Bambatha Rebellion

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The Bambatha Uprising was a Zulu revolt against British rule and taxation in Natal, South Africa, 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-Natal.

In the years following the Anglo-Boer War white employers in Natal had difficulty recruiting black farm workers becaused of increased competition from the gold mines of the Witwatersrand. The colonial authorities introduced a £1 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 officers to collect the tax from recalcitrant districts, and in February 1906 two white officers were killed near Richmond, kwaZulu-Natal. 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 guerrilla attacks, using the Nkandla forest as a base. Following a series of initial successes, colonial troops under the command of Colonel Duncan McKenzie set out on an expedition in late April 1906, culminating in a fierce battle in the Mome Gorge.

Bambatha was killed and beheaded during the battle (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 aristocrat Inkosi Sigananda Shezi of the amaCube clan (cousin and near-contemporary of the Zulu king Shaka) 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.

1 Participation of M. K. Gandhi
2 Trivia
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Participation of M. K. Gandhi

"The Boer Government insulted the Indians by classing them with the Kaffirs. Now there is no occasion to perpetuate a needless insult. The argument seems to be unanswerable."
— Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi^[1]

Gandhi actively encouraged the British to raise an armed battalion of the Indians to aid them against the Zulus. He also continuously stimulated Indians living in South Africa to join the war through his columns in Gujarati newspaper published in South Africa. ^[2]. His campaign began in late 1905, when he wrote “An Indian Volunteer Corps” for the Indian Opinion, saying, “If the Government only realized what reserve force is being wasted, they would make use of it and give Indians the opportunity of a thorough training for actual warfare.”^[3]. His philosophy was that first the Indians can join the British troops as volunteers and when the British will feel that the volunteers are wasted they will automatically involve the reserve force in armed training and war. Gandhi's preferred to support the British Empire in whatever action they wanted to take in crushing the rebellion, in his own words, "What is our duty during these calamitous times in the Colony? It is not for us to say whether the revolt of the Kaffirs is justified or not. We are in Natal by virtue of British power. Our very existence depends upon it. It is therefore our duty to render whatever help we can." ^[1]

[edit] Trivia

An account of the rebellion by famed Zulu historian Jeff Guy was carried in The Witness, a Pietermaritzburg 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^[4]] of the shack dwellers' movement Abahlali baseMjondolo in contemporary Durban.