The
Bambatha Uprising was a
ZuluThe Zulu are the largest South African ethnic group of an estimated 10–11 million people who live mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Small numbers also live in Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Mozambique. Their language, Zulu, is a Bantu language; more specifically, part of the Nguni...
revolt against British rule and taxation in
NatalThe Colony of Natal was a British colony in south-eastern Africa. It was proclaimed a British colony on May 4, 1843 after the British government had annexed the Boer Republic of Natalia, and on 31 May1910 combined with three other colonies to form the Union of South Africa...
,
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
, in 1906. The revolt was led by Bambatha kaMancinza (c1860-1906?), leader of the Zondi clan of the Zulu people, who lived in the Mpanza Valley: a district near
Greytown, KwaZulu-NatalGreytown is a town situated on the banks of the Umvoti River in a richly fertile timber-producing area of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.-History:...
.
In the years following the
Anglo-Boer WarThe Second Boer War , commonly referred to as The Boer War and also known as the South African War , the Anglo-Boer War and in Afrikaans as the Anglo-Boereoorlog or Tweede Vryheidsoorlog , or the Engelse oorlog was fought...
white employers in Natal had difficulty recruiting black farm workers because of increased competition from the
goldGold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. It has been a highly sought-after precious metal for coinage, jewelry, and other arts since the beginning of recorded history. The metal occurs as nuggets or grains in rocks, in veins and in alluvial deposits. Gold is...
mines of the
WitwatersrandThe Witwatersrand is a low, sedimentary range of hills, at an elevation of 1700-1800 metres above sea-level, which runs in an east-west direction through Gauteng in South Africa. The word in Afrikaans means "the ridge of white waters". Geologically it is complex, but the principal formations are...
.
The
Bambatha Uprising was a
ZuluThe Zulu are the largest South African ethnic group of an estimated 10–11 million people who live mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Small numbers also live in Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Mozambique. Their language, Zulu, is a Bantu language; more specifically, part of the Nguni...
revolt against British rule and taxation in
NatalThe Colony of Natal was a British colony in south-eastern Africa. It was proclaimed a British colony on May 4, 1843 after the British government had annexed the Boer Republic of Natalia, and on 31 May1910 combined with three other colonies to form the Union of South Africa...
,
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
, in 1906. The revolt was led by Bambatha kaMancinza (c1860-1906?), leader of the Zondi clan of the Zulu people, who lived in the Mpanza Valley: a district near
Greytown, KwaZulu-NatalGreytown is a town situated on the banks of the Umvoti River in a richly fertile timber-producing area of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.-History:...
.
Overview
In the years following the
Anglo-Boer WarThe Second Boer War , commonly referred to as The Boer War and also known as the South African War , the Anglo-Boer War and in Afrikaans as the Anglo-Boereoorlog or Tweede Vryheidsoorlog , or the Engelse oorlog was fought...
white employers in Natal had difficulty recruiting black farm workers because of increased competition from the
goldGold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. It has been a highly sought-after precious metal for coinage, jewelry, and other arts since the beginning of recorded history. The metal occurs as nuggets or grains in rocks, in veins and in alluvial deposits. Gold is...
mines of the
WitwatersrandThe Witwatersrand is a low, sedimentary range of hills, at an elevation of 1700-1800 metres above sea-level, which runs in an east-west direction through Gauteng in South Africa. The word in Afrikaans means "the ridge of white waters". Geologically it is complex, but the principal formations are...
. The colonial authorities introduced a £1
poll taxA poll tax, head tax, or capitation tax is a tax of a portioned, fixed amount per individual in accordance with the census . When a corvée is commuted for cash payment, in effect it becomes a poll tax...
in addition to the existing hut tax to encourage black men to enter the labour market. Bambatha, who ruled about 5,500 people living in about 1,100 households, was one of the chiefs who resisted the introduction and collection of the new tax.
The government of Natal sent
police officerA police officer is a warranted employee of a police force. Police officers are generally responsible for apprehending criminals, maintaining public order, and preventing and detecting crimes...
s to collect the tax from recalcitrant districts, and in February 1906 two white officers were killed near
Richmond, KwaZulu-NatalRichmond is a town situated on the banks of the upper Illovo River in the midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Timber, sugarcane, poultry, citrus fruit and dairy goods are produced here....
. In the resulting introduction of martial law, Bambatha fled north to consult King Dinizulu, who gave tacit support to Bambatha and invited him and his family to stay at the royal homestead.
Bambatha returned to the Mpanza Valley to discover that the Natal government had deposed him as chief. He gathered together a small force of supporters and began launching a series of
guerrillaGuerrilla warfare is the irregular warfare warfare and combat in which a small group of combatants use mobile military tactics in the form of ambushes and raids to combat a larger and less mobile formal army....
attacks, using the Nkandla forest as a base. Following a series of initial successes, colonial troops under the command of
ColonelColonel is a military rank of a commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every country in the world. It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
Duncan McKenzie set out on an expedition in late April 1906.
Once they succeeded in getting face to face with and surrounding the rebels at Mome Gorge, the British victory in the unequal battler was inevitable, given the vast disparity of forces. As the sun rose, colonial soldiers opened fire with machine guns and cannon, on rebels mostly armed only with traditional
assegaiAn assegai or assagai is a pole weapon used for throwing or hurling, usually a light spear or javelin made of wood and pointed with iron....
s (spears), knobkerries (fighting sticks) and
cowhideCowhide is the natural product/by-product of the food industry from cattle. Used in items such as shoes and leather jackets, it ensures that less of an animal is wasted post-slaughter.-Process:...
shieldA shield is a protective device, meant to intercept attacks, either by stopping projectiles such as arrows or by glancing a blow to the side of the shield-user. Shields vary greatly in size, ranging from large shilds that protect the user's entire body to small shields that are mostly for use in...
s.
Bambatha was killed and beheaded during the battle; however, many of his supporters believed that he was still alive, and his wife refused to go into mourning. Bambatha's main ally, the 95-year-old Zulu
aristocratThe aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in society, who traditionally have land, money, and power. They are often members of a hereditary nobility that derives its stature from a lineage traceable to the original inhabitants or rulers of a region...
Inkosi Sigananda SheziSigananda kaSokufa was a Zulu aristocrat whose life spanned the reigns of four Zulu kings in southeastern Africa.-Life and career:...
of the amaCube clan (cousin and near-contemporary of the Zulu king
ShakaShaka was the most influential leader of the Zulu Kingdom....
) was captured by the colonial troops and died a few days later.
Between 3,000 and 4,000 Zulus were killed during the revolt (some of whom died fighting on the side of the Natal government). More than 7,000 were imprisoned, and 4,000 flogged. King Dinizulu was arrested and sentenced to four years imprisonment for treason.
Mahatma GandhiMohandas Karamchand Gandhi was the pre-eminent political and spiritual leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
, who was in South Africa at the time, felt that the Indians in South Africa would do best for themselves to serve the
British EmpireThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom, that had originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height it was...
as a reserve force in the Army against the Zulu uprising.
Commemoration
In 2006, the hundredth anniversary of the rebellion was commemorated in a ceremony which declared Chief Bambatha a national hero of post-Apartheid South Africa. Also, his picture appeared on a postage stamp and a street was renamed in his honor.
According to speeches in the ceremony, the beheaded body had not really been Bambatha's and the actual chief succeeded in escaping to
MozambiqueMozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest. It was explored by Vasco da Gama in 1498...
. This belief is still widely current; a DNA test of his alleged body failed to give a definite answer.
Trivia
- An account of the rebellion by famed Zulu historian Jeff Guy was carried in The Witness, a Pietermaritzburg
Pietermaritzburg is the capital and second largest city of the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. It was founded in 1838. Its "purist" Zulu name is umGungundlovu, as seen in the name of its municipality, although it is popularly called Maritzburg in English and Zulu alike, and abbreviated PMB...
newspaper in a series of supplements in 2006 in honour of the centenary of the rebellion.
- Bhambata's grandson, Baba Ntomobela, is a revered member] of the shack
A shack is a type of small house that is in disrepair. The word may derive from the Nahuatl word xacalli or "adobe house" by way of Mexican Spanish xacal/jacal, which has the same meaning as "shack". It was a common usage among people of Mexican ancestry throughout the U.S...
dwellers' movement Abahlali baseMjondoloAbahlali baseMjondolo is a shack-dwellers' movement in South Africa. The movement grew out of a road blockade organized from the Kennedy Road shack settlement in the city of Durban in early 2005 and now also operates in the cities of Pietermaritzburg and in Cape Town...
in contemporary DurbanDurban is the third most populous city in South Africa, forming part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. It is the largest city in KwaZulu-Natal and is famous as the busiest port in Africa. It is also a major centre of tourism due to the city's warm subtropical climate and...
.
External links