Crossing the historical divide

December 16 is a day that has travelled a long journey marked by much bitterness in the past, writes

where chiefs ceded land to the Voortrekkers, the land was either communally owned, or communally owned by other chiefdoms.

Another problem was that land was ceded to the Boers for next to nothing: for example, the northern part of present-day Free State – about 60 000 square kilometres

–- was “sold” to Andries Potgieter in 1836 for a few cattle and a promise to protect the Taung king, Makwana, from the Ndebele.

This transaction worked out to 2 000 square kilometres per head of cattle. Dispossession, dodgy land sales and child-raiding were rife in the interior of the country in 1838 when a Voortrekker delegation led by Piet Retief visited the Zulu chief, Dingane, at his capital, uMgungundlovu.

Retief wanted land.

And although Dingane was amendable to his request, he set conditions: that Retief retrieve 63 head of cattle stolen from the Zulus by the Tlokwa’s. He also wanted 11 rifles from the Boers.

Retief retrieved the cattle, but showed he had no intention of giving any rifles to the Zulus.

At a handing over ceremony of the cattle, and after being instructed to leave their rifles outside Dingane’s cattle kraal, Retief and his party were murdered on the instructions of the king.

The murders fuelled intense anger among their compatriots and plans were immediately launched to avenge their deaths.

These were based on the premise that they were heavily outnumbered – there were 468 of them – and that they would in all likelihood be attacked by thousands of Zulu soldiers.

The Voortrekkers set up a laager in an area near the Ncome River where they could not be completely surrounded. There, armed with single-shot rifles and three cannons, the Boers, after being prompted by Andries Pretorius and Sarel Cilliers to “make a covenant with God”, waited for the Zulus to attack.

At dawn, on December 16, 1838, 10 000 Zulu soldiers made their move.

The guns and cannons of the Voortrekkers ensured that it would be an unequal fight.

At least 3 000 Zulus were killed. Three trekkers sustained injuries.

The Ncome River turned red with the blood of the Zulus’ dead, so much so that the Voortrekkers named it Blood River.

After the battle, Voortrekker chaplain Sarel Cilliers gave credit for the victory of guns and cannonballs over spears to the word of the Lord, which he said had been fulfilled.The victory over the Zulus was seen as confirmation of God’s ratification of their covenant, which in turn led to the day being celebrated as a public holiday in the Boer republics, and later, after the formation of the Union of

South Africa, as a national holiday called Dingaan’s Day. In 1952, the National Party government changed the name to the Day of the Vow. The second part of the Day of Reconciliation centred on the formation of a military wing of the ANC – Umkhonto weSizwe or MK.

The prime mover in this regard was Nelson Mandela, who argued that after decades of peaceful protest and action against segregation and apartheid it was time for a change of tactics.

The decision to move towards armed struggle was agonised over by many of the organisation’s top leaders, including its thenpresident, Chief Albert Luthuli.

The idea to launch an armed wing was intensely debated by the ANC, the Communist Party of South Africa, the Congress of Democrats, the Coloured People’s Congress and the South African Indian Congress.

Mandela was both praised and criticised for urging this change in tactics. But in the end, a compromise was agreed.On December 16, 1961, MK announced its existence by launching its first acts of sabotage, setting off bomb blasts on government structures in Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth and Durban.

More than 200 installations were attacked between December 1961 and June 1963, most of which were in the Eastern Cape.

Over the years, MK continued to wage its armed struggle by recruiting and sending people for military training outside the country and redeploying them back in South Africa.

On December 16, 1995, the new democratic government changed the Day of the Vow to the Day of Reconciliation – as an attempt to strike a balance between South Africa’s divided past.

The idea was to promote national unity and reconciliation in a new political dispensation.

PICTURE: SIYABULELA DUDA President Jacob Zuma gathers with senior ANC members and MPs and other dignitaries at the unveiling of the Nelson Mandela statue at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on December 16, 2013. Two historical events happened on this date, says the writer.