Mpande's - University of Zululand Institutional Repository

-119-
The British renegade and adventurer, John Dunn, kept the Zulu king up to
date about the struggle between the British and the Voortrekkers. When
informed about the surrender of the Voortrekkers, Mpande expelled some
of them from KwaZulu and destroyed all homesteads under their
control. l54 This re-kindled the flight of his subjects to Natal ill large
numbers. The British did not prevent the Zulu influx into Natal. Instead,
T.C. Smith announced that:
"the KajJirs are to be permitted to remain
unmolested on the land they presently occupy,
no force is to be used against them for
procuring the restitution ofthe cattle taken by
them during the period when the Emigrants
were in rebellion ... "J5S
It should be noted, however, that Smith's announcement also applied to
Africans already in Natal. It is not proof that the British were not
prepared to prevent a Zulu influx.
Because the annexation ofNatal in 1842 first had to be confirmed, Napier
allowed the Republic's Volksraad to continue to function. All suggestions
of this council in lieu of the Natal Zulus were obstructed and
disapproved. 156
96
'"
G.S. Preller: Voonrekkermense, p. 38; G.E. Cory: The Rise ofSouth Africa, p. 162.
G.T. Napier to T.e. Smith, 19 August 1842, Bird, 11 Annals ofNatal, pp. 95 - 96.
F.R. Cana: South Africa from the Great Trek to the Union, pp. 12 - 15.