A history of the Zulu Rebellion, 1906, and of Dinuzulu's arrest, trial, and expatriation — Story, Setting & Ideas

ic was recognized by Britain, its limitations were defined, and a large portion of country alleged to have been ceded was recovered for the Zulus, including all the coast land round St. Lucia Bay.

In May, 1887, the Imperial Government assumed full control of the affairs of Zululand, the Governor's proclamation of formal annexation being read at Eshowe in the presence of some 15,000 Zulus.

Other disturbances arose between Dinuzulu and Zibebu in 1887-8, but as the country had been formally annexed by the Imperial Government, and as it appeared Dinuzulu and his two uncles, Ndabuko and Tshingana, had deliberately contravened the law, of whose provisions they were fully aware, they were arrested on a charge of public violence. Their trial took place at Eshowe before a specially-constituted court, when all three were convicted and sentenced to ten, fifteen and twelve years' imprisonment, respectively. Early in 1889, they were deported to St. Helena. There they remained until the end of 1897, when they were taken back to Zululand. Their return followed immediately upon the annexation of Zululand to Natal, when, of course, the Imperial Government ceased to directly control the affairs of the former territory. The terms of Dinuzulu's repatriation will call for particular notice in a later chapter.

In the Act of Annexation[19] it was provided that "until other provisions shall have been made ... with the approval of Her Majesty, no grants or alienation of Crown Lands ... shall be made, nor till then shall the Natives be disturbed in the use and occupation of any lands occupied or used by them at the time of the taking effect of this Act." In 1902, a Commission was appointed for the purpose of delimiting tracts of country to be reserved for occupation of the Natives, on the one hand, and those for immediate and future European occupation, on the other. About seven-twelfths of the country (whose total acreage is 6,695,000), or approximately 3,887,000 acres, divided into twenty-one separate locations, were reserved for the exclusive occupation of the Natives, whose numbers, at that time, fell just short of 200,000. Much of this land, however, was and still is unsuitable for human habitation, either because of its being too arid and stony for cultivation, of malarial fever being prevalent therein, or of its being infested with the tsetse fly. The total area set apart for European occupation was 2,808,000 acres. The recommendations of the Commission received the approval of the Imperial Government, whereupon the blocks set apart for Europeans were surveyed into farms not exceeding 500 acres apiece, mainly on the coast belt south of the Mhlatuze River, and disposed of to sugar planters. Similarly reserved lands in other parts were not so readily taken up. This opening of the door on a large scale to European settlers undoubtedly went a long way towards unsettling the people.

[Footnote 2: Natal was discovered by a Portuguese navigator, Vasco da Gama, when engaged in his quest for a sea-route to India, on Christmas Day, 1497. But little more was heard of the country until Farewell and Fynn, having proceeded in 1823 as far as St. Lucia Bay and Delagoa Bay respectively, returned to Cape Town and organized the party referred to in the text.]

[Footnote 3: The notorious Zulu King Tshaka's catastrophic reign began about 1814. Great tribes were, at quick intervals between then and 1820, driven headlong into Natal, only to sweep the peaceful inhabitants of the land away with them into the Cape Colony and elsewhere. Three or four of these appalling exoduses, taking place by no means only on the south-west boundary of Zululand, soon denuded Natal, and other adjacent territories, of the greater portion of their aboriginal population. The country was transformed into a howling wilderness, overrun with lions, hyænas, and wolves; and any stray wight, who had succeeded in evading the Zulu fury and was eking out an existence on wild-roots or shell-fish, was hunted by members of his own species, so far de-humanized, within half-a-dozen years, as to have become converted into expert and voracious cannibals.]

[Footnote 4: It was after this kraal that Mzilikazi, "the lion of the North," named his own principal kraal--a name subsequently adopted by the Chartered Company of Rhodesia for the already well-known town established on the site of the kraal.]

[Footnote 5: Bird, _Annals of Natal,_ 194.]

[Footnote 6: _Ibid._ i. 326.]

[Footnote 7: Much of the earlier history of the Colony will be found in the following works: N. Isaacs, _Travels and Adventures in Eastern Africa_, 2 vols. London, 1836; Capt. Allen F. Gardiner, _A Journey to the Zoolu Country_, London, 1836; H.F. Fynn, _Papers_, printed in part on pp. 60-124, vol. i. Bird's _Annals of Natal_, Pietermaritzburg, 1888.