The Historiographical Development of the Concept “mfecane” and ...

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obtained from many different oral traditions. Molema and Stow were equally sceptical of the value of the elders’ stories, which ‘are but pitiful repositories of historical facts, both as to time and truth’. 77 All four works replicated Theal’s racial myths, with Africans being portrayed as barbarous, and European tutelage, as reflected in the contemporary ideology of segregation, being their only hope of aspiring to civilization. 78 The mfecane narrative in these texts was presented on two levels. On the level of generalised description, these texts differed little from previous ones. As Molema put it, ‘the Zulus and their Matabele kinsmen made South Africa a perfect Babel of confusion and a blood-soaked area, [and] threw the country into convulsions of horror and writhings of agony’. 79 The ultimate cause was Shaka’s creation of a cordon sanitaire to protect his state, which led to the expulsion of the Mantatees and Ndebele, who in turn attacked the chiefdoms of the Transvaal. Molema, of Rolong background, felt particularly bitter about ‘the generally disturbing factor of the time – Matebele of Moselekatse’. 80 However, an examination of their detailed micro-histories reveals a very different image. There was no “merry Africa” in their narratives, but a seamless history of wars, raids, peace, migrations, dispersals, nation-building of dispersed people and also peaceful settling down. The micro-histories show an intensification of these activities as a result of the invasion by the Mantatees and above all the Ndebele. However, the micro-histories make it clear that these invasions were not catastrophic, nor were any exterminations reported. The relocation of the Ndebele in 1837 did not lead to a period of peace because of ‘a general dislocation of the Bantu population between the Orange and the Limpopo’, 81 as 77 Ibid., 51-52. 78 Ibid., vii-xi, 6, 22, 35-36. Stow, Native Races of South Africa, viii-xii. Great Britain, Native Tribes, 5-8, 149. Transvaal (Colony), Short History, 7, 18, 22-24, 34-36. Smith, Changing Past, 133. Saunders, South African Past, 41. 79 Molema, Bantu Past and Present, 77. 80 Ibid., 41, 58-59, 66, 77, 80-85, 90, 94. His anti-Ndebele stance is reminiscent of S.T. Plaatje, Mhudi (Lovedale, 1930). See also Stow, Native Races of South Africa, 483-84. Transvaal (Colony), Short History, 18, 32, 39, 59. Great Britain, Native Tribes, 8-11, 100-01. 81 Ibid., 421-55, 549-51. 167
the War Office put it, by the boers of the Great Trek. In these works, three exceptional leaders were noted: Moshoeshoe, ‘a diplomat of the first order’, and ‘Khama the Good’ 82 as well as Sekwati of the Pedi state, who through nation- building united broken chiefdoms into new and strong states. Only Stow added that from 1823 to 1828 the Kora, ‘these ruthless desperados … [were] scattering throughout the Bachuana tribes devastation, famine and death’, 83 but he also regarded them as a late, additional factor. Without contradicting the dominant discourse of the mfecane narrative in their general sections, a close reading of the micro-histories reveals a contradictory sub-discourse that was neither noted at the time nor for decades thereafter, indicating that, though there was an intensification of conflict, this did not amount to massive depopulation. 84 Winter was a very unusual, pro-African, second-generation, German missionary at a time when most German missionaries’ children had turned conservative, anti-African and pro-boer. Not only was he the only missionary invited to join the newly-formed independent Bapedi Lutheran Church in 1890, but he accepted without hesitating. 85 He wrote several ethnographical articles and would have produced an anthropological work on the Pedi of the same quality as Junod had for the Tsonga-speaking people. 86 The history of the Pedi state in the Eastern 82 Molema, Bantu Past and Present, 66. 83 Stow, Native Races of South Africa, 485. 84 Ibid., 513-14, 528. Great Britain, Native Tribes, 8-9, 20-22, 74-80, 91-92. Transvaal (Colony), Short History, 31-32, 39. Molema, Bantu Past and Present, 41, 50-51, 59, 66, 85. 85 L. Zöllner and J.A. Heese, The Berlin Missionaries in South Africa and their Descendants (Pretoria, 1984), 466-67. K. Poewe, 'From Volk to Apartheid: The Dialectic Between German and Afrikaner Nationalism', in U. von der Heyden, and H. Liebau, (eds), Missionsgeschichte - Kirchengeschichte - Weltgeschichte (Stuttgart, 1996), 191-213. U. von der Heyden, ‘Das Schrifttum der Deutschen Missionsgesellschaften als Quelle für die Geschichtsschreibung Südafrikas’, in von der Heyden et al. (eds), Missionsgeschichte , 127-28. 86 J.A. Winter, 'Hymns in Praise of Famous Chiefs’, South African Journal of Science, 9 (1912). J.A. Winter, 'The Phallus Cult amongst the Bantu: Particularly the Bapedi of Eastern Transvaal', South African Journal of Science, 9 (1913). J.A. Winter, 'Native Medicines', South African Journal of Science, 11 (1914). J.A. Winter, 'The Mental and Moral Capabilities of the Natives, Especially of Sekukuniland, Eastern Transvaal', South African Journal of Science, 11 (1914). 168
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The Historiographical Development o
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General Histories 172 Chapter 6: Co
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his expulsion of several chiefdoms;
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The Graphics Services Unit, S. Abra
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The Library of the Rand Afrikaans U
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List of Maps Map 1 - Geographical R
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Chapter 1 Introduction Then you wil
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century was caused by the “mfecan
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produce a tradition, or what Michel
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which were to dominate Western thou
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was the "baggage" in the European w
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leader runs the risk of writing wit
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waged by nomadic tribes accompanied
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exaggerate in their talk, and we fe
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incorporated the remaining people i
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history’. 63 Consequently, libera
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Bantu settled in various blocks in
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‘From the 1970s it was the radica
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While Cobbing and the historians in
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illustrates, in part, the weddednes
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Map 2 - mfecane in the 1823 to 1838
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during this period, as it took the
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concepts of a theoretical equality
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tortuous, but information regarding
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However, this contradiction was not
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were murky and secretive, but were
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first assault out onto the highveld
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Map 3 - Thompson’s Map, 1827 This
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major implications for the later de
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Association”, for the British ann
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also applied to refugees from north
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Godlonton had come to the eastern C
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and the gallant settlers from their
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ecently abandoned mission station a
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travelled to Britain where he becam
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Make them [Zulu] out as blood thirs
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hand, to gather geographical, biolo
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despondency bordering on despair, o
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state at their various locations on
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cruel monster’ 127 along with oth
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depopulating all areas within their
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The writing of African history in t
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Map 5 - Harris’s Map, 1839 Harris
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Arbousset began the convention of g
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prove to their pro-mission readers,
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were the depopulators of the highve
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people became cannibals, first by n
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exercise, and the commission’s re
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him to reorganise the Mthethwa mili
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eastern Free State. There they were
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these authors followed their consci
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The second author, Shaw, had introd
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D’Urban’s, Godlonton’s and Ay
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of eight chiefdoms which, fleeing f
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Zulu” and the Natal African chief
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which there was a preponderance of
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state. Authors who focused only on
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The concept ”imperial”, as in t
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Cape Colony back to Britain in 1884
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supposed mythological roots of race
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Late Victorian Authors Numerous boo
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Page 139 and 140: Babrow’s acknowledgment of Theal
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Page 143 and 144: approach to history in general and
Page 145 and 146: his use of some archival documents,
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Page 151 and 152: mfecane narrative. He regarded Shak
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Page 161 and 162: Natal and Zululand During this peri
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Page 185 and 186: Walker’s contribution to the mfec
Page 187 and 188: Afrikaner history. The few European
Page 189 and 190: Ellenberger resuscitated Arbousset
Page 191 and 192: Chapter 6 Conclusion If the white m
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Page 195 and 196: than Shaka. The only surprising exc
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Page 199 and 200: from Natal directly, like the Qwabe
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Page 215 and 216: A378 (D) G.E. Cory, A Short History
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Page 219 and 220: Frost, P.J. A Bibliography of Missi
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Page 223 and 224: 3.3 Orange Freestate (Republic) ‘
Page 225 and 226: Précis of Information Concerning S
Page 227 and 228: Bank, A. 'The Great Debate and the
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Eldredge, E.A. ‘Sources of Confli
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Maloka, E.T. 'Missionary Historiogr
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Stapleton, T.J. 'Oral Evidence in a
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Wylie, D. 'A.T. Bryant's Inexplicab
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'Instructions Addressed to the Dire
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'The Orange Freestate Forty Years A
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Atmore, A. and Marks, S. 'The Imper
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Brill, J. 'Een Gedenkskrift over de
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Cobbing, J. 'A Tainted Well: The Ob
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Ellenberger, D.F. 'History of the B
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Hamilton, C. 'An Appetite for the P
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Hyam, R. 'African Interests and the
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Kennedy, R.F. 'Historical Accuracy'
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Lewis, L. ‘Book Review of: An Acc
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Milne, J. 'Major Warden: Early Life
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Okoye, F.N.C. 'Tschaka and the Brit
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Reyburn, H.A. 'Piet Retief to Dunca
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Scully, W.C. 'Fragments of Native H
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Thompson, J.N. 'William Rowland Tho
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Vivian, 'Expedition Into Central Af
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Wylie, D. 'Proprietor of Natal: Hen
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Evangelical Missionary Society, on
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Beloff, M. Britain's liberal empire
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Bourne, H.R.F. Blacks and Whites in
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Bryant, A.T. Olden Times in Zululan
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Carlyle, J.E. South Africa and its
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Churchill, W.S. The River War ([ori
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Cory, G.E. The Rise of South Africa
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Dieterlen, H. Adolphe Mabille [1836
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Eldredge, E.A. 'Sources of Conflict
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Fraser, A. Boadicea's Chariot: The
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Gledhill, E. and J. In the Steps of
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Haggard, H.R. Cetshwayo and His Whi
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Henige, D.P. Oral Historiography (L
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Ireland, W. Historical Sketch of th
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Kiernan, V.G. The Lords of Human Ki
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Lehmann, E. and Reckwitz, E. 'The D
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Lucas, L. 'Historical Geography of
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Malan, J.H. Die Opkomst van 'n Repu
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Moffat, R. A Life's Labours in Sout
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Murray, H., Prof. Jameson and Wilso
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Orpen, J.M. Some Principles of Nati
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Plaatje, S.T. Mhudi: An Epic of Sou
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Reynolds, E. Stand the Storm: A His
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Saunders, C.C. The Making of the So
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Smith, K.W. From Frontier to Midlan
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Tatlow, A.H. Natal Province: Descri
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Thompson, G. Travels and Adventures
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Vail, L. ‘Ethnicity in Southern A
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Visagie, J.C. Die Trek uit Oos-Riet
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Webb, C. de B. The Mfecane, Centre
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Wright, J. 'Political Transformatio
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