Mpande's - University of Zululand Institutional Repository

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Mpande objected to British hunters and traders entering KwaZulu. He
also pressed for the return ofcattle that Zulu refugees took when they left
his kingdom. Mpande's emissaries argued that the British had promised
to return the cattle, but that only a hundred had been delivered. Mpande
further expressed his need for firearms and the British troops to check
Swazi provocations in the north ofKwaZulu. The colonial establishment
in Natal promised to ensure that no one interpose between the Zulus and
the British. The British pleaded ignorance of the arrangement regarding
cattle, but conceded the necessity to regulate traders entering the king's
domains.
The British Imperialists regarded the Zulu kingdom as a menace, but
were hamstrung when Mpande reaffirmed his loyalty to them. Mpande
also abandoned plans for an alliance with the Voortrekkers. By pledging
his support to the British, Mpande also did not necessarily cease his
encouragement of the remaining Voortrekkers south of the Thukela. He
hoped that keeping alive British-Voortrekker enmity would serve his own
interests.
The encounters between Mpande and various Christian missionaries were
presaged by sporadic attacks on mission stations by his predecessor
3 G.M. Theal: The Republic ofNatalia, p.39.