During their defiance of unjust law--in this case an onerous poll tax that triggered 'Bhambatha's Rebellion' in 1906 (Marks 1970)--they culled the flesh of a slain settler to boost their protective muthi.
(87) Bhaca lineages were concentrated in a region of Natal that supported Bhambatha's muthi-driven insurgency.
Mahoney covers some familiar ground, including the critical period when the founding king, Shaka, wrought the Zulu state, the watershed Anglo-Zulu War and the ensuing destruction of the kingdom, and the youth-driven
Bhambatha Rebellion of 1906.
We salute about 25 Amakhosi and Izinduna, who were also banished to St Helena for their participation in the revolt against poll tax the
Bhambatha Rebellion in 1907.
Ndebele argues that anticolonial victories have provided inspiration across the African continent: the Zulu victory at Isandhlwana in 1879 inspired the
Bhambatha Rebellion in Natal in 1906 and the Battles of the Maji Maji in East Africa in 1905-07, while "the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962) from which Frantz Fanon launched his psychoanalysis of the colonial mindset and system, also benefited from Isandhlwana" (Ndebele 2007).
Back in early 2009 in Umlazi township, a hail of 50 AK-47 bullets killed traditional Leader Inkosi ivlbongege-Beni Bondi, grandson of
Bhambatha Bondi, the Zulu Leader who led a rebellion against Natal colonial.
I use the spelling Bhambada rather than "
Bhambatha" (except in direct quotations) because this is the name used by amaZondi in the izibongo (praises) of their royal ancestor, where the hero is described as "striking viciously" (ubhambada) his opponents.
The tensions between senior and junior male members of Zulu communities in the Thukela river valley helped drive
Bhambatha's rebellion in 1906.
This, combined with the
Bhambatha or Poll Tax uprising in 1906, resulted in his arrest in December 1907.
3985 Thomson, P.S.,
Bhambatha and the Zulu rebellion 1906.
The
Bhambatha Rebellion of 1906 (Davenport & Saunders, 2004:242) does feature in John Henry Dane, but only to provide a melodramatic backdrop drawing on the trope of the "swart gevaar": it is not perceived as a key incident in the relentless march of British colonialism (Lambert, 2006:17).
