Faction fighting in Msinga District from 1874-1906
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Date
1994
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Abstract
Faction fighting in Msinga started because of the shortage of land in this division. The oldest residents of the valley, the Sithole, aMachunu and aBathembu lived together very peacefully. Trouble started after the Colonial Government's demarcation of the valley into a reserve. Hundreds of people driven away from various parts of Natal arrived. These people had been removed from their areas because the Government needed those areas for settling white colonists.
This part of Natal is arid, hilly and rocky. As a result, subsistence economy in the form of agriculture declined to a very large extent. The Government had no economic policy for these people. Starvation soon made the izizwe of the valley restless. Their amakhosi could not help them in any way. Eventually, it was a question of everyone struggling for survival.
It was, for instance, not possible for aMabaso to live in peace with aBathembu because their location was completely surrounded by that of aBathembu. Inkosi Mganu Mvelase of aBathembu was not a war-like ruler but his neighbour, Inkosi Thulwana Ndabezitha of aMabaso had many grievances regarding land. In the long run, these amakhosi became enemies. Their izizwe started trying to push each other out of the reserve. When the two izizwe were up in arms against each other, it was the beginning of a tragedy for the whole division. Faction fighting that broke out between the two izizwe gave birth to the rest of the wars and the lamentable system of alliances.
The attitude of the white civil servants towards Inkosi Kula Majozi worsened the state of the reserve. The enmity between the Sithole and aMaqamu was further aggravated by the partition of aMaqamu location after the deposition and exile of Inkosi Kula. The Government also proved to be inconsiderate of the feelings of aMaqamu by putting some of them under Inkosi Sibindi of aMabomvu. The Government was fully aware of the enmity between the two izizwe. Some of aMaqamu found themselves under Inkosi Bhande Sithole. When Inkosi Kula was reinstated, these people made a lot of noise demanding to be under their own inkosi.
Fighting subsided in 1906, but that did not mean that the Government had succeeded in stopping faction fighting in the reserve. This was proved by the outbreaks of devastating wars between aBathembu and aMachunu in 1922 and 1944.
The main significance of faction fighting is that it affects all aspects of life of the people involved. It is still very difficult to develop these victims economically and even educationally.
The easy availability of guns has made matters far worse, even in the absence of a faction fight. Young men, most of whom with no formal schooling, easily get trapped in hooliganism. ^Employment chances are always slim. There are absolutely no activities to keep these young people occupied. They openly live by crime. To most of them, stealing is the way of life. They are nsed as hired killers only to meet the same fate themselves eventually. Even those who have access to arable land, show no interest in
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cultivating the soil. These wasted children have no way of making themselves economically productive. They are a burden to themselves and to the Government. Their built-in culture of fighting, has taught them to look down upon any man who does not possess a gun. Such a man is derogatorily referred to as a woman.
When a faction fight breaks out, schools are usually disturbed because boys are bound to join their ward male members. They remain in hiding, preparing for attack or counter-attack, until fighting is over. Should fighting intensify, schools stop functioning altogether. Many boys leave school in such circumstances
The question that remains now is, who or what will stop the war in Msinga? Unless a solution is found, to remedy the situation and restore dignity to these people, the future of Msinga will remain bleak
Description
A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Department of History at the University of Zululand, 1994.
Keywords
Battles--Zululand (South Africa)