowed to kill people without his direct permission. Later Fynn’s descendents would become known as iziNkumbi, the locusts.

By 1826 Fynn had four, possibly five, Zulu wives. We don’t know their names because these were never passed down in the usual Zulu oral tradition, not even his great wife. But we know quite about about his children.

A son called Mpahlwa was born while Fynn was off fighting the NDwandwe, so he was conceived around December 1825. That was a few months after Fynn’s umuzi had been setup.

He adopted the Zulu custom of living, and would send for one of his wives every night, who would come to his hut at nightfall. Only poor men would creep around at dusk to visit their wives. Fynn had thrown off all pretenses of living like a European – unlike some of the other traders such as Maclean the youngster, or Farewell.
So by 1826, Shaka was watching these traders with their guns and ships carefully. In the same year, the Zulu king decided to move his entire main umuzi closer to Port Natal – building his new residency on the site of an Umuzi long abandoned by the Cele chieftan Dibhandlela.
We’ll come back to what happened there next episode, right now lets swing to the north west deeper– because our old friend – who was actually still quite young by the name of, Mzilikazi of the Khumalo had been a very very busy young man.

The remnants of Sikhuyane’s Ndwandwe, shattered by Shaka, joined up with him in the area around the upper reaches of the Vaal River by the end of 1826. The erosion of power of the Buhurutshe people was taking place, the Mzilikazi was also incorporating refugees from the Tswana and Sotho chiefdoms as the area to the south and West of the Vaal became more unstable.

The Pedi had also been defeated earlier by Zwide’s Ndwandwe and now Mzilikazi was busy taking advantage of their defeat to raid their old stomping ground. The Khumalo people had become an agglomeration of their original clan from Zululand and the Tswana called them the Matabele – Nguni speakers called them the amaNdebele.

amaNdebele means the Marauders. They were indeed, amaNdebele. ]]> History Sun, 18 Dec 2022 09:36:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 97 – Shaka shifts South, Mzilikazi raids West and Fynn becomes Zulu 0 0 Des Latham full 21:24 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1261931 https://iono.fm/e/1261931
Of course 1826 was not a great year if you were Lord Charles Somerset, who was hastened home after his administration been scrutinized with an intense scrute, to quote Spike Milligan.

Lord Bathurst had setup the Advisory Council in Cape Town, a kind of forerunner to a cabinet, and the days of the Governor merely printing his edicts as law were over.

The council then approached a rather thorny problem of creating a separate council for the Eastern districts, the Eastern cape so to speak. But they held off for the meantime – at least until after slavery was abolished.

The new lieutenant Governor replacing Somerset was Bourke who waved Lord Charles off in March 1826 to the relative peace at Brighton back in England. The need for a resident authority further east, along the frontier, was met in a while by a compromise. That was when Dutch speaking Andries Stockenstrom landdrost of Graaff-Reinet, was appointed Commissioner-General at Grahamstown, and was to report on all the affairs of the eastern districts .. including Beaufort West in the Karoo.
Farewell along with Henry Francis Fynn Fynn who had taken a liking to Shaka. They spent months hunting elephants, and had bagged a fortune in ivory. Life was hard for the settlers here in the early days of Natal, but the rewards were vast.

James Saunders King had rented the Mary, which he’d now managed to wreck, but he was not alone on that humid beach in October. Swimming alongside him were Nathanial Isaacs and Charles Rawden Maclean.

Isaacs is an entire podcast series himself, and I said we’d be hearing a lot more from him and here he is. Nathanial Isaacs’ stories about Shaka would form the core narrative of the Shaka mythology, and some of his comments actually still appear in school text books. It’s been a long road to weed out this teenager’s overwritten memories from our consciousness. But he was quite an interesting chap nevertheless. ]]> History Sun, 11 Dec 2022 09:24:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 96 – A “bipolar” Shaka hunts down and exterminates Sikhunyane’s Ndwandwe 0 0 Des Latham full 23:54 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1259484 https://iono.fm/e/1259484
The fair that had been established by Sir Rufane Donkin on the banks of the Keiskamma River was flourishing by 1825. Boxes of beads, brass goods, buttons, coils or wire, looking glasses alias spectacles, scissors, cotton textiles, European clothing and shoes, were exchanged for ivory, gum and cattle hides brought by the amaXhosa and khoekhoe.

As the traders travelled to the fair, they would pass elephant that could still be seen roving in the area in great numbers, although the British settlers like the Boers before had taken to shooting these pachyderms down by the dozen so they could also benefit from selling ivory.

The great herds were being shot out of the eastern Cape although they could be found until 1919. That’s when the government passed an extermination order and after the blood letting, elephants could only be found deep in the Knysna forests and in Addo.

The settlers’ mouthpiece publication called the Grahamstown Journal was now publishing, edited by Robert Godlonton, and called for more English expansion into Xhosa country, and the complete subjugation and dispossession of the amaXhosa. They were also railing against a new Ordanance 9 issued by the British, which regulated the right of colonists to open fire on vagrants, trespassers, deserters and escaped convicts spotted on their land. The settlers were now uncertain about what was lawful if they tried to defend their farms – and the trekboers blamed the English – adding to the bitterness they already felt towards these red coated self serving high and mightier imperialists.

Colonel Henry Somerset had served with the Cape Corps as their commander, and fought in the last stage of the Fifth Frontier War, but by 1823 he was installed as CIC of the entire eastern Front. You’ve heard how Governor Charles was facing criticism for his nepotism and spendthrift ways, so we are not surprised by what was going to happen next. The merchants were in his ear, do something, we can’t have these Kosas causing chaos. ]]> History Sun, 04 Dec 2022 09:52:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 95 – Sunset for Somerset and Maqoma eyes guns and horses in 1825 0 0 Des Latham full 23:47 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1256796 https://iono.fm/e/1256796 Much of what concerned Lord Charles Somerset – and had concerned his predecessors – already lay along the frontiers. The colony had thrown out an ever increasing fringe of loose cannons, skirmishers, traders, trek-boers, escaped slaves, and even rebellious missionaries.
The flood of missionaries turned into a tsunami by the mid-1820s, the London Missionary Society was already at work as you know, and by now they were established along both sides of the Orange River and into the eastern Frontier.
The Moravians had arrived and were carving out new parishers even further east, while the Wesleyans were already amongst the far-distant amaPondo people. The Zulu had been raiding these people from Shaka’s centre of power as you know.
There were a number of Scots from Glasgow who found living amongst the amaXhosa to their liking, and even missionaries from Germany showed up, particularly from Berlin, and they began living amongst the amaXhosa too.
The Rhenish and Paris Evangelicals arrived too, one to work within the colony and the other headed north into Bechuanaland, and then to the Basutho.
The LMS and Paris Evangelicals were moving along the first stage of what became known as the Missionary Road which led all the way from the Cape into Central Africa.
By now the chiefdoms of the Caledon Valley and the open plains north of the Orange River had been squeezed between three expanding zones of instability and conflict.
From the south and south west parties of Griqua, Kora and Boers were raiding for cattle and cheap labour. To the northwest, the rivalries of Batswana chiefdoms were spilling across the Vaal River. To the East, the fighting that had seen the AmaZulu and amaNdwandwe at war, as well as the amaMthethwa, had displaced groups as you’ve heard and some had headed across the Drakensberg.
Then Lord Bathurst the Secretary of State set up an Advisory Council in Cape Town which consisted of the Governor, muttering under his bewigged breath, the Chief Justice, the colonial Secretary, the Officer commanding, the Deputy-Quartermaster-General, the Auditor General and the Treasurer.
The Council was to deal with quite an interesting proposal, and this was allowing the Eastern Cape to be represented by their own council, by some kind of representative assembly. They fired the first round in what was to become a long-sustained but ultimately unsuccessful battle for separation by Eastern Capers. ]]> History Sun, 27 Nov 2022 08:35:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 94 – White and black ants in Botswana and Eastern Cape secession 0 0 Des Latham full 21:02 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1253631 https://iono.fm/e/1253631
In episode 92 I explained how the amazulu reacted to Fynn and Farewell, how their horses in particular were a shock.

The dress code was also a surprise, although their skin colour seemed less of a surprise. These Englishmen by now had been burnt brown by months in the African sun, so there was not much made of their skin colour by the oral history tellers, they were more interested in what the Europeans were wearing.

And as you heard, Shaka was able to talk to these traders because of the amaXhosa convict Jacot Msimbithi who was translating. The only problem was, he was not very good at his job.

Hlambamanzi as he was known to the Zulu, Swim the Seas, mangled English meaning.

However Shaka immediately grasped a few important facts from Msimbithi as they conversed in isiZulu – which is similar to isiXhosa. Firstly, he knew that the traders carried guns and these weapons would be useful. The visitors were also part of a much broader trading powerhouse, Shaka understood that too.

He had heard of the power of the British and wanted to approach the empire, he was not into going to war against them although from his comments, we know he believed his warriors would defeat British soldiers anyway.

And yet, Shaka quickly realized that using the settlers guns, he could overcome some of the chiefdoms that were still refusing to Khonza him.

He welcomed the traders, conferring on them the title of abakwethu, or people of our house, kinsmen, trusted and close confidents.

Then someone tried to stab Shaka to death with a spear. He survived the assassination attempt.

Farewell rushed to Shaka’s side upon hearing of the incident, along with the master of his sloop the Julia, a man by the name of WH Davis. Somehow, at this point, Farewell managed to convince the Zulu king to grant him a sale of land, which he wrote as “in full possession and perpetuity” for the sole use of Farewell and his heirs.

It was signed by Shaka in a huge scrawl, dated both 7th and 8th of August 1824 – pre-dated in other words and witnessed by Hlambamanzi Msimbithi the translator advisor, Shaka’s uncle Mbikwana and two other high ranking members of his counsel.

But did the document grant Farewell ownership or guardianship? ]]> History Sun, 20 Nov 2022 08:36:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 93 –Shaka survives an assassination attempt and Farewell gets Port Natal 0 0 Des Latham full 19:04 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1251030 https://iono.fm/e/1251030 But more importantly, it was the year that English traders setup their base in Port Natal and immediately altered the social, military and political landscape.
Shaka was busy in 1824 with both conquest and raiding. His impi’s however, did not do well in what you could call their away games. The further they were from their base which the more defective their logistics. And now Shaka had setup his main base on the Mahlabatini plain north of the uMhlathuze River – along the Mfolozi. Later the’d move south as we’ll hear, but in 1824 it was near modern day Ulundi.
Supply lines for military endeavours are fundamental – Frederick the Great summed it up when he said an army marches on its stomach – or more accurately, he said it marches on its belly. And no it wasn’t Napoleon who said that.
Once a chief was defeated, the amabutho had to remain in the field to quash any further resistance and that meant feeding the men. If Shaka wanted to conquer territories, then he needed a quick decisive battle, and that was his strategic intention. As his warriors ranged further, word got out that if you led them on a bit of a song and dance, they’d give up and go home quite quickly.
He was also eyeing the trade with the outside world as a part of the growth of his power. He knew that Delagoa Bay was somewhat overtraded and too far away to service successfully, furthermore the Portuguese and their allies had tied up their routes inlands already. He could not expand Westwards because the Sotho people were too strong, and to the south, the Mpondo had cut off his access to the Cape.
The Zulu King was acutely aware of the advantage of doing business with the English at the Cape, but accessing them was another matter. He had no ships.
And so this is where we return to last episode, because the ships came to him. The Julia in which Henry Francis Fynn would arrive, the Salisbury of Commander King, and the Antelope under Lieutenant Francis George Farewell. ]]> History Sun, 13 Nov 2022 09:50:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 92 – The monsters from the sea and a Robben Island convict advises Shaka 0 0 Des Latham full 22:26 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1248382 https://iono.fm/e/1248382
It’s now called eThekweni from the Zulu word for port itheku, although some say it is actually from the word emateku meaning the one-testicled thing. It of course was not a port during pre-settler times and original and ancient local name for this bay was isiBubulungu – that was what locals called it in 1824 - isiBubulungu means membership.
So I suppose we could call it eThekweni iNatali just for fun.
To further complicate the nomenclature, Port Natal was not a port back in 1824, it was a bay with a swooping sandy beach and a dangerous bar across its entrance that produced huge standing waves.
People have lived near this bay for more than 100 000 years, and the last people before the settlers arrived were pre-Zulu. Then in 1497 Vasco da Gama sailed up the coast from the south and called the whole coastline Natal which means Christmas in Portuguese. That’s because it was the Christmas period as he passed Natal trying to find the most direct route to the spice islands and India.
Sailing back and forth along this part of the coast were traders. By 1824 ships such as the Leven, Barracouta and Cockburn were captained by Captain WFW Owen who had taken to the region. Others were Commodore Nourse, who was commander at Simon’s town and who’d headed off in 1822 in the Andromache to meet Owen.
These were adventurers who wanted to make their names and fortune from this unique part of the world. Nourse’s brother Henry heard of their tales and being well off, decided to sponsor an upcoming business venture to Port Natal.
By March 1823 Owen was back in Delagoa Bay and bumped into a ship called the Sincapore from Calcutta, and the Orange Grove owned by Henry Nourse. Owen’s crew began to die from malaria, and he left after press ganging 12 black crew from the nearby villages. It was a thousand kilometer trip to Port Elizabeth, when Owen met up with two more ships that are to feature in the story of Port Natal.
One was the Jane, the other, the Salisbury. There is an island in Durban harbour which is called Salisbury island and named after this ship. The Salisbury’s captain was James Saunders King, a crucial character in our tale.
These two, Farewell and King, formed a tight pair speculating on possible maritime business. They had bought a 400 ton ship called the Princess Charlotte, then sold it earning a profit. A third character in this part of our story – a man who was to marry into the Zulu clans and whose family now dominate part of KwaZulu Natal, Henry Francis Fynn, pops up. Fynn and Farewell chartered the Salisbury from King, and began to sail between Rio de Janeiro, the West Indies, Mauritius. ]]> History Sun, 06 Nov 2022 08:48:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 91 – An early history of Port Natal and its treacherous sand bar 0 0 Des Latham full 20:22 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1245800 https://iono.fm/e/1245800 The place was described as an “ugly, dirty, ill-scented, ill-built hamlet…”
Resembling some said, the worse fishing villages on the English coast. It also was known as disorderly, drunken and a place of immorality. Further up the coast, two separate towns had been founded on the Kowie River, settlers on the west bank named their little hamlet Port Kowie, and those on the east called their equally small hamlet Port Frances after Governor Lord Charles Somerset’s daughter in law.
These days we call it Port Alfred.
Many settlers who remained in Albany were now trading deep into the interior beyond the boundaries of the colony and legally too. They bartered goods with the amaXhosa, cloth, iron utensils, beads, buttons and copper were exchanged for cattle hides, ivory and gum often at the weekly market held in Grahamstown.
Monitoring all of this were the men of the Cape Regiment, the Khoekhoe or the Cape Mounted Rifles as they became known. Lord Charles wanted his eldest son Henry to take over as OC - nothing like a military command to accelerate your place in life he thought.
As you know, Henry was not the sharpest tool in the Somerset shed and furthermore, he could not be a commander of a regiment without attaining the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and he couldn’t be promoted immediately because Lieutenant colonel Fraser was in charge. However, Fraser was seriously ill and died in October 1823. Henry of course, was appointed commander although without the necessary rank. Nepotism, corruption, poor governance. Take your pick.
By now as you know, Thomas Pringle, that Scots lad who’d been an editor in the UK then travelled to his farm in the Bruintjieshoogte with other Scots, had taken up his appointment at the SA Public Library. A man of letters, Pringle then invited a fellow Scot called John Fairbairn to help found a school to promote English language and literature in South Africa. It was to be known as the Classical and Commercial Academy, a bit like studying towards an MBA but partly in Latin.
They were joined by a Dutch Reformed clergyman and educator called Abraham Faure. By January 1823 that Pringle and Faure applied for permission to publish a monthly periodical and promised to avoid
“the discussion of all controversial or agitating topics…”
Somerset refused the request, then wrote secretly to the Secretary of State Earl of Bathurst, calling Pringle an “arrant dissenter…”
But the need for an independent voice in South Africa was obvious and George Greig who was to launch the SA Commercial Advertiser knew a good business idea when he saw one. ]]> History Sun, 30 Oct 2022 08:50:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 90 – Slaves, Somerset and the SA Commercial Advertiser 0 0 Des Latham full 21:39 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1242855 https://iono.fm/e/1242855 That’s north of the town of Ulundi.
After Zwide of the Ndwandwe was chased away, Shaka began developing a dense cluster of imizi in Mahlabatini under Mmama, Mnkabayi’s twin sister – and the largest of these was oSebeni near Nhlazatshe mountain.
Most were previously Mthethwa homesteads including kwaKandisa, oNyangek kwaGuqu, Mdadasa and Nomdayana.
I mentioned last episode that we need to attend to the various myths about Shaka’s sexuality. Most of the salacious myths are indeed, myths, and I’ll explain why. Some suggest he was gay, others that he couldn’t have sex, he was sexually disabled. We must attend to this part of the story because a whole phalanx of myth-making has developed based on misconceptions.
Most Zulu oral story tellers and written evidence that Shaka had no children. I’m going to explain why. He had an isigodlo of several hundred women, yet never had a child – how come?
This movement of people around Zululand was going to nudge others further afield. I mentioned the concept of the Difaqane or Mfecane last episode. This is a theory about what happened at precisely this time in Southern African history where it’s postulated that Shaka’s immense power and violence led to the scattering of clans and tribes away from his zulu powerhouse which in turn, disrupted other people’s further afield.
That people were now moving more than they had been in preceding decades is uncontestedly true. But it’s disputed and quite virulently about why this happened.
It's known as the Difaqane or Mfecane. ]]> History Sun, 23 Oct 2022 10:09:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 89 – Shaka’s mojo and the debate about the Mfecane 0 0 Des Latham full 19:49 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1239542 https://iono.fm/e/1239542 As we heard last episode, the 1820 Settlers were suffering the effect of a crops losses and pestilence.
These years would also be characterised by an expanding Zulu empire, and trekboers leaving the Cape once the English emancipation laws took effect, and a general mass movement of people across the sub-continent.
There are many theories about all of this. I’m going to stick to the facts as we know them rather than speculate on any main reason for what became known as the Difakane or Mfecane. There’s a propensity for historians to finger point about this decade, so I’ll explain each supposition as we go.
But enough about esoterics, let’s get on with this episode.
Something had arrived in the Cape as part of the 1820 Settlers fleet that had put the fear of God into Lord Charles Somerset, and he’d immediately banned the object in question.
This of course was a printing press.
Nothing strikes fear in a bureaucrat more than the public’s power to spread their own messages. Ask Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin if they are more afraid of Twitter than an F16 fighter jet and the answer will be She Dah and Dah respectively.
Yes in other words.
Just as an aside, isn’t it interesting that Dah is part of the word yes in both Russian and Mandarin? Makes it easier to agree with each other when they vote on the Security council I suppose.
By 1821 Shaka had subjugated the major group the Qwabe and the Mkhize, and had just sent the Ndwandwe packing – Zwide had fled to the area of modern day Mpumalanga, at the headwaters of the Komati River.
Back in Zululand, or more specifically, the area around the Umhlatuze to the black Mfolozi, and down to the Thugela, Shaka was now the major force in the region. It’s time to focus more specifically on what was going on socially behind this new power.
Shaka had followed the ritual of a new king, and what an amazing process it was. We need to dig deep into this process to fully understood in its complexity to appreciate the fact that it is carried out to this day.
And we hear about the crucial inkatha yezwe yakwa Zulu – a venerated object, a circular grass coil and the most important ritualised object in Zulu tradition. ]]> History Sun, 16 Oct 2022 07:48:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 88 – Somerset’s printing press paranoia and Shaka’s Inkatha power 0 0 Des Latham full 21:12 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1236798 https://iono.fm/e/1236798
As part of the picture of the past, at times when there’s a bit of a lull in the action so to speak, I’ll concentrate on aspects of historical themes or interesting titbits and today we’re looking into South Africa’s first people and specifically – their deadly poison arrows.

All the way through these episodes, you have heard about how the amaXhosa, the Khoe and the Boers, then the British, exploited or subjugated the San – previously known as the Bushmen.
We have enough DNA evidence to point to the fact that they were not only the first people of South Africa but given their DNA diversity, are the first people of planet earth. But this didn’t stop everyone from trying to either kill them, or co-opt them through the thousands of years that their lives have intersected with the lives of newer folks returning home so to speak.
The San were particularly terrifying because they could manufacture various types of poison for use with their arrows. Based on the results obtained from various artefacts spanning historical, Later and Middle Stone Age phases particularly at sites along the cape coast archaeologists believe poisoned bone arrowheads may have been in use in southern Africa throughout the last 72,000 years.
Its now time move refocus on to what was going on across southern Africa and the world in 1821 as we step back to assess matters.
In the east, Shaka Zulu was starting to flex his imperial muscles as you know while in Cape Town, Lord Charles Somerset was back from his sabbatical and facing the ruin of most 1820 Settlers.
But the newspapers were also obsessing about other matters at the end of 1821.
Napoleon Bonaparte had died of stomach cancer in exile in St Helena. Europe was increasingly unstable as the agreements signed at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 were coming apart. ]]> History Sun, 09 Oct 2022 01:01:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 87 – San poison, the world in 1821 and an MP “hectic spectacle" 0 0 Des Latham full 20:36 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1234254 https://iono.fm/e/1234254 Perhaps he’d have been better off taking his holiday in sunny Southern Africa, because there was big trouble brewing for Somerset. There must be something about the Cape, or Cape Town, because he’d been indulging, shock, in corruption and nepotism.
IT had become a favourite sport of the VOC Dutch officials for a couple of centuries, and Somerset while ostensibly reducing corruption, was playing fast and loose with ethics.
Donkin was not Somerset. He was motivated and focused. That’s what happens when you’re a technocrat and you beloved wife has died. Donkin had barely decided to create the new town in Algoa Bay called Port Elizabeth after his departed wife, when he began to organize the colony.
So naturally he peered closely at Somerset’s Cape Town lifestyle – he did what we’d now call a lifestyle audit – feared by contemporary politicians and for good reason – because like with contemporary politicians, Somerset had been a very naughty boy.
Watching these changes with open mouths were the missionaries. They realised that Donkin was a new man, and particularly, the London Missionary Societies Doctor John Philip who recognized the acting governors’ anti-slavery philosophy.
What Philip really wanted, more than the right to head east and try and prothelitise the amaXhosa which Somerset had rejected, but the right to head up the Orange River – or rather to send someone by the name of Robert Moffat up the Orange.
Now folks, there are few names you need to remember in this vast saga of south African history, but this is one you really must remember. Moffat’s effect on the entire sub-continent cannot be underestimated as you’re going to hear. He’s forgotten these days, but after you hear the full story, you’ll probably agree his reach extends across the centuries like a religious bungee chord. ]]> History Sun, 02 Oct 2022 02:23:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 86– Somerset vs Donkin and dueling missions 0 0 Des Latham full 20:48 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1231092 https://iono.fm/e/1231092 It had taken three months and now all 5000 new settlers were ensconced on their land. For these settlers, it was an epic of pathetic naiveté and makeshift survival. They would need to adapt or disappear.
It was bewildering to most, they originated from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, survived the landing at Algoa Bay, and then they’d been driven to their farms on the frontier by ox wagon where they were left without so much as a helping hand.
No effort was made to offer advice, and they were forbidden to approach the amaXhosa or Khoekhoe for help. Their sons were going to herd the livestock and till the fields, unlike the Boers who used Khoehoe and mixed race men and women to do their hard work.
This landscape appeared perverse, waterless and yet vegetated. The wildlife was breathtaking, elephants would roam about beside thorn fences hastily erected. Thomas Pringle’s party had arrived at Bruintje’s Hoogte when after a few days, their first lion began to roar at midnight.
The Scots poet and humanitarian Thomas Pringle who was shocked by how the Boers treated their Khoekhoe slaves initially, then seemed to approach the matter of race relations in a more philosophical bent. This is where Miles Bowker, remember the man descended from Elizabeth Bouchier who married Oliver Cromwell, this is where his family began to excel. The Bowkers turned rather rapidly into what some called “a tough lot…” survivors of the first order remoulding themselves into Africans. ]]> History Sat, 24 Sep 2022 07:39:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 85– Honey birds, leopards, gardens of cattle and a bloody ochre harvest 0 0 Des Latham full 23:32 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1228206 https://iono.fm/e/1228206 The ships docked at Cape Town after weeks at sea to take on food and water, and for officials to come aboard. Settlers were not allowed to leave the ships, which then sailed onwards to anchor in Algoa Bay starting in April 1820. The rest would follow through to the end of July, the mid-winter in South Africa, and not the best time to land a ship on the coast.
You can imagine the immigrants shock as they looked out over the bay from these vessels, because there was nothing in the way of settlements, just bush, and the landscape was alien – at least at first.
The Eastern Cape is a remarkably beautiful area, but its rugged, full of succulants, dry, but when it rains, seemingly covered in vegetation.
Who were these people, these 1820 settlers? The Colonial Office initially had instituted rigid conditions to ensure that those of sound character were shipped out. But these rules were broken almost immediately.
Some were parties under the leadership of men of means and ability as you’ve heard, those who could take indentured servants, labourers and mechanics. The Colonial Office’s original idea of taking only agricultural men and women who’d been dispossessed of their land in Britain was poorly instituted.
IT appeared that many of these farmers were not farmers at all, but artisans, tradesmen and mechanics, who’d changed CVs so to speak, they pretended to be men of the earth when they were really men of settlements. They had grand dreams of paradise, after all the Times and other newspapers had published glowing reports of this new land of milk and honey and would do anything to get out of Britain. Some parishes sought to unload their less productive citizens and falsified their skills on the resumes.
Why did so many people want to escape from England at this time? Basically, it was hell back home. Riots, uprisings, land theft, economic decline, government oppression, it all tore at the fabric of British society and for many of these people escape to South Africa – or virtually anywhere for that matter – was better than staying at home. Ironic then that in the 21st Century, Africans are trying to make the reverse trip.
Times change. ]]> History Sat, 17 Sep 2022 06:04:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 84 – The 1820 Settlers ramble among Algoa Bay shrubbery 0 0 Des Latham full 24:03 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1225687 https://iono.fm/e/1225687 Zwide was sitting at his mother’s umuzi called eziKwitshini during the battle, awaiting word. And when it came it was not what he was expecting. As you heard in episode 82, the dust cloud signalling approaching warriors were not his victorious Ndwandwe, they were the revengeful Zulu Mbelebele ibutho seeking to take full toll on Zwide for his decades long attacks south.
Zwide managed to escape out of a door at the back of the isigodlo, and the Zulu impi rolled over the hill into his mother’s umuzi. There is a story about what they found inside the home of Ntombaze, a macabre jumble of things.
First were the rings of brass and the brushes, then hanging on pegs at the back of her hut were human heads, ready for muti. IT shocked even the hardened Zulu warriors who set fire to her hut and the entire umuzi – but then they went further.
IT is said that these men impaled all the children on posts, but were still not satiated. They wanted Zwide dead and tracked him north across the Black Mfolozi, but the trail went cold so the impi turned back. They seized all the cattle they could find and warned all Zwide’s Ndwandwe to throw down their spears and shields or be killed on the spot. Most obeyed and were immediately inducted into Shaka’s army, they had fought well he said.
Shaka reinforced tradition after defeating Zwide by appointing what were known as the grand old ladies, amakhosikazi, to oversee the affairs of the amakhanda. The homes. They ordered men and women about, as the amakhosikazi still do.
They were in charge of the women of the izigodlo and had to be convinced of matters before change was instituted. They were powerful figures who ensured the various rituals were followed, no taboos broken, marriage alliances were properly structured, food and other provisions were stored or collected.
Shaka’s paternal Aunt springs to mind, Mnkabayi kaJama. She was instrumental in bringing Shaka to power, tall and imposing, she was called “the great she-elephant” or an isitubesikazi, a weighty woman who was actually literally a weighty woman. Not obese, but folks would call her bulky.
In July 1819 the British House of Commons voted to sponsor a huge emigration scheme with the vast sum of 50 000 pounds. The idea was for one thousand families to be sent to the Cape – or to the Albany district of the Cape to be more accurate.
It was a miserable time in England, these 1819 and 20s. The industrial revolution was in a transitional phase, men and women who’d expected better had found things worse. Lancashire had almost turned into another country, openly hostile to government and the upper classes, while the aged king George was slipping away in his chamber above the north terrace at Windsor. His imminent death representing the mood of the time. ]]> History Sun, 11 Sep 2022 00:57:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 83 – The amakhosikazi sipper of Cobra venom and the 1820 Settlers 0 0 Des Latham full 24:22 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1222928 https://iono.fm/e/1222928 Most historians believe this battle took place in 1819, but some also think it may have been a year later. But the exact year is not as important than what this battle would herald.
Zwide’s Ndwandwe were on the rampage, he’d sent his warriors from his main umuzi Ndweneni and they’d overrun the Zulu Centres of Mbelebeleni and esiKlebheni, and then driven the Zulu before them. The established Ndwandwe leader was sick and tired of this young upstart called Shaka of the little clan called the Zulu and was trying to teach him a lesson.
Shaka had ample warning about this attack and moved his people before the NDwandwe arrived, then led his enemy on a wild goose chase to the south. The storytellers say that he ordered his warriors to create the impression that his main force was where it wasn’t – so to speak.
There are stories that Shaka created the chest and horns attacking formation, but we know that Dingiswayo and even Senzangakhona used the direct attack followed by an outflanking technique. While much has been written and many many scribes have fallen over themselves talking about this chest and horns genius, Shaka only really used this horns and chest double flanking manoevre once in his entire history of battles and fights – and that was in 1826 in the Sikhunyane battle, which ended without a clear victor anyway. Once again, the real story is much more interesting and much more complex. ]]> History Sat, 03 Sep 2022 08:14:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 82 – Shaka outfoxes Zwide at the Mhlathuze River 0 0 Des Latham full 21:58 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1220358 https://iono.fm/e/1220358
By this time, the Mkhize and the Qwabe along with many other smaller groups and clans had been pushed southwards by the aggression of the Ndwandwe, and troubles in the Swaziland area. Zihlando was already the Mkhize chieftan when Shaka took control of the Zulu and their relationship would continue until Shaka was assassinated in 1828 – and Shaka referred to Zihlando as his younger brother his mnawe wami.

Zihlando khonza’d Shaka, then was directed to fight Mtsholoza of the Nxamalala people, a small clan of folks who’d splintered and headed south. But the big fish awaited, Zwide’s Ndwandwe and Shaka knew that to take on such a powerful foe, he’d needed to build his forces carefully.
I’ve mentioned that Dingiswayo’s death led to the severe instability across northern Zululand and its now time to get down amongst the weeds, to probe this era more comprehensively.

Each month and each moment from now on has a bearing on the two centuries afterwards, as bizarre as this sounds. We live with the ramifications to this day in southern Africa and I’m going to explain why. ]]> History Sun, 28 Aug 2022 02:55:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 81 – Shaka orders ladders, Dingiswayo dies and Mzilikazi emerges 0 0 Des Latham full 22:23 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1217798 https://iono.fm/e/1217798
By 1819 Shaka and Dingiswayo were holding sway in an area from the Thukela to the Black Mfolozi in Zululand, but Zwide of the Ndwandwe still controlled the land between the Mfolozi and the Phongola Rivers.

The landscape had changed radically over the past three hundred years as farmers cut and burned their way across the rolling hills and mountains. Vast tracts of forest and thornveld had been converted to grassland, altering the land to what it looks like today, although there was more bush around, particularly along the river valleys.

But the point is human activity on the landscape had already mutated the veld, and yet there were still elephants around and other wild animals.

The region from Phongola to the Thukela was criss-crossed and patched with human influences, scarred and thinned out from the axe-blade, the hoof, and the farm yard. This was a century before colonials arrived to farm the area. But the people of this land lived with and through nature in a manner that changed with the coming of commercial farming and the heavy use of firearms.
Everything depended on the leaders’ capacity to feed and feed off cattle, wildlife and crops. The vegetation and terrain were paramount to everyone’s lives, the ideology and military system and marriage rituals were all shackled to the most important thing – the ability to generate enough food.
We also hear about Sambela of the Mkhize who is described as an albino, and was quite small but made up for what were seen as deficiencies by his compatriots by being particularly wild and was feared as a fighter.
There seems to have been something unhinged about Sambela, when he had his first teenage emission which indicates a boy has turned into a man, we would call this a wet dream I guess, he headed off with a gang of Mkhize youths and killed and ate 20 goats. Stories abound of this man breaking things, throwing around the pottery, and was called Uhlanya – ungovernable. ]]> History Sun, 21 Aug 2022 02:12:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 80 – Sambela the Mkhize psychopath and the Zulu cadet system evolves 0 0 Des Latham full 20:57 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1215164 https://iono.fm/e/1215164 Nxele the Wardoctor and 10 000 warriors failed in their attempt at overrunning Grahamstown – now they’re on the run.
Three of Ndlambe’s sons were among those killed during the battle, and some of Ngqika’s people had also fought alongside their compatriots despite the chief supposedly being an ally of the British.
The surprise attack had tested the small British force, and while greater battles await, Grahamstown is still one of the most significant in the entire period of the 19th Century in southern African history. Had Nxele succeeded, the frontier of South Africa may have been very different.
As it was, the Cape Colony was about to experience a mass immigration of several thousand English speakers in a process we know as arrival of the1820 settlers, but that’s for a later podcast.
Had Nxele thrown the British out of Grahamstown and the Albany district, these settlers may have headed off to America, Australia or New Zealand.
Britain was in the throes of an economic slump after the Napoleonic wars and citizens were leaving the shores for the new world – and the ancient world of Africa. A few hundred would arrive in Cape Town and Algoa by December 1819, less than a year after the battle of Grahamstown.
The colonists were afraid of another attack, they had to hunt down Ndlambe and Nxele, and so on 28th July 1819 a large commando of 2 300 including British soldiers and Boers under Stockenstrom, as well as the Khoekhoe of the Cape Regiment, rode out into the country between the Great Fish River and the Keiskamma. ]]> History Sun, 14 Aug 2022 09:07:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 79 – The Wardoctor is defeated and Willshire does a deal with Hintsa 0 0 Des Latham full 21:01 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1213084 https://iono.fm/e/1213084
The British were aware that Ndlambe and his wardoctor, Nxele, had gathered troops ready to invade the Albany region, the Zuurveld, and Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Wilshire, or Tiger Tom as he was known, had been dispatched from the Cape with reinforcements and he’d arrived in Grahamstown.

Meanwhile, in Graaff-Reinet, Landdrost Andries Stockenstrom had raised a large commando from amongst the Boers on the frontier. As you’re going to hear, they couldn’t help the people of Grahamstown, they were too far away.

But It was shortly after this that the British were told that the Xhosa warriors appeared to have disappeared.
What NXele and Ndlambe had done was to mass 10 000 men in the impenetrable Fish River ravines not far from Grahamstown in preparation for something truly audacious. Some say it was more like 6 000 warriors, but most historians believe it was more like 10 000 so we’re sticking with that number.
Nothing quite like this had ever been attempted by the Xhosa. They’d attacked farms, burned crops, ambushed British patrols in the Albany thickets, raided cattle. But attacking an entire town was a novel tactic. No-one else but Nxele, or Makhanda as he was formally known, could have envisaged this – he also had broad support by now of most Xhosa, Ndlambe was behind him, so too Chungwa’s son Petho who was itching to avenge his father. Remember the old man was shot out of hand by Khoe and Boer commando troops in the previous war. Bygones are never bygones when you’re killing someone’s father. ]]> History Sat, 06 Aug 2022 18:22:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 78 – 10 000 Xhosa warriors led by Makhanda aka Nxele attack Grahamstown 0 0 Des Latham full 23:46 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1210782 https://iono.fm/e/1210782 The seer, the man we’ve tracked for a few episodes, Nxele, was about to make his move and the repercussions of his actions reverberated across the subcontinent – and in some ways – continues to reverberate.
There is a direct line between Nxele, Ndlambe and our present political condition. As we cover this seemingly distant period in our history, you’ll begin to see these correlations.
You know the profound truth of history – that people who forget history are doomed to repeat it. There is perhaps no more pertinent proof of that truism than what we’re going to hear over the next few episodes.
One of the most important advisors to The Governor of the Cape Lord Charles Somerset at this time was also someone who was unusually interesting. Somerset’s wife had died soon after he arrived at the Cape, leaving him to look after their two daguthers and to his credit, he travelled with them rather than leaving them behind in Cape Town.
Minding his health was the Governors official physician, Doctor James Barry who was by far the strangest personality in his official party. Barry had obtained a medical degree from Edinburgh University at the age of 15, a prodical child, then joined the army. He served in Malta, St Helena, and the West Indies as well as India amongst other locales.
Doctor Barry eventually died in 1865 – and as his corpse was stripped and reclothed – it was found to everyone’s shock – that Doctor Barry was actually a woman. ]]> History Sat, 30 Jul 2022 08:30:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 77 – The strange tale of Dr (Ms) James Barry and Makhanda’s War begins 0 0 Des Latham full 21:16 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1208302?v=2 https://iono.fm/e/1208302?v=2 The Great House of the amaGcaleka had sorted out its differences, these were the amaXhosa based east of the Kei River, and Hintsa had managed to take control of clans who were drifting away.
He did this by both guile and blood, for example Hintsa engineered the massacre of 17 councillors of the Ngqosini clan who had been tricked into joining a hunting expedition. Things weren’t all happiness and light in Xhosa country, however stunning the landscape appeared.
Hintsa then looked westwards, and naturally his eyes alighted on the territory controlled by Ngqika, and Ngqika’s nephew and his opponent Ndlambe. It was time to take sides in their decades old dispute and Hintsa decided to support Ndlambe, basically because he hated Ngqika who had humiliated him in the past as he grew up.
Hintsa decided that he’d humiliate Ngqika in turn, and recognized Ndlambe as the rightful ruler of the amaRharhabe branch of the amaXhosa. Ndlambe was also on the move, so to speak, he’d reconciled with his son Mdushane who’d been vacillating about whether he’d support his dad, or his uncle Ngqika.
Uncle Ngqika was angered by Hintsa’s slight. A local war was brewing.
It wasn’t the only man who’d come to appreciate Ndlambe’s rule – the other was an amaXhosa commoner called Nxele, who’d become known as a wardoctor. The past fifty years had seen the amaXhosa and the colonials clashing constantly, with the amaXhosa forced to watch their land being overrun by these strange people from across the sea. The amaXhosa began to seek supernatural help in their mission to reverse this loss.
The problem was, amaXhosa ancient otherworldly forces appeared too weak to do the job, they needed a new and more diverse bit of magic, and along came Nxele and others who were to mould Christianity and amaXhosa animism in a unique new philosophy. ]]> History Sun, 24 Jul 2022 10:06:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 76 – The vicious battle of Amalinde and the messianic force of Makhanda 0 0 Des Latham full 25:12 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1205856 https://iono.fm/e/1205856 In 1803 Lord Nelson had said the Cape was not essential, but by 1814 this had changed. The problem for the Cape was that colonies were supposed to balance their own budgets – and the British had tried to help this little African back-water by allowing Cape wine growers to import their product into Britain for free. By 1813 sales had risen, and eventually and something that you’d probably be surprised to hear, by the time of the 1820 settlers, 10 percent of all wine drunk in the UK came from the Cape.
The big issue was most of this came from Crown lands, run on behalf of the government, not from independents. With such a vast territory, why were the cash receipts from the Cape so low? Sir John Cradock was busy reforming the loan farm system you heard about last episode which was supposed to lead to more productivity and sales as proper leases were signed.
Cradock was replaced by Lord Charles Somerset who took up the mantle of this farm improvement campaign. He was a descendent of the Plantagenet kings, and had lived a comfortable life at a place called Badmington. Somerset had also proved that soldiering in drawing rooms was safer and more profitable than actually doing any fighting.
Somerset travelled to the frontier to impose his policy of separation – and summoned Ngqika, Ndlambe, and lesser chiefs to meet him on the banks of the Kat River – the same place by the way that VOC governor Janssens had met Ngqika in 1802. ]]> History Sun, 17 Jul 2022 09:28:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 75 – Lord Charles Somerset reinforces the Fish River then meets the amaXhoseni and misreads Ngqika 0 0 Des Latham full 22:49 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1203399 https://iono.fm/e/1203399 Governor Somerset had arrived to take over the management of this new system, and to oversee the new Circuit Court process where justice was supposed to be provided for the long-suffering Khoe servants and slaves of the farmers.
It was that double change that drove some trekboers on the frontier to rebellion which forms the core of the Afrikaner-nationalist tradition and narrative to this day. The interference of the English, the escalation of human rights to include blacks, and the influence of religion in this saga cannot be underestimated.
A handful of rebellious trekboers had approached the amaXhosa in 1814 then again in 1815 to join them in a plan to overthrow British rule on the frontier. IT was by all accounts, a ramshackle jumble of emotions rolled into a dilapidated strategy undermined by a confused motivatio.
As Johannes Bezuidenhout, Henrick Prinsloo and others fomented the spirit of rebellion, authorities in the Cape were soon briefed about what was going on. It was impossible for this business to be kept secret, the trekboers were prone to panic, rumour and gossip and perhaps all three emotions were part of the blabbing that reached the authorities.
Naturally, ringleader Hendrik Prinsloo was arrested. His sidekick, Johannes Bezuidenhout was on the lamb, still trying to motivate Xhosa leader Ngqika to join his rebellion and had sent another delegation to his Great Place, pleading for support and inviting the Xhosa to reenter the Zuurveld, the Albany region. The British finally were going to make an example of the frontier trekboers, They arrested five of the main ringleaders, including Hendrick Prinsloo, and they were sentenced to death by hanging.
What was to follow was a dreadful scene that drives emotions to the present. ]]> History Sat, 09 Jul 2022 10:22:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 74 – The horror story that is Slagter’s Nek of 1816 and its role in Afrikaner nationalism 0 0 Des Latham full 21:24 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1201097 https://iono.fm/e/1201097 He needed to forge a stronger relationship with the people to the north, and in particular the Qwabe who were found south of Umhlatuzi river, near his mother’s clan, the Langeni.
What doomed Phakathwayo was the fact that his older brothers were gumbling about their treatment – he’d scuffled with his brother Nomo – while their father Khondlo was still alive. Nomo was the heir designate, but Nomo’s mother was an Mthethwa, not a full-blooded Qwabe. The Qwabe powers that be thought this disqualified Nomo.
He duly headed off to Dingiswayo of the Mthethwa for help, although their first impi was defeated by Phakathwayo. Shaka was lurking by now, and some Qwabe had crossed over to join him, recognizing a powerful man in the making I guess.
One was Sophane kaMcinci and the other was Nqetho kaMcinci – both khonza’d Shaka just before Phakathwayo was to face his sternest test.

Right now, we need to swing back to the Cape.
We left off in 1812, with the British Governor Sir John Cradock having used the Boers to great effect and subdued the Albany amaXhosa.
He had named the new town of Grahamstown after his military steamroller, Lieutenant colonel John Graham. Both men had happily sent the trekboers as their shock troops to rid the Albany thickets of the amaXhosa and rebellious Khoekhoe. Jacob Cuyler, the Uitenhage landdrost, had taken to appreciating the Boers hard life, and had changed his view from calling them “a set of vagabonds and murderers…” to embracing their world view. ]]> History Sun, 03 Jul 2022 09:52:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 73 – Shaka overwhelmes the Qwabe and the British upend the trekboer Loan Farm tradition 0 0 Des Latham full 24:21 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1198554 https://iono.fm/e/1198554 At first, Zwide concentrated has raids to the north, around modern day Iswatini. The Ndwande attacked Sobhuza of the Dlamini-Swazi north of the Phongolo River many times, but the 1815 attack was characterized by extreme violence. Sobhuza was forced to flee along with his umuzi and his people were almost destroyed. The description of the ill will makes little sense because Zwide had married off one of his daughters to Sobhuza.
The Dlamini were already facing raids from the east, from closer to Delagoa Bay. The Ndwandwe were regarded as bandits and destabilized that part of southern Africa, then turned their attention further South. Zwide attacked the Khumalo people living between the Mkhuze and White Mfolozi rivers and eventually, Donda of the Khumalo was killed by Zwide.
The year 1815 is seen as highly significant because it was then that Matiwane of the Ngwane was driven out of what he’d thought was a well-defended area between the Bivane River and Upper Mfolozi. Matiwane relaxed after some years of building his power base, including concluding an alliance with the Hlubi and then the Mthethwa.
Out of the blue, Zwide dispatched his men and they fell upon the amaNgwane, driving them out of their homes. This moment is regarded as the first of many destabilizing events between the Thukela and the Ponghola that led to a movement of people across the country – the sub-continent, and migration epic oral storytelling.
It’s called the Mfecane. ]]> History Sun, 26 Jun 2022 09:16:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 72 – Shaka flees south over the Thukela River as Zwide’s Ndwandwe expand their raiding 0 0 Des Latham full 18:03 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1194824 https://iono.fm/e/1194824 However, I believe historian Dan Wylie’s earlier date is probably the right one – by the way 1812 is the same year that Napoleon advanced on Moscow in his disastrous Russian campaign.
How dating worked in southern Africa prior to the use of the Gregorian calendar requires quite a bit of explanation. Folks have asked me how this all worked, how did the Khoekhoe or the Zulu keep track of important months. They didn’t really think in days as you’re going to hear.
It's quite a story, and so let’s start with Traders Francis Farewell and Henry Francis Fynn. They fixed Shaka’s installation as Zulu chief happening in 1816 because once again we don’t really have a firm year if you anlayse this using the Zulu lunar calendar.
Farewell and Fynn came to a different year, 1816, by counting the number of annual umkosi or first fruits ceremonies that Shaka was supposed to have officiated – which was 8 before the hunters arrived in 1824. Zulu oral tradition marked months peppered with important events – birth of a king, death of a king, a drought, a flood. And before the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, the isuZulu calendar was mainly based on the cycles of the moon, like many cultures across the globe.
Zulu months are dated from the appearance of the new moon – which means that months are 28 days long and there are 13 months in the year. The Zulu names of the months are usually derived from phenomena occurring in the natural world. Take the first month of the Zulu year which begins with the new moon of July, uNcwaba, which means glossy green or attractive – perhaps linked to the fact that the Zulu burn the veld on the mountains at that time, and the first shoots that appear after the burn are a deep green.In pre-modern society, the moon was also crucial. ]]> History Sun, 19 Jun 2022 10:00:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 71 – Calendars, the lunar month and the Zulu “houses of the sun” 0 0 Des Latham full 20:01 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1192724 https://iono.fm/e/1192724 He spent the bulk of his early and teenage years in Zulu country, that area to the north of the Umhlatuzi, between the Langeni and the white Mfolozi rivers.
Towards the end of his youth things became increasingly difficult for him, although the history is rather murky. There are hints in oral tradition as to what was going on, and specific events can only be covered in a tentative manner.
The relationship between the Zulu and the Langeni people was complicated. Mgabhi the chief of the Langeni was independently minded, and Senzangakhona was trying to compete with him for the allegiance of others nearby, including the Mthethwa who were the power bloc in the region.
There were also the Thuli to the north east, between the Langeni and the Mthethwa zone of control. Mghabi died in around 1795, Shaka’s uncle on his mothers side, Nxazonke took over as regent until one of Mgabhi’s sons’ came of age. Nxazonke appointed Mfundeko as the new chief but the majority of the Langeni preferred Makhedama, or at least, that’s according to Zulu oral tradition.
It was Makhedama who’d been known as Shaka’s bully as a boy, and the story of how he apparently insulted Shaka continued. When Makhedama arrived to take up his position after living amongst the Xulu people, his attendant by the name of Nsindwane played a belittling game – this story is really an allegory folks because its highly unlikely that post-adolescents would have played this game called Stones in a Kraal.
Given the inevitable Zulu oral tradition debate – this is what is likely to have happened. Senzangakhona was sent for by Dingiswayo and he showed up sometime after the Nkomo incident with his senior Zulu council Mudhli and the amakosikazi, his great wives.
A hut was set apart for him, and he duly sat inside meeting with Dingiswayo. Then a large number of young men entered on a prearranged signal, and amongst them was Shaka. ]]> History Sun, 12 Jun 2022 12:05:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 70 – Senzangakhona dies and Shaka takes over as chief of the AmaZulu 0 0 Des Latham full 23:12 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1190346 https://iono.fm/e/1190346 Throughout the area north of the Thukela River the main medium of exchange in terms of goods was no longer cattle by 1810 – it was beads. These glass objects manufactured in Europe had flowed through southern Africa starting in the first days of contact between Europe and Africa – way back in 1480s.
More than 300 years later, these beads could be found in every corner of the continent. And one of those corners was Zululand.
By the time of Shaka’s rise, starting in the second decade of the 19th Century, beads had become one the main medium of exchange paticularly when a man acquired a wife – lobolo, in conjunction with cattle.
But beads were not the only trade item, things like copper and iron were mined locally and traded as well, while the people along the coast were expert at salvaging these metals from the numerous ship wrecks that dotted the Indian Ocean sands from north of Mozambique to Cape.
Metals were directly linked to status. As you’ve heard in our earliest podcasts, African people were using iron and copper as ornaments – and the metals were worn by warriors as a sign of bravery. So trade with Europeans was therefore directly associated with the stratification of society from the earliest days with the most important members owning the most copper and brass, gold and even iron.
However, there was not enough trade with Delagoa Bay to say with certainty that trade in these kinds of products alone drove the amaNdwandwe and the amaMthethwa, then the AmaZulu, to rise as powerful centralized kingdoms.
Major trading emanated from Delagoa Bay, and the Dutch took advantage of this. Ivory was the main product, not slaves, with beads exchanged in return. Gold dust was also traded from far in the interior. Tsonga traders from around Delagoa Bay pitched up as far south as the Mfolozi River. Some made it 1500km into the interior! ]]> History Sun, 05 Jun 2022 10:20:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 69 – Senzangakhona’s “Jerusalem of the Zulus”, his beautiful wife Bhibhi and a bit of Delagoa Bay 0 0 Des Latham full 22:13 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1188010 https://iono.fm/e/1188010 We need to close a chapter here for a while to return to the incredible happenings further north east as Shaka began to impose himself along with Dingiswayo on the people of the region north of the amaThukela – that part of the country which goes by the name of Zululand.
Before doing so, that commando which had been created to force the straggling amaXhosa out of the Albany district led by Lieutenant Colonel John Graham’s fellow Cape Regiment officer, Captain George Fraser.
Cattle raiding was increasing sharply by the end of 1812 despite the amaXhosa being removed, or mostly removed, from the district, but the drought which really began to bite in 1813 had forced many back into the green pastures.
The harsh landscape seemed to evince more brutality from both sides, a country thorny and unwelcome, prickly with succulents, stubby bush that tripped up the fleetest footed horse, dark moody ravines, rocky unproductive mountains, almost surly with looming geological sedimentary brows. By now, the Boers had developed a real fear about what the British intentions were in their land. Many believed that Governor Cradock had called them out simply to press them into military action, they were expendable in his English eyes.
While the Khoekhoe, amaXhosa, English and Boer were slugging it out in the Cape, the powerful centralized kingdoms were beginning to build a name for themselves further north east.
In the years between 1800 and 1810, there is a curious gap in the knowledge of what happened between the Thukela and Pongola river catchment areas. While we have a great deal of oral history before this period, and afterwards, the ten years saw a combination of world events affected documentary evidence output for this region. ]]> History Sun, 29 May 2022 10:35:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 68 – Stockenström’s anguish, Dingiswayo and the beginning of the era of blood, power and iron 0 0 Des Latham full 21:13 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1185763 https://iono.fm/e/1185763 Not surprisingly, however, the 1812 explusions caused an increase in cattle raiding rather than more stability because the power of the chiefs had been removed from the area. While the British were putting their faith into the Rharhabe chief Ngqika, he was now a weak leader and no longer appeared to represent the views of the amaXhosa. By now, the local ladndrost Cuyler and all British officials had preconceived notions of good Ngqika, bad Ndlambe to put it simply. They were going to be obstinate in their dislike of the latter despite his repeated attempts at making a separate peace with the Colony. The war of 1811 and 12 was brief but of unprecedented ferocity. The amaXhosa chiefs request to stay on until the summer crops were fully harvested was deliberately turned down “We chose the season of corn being on the ground…” said Graham.
In the years immediately following 1812, political leadership passed from the hands of the chiefs into the hands of prophet-figures. As we know from contemporary politics, popularists are bit like prophets, they lead with a simple message and have enablers that spread the message.

It was now the time of wardoctors – traditional medicine men and some women. These wardoctors were ancient, they’d been credited over time with the ability to turn spears into water, and the people were searching for a solution to the colonists guns. ]]> History Sun, 22 May 2022 09:28:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 67 – Wardoctor Nxele begins to see visions as he synthesises amaXhosa religion with Christianity 0 0 Des Latham full 20:51 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1183465 https://iono.fm/e/1183465 Cradock suffered from none of his predecessors inhibition against taking military action. This did not reflect a change of policy in London – in fact, far from it. As you’ll hear next podcast he was subsequently reprimanded by the government and sharply reminded that his main aim was to keep all the troops available for the defence of Cape Town.
But the colonists applauded him, along with Major Jacob Cuyler the Uitenhage landdrost. As you heard last episode, by December Graham had assembled 167 light dragoons, 221 infantry of the line, 431 men of the Cape Regiment and a detachment of Royal Artillery. His troops were joined by 450 mounter burgher volunteers on commando and about 500 of their agteryers.
Anders Stockenstrom, the landdrost of Graaff-Reinet, had been posted north of the Zuurveld with the trekboers, just beyond the Zuurveld proper, in order to defend Bruintje’s Hoogte and its farms. When he received Graham’s message on the night of 27th, he questioned the wisdom of concentrating all the British firepower on the thickets. ]]> History Sun, 15 May 2022 10:34:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 66 – The Fourth Frontier war bursts into flame, Chungwa is shot and Stockenstrom is assegai'd 0 0 Des Latham full 23:36 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1180518 https://iono.fm/e/1180518 All the important players in this terrible drama have been met – Jacob Cuyler the Uitenhage landdrost, Governor Cradock, Ngqika, Ndlambe, Chungwa of the Gqunukhwebe, Stockenstrom of Graaff-Reinet.
So when Cradock, who’d been dispatched to southern Africa after being removed as commander of the English forces in the Spanish Peninsular, decided to launch his own military excursion, he believed the might of the European musket and military would easily overcome the amaXhosa.
It was now a matter of selecting someone to bring what he called “the horrible savages” to order. Jacob Cuyler was first on the list as the landdrost in the Zuurveld, and a former military man himself. He had experience of the area and was initially thought of as the likely candidate to lead an operation of this kind.
Instead, Cradock selected Lieutenant Colonel John Graham. The Governor had only been in the Cape for three weeks and wanted to personally brief the officer involved – and was also aware of the propensity for the colonials on the frontier to default to cattle raiding instead of conducting a proper war. Because he was in a rush and there would have been no time to head off to Uitenhage, or to have Cuyler come to Cape Town for a briefing, that meant John Graham got the job.
Between 1793 and 1811, Chungwa had managed to negotiate the thorny relationship with three different colonial governments, and with the trekboers. In the 1780s Chungwa and his father Tshaka had firmly established the area between the Fish and the Sunday’s Rivers as Gqunukhwebe territory. Just for orientation, the Sunday’s River flows into Algoa Bay near Port Elizabeth, or Gqeberha as we call it today. ]]> History Sun, 08 May 2022 09:13:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 65 – Graham launches his terror campaign in the Zuurveld and Chungwa of the Gqunukhwebe is in his sights 0 0 Des Latham full 19:29 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1178501 https://iono.fm/e/1178501 In response, Caledons first initiative was to setup a mechanism to regulate the employment of the Khoekhoe labour force called the Hottentot Proclamation of November 1809. The Caledon Code as it became known decreed that work-contracts had to be drawn up before a magistrate, thus according the Khoekhoe some form of legal protection from exploitation.
But this was negated almost immediately by the fine print – that the Khoekhoe had to register a fixed place of abode which forbid their movement without a certificate issued by a landdrost. The pass system’s first proper installation was at hand.
This meant the Khoekhoe had to live and work on farms which meant they could no longer live the life they’d been used to roaming about on the landscape which they’d done for thousands of years.
However, Caledon was loathe to enforce Collin’s second proposal. In the interest of preserving peace in the eastern districts, all future contact between colonists and amaXhosa would be prevented by expelling all amaXhosa beyond the Fish River.
And he went further. As some former VOC and British officials had suggested, he wanted a rigid boundary backed up by powerful fortifications along the river.
Lord Caledon’s response was negative -but he had also resigned.
And now, at this crucial juncture, a new Governor arrived. Lieutenant-General Sir John Cradock with one D disembarked in Cape Town on 5th September 1811. It took him only three weeks to declare war on the amaXhosa. He was a man of action, a military man, and he was being advised by fellow soldiers. ]]> History Sun, 01 May 2022 09:30:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 64 – The amaXhosa “strolling” days are numbered as Lieutenant-General Sir John Cradock arrives 0 0 Des Latham full 20:39 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1176713 https://iono.fm/e/1176713 They were largely irrelevant in the history of South Africa at the time, until Zwide’s amaNdwandwe began pushing southwards into Mthethwa territory. Then Dingiswayo’s amaMthethwa needed to bolster their flank and that’s when the AmaZulu became much more important.
We’ll also return to the Cape where Governor Caledon was going to send a military man into the frontier to collect intelligence.
First, it’s time to feel the ancients, smell the south eastern coastal regions of the Zulu once more, my homeland. By the time of Shaka’s emergence as a teenager, the area was covered with thousands of scattered imizi, looking like circular villages if seen from the air, dotted through the countryside. Each married man or umnumzane lived in each of these umuzi with his two or three wives and children. A man of extreme wealth may have up to a dozen wives, and the umuzi would look more like a large compound with a dozen or more huts.
The changes coming which we’ll hear about in future podcasts were under way before Shaka, but he put the finishing touches on the system. This was to gain control of the self-sufficient imizi by regulating marriage. IN Zulu society, an adult man could not free himself from his father’s umuzi and head off to establish his own homestead without marriage.
In October 1808, the Jij rebellion or “she” rebellion, broke out when the enslaved people of the Cape rose up. It wasn’t all slaves and Khoe involved, there were two Irishmen who joined the uprising.
Meanwhile the Fish River was the key to security so Governor Caledon sent 33 year-old lieutenant colonel Richard Collins to spy on the amaXhosa. ]]> History Sun, 24 Apr 2022 17:58:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 63 – Shaka’s isicoco regulation, a “she” rebellion and Lieutenant Colonel Collins collects intel 0 0 Des Latham full 25:48 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1174954 https://iono.fm/e/1174954 Remember that Shaka who was Senzangakona’s illegitimate son, was showing signs of being a troublemaker, at least that’s the view of oral historians, and by now the future amaZulu king was in his late teens. Senzangakona planned to kill him, but he got wind of the plan and fled to Jobe kaKayi who was a well known nkosi of the Mthethwa.
While he languished at Jobe’s kraal, Shaka knew that the accepted route to power for all men was honour in battle, this increased his attractiveness to women, his standing in society, and as a child who’d lived a constant life of what was seen as his mother’s dishonour, he was motivated to set the record straight.
He’d been living with his mother Nandi in the Mhlathuze Valley where the Langeni people resided – close to where I lived as a child by the way.
Here, growing up fatherless, traditional story tellers recount how Shaka was the victim of humiliation and cruel treatment by the Langeni children,
The rivalry between the amaMthethwa and the amaNdwandwe under Zwide was notorious. Then to make matters worse, the countryside was riven by the Great Famine in 1802 known as the Madlantule.
We’re still hovering around the first decade of the 19th Century, and a great deal was going on back along the Cape frontiers. So let’s head back to the Zuurveld.
In 1809 Ngqika took the egregious misstep that changed the balance of power among the Xhosa chiefdoms of the frontier. ]]> History Sun, 17 Apr 2022 10:27:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 62 – Dingiswayo and Shaka of the amaMthethwa, Ndlambe and Ngqika of the amaRharhabe 0 0 Des Latham full 21:59 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1172762 https://iono.fm/e/1172762
This was a momentous moment for southern Africa. Gone was the VOC and its chaos, in its place a world superpower had arrived and it was going to exploit the region in various ways over the next century.
This led much later in the 19th Century to what became known as the Scramble for Africa.
In January 1807 David Baird who’d seized the Cape made the great mistake of sending an expedition under Brigadier General Beresford and Commodore Sir Home Popham against Buenos Aires without the approval of the authorities in England. As soon as this became known, Baird was court-martialled and hustled back to Britain handing over the reigns of power to Irish Peer, Du prez Alexander, second Earl of Caledon.
While the Governors were playing 19th Century musical chairs, in the eastern Cape at Uitenhague the new landdrost Jacob Cuyler was beginning to improse himself. As an embittered loyalist who’d been forced to flee his homeland of America during the revolution, he was going to seek conflict immediately with the missionaries at Bethelsdorp
On November 1st 1808, Caledon offered a compromise in dealing with the issue of labour, and the Khoekhoe. It offered the Khoekhoe the full protection of the law,and at the same time, tried to satisfy the demand for labour. From that date onwards, Khoekhoe employed by farmers had to be given written contracts that stipulated their wages.
Caledon’s law, which became a kind of Magna Carta for the Khoekhoe, stipulated further that the contract had to be for a year, and farm workers could not be forced to stay on longer because of debt or because of any other subterfuge. As with all laws, however, there was a catch. The Khoekhoe at the same time had to stop wandering around like their ancestors and settle down. Their nomadic lifestyle, shattered already by the arrival of colonialism, was now prescribed. ]]> History Fri, 08 Apr 2022 09:47:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 61 – British Governor Lord Caledon launches the pass law system in the Cape in 1808 0 0 Des Latham full 20:18 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1171059 https://iono.fm/e/1171059 On the 2nd October 1805 Admiral Nelson overcame the combined French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar and his victory helped put some of the fears of an invasion of England to rest.
But this meant Cape Town and other colonial backwaters faced more ambitious projects
Seven thousand troops were going to be deposited on the shores of the Peninsular.
The fleet had arrived off Losperd’s Bay, now called Melkbosstrand, twenty five kilometers north west of Cape Town. The wild Atlantic surf was heavy and 36 members of the Highland brigade drowned that morning when their boat capsized – leading to a quote from Captain Graham last episode where he said all went down singing.
Perhaps that’s a bit of an exaggeration – they were probably screaming for help but Graham is infamous for his histrionics as you’ll hear.
The British troops were armed with muskets and their usual regimental colours, including feathers, plumes and pompoms. Waiting for them was Dutch Governor Janssens and he was not welcoming. He had 1700 troops – 1258 of them regulars but his problem was all were unreliable. Erratic displays of courage had been the bane of the VOC Governors lives for 200 years already so no surprise there.
Meanwhile, the missionaries James Read and Johannes van der Kemp were made aware of the arrival of a new master. At first, the two thought of it as an act of God in their favour, and just in time. ]]> History Sun, 03 Apr 2022 09:58:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 60 – The Battle of Blaauberg in 1806 and an American landdrost takes control of the Eastern Cape 0 0 Des Latham full 18:30 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1168809 https://iono.fm/e/1168809 International events were conspiring to upset this plan – with the renewal of the war between the English and the French – old enemies with a propensity for blood-letting. While the Cape was safe from immediate attack by the English until 1805, the effect of a world war could not be escaped.
Some would feel the effects less than others, and these some were living in the area we now call Zululand. It’s not generally well-known but African monarchy of various forms is an ancient institution in the continent. There were the Negus of Ethiopia, the Kyabazinga of Busoga, the Mwenemutapa of Mutapa whom we’ve heard about already, the Ngwenyana of Swaziland, the mubongo of Matamba, the ngola of Ndongo, the alafin of Oyo, abosu of Dahomey, the emir of Ilorin, the sarki of Kano, the sultan of Sokoto, the bey of Tunis.
Mostly male, often the societies would be led by a woman of exceptional power despite the patriarchies. Power was localized, in the form of chiefs. A paramount chief ruled more widely although those on the periphery of his power would likely vascillate more than those in the centre. The most powerful of these leaders would be called King, ruling over a large territory in a centralized state and commanding an army.
For the Zulu, King Goodwill Zwelethini who passed away in 2021 was only the eighth Zulu monarch since the Kingdom formally began in 1816. By the standards of the amaXhosa, they are newcomers on the southern African power bloc. Senzangakhona was the father of Shaka, and his father was Jama, and his great-grandfather was Ndaba. Before Ndaba, oral tradition takes over from oral history as John Laband points out and various royal genealogies surface. ]]> History Sun, 27 Mar 2022 08:59:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 59 – Senzangakhona and his son Shaka, Janssens has a plan and American sailors ogle the eastern Cape 0 0 Des Latham full 22:30 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1166866 https://iono.fm/e/1166866 This little island was the first step on a Mediterranean passage from Europe to India as far as both Napoleon and the British were concerned. Under the Treaty of Amiens, Britain undertook to hand Malta back to the Knights of St John, who had ruled it before Napoleon and the British began fighting over it. But then the British had a change of heart as they watched Napoleon continue to consolidate control over Europe - the Batavian Republic was virtually his vassal state.
English Prime Minister Pitt had vacillated over the Cape’s return to the Dutch, now he was convinced it had been a mistake as war clouds gathered once more.
As Historian Eric Walker notes, the period of direct rule by the Batavian Republic is one of the more tantalizing in South African history. Some regard it as the dawn of a golden age, all too soon overcast by the second coming of the British. The reason is pretty simple. The Batavians wanted the Cape to be a permanent place of itself so to speak – rather than a thing dangling at the end of a colonial master. ]]> History Sun, 20 Mar 2022 09:13:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 58 – A dilemma of principle as religious freedom and a reformed government are introduced in 1803 0 0 Des Latham full 21:41 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1164753 https://iono.fm/e/1164753 While the British received commissioner-General Jacob Abraham Uitenhage de Mist who was a brilliant organizer and administrator, things did not go well at first.
de Mist was to install a new administration then hand over to a new governor called Lieutenant-General Jan Wilhelm Janssens once the new executive and judicial machinery were in place.
So the idea was for the British to hand over power formally on the evening of 31st December 1803 so that the Dutch would begin their Batavian Republic rule on the 1st January 1803.
As both sets of officials dined together on New Years’ Eve, a British ship hove into view and anchored. Then an urgent message was sent ashore. British governor Dundas was told to defer the transfer of ownership of the Cape until further notice. These orders had sailed from England on 17th October, a week after the Dutch officials had left Holland for Cape Town.
By 18th April 1803 a Dutch military force arrived by sea at Algoa Bay to take over Fort Frederick, while Governor Janssens rode out to the Fort all the way from Cape Town.
He eventually arrived at Algoa Bay on 8th May well versed by now in some of the settler narratives. The position on the frontier had changed completely compared to 50 years earlier.
Now large groups of Rarabe amaXhosa were in the Zuurveld particularly those following Ndlambe. He had well and truly split from his nephew Ngqika and their difference of opinion was violent. For the trekboers and other settlers, Ndlambe was a major problem because he was regarded as the best amaXhosa military leader and now he was living west of the Fish River. Remember the main aims for all colonial governments since the first trekkers arrived in the eastern Cape was to remove all amaXhosa from the Zuurveld. ]]> History Sun, 13 Mar 2022 08:20:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 57 – The Batavian Republic takes over the Cape in 1803 with a “Methods in dealing with Savages” handbook 0 0 Des Latham full 19:26 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1162695 https://iono.fm/e/1162695
Also on the move was the London Missionary Society’s Johannes Theodorus van der Kemp – remember him?

He had arrived in Graaff-Reinet in May 1801 joined by James Read replacing poor Edmonds who had a nervous breakdown while at Ngqika’s Great Place.

After the barren prothelytising disappointments of the Zuurveld, Graaff-Reinet offered something new. The village and its outskirts were packed with Khoekhoe seeking protection from the Boers and the Khoesan bandits and who responded eagerly to the van der Kemp’s preaching.

ON hand was commissioner Maynier – encouraging and helping them. Staring at all of this and aghast, were the Boers of the region. It was a seething hotbed of trekboer resistance to British rule. Maynier’s principal task was to restore stability along the frontier. This meant getting the fugitive Boers back on their farms and reviving the economy so that they could supply meat to the Cape.

Unfortunately for the Khoekhoe, it also meant convincing them to go back and work for the trekboers. To help balance things and motivate the Khoe, Maynier opened an employment register where wages were written down for the first time. Cases of ill-treatment of workers were also listed and there was recourse to the law. It’s easy enough to criticize this treatment, what about the Khoe abused by the Boers you’d ask? Were they not to receive justice?
Ndlambe was on the lamb after escaping from Ngqika’s Great Place in February 1800 and had reunited with his adherent in the Zuurveld. He was reestablishing his power at the same time but it was hard work. Chungwa of the amaGqunukhwebe was resisting his advances both metaphorically and physically. ]]> History Sun, 06 Mar 2022 08:57:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 56 – The burghers suffer their worst setback since 1652 as the Third Frontier War reignites in 1801 0 0 Des Latham full 19:44 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1160229 https://iono.fm/e/1160229
We’ll follow Doctor William Somerville on his way home from the expedition you heard about last episode and there’s a lot of action.

First we’ll spend time with the Scots doctor as he spent time at Dithakong, that Great Tswana city of the Tlhaping. They had entered Griqua country
By November 21st and made their way towards Dithakong cautiously. First they sent a guide ahead

“…the inform the Horde of the Briquas of our arrival and to invite them to come to our encampment… The whole fate of our expedition depending upon the impression that our messenger should make upon his countrymen…”

They waited anxiously. Remember this long and arduous trip was ostensibly to buy cattle from the Griqua and the Tswana and so far all they had found was drought.

Things were not looking very good. On the evening of the 21st November 1801 the messenger returned with information that the Chief would see them. But not before the people had fled as the messenger was wearing western clothes. That tells you something – the people who’d visited in European outfits were usually raiding or pillaging.
Eventually, on the 6th May 1802, Somerville and Truter’s six wagons made it back to Cape Town after seven months spent traveling slowly across the vast southern African semi-desert of the northern Cape. ]]> History Sun, 27 Feb 2022 09:46:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 55 – Somerville's 1802 description of the baThlaping and their grand capital at Dithakong 0 0 Des Latham full 19:25 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1157713 https://iono.fm/e/1157713 The British were going to withdraw from the Cape of Good Hope and their move began far away in Ireland. As part of the price for Irish agreement to parliamentary union with Britain in 1800, Prime Minister William Pitt had promised to liberate Roman Catholics from the restrictions of their civil liberties imposed since the 16th Century .
Three hundred years of English yoke through Protestantism was seen through a very religious and nationalist lens in Ireland. The future of the Cape was in great doubt. Lord Nelson was one of those voicing his opinion that the Peninsular was of no real use.
Back in sunny Southern Africa circa 1800, great powers were beginning to emerge across the landscape. And extremely sunny it was in 1800 because parts of southern Africa were gripped by a terrible drought. Across the northern regions of the Cape, the Namaqualand and along the Orange River, the Afrikaander gang led by Khoesan leader Jonker Afrikaander was going village to village, homestead to homestead, and plundering as they went.
The severe dought meant that the Boer commando’s couldn’t operate effectively so it increased banditry across the frontiers. But it also meant that the groups of Khoe and Khoesan who’d been trying to disentangle themselves from both the trekboers and the British, and even the local Tswana people, were forced to operate along the great river.
The expedition also found it very difficult to locate water. What they did find record was signs of anarchy caused by both the drought and the Afrikaander groups who’d descended on the Griqua and Tswana – wiping out villages as they went. I have the diary of William Somerville who jointly led the expedition with chief commissioner PJ Truter – and an interesting 200 or so pages it is. ]]> History Sun, 20 Feb 2022 09:11:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 54 – Doctor William Somerville’s extraordinary expedition to the Orange River in 1801 0 0 Des Latham full 20:45 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1155290 https://iono.fm/e/1155290 It’s crazy town time at Ngqika’s Great Place after Ndlambe his uncle makes off westwards and the Khoe in the area decide it’s time to fight the trekboers once more.
By the end of 1800 Coenraad de Buys had convinced all trekboers and the missionary Van Der Kemp it was time to leave the amaXhosa king’s /Great Place before he killed them all.
Ngqika’s vascillations between were unnerving and so when de Buys suggested they all leave through a cunning plan he had devised, Van Der Kemp was ready to go. The reason is not too difficult to fathom. In more than a year of prothelitising, Van der Kemp had managed a scant conversion of five Khoekhoe women and their children.
Not one amaXhosa had converted to Christianity, furthermore, van Der Kemp had been forbidden to preach to the amaXhosa. And the Boers living in the Great Place were also no help – in fact while his back was turned some were helping themselves to his property and were caught doing this.
However, it’s time to leave our intrepid missionary and to head back north eastwards, to what would become known as Zululand.
Up to 1800 the situation on the coastal section and the plateau had been radically transformed and this transformation would accelerate over the coming years. There were three overlapping phases of change taking place starting from the last quarter of the 18th Century and running through until after 1870 with the British Zulu wars dominating events in the latter period. ]]> History Sun, 13 Feb 2022 09:25:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 53 – The surge in centralized chiefdoms circa 1800 and the development of an African military system 0 0 Des Latham full 19:56 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1152818 https://iono.fm/e/1152818
The British had managed to stabilize the Eastern Cape at the end of 1799 but this was a false peace as you’re going to hear.
Coenraad de Buys the giant Trekboer was still living with Ngqika and muttering sweet horribles into his ear about the English, the trekboers of Graaff-Reinet were deep in their cups of resentment. The amaXhosa in the Zuurveld, Chungwa of the amaGnunukhwebe for example, were smiling smugly having apparently secured their rights to the grasses of the Eastern Cape west of the Fish River from the British much to the chagrin of the local trekboers.
Ngqika’s lethal impulses were growing more difficult to gauge and the missionaries were becoming more afraid by the day. They truly believed they would not make it out of the Great Place alive.
De Buys too realized that he was in immediate danger. But the cunning man had a few tricks left after Ngqika’s chief councillor arrived with the news that the king would no longer admit de Buys to his presence. ]]> History Sun, 06 Feb 2022 09:17:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 52 – Christmas 1799 brings a fortuitous Amatola downpour and the intertwining of futures 0 0 Des Latham full 24:22 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1150119 https://iono.fm/e/1150119 To use a more modern and yet English phrase, everything had gone pear shaped.
By now 29 settlers had been killed by the amaxhosa and Khoe uprising, the survivors were on the run towards the Gamtoos River where Jeffrey’s Bay is today. As for Vandeleur, he had lost the initiative and was pinned down with 200 troops in his camp near the Swartkops River just north of Port Elizabeth stroke Gqbetha. He’d built a large starshaped earthwork to repel the amaXhosa attacks and his men were running short of provisions. The ships in Algoa Bay had left, so he was stranded.
Then the war ended - and no-one except Chungwa of the amaGqunukhwebe got what they wanted in the Zuurveld.
So he naturally responded by co-operating with the British colonial authorities in trying to police the region against cattle thieves whether Khoe or amaXhosa. Or he collaborated to use a loaded 20th Century phrase much loved by the bourgeois guerrilla chic.
Meanwhile the LMS missionaries had arrived at Ngqika’s Great Place close to the Thyume and Keiskamma Rivers in September 1799. That would be South of Hogsback and East of Fort Beaufort today.
However their reception was not a good one. ]]> History Sat, 29 Jan 2022 13:43:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 51 – The Third Frontier War ends and missionaries trek into a snake’s nest at Ngqika’s Great Place 0 0 Des Latham full 23:23 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1147730 https://iono.fm/e/1147730 But first we'll have a quick look at a powerful party that arrived in 1799 that was going to change everything on the frontier.
The Missionaries.
The idea started earlier, on November 4th 1794, when a small group gathered in Baker’s Coffee House, Change Alley, London. The outcome of this gathering was the London Missionary Society which was formed to “attend the funeral of bigotry and propagate the gospel among the heathen…”
It was to be of no particular religious denomination and launched as an umbrella organization which would be left to “the minds of the Persons whom God may call .. to assume for themselves such form of Church government as to them shall appear most agreeable to the word of God…”
These people would be hated by the colonists eventually as you’re going to hear.
Then the trekboers in the Zuurveld – the eastern Cape - rebelled once more in 1799 – with the elderly Adriaan van Jaarsveld freed from British captivity by the rebels as he was dragged back to Cape town to face a trial for fraud.
But the British did manage to cobble together a detachment of Dragoons as you know which was shipped to Algoa Bay and ordered to crush this uprising of around 200 trekboers. The grandly named Brigadier-General Thomas Packenham Vandeleur landed on the scenic shores of Algoa Bay along with his blue-jacketed dragoons and fifty "Hottentot" Corps soldiers dressed in the finest British military tunics. ]]> History Sun, 23 Jan 2022 08:32:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 50 – Brigadier General Vandeleur fires grapeshot at the amaXhosa setting off 80 years of warfare 0 0 Des Latham full 22:04 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1145201 https://iono.fm/e/1145201 When we left off last episode things were sliding towards war as the settlers of the Hantam and the Khoe were thrown into chaos. This episode we’ll hear also pick up the story further east in the Zuurveld where Coenraad de Buys who’d taken to living amongst the Khoe and basters.
His fortunes had been mixed but changed after 1795 when Xhosa chief Ngqika who’d recently defeated his uncle Ndlambe, decided he must acquire a white advisor to help him obtain guns and horses.
1799 was a momentous year in Southern Africa history as you’re going to hear because not only did the Khoe rise up and the Boers, further north the proto-Zulu groups of the Mthethwa and Ndwandwe were also growing their power quickly. ]]> History Sun, 16 Jan 2022 08:51:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 49 – The Khoe War of 1799, Gerrit Owies is speared in the back and the Boers face the Hottentot Corps 0 0 Des Latham full 20:00 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1142804 https://iono.fm/e/1142804 This chaotic land had spawned another by the name of Petrus Pienaar of the Afrikaaners. Regarded as one of the most influential men of the frontier, Pienaar emerged as the spokesman of the Hantammers.
He was closely linked to the Afrikaaner Oorlams from at least the 1780s and was capable of incredible feats of physical endurance even by the standards of the day.
In 1790 he wrote a letter to the Landdrost of Stellenbosch outlining the crisis in the Hantam and suggesting solutions. Some of these would be what we now call .. a final solution particularly when it came to the San.
He wanted more firearms and ammunition delivered to the local
Interestingly, Pienaar wanted the mixed people – those who were known as the Bastaards and as he said “both baptised and unbaptised” – to be supplied with firearms along with the farmers.
Meanwhile the authorities in the Cape launched what would eventually become a settler tradition in South Africa – the passbook system. It meant carrying a pass, or Inboek as it was known in the 1790s, where Khoesan and Bastaards entering the Cape had to carry this document, and were prohibited buying arms from the trekboers.
Ironically, Klaas Afrikaaner was soon registered as a Hottentot Corps as a Khoikhoi chief in 1793. This will come as a surprise of struggle political experts, who view Klaas as a kind of forerunner of the ANC and SWAPO in Namibia. He actually was a collaborationist – along with his followers which will disappoint fundamentalists across the race divide.
SWAPO saw Klaas Afrikaaner as a proto-Namibian nationalist, resisting white power, but it was his descendants who would be synonymous as colonial resisters in the 19th and 20th Century.

Right now they were collaborators - but not for long. ]]> History Sun, 09 Jan 2022 08:47:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 48 – Petrus Pienaar shot dead on his Hantam farm in 1797 and the Afrikaaner rebellion goes into top gear 0 0 Des Latham full 20:00 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1141229 https://iono.fm/e/1141229
We’re also going to meet a German sailor who’d deserted and ran away to the Orange River in the 1780s by the name of Jan Bloem. He worked as an overseer, a Knecht, at Sandfontein farm owned by Petrus Pienaar. Groups of white hunters were also now resident in the area to the south of the Orange by this stage and we’ve already heard about how the Kora, the Griqua and the Oorlams had begun moving into areas dominated by the Great Namaqua.
Now we’re going to drill down into examples of how lives intersected particularly about the important trekboer Adriaan van Jijl of the Hantam. This district derived its name from the solitary mountain at the northwestern edge of the Onder Roggeveld. To the south west lay the Bokkeveld Mountains, to the north west Namaqualand. And between Hantam Mountain and the Orange River which lay due north were miles of Bushmanland. Today’s modern town of Calvinia is just south of Hantams Piek.By 1790 the complaints of white inhabitants in the Bokkeveld became a chorus – alarmingly groups of Khoekhoe were trekking to and from the Orange River with herds and flocks of livestock in search of good grazing. The trekboers in these areas watched with misgiving and it must have been nerve wracking watch these large groups of people appear on the land with their even larger herds.
We'll also hear about Elsie Visagie had trekked from the Orange River to Cape Town with a few Khoe servants as companions in 1791 – it’s almost 900 kilometres - but the folks were tough back in the day. She had some cattle and two wagon loads of products. When Elsie Visagie was ordered to Stellenbosch to give evidence in connection with raids her husband had apparently carried out, she ended up under house arrest. ]]> History Sun, 02 Jan 2022 09:30:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 47 – Tales of the Hantam including the bandit van Zijl family and the indefatigable trekboer Elsie Visagie 0 0 Des Latham full 24:53 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1140195 https://iono.fm/e/1140195 But first a note about the British occupation. We know that they arrived in 1795, defeated the Dutch forces and then attempted to take control of events on the frontiers. As the Dutch had found, this was not an easy undertaking.
The new Governor Sir George Yonge had replaced the acting Governor Macartney and Yonge was a stiff formal Englishman. But he was also a man of ideas and experimented with farming, and believe it or not, vaccinations. The smallpox epidemic earlier in the 18th Century had decimated the Khoekhoe and white population and he didn’t want a return of the dreaded disease.
Many on the frontier took issue with both his farm experiments and his vaccination campaign – yes folks, there were anti-vaxxers around 220 years ago.
We heard about the Einiqua, the Korana and the people first called the Bastaards who were to become the Griqua. As the 18th Century progressed, the frontier began to close on the latter people, even in Namaqualand that zone between the mountains and the sea west of Bushmanland.
These fugitives began to form themselves in different groups of what were initially called drosters. This is a word from the Dutch word Drossen, to run away or desert. They became the symbol of the Cape frontier and their influence on the local Einiqua, the Khoisan societies, was considerable. They were mostly disruptive, disturbing an ancient equilibrium.
One of the most influential of the Oorlam groups by the end of the 18th Century was the Griqua who were descended from the remnants of the original Grigriqua Khoekhoe. The founding father of the Griqua Khoekhoe was Adam Kok the First, who is believed to have been a freed slave.
The last group I’ll mention this episode were far more malevolent and far less welcome at least as far as the Cape authorities were concerned. They were known as the Afrikaaners. ]]> History Sun, 26 Dec 2021 10:00:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 46 – We meet the Afrikaaner Oorlams of Namaqualand and Griqua founder Adam Kok the First 0 0 Des Latham full 20:05 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1138644 https://iono.fm/e/1138644
This is an area which is not spoken of very often, the wild northern frontier where bandits rode oxen and escaped slaves, white ex-soldiers and black clans joined forces – or fought each other.

The brigands and Badlands here are exotic to say the least as you’re going to hear. Folks fixate on the tales from the eastern Cape frontier for good reason that’s true. And yet, much of the rich history of southern Africa encompasses the Orange River and its tributaries as well as the Namaqualand, the Karoo, the mystical and mythical geography lending beauty to what was an extraordinarily dangerous period in the last quarter of the 18th Century.

As you know by now, the area known as the Namaqualand was generally referred as the home of the Little Namaqua or Klein Namaqua. Great Namaqualand was the home of the Great Namaqua and was across the Orange River – today known as Namaland.
The first Europeans to settle in Namaqualand arrived in the 1750s – but before them ivory and other hunters had passed through regularly. By February and March of 1750, Jan Overholster, Jan Meyer and Jan Venter had registered loan farms here which they called Lieliefontein and Groene Rivier.
One of the dialects of the Einiqua was spoken by the people of the Namynkoa who lived along the rivers – their riverine lifestyle made them distinct from the other people of the region although they were pastoralists who ate fish and river shellfish amongst other foods. Most other Khoe away from the River were purely pastoralists.
Further east, heading deeper into the interior, lived the Korana groups who could be found in the vicinity of Kheis. They were the Kouringeis or Little Korana, otherwise known as the Hootstanders or Proud People.
But a hundred years earlier in 1779 trekboers who had arrived in Namaqualand were married to local Khoe women and this union created another group - the "Bastaards". ]]> History Sun, 19 Dec 2021 09:40:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 45 – The ancient people of the Orange River islands, the Namaqualand Korana and the “Bastaards” 0 0 Des Latham full 19:17 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1136483 https://iono.fm/e/1136483 Remember he’d arrived in Graaff-Reinet with landdrost FR Bressler and their entry into the mud and daub village marked the restoration of Cape control after an interval of two and a half years. That was late 1797.

Because they were accompanied by a small group of Dragoon light cavalry, the message was clear.

Authority is back. But the trekboers and particularly the giant Coenraad de Buys were in no mood to hear that message.

The eastern frontier of the Cape colony in 1797 was a confused and distracted region – war with the San and the Xhosa had been followed by the Boers’ own revolution and then the British had arrived. The turmoil of these events had been compounded by the Xhosa civil war which led to the settlers becoming involved in their internal bickering.
And watching all of this in turn was Ngqika’s mother, Queen Nojoli. Her influence must not be underestimated as she was fully involved in these negotiations and the diplomacy because Barrow gave her exactly the same gifts he gave Ngqika.
Within a year of this visit, trekboer Coenraad de Buys would be living at Ngqika’s Great Place, married to Queen Nojoli and exerting an influence on both her and her son. Buys as we’ve seen had a long relationship with the Xhosa’s on the frontier, his familiarity goes back to some time. ]]> History Sun, 12 Dec 2021 08:14:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 44 – Trekboer Coenraad de Buys marries amaXhosa Queen Nojoli aka Yese and Barrow exacts a confounded promise 0 0 Des Latham full 19:46 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1133826 https://iono.fm/e/1133826 As you know, the Peninsular had become more important in the eyes of the English as they fought a lengthy war against France at the end of the 18th Century – a war that was to continue through until Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo in 1815.
The British would occupy the Cape twice of course and when they arrived in 1795 the region was convulsed by disorder on the frontiers. The Khoekhoe rose up twice in conjunction with the amaXhosa as we’re going to hear, while the frontier settlers were already in revolt by the time the British arrived.
Lady Anne Barnard had accompanied her husband – Macartney’s colonial secretary Andrew Barnard to the Cape. Also present on behalf of George Third was John Barrow – a man who was to have a significant effect on the South Africa and world affairs.
He was described as extremely intelligent, an amateur scientist, naturalist, geographer, a man of the enlightenment if there ever was one. He’d already revealed great gifts of intelligence gathering during his time in China and would now be called on to collect more intelligence on the frontier of South Africa. ]]> History Sun, 05 Dec 2021 09:04:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 43 – Lady Anne throws dinner parties as John Barrow and the Dragoons take a trip to Graaff-Reinet 0 0 Des Latham full 17:38 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1130493 https://iono.fm/e/1130493
Remember at the time they were in a world war with the French and revolutionary fervour had swept the world with its populist refrain, its’ berets of southern France and Liberte Equalite Fraternite narrative.

This had swept the globe – all the way to Graaff-Reinet in the upper Zuurveld on the Cape frontier where the trekboers were motivated to throw off the corrupt yoke of the VOC – and then in turn, the new English rule.

As we heard last episode, Major General Craig had ensconsed himself in Cape Town as the military governor and was about to take action against the Boers in Graaff-Reinet when intelligence reports indicated in January 1796 that the Batavians and their French allies were fitting out an expedition to retake Cape Town.

As you’ve also heard, the British sent a strong naval and infantry force to the Cape and by July 1796 there were 8 400 troops stationed there with another 1000 on their way. There were now fourteen warships patrolling the seaways around the Cape.

So the Batavian squadron of eight warships and a cargo vessel took five months to sail to the Cape because its commander, Rear Admiral Engelbertus Lucas had to evade British patrols.
On the 6th August 1796 he anchored in Saldanha Bay on the west coast north of Cape Town.
Lucas had anticipated support from a French squadron but they had decided to bypass mainland Africa and head straight to the Isle de France – or Mauritius as we know it today.
By the 1790s a powerful farmer by the name of Jacob Van Reenen had built his fortune in landholdings, meat trade and the production and sale of alcohol.

On his death in 1793, Jacob left a number of sons, all of whom rose to prominence in Cape society. One son called Dirk, built the largest and most successful wine businesses there, while two others sons, Jacobus Gijsbert and Sebastiaan, went into the lucrative meat merchanting business. ]]> History Thu, 25 Nov 2021 17:00:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 42 – Lady Anne Barnard, Earl Macartney and the van Reenen meat bank of the 1790s 0 0 Des Latham full 20:36 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1128690 https://iono.fm/e/1128690
Remember we’ve been focusing on the Zuurveld as the trekboers and the amaXhosa both expanded their interest in the region. The fate of these contending parties would remain undecided for twenty years and for the amXhosa, it was their fractured politics that weakened them precisely at the moment their greatest threat appeared.

The indecisive Second Frontier War had left Ndlambe the most powerful Xhosa chief in the west but he couldn’t seize ultimate control of the Zuurveld – the trekboers were returning to their farms razed during the war. Although they did not return in the same numbers initially, the tension was set to rise once more.

In 1795 Ngqika turned 17 and he immediately took action against his uncle Ndlambe who as we know had been ruling on his behalf until he came of age. Ngqika was not to be trifled with although young. He was ambitious and pretty ruthless as you’re going to hear. As the tension rose amongst the amaXhosa groups, it wasn’t long before a mini civil war broke out.
Upheavals far away in the world were going to have a major impact on this sleepy little southern African backwater shortly. The first attempts by the British at seizing the Cape failed miserably back in 1781 as we’ve heard with the brilliant but obese French commander Bailli de Suffren defeating the English fleet at the Cape Verde Islands.
The British had no real interest in the Cape as such during this phase, they wanted the ports and the refreshment stations. There was no idea of colonizing this somewhat dangerous part of the world.
The major strategic aim was to hold the Cape to prevent it from being seized by the French to use as a naval base as part of the crucial logistics route to and from India and China. ]]> History Sun, 21 Nov 2021 08:42:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 41 – The English take Cape Town, Americans flee and trekboer rebels tear down a flag 0 0 Des Latham full 23:28 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1126064 https://iono.fm/e/1126064
Remember Xhosa king Ndlambe was trying to bring them to heel and had ordered the amaGqunukhwebe and Langa’s amaMbalu to move westwards across the Fish River. Instead the amaGqunukhwebe headed in the opposite direction to get away from the Xhosa kings warriors.

Graaff-Reinet’s new landdrost Honoratus Maynier was prompted to act. He was well educated and fluent in several languages, and was also highly aware of suffering and injustice that had been metered out to the San and the Khoe in particular. Much has been written about Maynier over the years – mostly bad. However he was probably ahead of his time in quite a few areas – specifically human rights.
The trekboers were trying to convince him to mobilise forces to fight the amaGqunukhwebe and he was resisting, in addition to be highly sceptical of most reports of theft and losses.

Maynier kept telling farmers who visited his Drosdy mud and daub building in Graaff-Reinet that it was inadvisable to oppose force by force – it would merely bring the Xhosa down on the farms.
So Field Cornet Barend Lindeque decided to take action himself and put together a commando without the VOC or Maynier’s permission.
Lindeque approached Xhosa chief Ndlambe and suggested they work together to rid the Zuurveld of the amaGqunukhwebe. Of course the Xhosa king was only too happy to work with the trekboers. It served his interests. The deal was struck and on 18th May 1793 the first action of what was to become known as the Second Frontier War was recorded.
In the Cape, the Dutch East india company was also unable to assist – it was falling apart at that stage, the VOC empire was collapsing. ]]> History Sun, 14 Nov 2021 08:06:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 40 – The Second Frontier War and the Graaff-Reinet rebellion 0 0 Des Latham full 22:14 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1123432 https://iono.fm/e/1123432
Coenraad de Buys was probably one of the most African of all trekboers as you’re going to hear and the saga of his life was written out of text books long before apartheid. That was because he married Khoe and Xhosa women and lived amongst both people quite comfortably.

At the same time he was still a trekboer as you’ll hear. He was also the original rebel, an ex-soldier who was nearly 7 feet tall. Coenraad de Buys is the most legendary, rougher, dominating and ruthless of all rebels, his presence on the frontier of the Cape colony dominated twenty years of South African history and he also as I said last episode symbolizes a lost route of Afrikaner history.

In the gallery of traditional Afrikaner heroes, de Buys has no place. He is merely a footnote in most writings including modern revisionist texts because he fits neither the race-obsessed romantic colonial historian nor the race-obsessed Pan-Africanist historians of the 21st century.
The first Frontier War had ended in 1781 with the belief that Adriaan van Jaarsveld who we met last episode had expelled the Gqunukhwebe and Mbalu from the Zuurveld.

But these people moved back through the 1780s – and in fact it was doubtful that Tshaka’s Gqunukhwebe had ever left they just moved away from the commando led by van Jaarsveld, then returned almost immediately after it disbanded.

The Gqunukhwebe believed they had a right to the territory – and at this point mother nature conspired to increase resource pressure. A major drought took place in the mid-1780s and many more Xhosa began appearing in the Zuurveld pastures. In 1789 for example, one description by an explorer spoke of 16 000 cattle on one Xhosa farm alone, inhabited by several thousand Xhosa people. ]]> History Sun, 07 Nov 2021 08:35:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 39 – Rebel Coenraad de Buys, lover of Xhosa chief Ngqika’s mother and a preamble to the Second Frontier War 0 0 Des Latham full 21:41 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1121011 https://iono.fm/e/1121011
Local strongman Adriaan van Jaarsveld had responded positively, but then Rharhabe missed another important meeting. Meanwhile Rharhabe’s implacable enemy and uncle, Ndlambe, had found a Boer ally in Barend Lindeque who was a lieutenant in the commando.
Friction is endemic in frontier situations and neither the Xhosa nor colonists were going to be innocent in the coming conflicts. You could take the stance modern politicians take that the colonists were outsiders and therefore always to blame – but that would be somewhat historically ill-informed. The Boers feared the weight of Xhosa numbes and resented being pestered for presents by the roving bands of Xhosa men – they also had been given permission by Rharhabe to use pastures and yet Xhosa clans not aligned to Rharhabe would occupy these lands. ]]> History Sun, 31 Oct 2021 09:30:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 38 – The First Frontier War of 1781 and why the survivors of the Grosvenor were attacked by the amaXhosa 0 0 Des Latham full 21:44 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1116724 https://iono.fm/e/1116724 By late in the 18th Century, the Zuurveld was home to small groups of San, some khoekhoe chieftans, several Xhosa chiefdoms and the trekboers. They were mixing up together in a fairly confined territory and jostled each other increasingly angrily to secure the summer and winter grazing. While the San weren’t particularly interested in the grazing as they did not keep livestock, the pressure on the land was increasing.
Cultural ignorance concerning each others understanding of the nature of land ownership made things worse. Colonists had a sense of private property and they were spreading across the territory using the concept of Leningsplaatsen – loan farms – that we’ve heard about. For the trekboer, the leningsplaatsen was not a shared space – it belonged to a single person or investors and had defined boundaries which could be mapped.
In contrast, the amaXhosa saw land as communal property with its usage to be allocated by a chief. Where the cattle-owning parties saw their herds and flocks as their capital assets and indication of wealth and power, the temptation was to supplement their livestock through raiding or violence.
And Governor Van Plettenberg decided he'd take a trip to the Zuurveld along the Great Fish River to see how things were going between the Dutch settlers and the amaXhosa. ]]> History Sun, 24 Oct 2021 08:41:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 37 – How the amaXhosa waged war and Governor Van Plettenberg takes a trip to the Great Fish River 0 0 Des Latham full 20:12 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1113867 https://iono.fm/e/1113867
Adam Smith may have been somewhat bemused, as American historian Noel Mostert writes in his book frontiers, to find that the very year in which his masterwork was published saw the start of a struggle on the seas that rested on his own declared twin pillars of global destiny – America and the Cape of Good Hope.

The American colonies were in the process of being lost to Britain as Smith published his work – and a wider war was buffeting the seas. The Cape had been drawn into the American War of Independence which changed the destiny of Southern Africa. It’s not well remembered these days, but as America’s early history is interwoven with South Africa’s.
As all of this was taking place on the high seas, the colonists in the Cape found themselves at war on two fronts with two different groups of people. The Xhosa and the San.

As the Dutch East India company feebly tried to stop trekboers from advancing beyond the Gamtoos river near Algoa Bay, a true frontier had developed from 1770 onwards. It was a loose, ill-defined area along the south east coast and the Dutch colonists had now hit a human barrier that stopped their freedom of movement.
That barrier was the Xhosa people. ]]> History Sun, 17 Oct 2021 07:35:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 36 – The French and British fight over the Cape as bounty hunter Willem Prinsloo crosses the Fish River 0 0 Des Latham full 23:17 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1110985 https://iono.fm/e/1110985
By the first few centuries AD the migrations of farmers moving into the area between the Drakensburg, the Mzimkhulu river south of modern Durban and up to Pondoland took place.

There had been a steady growth of farmers here until the first phase of the development of more powerful kingdoms. The second phase saw the people there divide into numbers small patriarchal clans which lived alongside each other in relative peace although there were many minor incidents.

The third phase began with the rise of the Zulu Kingdom by around 1810. I’ll get to the third phase in future podcasts. The fourth phase of course was the arrival of the British traders from the Cape – and from the sea.
The Ndwandwe lived In the area around Nongoma in 1780s and 90s while to the south, between the modern town of Empangeni and straddling the black Mfolozi to the north lived the Mthethwa. To their west lived the Qwabe – and those were the ancestors of the people I grew up with in the Nkwalini valley on the Umhlatuzi.
As the struggle for dominance grew at the end of the 18th Century, it corresponded with the expansion of the major groups like the Mthethwa, Ndwandwe and the Qwabe – then later the Zulu into a variety of grazing types. ]]> History Sun, 10 Oct 2021 09:25:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 35 – The Mthethwa and Ndwandwe flex their muscles in what eventually will become known as Zululand 0 0 Des Latham full 21:12 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1108156 https://iono.fm/e/1108156
As with other areas we’ve investigated, the popular narrative over time is not always an accurate reflection of real history. This will become very apparent particularly as we unearth facts about the period between 1760 and 1800.

It’s fairly recently in historical research that we’ve come to understand what was going on – earlier historians tended to pay very little attention to the decades before 1810 and the emergence of Shaka’s Zulu. Before then the Zulu were a tiny clan washing around in a much bigger pool of tribes and clans.
An important feature we all agree on now is that the upheavals of the early 1800s were not all about Shaka, it was caused partly by the increasing interaction between European commercial and colonial expansion and indigenous communities, as well as the expansion of Zulu and Ndebele and other warlike people. Traders and settler numbers rose swiftly as we’re going to hear.

Trading and raiding was always part of the southern African landscape, hundreds of years before Jan van Riebeeck setup shop in 1652.

The processes of reorganisation and expansion of increasingly centralized kingdoms can be tracked to this time. While these changes were taking place between the Drakensberg and Indian Ocean, they were also happening among the Tswana speaking societies on the south eastern fringes of the Kalahari Desert. I’ve outlined the most important clans in the last podcast – don’t forget these – they were the Bafokeng, Bahurutshe, Bakgatla, Bakwena, Bangwaketse, Barolong and Bathlaping. ]]> History Sun, 03 Oct 2021 08:45:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 34 – Trading and raiding, American whalers and the emergence of pre-Zulu chiefdoms in the East 0 0 Des Latham full 19:01 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1105129 https://iono.fm/e/1105129
By 1771 the inn on the sea – the town in Table Bay – was being referred to as Cape Town for the first time by travellers. It appears there was not even a formal process, just the town at the foot of the mountain emerged over the preceding 120 years and by 1772 there were approximately 7000 people living there.

Four thousand whites including 1700 sailors, and 2000 free blacks and slaves. Part of this episode is going to be viewed through the eyes of botanist and Scots gardener and explorer Francis Masson who journeyed through the Cape three times. He arrived in October 1772 to find the acting governor was Joachim van Plettenberg.

The newly appointed governor, Pieter van Rheede van Oudshoorn, had died at sea on the way out from Amsterdam. And right there are the men whose surnames would be two future towns – Plettenberg bay and Oudtshoorn.

1772 was an important year because that’s when foreign shipping numbers increased significantly because of the American War of Independence which I mentioned last episode. French ships in particular were sailing through the bay regularly because they were supporting the American rebels who were fighting the British. Cape Town was already known as a pretty and orderly locale, it’s layout admired by most who visited. ]]> History Sun, 26 Sep 2021 08:47:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 33 – By 1771 Cape Town has a name and explorers begin arriving in droves 0 0 Des Latham full 19:32 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1102277 https://iono.fm/e/1102277
I am going to thoroughly probe this period because so many crucial things were unfolding across southern Africa such as the development of new centralized powerful kingdoms in the East, the acceleration of land occupation by the trekboers and the first real clashes between the isiXhosa and settlers.

That is far too much to chew on in just one episode I’m sure you’ll agree.

First we need to step back and take a wide-angle view of the region.

By the mid-1700s the eastern Cape frontier was a vaguely defined area east of the Gamtoos river. This is where black South African’s speaking a Bantu language first encountered white settlers as distinct from traders and missionaries. It was also here that policies which have had a profound influence on southern Africa were first formulated and applied.

It was also a cultural frontier between warring states and had many characteristics of frontiers elsewhere across the world at that time. One of course was in north America ]]> History Sun, 19 Sep 2021 09:28:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 32 – An intermingling on the frontiers begins in earnest and a wide-angle view of the mid-to-late 18th C 0 0 Des Latham full 23:15 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1098856 https://iono.fm/e/1098856
Sleeping giants were to awaken by the last quarter of the 18th Century, with the emergence and expansion of a number of increasingly centralized chiefdoms in the region between the northern and central Drakensberg and the Indian Ocean. A similar process was taking place at pretty much the same time among the Tswana-speaking societies on the southeastern fringes of the Kalahari Desert.

There is not much documented evidence from this region which makes the telling of the story slightly more difficult. But as we’ve heard over the course of this series already, the wonders of archaeology have begun to paint a scientific picture – and historians have pieced together some of the emerging states of this time.
We also hear about the growing role of the Dutch Reformed Church. The experience of VOC political institutions particularly the local government, formed part of this heritage. But the strongest unifying institution both emotionally and intellectually, was provided by the Dutch Reformed Church.

The doctrine of this church was primitive Calvinism as embodied in the Heidelberg catechism and the decrees of the synod of Dort. Its emphasis was on the old testament and the doctrine was heavily weighted towards the concept of predestination. This particularly suited the colonial whites struggling to survive in a tough environment and accustomed from birth to treating nonwhites as slaves or serfs, and more often than not, enemies. ]]> History Fri, 10 Sep 2021 18:30:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 31 – Trade increases between Delagoa Bay and the Tswana and the Dutch Reformed Church makes its mark in the Cape 0 0 Des Latham full 19:35 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1096014 https://iono.fm/e/1096014
We’ve heard much about the developments in the north of the Cape, the bokkeveld and the Roodezand up to 1740. Now we’ll swing our gaze to observe what was going on at the same time in the Eastern Cape frontier.

It’s vaguely defined at least at this time as the area lying east of the Gamtoos River. This is important because its here that black South Africans speaking a Bantu language first encountered white settlers as distinct from traders or even missionaries.

The Nguni people however had a much longer connection with Europeans. Survivors of shipwrecks starting around 1554 lived amongst the Xhosa until they met survivors from other wrecks or from expeditions sent to find them. Many of these former sailors refused to return home.

They were living as Thembu or Xhosa and had found the lifestyle to their liking. For example in 1705 an expedition sent to Natal to look for timber found an Englishman living with African wives there who was so well satisfied that two of the crew actually deserted to join him instead of the other way around.

Two other men who survived from an early 18th Century wreck on the Mpondo Coast became progenitors of the clan still known as the Lungu – short for Abelungu in other words, the white clan. A girl wrecked with them later married Mpondo chief Xwabiso. Her daughter in turn was met by explorer Jacob van Reenen in 1790. By then she was an old woman. But she wasn’t the only European woman who’d been saved by locals as we’ll hear.

And if you consider the statistics regarding shipwrecks off the South African coast as a whole you’ll begin to understand how these first contacts between Nguni and European developed. ]]> History Sun, 05 Sep 2021 08:43:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 30 – Shipwrecked women and their Xhosa clan, the art of making amasi and the amatakati 0 0 Des Latham full 18:36 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1092502 https://iono.fm/e/1092502
This was the last straw for Khoi who rose up and began burning Dutch farms along the Olifant’s River. Not to be confused with the Olifants River in the far north of the country – Limpopo province – in fact the Olifants flows through the Kruger Park. No, our Olifants is in the Cape.

The Olifants here rises in the Winterhoek Mountains near modern day Ceres and flows northwesterly through a deep valley that widens downstream near Clanwilliam and drains into the Atlantic ocean.

Remember last week we heard that the Frenchman and company deserter Estienne Barbier had been hiding out in this area protected by various frontier’s folk as he tried to instigate a settler uprising against the VOC.

Ranged against him were men of the company including the powerful owner of many farms, Kruywagen. The latter had been hunting Barbier and trying to pacify the Khoi at the same time and when his commando returned to Stellenbosch at the end of May 1739, Barbier was still on the run.

The Governor had declared Barbier enemy number one and placed a bounty on his head – dead or alive. The northern frontier zone was unstable but the major military operation required to end the fighting would only begin in Spring.

In the meantime the pressure on trying to maintain some kind of semblance of law and order fell on the shoulders of the various veldkorporaals like Barend Lubbe. He was in charge of the Olifant’s River and was instructed to make sure he did not antagonize the “Hottentot Pokkebaas Claas” or any other peaceful Khoi. ]]> History Sun, 29 Aug 2021 08:22:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 29 – Murder, massacre and pacification of the Roodezand Khoi while settler rebel Barbier meets a grisly end. 0 0 Des Latham full 19:22 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1089455 https://iono.fm/e/1089455
Settlers were chased out of almost 60 cattle stations and farms, and more importantly, the stated aim of the Khoisan was to drive the Dutch out of their land and possibly – out of South Africa. More alarmingly, some of the Khoisan raiders were armed with muskets instead of their spears and bows and arrows.

Many of the Khoisan leaders were also former servants of the Dutch farmers – which made for a particularly bitter confrontation as you’ll hear.
The alarm bells rang back in Stellenbosch when they heard a notorious settler trouble-maker had arrived in the northern frontier zone – the deserter and former Company sergeant, Estienne Barbier. Frontier farmers joined him as he called for a rural rebellion against the VOC, and social banditry accelerated. The Boers on the frontier now began lashing out at all Khoi nearby.

This was not going to end happily for anyone ]]> History Sun, 22 Aug 2021 09:07:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 28 – The Bushman War of 1739 and the role of French outlaw Estienne Barbier 0 0 Des Latham full 18:27 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1086392 https://iono.fm/e/1086392
Last episode we heard how the TrekBoer economy had developed and a new farmer had emerged on the landscape called the Boer.

The descendents of Dutch and French immigrants were beginning to expand their footprint across southern Africa and of course the repercussions were enormous.

Remember last episode we heard the minister of the Church at Drakenstein Petrus van Arkel who had written an extraordinary letter to Governor De Charonnes based in Cape Town. The minister had been shocked by a report he’d just received about the actions of a settler raiding party which made it all the way to Algoa Bay in the Eastern Cape and they had been particularly brutal in their treatment of the Khoi.

A party of 70 barterers – or as the Minister pointed out – murderers and robbers – had taken 200 rixdollars worth of goods with them when they setout from Stellenbosch and headed to the Gonakkens as the Dutch called them – the Gonaqua near present day Qeberga or Port Elizabeth.

The tribe was massacred and all their cattle and sheep were carried off. The Gonaqua who survived followed the Dutch raiding party and begged to be killed or taken captive as they were going to starve to death without their animals. Van Arkel back in Drakenstein was briefed by the shocked Khoi from the Peninsular who had joined the raiding expedition not realizing it was going to be a murdering expedition. ]]> History Sun, 15 Aug 2021 10:29:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 27 – The slaughtering in the Sandveld and the causes of the 1739 frontier war 0 0 Des Latham full 17:33 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1083080 https://iono.fm/e/1083080
The main areas settled before 1720 included the country north of the Berg River around the Piketberg, and to the east of the Hottentots Hollands mountains. Trekboers arrived along the Oliphants River Valley about the same time, along with the upper Breede River and adjacent valleys and river basins. Like the isiXhosa far to the north east, it was the streams and rivers that determined trekboer settlement. These two people were going to bump into each other shortly.

The Dutch settlers pushed eastwards into the coastal areas south of the Langeberg Mountains, then by the 1730s the trekboers were entering the Little Karoo and Swellendam which was settled in 1745.

To the north, the Dutch speaking livestock farmers crossed the arid plain between the Cape Mountains and the Roggeveld escarpment in 1745 and occupied the most accessible portions of the interior plateau. They then headed mainly north or northeasterly into the Hantamsberg which was settled in the 1750s and the Nieuveld in the 1760s.

By the 1760s trekkers were spreading along the summer rainfall area leading to farms being established in the good sites of the Cambedo including Graaff-Reinet. During the 1770s trekboers occupied the areas to the north and east of the Sneeuberg Mountains, along the southeast of the country behind Bruintjes Hoogte. By the 1770s the VOC was trying to stop colonists from expanding further east of the Gamtoos River - but trekboers had already taken out loan farms beyond this dividing line. ]]> History Sun, 08 Aug 2021 09:33:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 26 – The Boers begin expanding across the Cape frontier 0 0 Des Latham full 16:28 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1080202 https://iono.fm/e/1080202 Remember last episode we heard about the growing bizarre behaviour by Gcaleka who was one of Phalo’s sons – and his propensity to believe himself a diviner. That was after he escaped drowning in the musical sounding Ngxingxolo River.
Phalo died in 1775 – but Gcaleka who became chief died only three years later. I was going to cover the infighting between Gcaleka and his brother Rharhabe but will leave that for a little later. We’re following the years of history here in a timeline format and I don’t want us to get ahead of ourselves.
Just a few comments about the Xhosa social system which is going to have a bearing on our story as the Trek Boers came up against their clans.
The matrix of Xhosa political and social organization was the small village led by the homestead-head.
He and sometimes she, was drawn into wider relationships partly through membership of a patrilineage. His brothers, their father and his brothers, their grandfather and his brothers and so on for four or five generations to the earliest ancestor remembered by all these lineages.

So it was an extension of time and space where it was father and his sons, and their uncles and their sons, uncles and their nephews, elder brothers and younger brothers.

The elevation of the amaTshawe to the position of royal clan did not alter these existing linealogies, the chiefs still referred to each other as older brother or umkhuluwa or younger brother known as umninawa. The king was known as inkosi enkhulu which literally meant big chief, but also means the chief who is the eldest son.
With that, its time to head back south to the expanding Dutch settlement in the Cape of the early 1700s. We’ll return to the Xhosa soon. ]]> History Sun, 01 Aug 2021 09:34:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 25 – The Xhosa social system and the TrekBoer Economy is born 0 0 Des Latham full 17:48 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1077180 https://iono.fm/e/1077180
I’ve made use of a number of books and documents in the series so far, but Jeff Perez’s House of Phalo is probably my favourite source material mainly because he lectured me at Rhodes University in the mid-1980s. His book on the Xhosa is still the go-to research document and I’m leaning quite heavily on the work for this episode.

Let’s take ourselves back to Xhosa pre-history, that time in early oral tradition where myths and legends are difficult to separate from reality.

The Xhosa people of today think of themselves as being the common descendents of a great hero named Xhosa who lived many hundreds of years ago. Some believe he was the son of Mnguni who gave the name to the Nguni language – and brothers of other kingdoms such as the pre-Zulu Ndwandwe or Mthethwa, as well as the Swazi, or the Zulu themselves.
The word Xhosa is a Khoi word meaning ‘Angry Men’ and Vete who is the main historian of the nearby Mpondomise people believes they were named by the amaThembu.

Remember we met the amaThembu last episode, the people who lived on the boundaries of the Xhosa and were regarded as poorer because their land was less fertile.

The earliest historical occurrance specific to the Xhosa was the installation of the amaTshawe as the royal family – and the story of Tshawe is probably the best-known of all Xhosa traditions. John Soga wrote about this in his work South Eastern Bantu which is a highly respected original document outlining the people of Xhosaland. ]]> History Sun, 25 Jul 2021 09:32:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 24 – The foundation of the Xhosa Kingdom, Tshawe, Phalo, Gcaleka and Rharhabe. 0 0 Des Latham full 18:18 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1074310 https://iono.fm/e/1074310
At the turn of the 18th Century there were signs of increased conflict in the region as the Khoekhoe began to feel the pressures of the expanding Dutch settlements which spread out from the southern Cape.

The boundaries of the territory occupied by the Xhosa fluctuated considerably over time but in the years between 1700 and the mid 1800s they were limited to the area east of the Sunday’s River and West of the Mbashe River. They lived along the coastal strip which separates South Africa’s inland plateau from the Indian Ocean.

It’s an area of temperate grassland which yields a variety of crops such as maize, sorghum, tobacco and pumpkins. However the soils are shallow and better suited to stock farming rather than intensive agriculture. Rain falls in a succession of thunder storms through Summer – basically between October and February. The land is well drained by numerous short rivers which run from the escarpment down to the sea.

None of these is navigable for any great distance and the Xhosa have no taste for fish nor a tradition of building boats. There are no mineral deposits of any significance – those that exist are ironstone around the Tyhume and Kei Rivers. And yet they were and are a metal working people having traded metals with people further west and north for generations.

The landscape is incredibly varied – and these characteristics have led to diverse clan associations as we’ll see. It is very important to note that as a people, the Xhosa’s traditions stretch back far longer than the Zulu, their more powerful neighbours to the north.

To simplify things we identify four major groups of Xhosa in adjacent belts running parallel to the coast. IN the far north close to the mountains of the interior – the Drakensburg as well as a second tier of smaller ranges further south – few Xhosa settled. ]]> History Sun, 18 Jul 2021 08:49:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 23 – A trip through ancient Xhosaland 0 0 Des Latham full 18:51 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1071354 https://iono.fm/e/1071354
We’ll also hear about what was going on across southern Africa in the first two decades of the 18th Century – a time of major change which set the tone for the expansion of colonialism for the next two hundred years.

Shayk Yusufs was exiled to the Cape from his home in Java in 1694 and was settled at Zandvlier on the False Bay Coast along with fifty of his followers. The VOC officials were highly aware of his influence and attempts were made to isolate him from the mass of the Cape population but these failed.
Van der Stel owned a private estate, Vergelegen, which was the foundation of the present day Somerset West and its wine route.

He granted himself the in 1700 and he spent much of the VOC resources on its development. This allowed him an unfair advantage and led to strained relationships with the local “free burghers” as you’ve heard.

His unilateral actions determining who could participate in the monopoly of wine and meat and eventually triggered a revolt amongst the farmers led by a man called Adam Tas.

He was born in Amsterdam and arrived in the Cape in 1697 as a freeburgher to take up quarters with his uncle, Henning Husing. Unlike most burghers, he was well educated and his diary – albeit carefully edited by the VOC later – provides interesting reading.
So in 1714 a momentous decision was taken to permit loan farming or LENINGPLAAT to develop east of the mountains. For a small fee, a farmer was given the use of at least 6000 acres on which to graze his cattle for a specific period of time. This was ideal for stock farmers who could lease two such farms and then leave one to lie fallow. ]]> History Sun, 11 Jul 2021 09:13:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 22 – Islam at the Cape, Adam Tas vs the Governor and a radical new land policy 0 0 Des Latham full 18:33 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1068334 https://iono.fm/e/1068334
First a note about historical records. As I’ve mentioned the use of archaeological surveys and oral history along with specific tools used such as pottery and metal artifacts provides quite a bit of detail about the history of the Nguni and Sotho as well as the Tswana in South Africa.

However, the oral history comes with an obvious warning. And nowhere is that more important than along the Eastern seaboard – the future home of the Zulu. After the development of Zulu power in early 1800, oral historians were pressurized to tell the story from the point of view of what had been a tiny clan before Shaka came along in the early 19th Century.

This narrative cleansing if you like expunged a great deal of the knowledge traditional societies had developed over hundreds of years. I’m mentioning this now because that’s unlike other parts of South Africa – the Xhosa for example, the Sotho, Tswana and Venda whose individual clan narratives are still largely intact.

Compounding this truth decay Nguni archaeology in KwaZulu Natal is also less well known that Tswana and Sotho. This is the result of difficulty in locating early Nguni settlements as well as the Zulu state’s revisionist oral history.
Then a terrible disease made its way ashore in 1713 borne by a visiting fleet of VOC ships that anchored in Table Bay. It sent its linen ashore to be washed by company slaves in Cape Town. The laundry bore a smallpox virus which was to rage throughout that year, killing hundreds of Europeans and slaves.

It’s impact on the Khoe was catastrophic. ]]> History Sun, 04 Jul 2021 09:50:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 21 – The Nguni move west, maize arrives and smallpox eviscerates the Cape 0 0 Des Latham full 18:45 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1064406 https://iono.fm/e/1064406
At the same time, the Xhosa to the north are experiencing political upheavals, while further north, the Nguni speaking farmers have spread into the Free State and Transvaal highlands – now known as Gauteng.

The decline of the Khoekhoe chiefs and the increasingly coercive nature of the trade took place at the same time as another major development in the Cape. This was the intensification of labour relations between the Khoe and the Colony.

Ever since van Riebeeck’s time, some Khoekhoe had worked in the colony as cook’s assistants, domestics, building labourers and dispatch runners amongst other jobs.

Europeans did not hire Khoekhoe as herders or shepherds before 1670 because they feared the theft of their livestock – and then only under close supervision. However the rapid expansion into Stellenbosch and Drakenstein we heard last episode meant the Dutch and Huguenot farmers needed more labour.

There weren’t enough slaves so naturally as the Khoe lost their land and grazing rights, they took up more of these positions as workers. According to the census of 1690, there was one slave in the Bay area of the Cape for every nine cattle tended and for every bushel of seed sown.
Compare that to Drakenstein and Stellenbosch where there was one slave for every 63 cattle and twenty bushels of seed sown.
The Khoekhoe were now experiencing a rapid decline in their wealth and security and responded in large numbers to the new farms and their requirements. The Dutch official Van Rheede whom we met last episode wrote a scathing note to the colonists about the children of slaves – and by 1700 three quarters of these children had white fathers.
He said the children of slaves – dusky skinned, blonde haired and even blue eyed – should receive the same education as other children. The Freeburgers were shocked and disagreed. ]]> History Sun, 27 Jun 2021 08:48:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 20 – The breakdown of Khoekhoe society in the Cape, corruption and miscegenation 0 0 Des Latham full 17:16 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1058367 https://iono.fm/e/1058367
Last episode we heard how new Governor Simon van der Stel who arrived in 1679 began a rapid expansionist policy in the Cape, including building two new towns – Stellenbosch and Drakenstein.

The last two decades of the 17th Century and the first two of the eighteenth are regarded as the most important in the early history of South Africa – at least with regard to colonization.

After 1707 the VOC effort at peopling the country slowed significantly. It was the fear of the British then the French that had driven the Dutch to make a decision to increase settlers in the Cape between the 1660s and the turn of the century.
Ultimately and ironically, considering the Dutch/French War, salvation really came indirectly from France.

There had long been French speaking Walloons in the United Provinces of Holland who had fled from the Spanish terror at the end of the sixteenth century. These refugees were now being joined by the Huguenots who had abandoned France. That was in response King Louis XIVs severe view of anyone who had a reformed faith
Naturally after years of failing to attract large numbers of settlers to the Cape, the Heeren Seventeen regarded the Huguenots as a pool of possible immigrants to exploit. Some of the Frenchmen knew how to make wine, brandy and vinegar.
Things were moving in the Cape. By 1689 van der Stel had occasion to meet a sailor shipwrecked in terra de Natal. Captain W Knyff of the Dutch East India company managed to make his way back to the Peninsular after living amongst the people in the region for a year. He told van der Stel that the people who helped him were peaceable and obliging. Two other sailors had already been living amongst the people who known as the Xhosa. ]]> History Sun, 20 Jun 2021 09:46:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 19 – The French Huguenots arrive in 1688 while to the north the Xhosa deal with shipwrecked European sailors 0 0 Des Latham full 20:36 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1054788 https://iono.fm/e/1054788
Let me first start with race relations. South Africans probably have no idea that the man who launched the most aggressive drive to expand into Africa was not born in Europe – he was born in Mauritius of Dutch and Indian stock. Had he been born after apartheid’s firm grasp fixed South African in a race-based laws after 1948 he would have been classified coloured.

The man who ran the first version of our country would have been denied the right to vote and forced to take second-class trains. And yet he introduced colonialism in South Africa in its full stark reality.

History. Got to love it in all its irony.
He arrived with his six children, but not his wife. She refused to make the trip so he was not only a coloured governor, he was also single parent. Van der Stel was to found a South African dynasty, casting off his links to the motherland.
More than a thousand miles away to the north another process which had started hundreds of years before was also to prove significant and we need to return to this part of Southern Africa for an update.

From the fourteenth century, Shona and Sotho speakers were in close proximity in the Soutpansburg close to the Limpopo River.

The Venda people were emerging from the Singo – an offshoot of the Shona. There’s a lot of debate between archaeologists and traditionalists around this story where Venda oral history speaks of the Singo Capital Dzata. ]]> History Sun, 13 Jun 2021 09:21:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 18 – Early days of coloured single-parent Simon van der Stel and the first Venda miners appear 0 0 Des Latham full 19:01 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1051168 https://iono.fm/e/1051168
The growing population at the Cape meant both the colonisers and the passing fleets needed to be well fed with fresh produce. The colonial programme was created to foster farming to supply the station’s needs – and it was the expanding use of arable land and fresh water that went along with it that further exacerbated the conflict with the indigenous peoples.
By the early 1670s the colonial government was convinced the Gonnema had begun to instigate a series of attacks on Europeans. In some of these cases, clans who were answerable to Gonnema assaulted farmers.

In others, the much feared San hunters who were also under Gonnema’s sway ambushed and killed Dutch hunters who had begun to penetrate their territories. ]]> History Sun, 06 Jun 2021 09:53:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 17 – The second Khoe-Dutch war of 1673-1677 and the Cape begins to develop a cosmopolitan nature 0 0 Des Latham full 19:55 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1047004 https://iono.fm/e/1047004
As we’ve heard, the trading with the Khoe at the Cape is not going as well as the Dutch hoped and Jan Van Riebeeck the fort commander had decided to lay out his formal frontier albeit a tiny start to what would become a major immigration. And it would start with a tree called the Bitter Almond which considering what was to happen to the Khoe over the next century, is a pretty accurate name.

But first, some domestic news.

Remember van Riebeeck had arrived in 1652 with his whole family – his wife Maria de la Quellerie was a relatively strong person of 22 when she landed on the shores of Table Bay as one of the six European women joining the 80 odd men.

The other five were all married to various officials living at the Fort. Maria and Jan had arrived with a child of their own as well as two orphaned nieces. She was sickly and pregnant almost every year while at the Cape – having one miscarriage after another. The van Riebeeck’s had arrived with a son and two adopted daughters but their attempt at having a fourth child appeared to be doomed.

Living with the van Riebeecks was a really interesting Khoe woman called Krotoa. As Patric Mellet points out in his work, the lie of 1652, Krotoa was a key figure in the struggle between the Khoe and the Dutch. From various descriptions, Krotoa is likely to have been fathered by a European traveler with her Khoe mother who left Krotoa’s upbringing to her brother Autshumao. Basically her mother disowned her it appears but that didn’t stop the youngster from developing into quite a force at the Dutch fort. ]]> History Sun, 30 May 2021 09:21:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 16 – Krotoa aka Eva and the Khoekhoe disputes of the 1660s 0 0 Des Latham full 18:06 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1043734 https://iono.fm/e/1043734
Up to now the relationship between the Dutch and the various Khoe tribes on the Cape Flats has been rife and filled with chaos. Things as you’ll hear, are not going to improve or settle down.

By January 1659, Doman one of the Khoe translators we heard about last week had become disillusioned about Dutch aims in the Cape. He’d seen the VOC in action after a trip to the Far East, to the Dutch capital Batavia and was impressed by their organizational capacity and power. But now, back home, he was aware that the KHoe people were no longer able to fully control their futures. And he was angry with Jan van Riebeeck for taking three Khoe chiefs hostage as the Dutch tried to force the Khoe to bring their escape slaves back.

And worse, the Europeans had begun to show signs of settling in for the long haul – after all the first tranche of free burghers had just been given their 28 hectare plots around modern day Rondebosch and between the Liesbeeck and Salt Rivers which was prime Khoe grazing land. Now it was out of bounds to people who had seen generations use the same land.

A census in December 1658 had revealed that the company was farming over 300 hectares of Cape Peninsular land.

Stock thefts begin to take place in earnest in January 1659 – and the freeburghers were the victims to a large extent. They had started farming as we’ve heard in 1657 and the Khoe focused on their small herds as there was not much that the Dutch could do in their little isolated farms.
The Khoekhoe for their part said the land was their mother and the Dutch were raping their land. ]]> History Sun, 23 May 2021 09:13:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 15 – The first Khoe-Dutch war of 1659-60, van Riebeeck lays out a mini-frontier and horses in the Cape. 0 0 Des Latham full 19:57 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1040147 https://iono.fm/e/1040147
It must be remembered that the VOC did not envisage colonization as an end to itself. It merely wished to substitute limited private farming for state production in order to reduce expenditure.

So far we’ve heard how the VOC company commander at the Cape of Good Hope had managed to grow his vegetables and fruit, but was not able to secure enough head of cattle from the Khoekhoe despite his constant trading and badgering.

The Khoe for their part had realized that the Dutch were not going to go away and had begun to show signs of more aggression – particularly in 1655 and 1656 with groups of Khoe setting up their shelters close to the VOC fort.

By January 1657 van Riebeeck was visited by Harry the Strandloper who had become a significant player in the Cape, along with a local Khoe chief they called The Fat Captain. His name was Gogosoa and he was paramount chief of the Gorachouqua and Goringhaicona. More about him in a while.

He represented a group of Khoe living where Salt River is today – and both were unhappy about what they heard when they received information that the Dutch were going to allow freeburghers to own land.

They were opposed to the idea of freemen, of Dutch settlers permitted to own their own land around the fort. Van Riebeeck explained that there was enough room for all and that all would benefit from the corn and tobacco grown on these new farms. This did not placate the Khoekhoe who argued their case and then left. ]]> History Sun, 16 May 2021 09:00:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 14 – The first settlers begin farming on Khoekhoe grazing land, Doman plans an uprising and slaves in the Cape. 0 0 Des Latham full 19:38 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1036635 https://iono.fm/e/1036635
Last episode I explained how the Dutch were facing a problem in terms of communication. No-one in the little fortress could speak Khoekhoe and they were relying on Khoe translators. What the Dutch did not properly understand for quite a while is just how fractured the Khoe were as a people who functioned as small clans and often at war with each other. As we will hear over coming podcasts, Khoe hierarchy was a fleeting thing based on economic power and not laws of succession.

By December 1652 the group of Khoe van Riebeeck called “The Saldanhas” had migrated back to their grazing lands along the base of Table Mountain – where Kirstenbosch, Constantia and the Steenberg is today. He wrote that

“…the country is covered with cattle and sheep as grass…”

These Saldanhas or Chochoquas were obviously different people compared to the Strandlopers as the Dutch called the small clan living along the Cape Town beach.

“there is nothing degenerate in the proud Saldanhas…” he wrote “they have all the traditional courtesy of the cattle-keeper…”

As far as van Riebeeck was concerned, they were unlike the non-cattle keeping Soaqua or San he was to meet. ]]> History Sun, 09 May 2021 09:29:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 13 – Harry the Strandloper makes off with the Dutch herd and van Riebeeck orders a new garden at Rondebosch 0 0 Des Latham full 20:17 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1033147 https://iono.fm/e/1033147
As we heard last episode, the fort would take a year to complete. The Dutch had arrived in the Cape at precisely the wrong time, it was Autumn and the Mediterranean climate meant the coming winter would be cold and wet.

Worse, the Khoekhoe had left their settlements on the Cape Flats heading up the east coast to areas which were more sheltered for the winter and van Riebeeck’s men suffered as meat was not available. They were reduced to eating penguins, seals and birds of different kinds to stay alive.

So by eight months and despite Jan van Riebeeck’s determination being tested, earth works had been built, gardens were laid out and seeds had been sown – and he’d even managed to harvest the first vegetables.

This was rather deceptive, because when the first large Dutch fleet passed by in March 1653, the ships themselves were obliged to contribute several tons of rice, together with salted meat and biscuit to the hungry garrison. And yet, some fresh meat was made available for the fleet along with fresh vegetables.

That by itself was quite an achievement. The Khoekhoe had largely left the Cape flats for winter so locating cattle to buy had been a big problem. Soon things improved as the Khoekhoe returned by December 1652 and were happy to trade their animals for tobacco and copper.

“the Saldanha’s seek to show us all the friendship they can..” wrote van Riebeeck on December 8th. But the Khoekhoe moved on a few days later and the Dutch fort commander seemed to forget his orders as he began to consider other ways to obtain cattle. ]]> History Sun, 02 May 2021 09:00:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 12 – Jan van Riebeeck’s refreshment station Khoekhoe blues 0 0 Des Latham full 17:57 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1029749 https://iono.fm/e/1029749
South Africa’s modern community is a melting pot of people and part of that melting story started when the Dutch company the VOC decided to build a refreshment station in Table Bay. But it took quite some time to convince the Heeren 17 to agree to this plan.

Van Riebeeck’s landing was also extremely well documented – the logs he kept and those maintained by the VOC is a vast repository of the past.

We need to talk a little about van Riebeeck. I mentioned a few things last episode, but now we must understand the short, fiery and energetic person more completely. He was lionised as the man who had vision leading the arrival of Europeans who came to live in south Africa – but the tale is not as it seems.

The real distinction for running a proper colony fell to later men such as Simon van der Stel and Hendryk van Rheede whereas van Riebeeck never wanted to remain in Africa.
In the mid-1600s the amaXhosa were still living in the vicinity of the Mbashe River in the modern Transkei and were going through a process of major segmentation as several chiefdoms hived off from the paramountcy. Some of their history was noted in 1554 after Portuguese ship São Bento ran aground at the mouth of the Mbhashe River. ]]> History Sun, 25 Apr 2021 08:21:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 11 – Jan van Riebeeck sets up the Tavern of the Seas and the amaXhosa/Khoekhoe relationship develops 0 0 Des Latham full 18:36 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1026114 https://iono.fm/e/1026114
Despite the English and the Dutch now beginning to use Table Bay as a stop off point, St Helena was still the preferred route to the Indies for most of the 17th Century. As I explained previously, the currents off the African West Coast were treacherous, and the Portuguese had experienced a few disasters in southern Africa as they tried to enslave locals.

By 1620 the number of European ships anchoring in the shadow of Table Mountain had increased, but had not reached the flood of vessels that would characterize the period after the first colony setup by the Dutch VOC official, Jan van Riebeek in 1652. ]]> History Sun, 18 Apr 2021 10:53:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 10 – Coree the Khoekhoe learns English and Jan van Riebeeck the surgeon is dispatched to the Cape. 0 0 Des Latham full 16:32 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1022482 https://iono.fm/e/1022482
In the first half of the 17th Century a regular system of trade developed between the Khoekhoe of the southwestern Cape and the visiting sailors. It boiled down, if you excuse the pun, to sheep and cattle exchanged for metals initially iron, but then brass and copper.

The Khoekhoe as we heard last episode were not interested in the baubels and trinkets dished up by would-be traders earlier and the Europeans learned very swiftly to trade valuable goods for valuable foods.

Unlike the farmers of eastern southern Africa, the Khoekhoe could not manufacture iron themselves but knew how to smelt metal.

The Tswana/Sotho and Nguni were already mining and smelting iron but in essence the KhoeKhoe remained what is known as stone age people. This is not an insult, its how historians refer to the use of technology. The Khoekhoe knew full well how valuable iron was an were using iron hoes, weapons and other metals extensively.

They didn’t need to figure out how to mine iron and other metals because there was so much trade in the product already that existed with iron goods flowing into Khoekhoe society before Europeans arrived from the farmers who knew how to grind and crush rock, extract the metals, then using bellows and charcoal to generate the heat required to melt the ore.
The Dutch meanwhile begin controlling Indian Ocean trade through their VOC company. They were also importing a new product called Coffee from the Dutch factory at Mocha on the tip of the Arabian peninsular and tea from Formosa or Taiwan as we know it today. ]]> History Sun, 11 Apr 2021 09:31:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 9 –KhoeKhoe power networks and the Dutch create the VOC charter company 0 0 Des Latham full 17:51 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1019492 https://iono.fm/e/1019492
At the same time, Great Zimbabwe had passed into history and the western parts of Zimbabwe were now controlling the trade routes between Southern Africa and the Indian ocean ports.

Meanwhile to the south, Sotho and Tswana speakers had pushed into the mixed Bushveld habitats that lie against the grasslands of the Highveld.
At this time, dry stone walling starts to be used to mark essential settlement boundaries, reaching the southern shores of the Vaal river and the Free State by the early 1600s.
Oral history has helped us a great deal as the Sotho and Tswana storytelling means we know that the people who moved here came from Botswana of today, and founded a core Tswana identity in the areas of present-day Rustenburg and Marico by the late 1400s.
There is an elaborate Tswana creation myth involving a leader called Matsieng who is said to have emerged from holes in the earth. This is now believed to be related to the origin of the Tswana northeast of capital of Botswana Gaborone where there are rock cavities and sumps in the riverbeds.
Once again Geology and landscape plays its part in our history.
Meanwhile, the last year of the fifteenth and through the sixteenth century, South Africa’s contacts with the outside world took on new forms. ]]> History Sun, 04 Apr 2021 09:36:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 8 - The San art of the Apocalypse, a Dutch maritime revolution and Sir Francis Drake lauds the ‘fairest Cape’ 0 0 Des Latham full 17:20 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1016532 https://iono.fm/e/1016532
Dias dropped anchor in Mossell bay and as his men filled their water barrels, they were approached by Khoe herders who were nearby.

There appears to have been some sort of confrontation, stones were thrown, and when the Portuguese fired back with a cross bow, one of the Khoe herders had been killed.

This was an ominous sign for future relationships. The first contact between Europeans and traditional Khoe herders ended in violence. It is not clear exactly what set this off but neither group could speak the other’s language which didn’t help.

Dias sailed onwards to Algoa Bay, then satisfied he’d rounded the tip of Africa, sailed home again passing Cape point and the future location of Cape Town on the way back.

As he journed home and just beyond the southern tip of Africa, Dias’ ships were hit by gale force winds and a major storm – so naturally he gave the Cape the name “Cabo de Todos los Tormentos” or Cape of Storms.

When he returned to Portugal King Joåo was delighted to hear about the route, but not exactly pleased with the name - but he had a good eye for public relations and ordered it changed to “Cabo de Båo Esperanza” or Cape of Good Hope – a name which remains in use to this day. I ended last episode by explaining how name changes are a natural human compulsion and King Joao was no different. ]]> History Sun, 28 Mar 2021 09:53:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 7 – Vasco de Gama reports African dogs also bark and the demise of Great Zimbabwe 0 0 Des Latham full 22:49 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1013332 https://iono.fm/e/1013332
Unlike areas of Africa further north and north west, slave trade did not impact this region for a number of reasons. The main is distance. Each mile further south from the main Arabian, Asian and European – then American centers of slavery meant was a threat to the survival of those unfortunate souls seized as slaves by intermediaries.

So Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe were not crucial in the trade of humans over the centuries, their power lay in goods rather than people.

We heard too how by the start of the eleventh century Mapungubwe culture had shifted from the Complex Cattle Pattern where each settlement featured a large cattle kraal in the centre – to something very different.

The spatial expression of status and the greater social distance between elite and commoner was expressed through the trade and storage of valuable products that replaced cattle as items regarded as most important.

While ivory had been traded for hundreds of years, gold became extremely important to the Mapungubwe people. Gold plated rhino statuettes, a bowl and scepter have been found in the grave or what we think was a royal cemetery on the Mapungubwe main settlement hilltop.

In more modern Shona ethnography, the black rhino is a symbol of political power and leadership so there is some speculation that the golden rhino found in the grave pointed to an important burial site. These royal burial sites are also smothered in some thing else … thousands of gold and glass trade beads
By 1000AD the first Tsotho/Tswana people and Nguni arrive - the latter following a course along the KwaZulu Natal coast. ]]> History Sat, 20 Mar 2021 19:40:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 6 - Mapungubwe, Great Zimbabwe, the first Sotho/Tswana and Nguni and a bit of Bartolomeu Dias 0 0 Des Latham full 18:33 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1009869 https://iono.fm/e/1009869
Pastoralists who farmed cereals are called Agro-pastoralists and these people preferred the Eastern region with its higher rainfall.

Sheep and later cattle herding pastoralists favoured the west initially.

This is one of separation points in South African history because the western people never did manage to manufacture their own iron-implements they merely bartered these when required.

They exchanged iron products from the Tswana and Sotho as well as the isiXhosa who were able to manufacture iron implements and weapons.

Then cattle arrived in the Cape and it looks like these came from the north east with early Tswana and Bantu pastoralists. This migration accelerated along with the increased size of settlements around 1000 years ago.

Remember by this time, people living in the latter part of the first millennium had already been trading constantly with the entrepots to the East, the Indian ocean ports, for generations.

This trade intensified after 1000AD first with Swahili-speakers based along the seaboard from modern Mozambique and north along the East African coast where Arab and other merchants would ply their trade from Zanzibar – through to the Red Sea.

The coastlines of East Africa as far South as Madagascar and of west Africa as far south as Sierra Leone were known to the Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans.

The East African coast had a string of Hindu settlements hundreds of years before the Christian era. Until the 4th Century AD, the Sabaean kingdom of Southern Arabia controlled the east coast of Africa. ]]> History Sun, 14 Mar 2021 08:45:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 5 - The Mapungubwe empire emerges from Indian Ocean trade networks in southern Africa 0 0 Des Latham full 23:21 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1006476 https://iono.fm/e/1006476
The movement of farmers into the eastern summer rainfall areas in the first one thousand years AD took place as the climate stabilised.

The ancestors of these first farmers domesticated sorghum and millet in the Sahel north of the equator and then brought their new skills southwards as they migrated.

When Bantu-speaking people arrived in southern Africa they integrated at times with the local population– the San and Khoe. This is proven by the incorporation of the hunter-gatherer clicks in both Zulu and Xhosa. You don’t assimilate parts of foreign languages without adopting something of the culture.

We heard last episode how important pottery has been in tracking what happened and when. On the basis of the style of pottery, three separate streams of movement into South Africa have been investigated. They’re known as the Phillipson’s Chifumbase Complex and is the research into deposits of shards of pottery that represent migrating people traveling and living from place to place on the landscape.

Two of the streams have a common origin in East Africa known as the Urewe Tradition.

The least controversial of the three is called the Kwale Branch linked to two distinct phases.

One was the Silverleaves which dates between 250 AD to 430AD and the second, the Mzonjani between 420AD to 580AD.

The pioneer phase involving these agriculturalists was centred on the coastal plains of southern Africa and many were found in present day KwaZulu Natal particularly around the Tugela River. ]]> History Sun, 07 Mar 2021 08:24:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 4 - Pottery and ivory trade between 250AD and 1000AD as farmers fan out over the coastal lowlands 0 0 Des Latham full 21:25 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/1002969 https://iono.fm/e/1002969
Prior to this the oceans had subsided as ice covered much of the world – leading to the coastline along the Indian and Atlantic seaboard of South Africa moving around one hundred kilometers out to sea beyond today’s beaches.

That poses a challenge as we investigate origins of man and woman on the sub-continent. Much of the archaeological evidence is now under hundreds of feet of sea water way offshore.

We do have some material inland, as well as the shellfish middens that began to appear much later in the record which allows us to piece together an increasingly accurate picture of what was going on.

South Africa’s prehistory has been divided into a series of phases based on broad patterns of technology. The primary distinction is between a reliance on chipped and flaked stone implements which is referred to as the Stone Age which begins with the peolithic period 2.5 million years ago – that’s the early stone age.

The middle stone age starts 150 000 years ago and ends around 30 000 BC, while the late stone age ends 2000 years ago.

That is when new people arrived in South Africa who had the ability to smelt iron weapons and tools – the Iron Age had arrived with these farmers from central Africa.

The first peoples of the region predated both the San and Khoe and of course we have no clear idea of their language. But we do have Mitocondrial DNA evidence and cultural artifacts.

First, let’s consider Hunter-gatherers who foraged along the seashore for shells and fish, and cooked seafood over fire -the original people of this land.

As there are a lot of hollowed caves along the South Eastern coastline of South Africa, many were extended and improved by the people living in them. ]]> History Sun, 28 Feb 2021 09:06:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 3 – 6000 year-old hunter-gatherer ochre and the first Bantu farmers arrive in Southern Africa 0 0 Des Latham full 21:30 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/999557 https://iono.fm/e/999557
Like the rest of Africa south of the Sahara, the landscape features a dominant high central plateau surrounded by coastal lowlands. Any glance at a proper map will show you that.

One of the more prominent features is the Great Escarpment between KwaZulu Natal and Lesotho otherwise known as the Drakensburg. That was caused by lava flows which are more resistant to weathering than conglomerates or sandstone.

Most of this lava has eroded away but a small patch remains and covers much of Lesotho today.

This mountainous area has a major part to play in our story, although these days South African’s are pretty disparaging about the tiny mountain kingdom.

Some regard it as the tenth province. That would be an historical mistake although Lesotho is utterly dependent on South Africa for its income – but that wasn’t always the case.

Consider what happened when the Boers first arrived at Basotho King Moshoeshoe’s door. The trekkers were escaping from British rule in the 1830s.

The Boers bartered meat and other goods for grain from the Sotho.

At that point migrating Dutch were not very good at planting or growing grains in sustainable volumes but much better at livestock management.

They were more like the Khoekhoe and San – less like the Xhosa and Zulu. This fact will sit most uncomfortably with those who believe some races are somehow genetically predisposed to be more effective farmers than others.

The Lesotho mountains were eroded in the south West by tributaries of the Orange River which drain the highlands away from the escarpment, making it rugged and particularly scenic landscape as the rivers head off to the Atlantic Ocean.
These mountains can rise to ten thousand feet with the highest peak of Thabana Ntlenyana at 11 500 feet. ]]> History Sun, 21 Feb 2021 08:50:00 +0200 0 0 Episode 2 - A scenic swoop through Southern Africa and the ice-age that almost caused human extinction 0 0 Des Latham full 22:10 History of South Africa podcast https://iono.fm/e/995988 https://iono.fm/e/995988
Each podcast will take around 20 minutes and at times I’ll be drawing on guests to provide expertise.

Just a note of thanks to one of the most unique and informed people I’ve ever met – apart from my wife of course!!

Through the academic year of 2000 and 2001 I was fortunate to attend a series of lectures at Harvard University delivered by the remarkable Professor John Stilgoe who is the Robert and Lois Orchard Professor in the History of Landscape Development.

Just to give you some idea about how erudite and informed he is – John was the youngest tenured professor ever at Harvard at age 24.

His understanding of historical connections through a broad array of sources and his factual precision was life-changing.
I dedicate this series to John Stilgoe thank you for those 2 hour lecturers that kept me enthralled with your sophisticated idiosyncratic presentation style and facts which remain with me for the rest of my life.
So to the topic –
In this episode will begin with pre-history where we understand that humans are merely a recent layer of mammal on top of ancient rocky outcrops.

Parts of South Africa feature some of the oldest rocks you will find anywhere on the planet.
And the oldest rocks bequeath the greatest wealth and southern Africa is especially well endowed.
2 billion years ago volcanic spasms squeezed magma through the crust and laid it down – an island of solid rock 400 kilometers long and 10 kilometres thick. It was one piece. This is crucial to understand what treasures it containes and have been tapped by Africans and then Europeans. ]]> History Sun, 14 Feb 2021 08:55:00 +0200 0 0 A Geology excursion and Southern African pre-history – wealth hidden in ancient rocks 0 0 Des Latham full 21:31 History of South Africa podcast