Abstract
This chapter examines the aftermath of a series of violent clashes between the Boers and Kekana Ndebele that occurred on the northern frontier of South Africa in 1854. That year, growing Ndebele resistance against colonial expansion erupted in a number of incidents that prompted the murder of several Dutch colonists. Following retaliation from the Boers, one of the Ndebele chiefdoms, the Kekana, sought refuge in a cave. They were placed under an agonizing siege that lasted over a month, during which the Kekana suffered great human loss. Through a study of human and material remains retrieved at the cave, the chapter attempts to expose the complex web of spiritual and physical relationships that played a role in the collapse and restoration the Kekana Ndebele chiefdom. In particular, it aims to detect the margins, boundaries, and internal lines that began to shift as foreign forces began to threaten the local body politic. This chapter recognizes the human corpse as the source of powerful social symbolism, and explores the cause and effect of dismemberment and anthropophagy. Transitioning from the colonial corpse of the Boer to the African corpse, this study traces the physical and spiritual risk taken by Mugombane, the Kekana’s leader, which may have ultimately caused his demise. Although the material culture excavated from the site of the siege reveals the key political relationships enjoyed by Mugombane and buttressing his political sphere, it also exposes some of the internal tensions structuring the chiefdom. Material fragments also bring into visibility the people who occupied the margins of both Boer and African society, offering a window into local forms of social resilience and change.
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Notes
- 1.
Notule van die Volksraad van die S.A.R. II (1852), pp. 348–349 and 473–475.
- 2.
Secretary of State of the South African Republic (SS) 6, R684/54: P. J. Potgieter—M. W. Pretorius, Waterberg, 29 September 1854. SS6, R695/54: P.J. Potgieter—M. W. Pretorius, Waterberg, 8 October 1854.
- 3.
SS7, R733/54: Verslag van (report by) M. W. Pretorius, Magaliesberg, 6 December 1854.
- 4.
SS7, R733/54: Verslag van (report by) M. W. Pretorius, Magaliesberg, 6 December 1854.
- 5.
SS7 R733/54 verslag van M. W. Pretorius, Magaliesberg, 6 December. 1854.
- 6.
SS7 R719/54 & SS7 R733/54 verslag van M. W. Pretorius, Magaliesberg, 6 December. 1854.
- 7.
Medicine.
- 8.
Fume tests were used to distinguish between plant and animal fat. But no attempt was made to distinguish between animal and human fat (Esterhuysen 2006).
- 9.
SS7, R733/54: Verslag van (report by) M. W. Pretorius, Magaliesberg, 6 December 1854.
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Esterhuysen, A. (2015). Margins of Difference: A Study of the Collapse and Restoration of the Kekana Chiefdom Under the Rule of Chief Mugombane. In: Richard, F. (eds) Materializing Colonial Encounters. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2633-6_7
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