The
Battle of Vegkop October 1836
The Battle of Vegkop October 1836
The battle took place on the hill
later called Vegkop in October 1836. It involved the voortrekkers/ boers
and the Ndebele under chief rnzilikazi.
Records show that Mzilikazi heard
that Boer hunters were poaching his game and mistreating his subjects.
The Ndebele troops under Kaliphi
were sent to expel them as bandits.
The army attacked the main Boer camp
(laager: square or circle of wagons tied together).
The Potgieter Cilliers trekkers were
rescued by Seleka-Rolong who brought oxen to draw them back to the Rolong
capital of Tbaba Nchu, where a larger group of trekkers had arrived under
Gerit/Gert Maritz.
In December 1836 amass meeting of
male Boers elected Potgieter as military Commandant, and Mantz (a former
p-osperous business man and a wagon maker from Graff Reinet) as both President
of their Volksraad (people's assembly) and landdrost of their Court.
Potgieter determined to revenge on
the Ndebele to recover sheep, cattle and horses in alliance with the Griqua,
Kora Rolong and Tlokwa/Tlokoa.
The
Battle of the Blood River December 1838
The Battle took place on Sunday 16th
December 1838 when the Zulu army attacked Pretorius's army (Boers and British
volunteers) in its heavily fortified weekend camp on the Ncome River.
The camp had been protected by steep
banks and a Dutch in which thousands of Zulu soldiers were trapped by gun fire
and massacred, staining the water red with their blood.
Causes of the battle
Andries Hendrick Pretorius wanted to
revenge the death of Piet Retief (killed on February 17th 1838 by
Dingane).
The Boers wanted to be free from
British operations.
The Boers also wanted to set the
Natal Republic under their control.
Andries Hendrick Pretorius was very
ambitious man w•ho wanted to be the next leader of Natal.
The Zulu under Dingane wanted to be
free of any European control.
The Boers wanted to control land in
Zululand possibly for settlement.
The determination of the Boers to
set up Republics outside the Cape Colony encouraged Pretorius to fight for a
war of revenge.
The fight of the Boers against the
Zulu encouraged them to fight. The Boers were well equipped well-disciplined
commandos and knew victory could be on their side.
The Boers fought the war for purely
imperialist reasons.
Zululand was strategic to the Boers
if they were to occupy Natal.
The Boers also wanted to revenge
earlier defeats by Dingane on them April 1838 which had disastrous
consequences.
Effects of the blood river battle
Dingane was disastrously defeated.
He even set on fire his own kraal and capital, eMgungundlovu and deserted it.
Three thousand of dead Zulu (Impi)
lay heaped like pumpkins on a rich soil while nobody had been killed in
Pretorius's army.
It was not the main Zulu army that
was defeated at 'Blood River' but the Zulu now understood the power of
gunmen on horses making rapid sorties from an armed wagon Camp.
Dingane fled to the North of
Zululand to Swazi Country where he was killed at the hands of the Swazi militia
bands in February 1841.
After the victory of the Boers at
the battle of the blood river, 6,000 Boer trekkers settled in Natal and adopted
a Constitution in 1839.
Boer administration in Natal (the
Volksraad of 24 elected men) soon clashed with Andries Pretorius the commandant
Generalover the powers of government.
Afrikaaner nationalism in the
interior of South Africa thrived.
Andries Pretorius proclaimed Mpande
(brother ofShaka and Dingane) the new Zulu King.
Zululand became a vassal entity of
the Republic of Natal (or Natalia). This followed the success of Mpande's loyal
IndianMongala and the Boers over Dingane's army’s army in January.
The Republic of Natal was divided
into districts with military Commandant and landdrosts on the old
pattern of the Cape Colony before the British occupation.
The Natalia capital city became
Pietrmaritzburgin honour of Piet Retief and Gerit Maritz. The state claimed
boundaries on the Buffels and Tugela rivers in the North and the MzimkhuJu
River in the south.
Boer families and one or two 3,000
Morgen farms of grazing land in Zululand (the blood River territory) .
African claims to own and occupy
land were ignored. Boer claims to land and the use of its inhabitants as labour
were backed by force if necessary.
The Boers regarded Mpande as their
subject though he regarded himself as an ally.
Dingane tried rebuilding his capital
at eMgungundlovu. The Boers demanded over 40, 000 cattle as tribute.
When Dingane tried to negotiate, his
envoys were executed and Dingane was defeated again in the battle of Makonko
hills by Mpande's army, The Boers took 60,000 cattle and many 'apprentices' as
payment.
The war gave the Boers confidence to
move northwards. Pretorius faced with quarrels over Natal administrative
structures moved to Transvaal or the South African Republic and the Orange Free
State.
In 1843 the British annexed the
Republic of Natal (Natalia). The Boers were once again forced to trek again
across the Drakensburg Mountains.
Warfare is a fascinating subject. Despite the dubious morality of using violence to achieve personal or political aims. It remains that conflict has been used to do just that throughout recorded history.
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