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

than Shaka. The only surprising exception was Moshoeshoe, who was variously
described by all writers as a good chief, a wise ruler and a mild person who
pursued justice. This demonstrates that it was ultimately not the African rulers’
innate ability that determined their image in European publications but the
writers’ repetition of pre-existing stereotypes.
While the treatment of the purported depopulation of Natal was uneven in the
literature, all authors treated it as fact, as they did the belief that only
scavengers and cannibals survived in Natal. The initial reports by Port Natal
traders of the mid and late 1820’s blamed Shaka for sending in his armies
because, so they reported, he wanted to be the only black king whose realm
bordered on the white king’s country, the Cape Colony (see Chapter 2). This
version was repeated by most authors even though the motives stated for the
extermination differed. There were also some alternative ideas. Shepstone
introduced the four-wave theory, whereby he blamed four chiefdoms for a first
series of attacks on 39 Natal chiefdoms, followed later by the Zulu finishing off
the remaining 54, as discussed in Chapter 4. This idea was only picked up by
Theal in an early work - but not his major ones wherein he blamed Shaka’s Zulu
amaButho for the depopulation - and by Bryant, in his Dictionary in 1905, as
Shepstone only published it in an obscure form. 14 Whiteside in his Fingo history
narrates how the Mbo fled from Shaka through a Natal in which there was no
food, with most of the Mbo dying there. He failed to indicate whether this was as
a result of Natal’s depopulation or as a result of the Mbo destroying the Natal
chiefdoms. 15 The legacy to the rest of the twentieth century historians was the
myth that the Zulu depopulated Natal, as transmitted through Theal, Cory and
Walker (see Chapter 5).
Ngwane history was throughout contradictorily portrayed in the works
examined. This was largely due to the geographical area in which the author
was situated and his ideology. Writers focusing on the Eastern Cape or Natal,
14 Shepstone, ‘Historical Sketch', 85. Theal, Compendium. Bryant, ‘Early History of the Zulu
People', 48-49.
15 Ayliff et al., History of Abambo.
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