The Afrikaners and the Zulus: The Battle of Ghost Mountain (eTshaneni)

27 June 2023

June is an important month in the joint history of the Afrikaners and the Zulus. But one does not start a story at the end.

After the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 the British banished King Cetshwayo, son of King Mpande, from the Zulu kingdom and divided the kingdom into 13 kinglets, each with its own ruler. This state of affairs triggered great instability, and reciprocal attacks, looting and murder were rife.

As a result of this civil war, the Zulus often fled into the area of the South African Republic (ZAR), which created many a challenge not only for the government, but especially for the border farmers. Moreover, members of the royal family of King Cetshwayo, among them his son Prince Dinuzulu, were placed under the authority of Inkosi (chief) Zibhebhu kaMapita of the Mandlakazi tribe, who treated these royals very badly.

The government of the ZAR requested the British to allow King Cetshwayo to return as king of a unified Zulu kingdom again so that stability could be restored. The British eventually realised that circumstances were becoming unmanageable and allowed King Cetshwayo to return – but only as king of a part of the kingdom. They allowed his great enemy, Inkosi Zibhebhu, to rule over the rest.

King Cetshwayo was prohibited from engaging in any form of military organisation. This principle also applied to Inkosi Zibhehbu, but he was allowed by the British to have a well-armed army. King Cetshwayo was informed that the Mandlakazi planned on attacking him and he repeatedly requested the British authorities to either protect him or to allow him to arm himself to be able to defend himself. The King’s requests fell on deaf ears, however.

Inkosi Zibhebu’s forces then attacked Ulundi, the seat of King Cetshwayo, on 21 July 1883. They were victorious and killed the hero of Isandlwana, Inkosi Ntshingwayo kaMahole Khoza, as well as King Cetshwayo’s youngest son, Prince Nyoniyentaba, and three surviving wives of King Mpande. King Cetshwayo fled with his retinue to the Zulu reserve, where on 8 February 1884 he died a broken man.

Popular Zulu tradition holds that King Cetshwayo was poisoned – many were embittered over his death. The Zulus were of the opinion that the British allowed King Cetshwayo to return to the Zulu Kingdom with the sole purpose of having him killed. The Zulus remembered the Voortrekkers and King Mpande, however: “Mpande was made king by the Boers ... [he] lived and died in peace. Cetshwayo was made king by the English and harvested nothing but misery and sorrow, and died an exile in his own country.”

King Cetshwayo’s son, Pince Dinuzulu, was appointed to succeed his father as king. The British refused to acknowledge Prince Dinuzulu as king, however, and the flight of the Zulus into the ZAR continued.

Eventually, the unstable circumstances became too much for the ZAR’s border farmers. They therefore decided to determine whether there was something they could do themselves to improve the circumstances, as the government of the ZAR could not intervene (in terms of the London Convention of 1884), while the British did not want to intervene.

The Zulus themselves also reached out to the Afrikaners for support; King Dinuzulu expressed it through his messengers in the following way: “[he] found the peace broken in his country, and called in the support of the Boers, who were the friends of his fathers, to solve the problems.”

The Afrikaners decided to send to Zululand a number of the oldest and most experienced from their midst, those who lived their lives close to the Zulus and were well-acquainted with their language and customs, with the purpose of finding out what arrangement were necessary to bring about a long-lasting peace.

These people entered Zululand during a war and, endangering their own lives, they made careful enquiries with the chiefs and headmen, as well as the Zulu nation, the followers of Cetshwayo, Zibhebu and Uhamu.

The result of this was that they were assured that the only satisfactory arrangement for Zululand would be to place Dinizulu on his father’s throne and to subject Uhamu and Zibhebu to his rule.

This plan was then determined. It was clear that a significant number of people would be required to give effect to this, and that a continuous and standing garrison in the country consisting of a large number of Afrikaans Boers would be necessary to obtain along-lasting peace.

In April 1884 an Afrikaner commando entered Zululand, where Prince Dinuzulu and his forces joined the commando. On 1 May 1884 the Afrikaners informed Inkosi Zibhebu and Prince Uhamu that Prince Dinuzulu, successor to the throne in Zululand, sought refuge from them [the Boers] and that all parties are warned to lay down their weapons – they announced that the Boers had not come to make war, but to restore and maintain the peace.

Prince Dinuzulu issued a proclamation on 21 May 1884, declaring that he was taking over all duties, rights and properties as king of Zululand. He declared “… that I absolve, everyone who up to the present took up arms against my father Cetshwayo or me, of this crime” and also that “I demand that all women and children, and all livestock that were taken from fighting parties during the last hostilities be given back to their previous legal owners.”

Prince Dinuzulu was then anointed the next day as King of the Zulus by Andries Marthinus Johannes Laas, taking into consideration the Zulu customs and in the presence of a great many chiefs and members of the Zulu nation. After the inauguration, the Boers concluded a contract with King Dinuzulu, committing themselves to “restoring peace, law and order in the territory of the Zulu nation … mustering all their strength thereto.”

King Dinuzulu committed himself “with the advice and counsel of his headmen and great chiefs to ceding to the officers and managers of the Boers a tract of land that borders the South African Republic.”

Inkosi Zibhebu indicated that he was willing to submit himself to King Dinuzulu’s authority, but he did not return the livestock that he had stolen from King Cetshwayo; he therefore prepared himself for resistance. Inkosi Zibhebu’s requests to the British to support him because he had been loyal to them, fell on death ears. He wrote that he “fought against his own nation for the British, but now that the Boers are coming, you do not want to help me.”

The Boers repeatedly attempted to peacefully reach a settlement with Inkosi Zibhebu, but eventually had to write to him that the peace of the country required his submission to King Dinuzulu. When Inkosi Zibhebu failed to respond to the letter, the forces of King Dinuzulu, accompanied by 100 Boers under the command of Commandant Lucas Meijer went to war against the Mandlakazi.

The Mandlakazi was decisively defeated on 5 June 1884 by the combined forces of King Dinuzulu and the Boers at the Battle of Ghost Mountain, or eTshaneni, about 5 kilometre east of Mkhuze in the Lebombo Mountains. Various family members of Inkosi Zibhebu died on the battlefield and he fled to the Zulu reserve – the same place to which he previously caused King Cetshwayo to flee.

Although a number of subsequent battles were waged between the forces of King Dinuzulu and the Mandlakazi, the Battle of Ghost Mountain was pivotal for establishing King Dinuzulu’s position as legal successor to King Cetshwayo, and his recognition and confirmation as king of the Zulu Nation.

This beautiful tale of the cooperation between Afrikaners and the Zulu royal family cannot be concluded more aptly than with the words of Prince Ndabuku, brother of King Cetshwayo: “We would not have lived today, had it not been for the Boers.”

Barend Uys

1. The quotations in this opinion piece are translations of Dutch quotations from the following source:

Leyds, W.J. 1914. Het insluiten van de Boeren-Republieken. Deel II. Amsterdam: Aller de Lange.