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

Transvaal, though alluded to in the above four publications, only entered the
mfecane narrative in English through Winter’s two articles based on Ra’lolo’s
royal Pedi oral traditions, though some of this information had been available in
German for three decades. 87 Several crucial aspects of Pedi history during the
mfecane were revealed in Winter’s two articles. Pedi nation-building had
preceded the Ndebele invasion, after which the Pedi state collapsed and its
constituent chiefdoms became vassals of the Ndebele. The power vacuum
created by the Ndebele’s departure was filled initially by cannibals, who
subsequently were forced to become farmers by the Koni chiefdom. In Ra’lolo’s
opinion, stories of cannibals were purely fictional. During the Ndebele interlude,
Morena Sekwati regrouped the Pedi remnants in exile in the Zoutpansberg,
eventually leading them back to the Steelpoort River area to rebuild his
ancestral state. He too used mountain fortresses, which enabled him later to
withstand the attacks by the Swazi and the Zulu AmaButho of inKosi Mpande. 88
This text is also clearly part of a contradictory sub-discourse in which the
Ndebele invasion is seen as leading to disruption and the extortion of tribute,
but not to depopulation.
Three Rhodesian authors published works on Ndebele history. Hole, born in
England, held several senior positions in the British South Africa Company -
both in Rhodesia and in London - from 1890 until his retirement in 1928. He put
his writing ability to good use and soon was recognised as the ‘public defender
of the Company’. 89 Thus his interest was essentially in the colonial period and it
was only by the end of the 1920’s that he published on article with mfecane-
related content. Posselt, like Winter, was a son of German missionaries. Unlike
H.A. Junod, Life of a South African Tribe, 2 Vols. ([originally Neuchâtel, Switzerland, 1912-
1913], reprinted, London, 1927). Harries, ‘Roots of Ethnicity', 25-52.
87 J.A. Winter, 'The Tradition of Ra’lolo', Report of the South African Association for the
Advancement of Science, 9 (1912), 87-100. J.A. Winter, 'The History of Sekwati', Report of the
South African Association for the Advancement of Science, 9 (1912), 329-332. Wangemann,
Berliner Mission im Koranalande. Wangemann, Lebensbilder aus Südafrika.
88 Winter, ‘Tradition of Ra’lolo', 87-100. Winter, ‘History of Sekwati', 329-332.
89 ‘Foreword to the reprinted edition’, in H.M. Hole, The Passing of the Black Kings ([originally
London, 1932], reprinted, Bulawayo, 1978), folio 3.
169