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

They arrived in the eastern Cape in 1820, farmed for some years, became civil
servants, were later in business and then became members of parliament, one
in the Cape and the other in Natal. Moodie was employed by D’Urban to collate
and then publish all official documents on the colony’s relationship with African
and Khoi peoples - in order to prepare D’Urban’s defence against the
accusation levelled at himself and the colonists by Philip and the
Commissioners of Inquiry, that they abused the rights of the indigenous
population (see chapter 2). 33 Moodie was, however, unable to go beyond 1809
and thus did not contribute to mfecane historiography other than by inspiring
Chase 34 to reprint official and other documents, linked together by his own
narrative, in a book in which he lobbied for the British annexation of Natal. The
reprinting of historical documents which confirmed the published events of the
mfecane narrative of the time, made this work a primary source of Natal and
Zulu history for writers from the 1840’s and well into the twentieth century. 35 The
inclusion of writings by Fynn, which Chase specially commissioned, 36 prepared
the way for the acceptance of Fynn by readers in southern African as an expert
on the Zulu and Natal, when he published articles in the 1850’s.
In summary, the contribution of writers in the 1840s to the development of
mfecane history was vital in five areas. The most important was the addition to
the mfecane “skeleton” of one further limb - the greater Caledon Valley area -
along with an accompanying narrative of horrific devastation caused by the
successive invasions of war-like chiefdoms from Natal and Zululand. Another
new element was the notion that these wars were so shattering that some
33 Moodie, Record. De Kock et al. (eds), Dictionary S. A. Biography (1968), I, 165-67. Philip,
Researches, 2 Vols. British Parliamentary Papers: 1836, VII (538). Rept. from Select Com. on
Aborigines, Aug. 1836. [Minutes, Appendix and Indexes only]; see 1837, VII (238), (425), and
1836, LI (330). Rept. from Select Com. on Aborigines (British Settlements), August 1836, and
1837, XLIII (503). Papers re Kaffir War 1835-7.
34 J.C. Chase (ed), Natal: A Reprint of all Authentic Notices (Grahamstown, 1843). De Kock et
al. (eds), Dictionary S. A. Biography (1972), II, 488-91. M.J. McGinn, 'J.C. Chase - 1820 Settler
and Servant of the Colony', M.A. thesis, Rhodes University, 1975, 52-88.
35 Ibid, 160.
36 Wylie, Savage Delight, 120.
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