The impression has somehow been created by the Media in the Western World, aided by the policies and attitudes of Governments in Southern Africa, that White and Black have always been enemies unto death in that part of the world. Nothing could be further from the truth. In this collection of articles we shall focus on the situations and events in the history of Southern Africa when Black and White were allies in war. I venture to say it will also be a revelation to many South Africans.
Over the period from around 1920 until about 1982, the various governments of South Africa benefited from the political chasm between Black and White. For a short period of time in the 1980s and 1990s, under the old National Party— and even to some degree under the new African National Congress government— there was a degree of alliance, though behind the scenes. It now benefits the new Black Racist ANC Government to sketch White people as the source of all evil in the country and to incite Black people against them. It gets the governing party votes from the millions of Uneducated, the Ignorant, and a large body of violent Africanist Blacks.
I hope and trust that the examples provided here will show that it does not have to be that way, and that the history of the country proves that there was Black and White cooperation and alliance at many seminal events in the country’s history.
The titles and the thumbnails are the links to the articles. The full detail may be read in AmaBhulu.
♦ Part 1 – The Black King seeks White Help
In 1780 King Rharhabe of a powerful amaXhosa group offered a treaty to the White Afrikaner Frontiersmen on the Eastern Frontier of what was then the Dutch Colony of the Cape of Good Hope. He sought their alliance in bringing to heel several other amaXhosa groups that he saw as his rebellious underlings. These were exactly the same people who were raiding the Frontiersmen. The alliance was a natural one and would last at least 20 years. All of this is addressed in AmaBhulu.
♦ Part 2 – The White Giant and the Black King
In 1793, with Rharhabe’s son Mlawu dead, his grandson Ngqika was too young to assume the throne. Ndlambe, another son of Rharhabe was regent of the amaRharhabe. In this year, with the Suurveld amaXhosa again raiding the Frontiersmen, a number of the latter sought and received the help of Ndlambe. This is the second example of alliance between Black and White in South Africa. The instability on the outer limit of the Cape Colony eventually developed into the Second Frontier War. The much hated liberal Magistrate Maynier perpetrated a complete fiasco in this war. All of this is described in detail in AmaBhulu.
♦ Part 3 The Black King with the White Stepfather
In the year 1795 the British took the Cape with the coerced support of the Dutch Stadtholder who had fled to London to escape Napoleon. The British ignorance about, prejudice against, and hatred for the Afrikaner was extreme. It led to disastrous decision making on the part of the new British Government at the Cape and would eventually cost them half of their new colony. This period is usually ignored in both British and South African history for reasons that will become obvious. It forms the background to the third example of Black and White allies in South African. The entire sordid disaster of the First British Occupation of the Cape is described in detail in AmaBhulu.
♦ Part 4 Until the Birds of Prey have Consumed them Away
In the year 1799 the British Military Governor at the Cape had a group of frontier farmers arrested and incarcerated in the Cape Castle. The Third Frontier War, including the events of Part 3, took place while they were in the Castle. When a new governor took over control in the Cape, he sent a deputation to the powerful Black King Ngqika to enquire as to a possible treaty between the King’s amaRharhabe Xhosa and the British. The answer, when it came, was quite incredible. The King would treat with Britain only if his White Afrikaner friends in the Castle were released. All of this is described in detail in AmaBhulu.
♦ Part 5 Slagtersnek – Where men die twice
Exactly 200 years ago, in late 1815, a White frontier farmer was shot and killed by His Royal Majesty’s Special Intimidatory Khoekhoe Army [See Part 3]. His brother swore revenge over his grave. This led to a “rebellion” in which not a single shot was fired. The vengeful brother fled, but he was also killed in a firefight between his family and the British Army. The two men were the author’s ancestral younger brothers. At the end of this whole cycle of events, the British Crown demanded that five men be hanged for the rebellion that never was. What happened on the day of the execution would lead to a split between the Afrikaner and the British that would last 150 years. All of this is described in detail in AmaBhulu.
AmaBhulu 