Producing Sarhili: the colonial archive and the biographical limits of writing a history of a ...

218 Pages·2010·14.14 MB·English

Producing Sarhili: the colonial archive and the biographical limits of

writing a history of a nineteenth century Xhosa king.

Candidate: Virgil Charles Slade

A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Magister Artium in the Department
of History, University of the Western Cape.

Date Submitted: 30 August 2009
Plagiarism D  eclaration

I, the undersigned, declare that ……….. is my own work, that it has not submitted for
any degree or examination at any other university, and that all the sources I have used or
quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by complete references.

Date

Virgil Charles Slade
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Cont ents

Plagiarism Declaration……………………………………………………....ii
Contents…………………………………………………………………….iii
Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………iv
Photographs………………………………………………………………..viii
Introduction – The Last King of the amaXhosa……………………..1
Chapter One – How a Wanderer Became a King…………………..18
Chapter Two - War and Power……………………………………..37
Chapter Three- The Suicide of the amaXhosa………………………55
Chapter Four- The Politics of the Margin………………………….74
Chapter Five- The Beginning of the End…………………………115
Chapter Six- Re-Presenting Sarhili………………………………149
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………182
Selected Bibliography……………………………………………………..188

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Acknowledgement  

Like the subject of this dissertation, I often found myself trapped in very unexpected

ways and there is no way that I would have emerged from this project with any degree of
success if it were not for the contributions many different people made to this project
throughout its three year lifespan.

I think that I should start my words of thanks by mentioning Professor Andrew Bank for
the pragmatic manner in which he help me formulate often chaotic ideas into coherent
thoughts that translated into a proposal that was passed the first time around by the
powers that be. Andrew, you stepped in when my supervisor was away on sabbatical and
my morale was at its lowest ebb. For this I express my heart-felt gratitude. I would
probably not have completed the dissertation if it had not been for your patience and
guidance. Thank you.

To Janine Brandt and Jane Schmidt – you guys are always there for me. Often I convert
fairly regulatory procedures into moments of crisis for a variety of reasons but you do not
only help me with kindness but also with a generosity of spirit. I hope that this time
around that you will attend my graduation celebrations so I can show you off to my
family. My appreciation knows no bounds.

To the UWC History Department as a whole I owe a debt of gratitude. Every member of
the department has contributed in some way to my academic development but I feel it
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would be remiss of me not to single out  Ciraj Rassool, Patricia Hayes and Nicky
Rousseau for special mention. Although no  t directly involved with this thesis, these

teachers been instrumental in my development and always have been a source of

encouragement. For this I am most grateful.

I owe a special word of thanks to everyone involved in the research trip I undertook to
the Eastern Cape in September of 2007. Most of the trip we stayed at the Haven and I
want to express my gratitude to the staff for all their efforts. We were lucky enough to
meet with one of the community leaders, Kuzile Juza. Juza gave us an invaluable insight
into the Xhosa oral tradition in the Dwesa-Cebe area as well as the problems this rural
region was enduring. Thank you for generosity Kuzile. You are an inspiration to your
community. I also spent time at the Cory Library that was vital to my research. I want to
use this opportunity to thank Messrs. Victor Gacula and Jackson Vena for the way they
took me in and allowed me access to all the resources at their disposal. They looked after
me like I was one of their own students. Gents, thank you very much.

The trip would not have been the same if it were not for the intellectual capital of
Khayalethu Mdudumane. He helped us with translation issues and added immense value
to the trip with his unfailing humour and being a soundboard for our ideas. Dalasile, you
are the man, the man in blue!

I spent nearly seven months at the National Archives in Cape Town. I want to express my
appreciation to all the staff at this institution, with a special mention to Kenny. Thank you
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for always being prepared to go the extra mil e. I know I owe you a lunch, a date I plan to
keep in the near future.  

I realise that my passion for my subject matter must have made laborious reading at times
so I want to firstly, sympathise with my external examiners Profs. Alan Kirkaldy and
Jacob Tropp for having to wade their way through this dissertation. Secondly, I want to
thank them for their fair and insightful evaluations of my thesis. I appreciate that they
have conducted such a close reading of my work and were so gentle in their critique.

This thesis almost failed to see the light of day due to a virus a picked up on my machine
playing online poker. The lesson has been learnt and I will confine my poker exploits to
the actual table. However, even though I lost everything from my laptop, the various hard
copies I had made throughout its lifespan were converted into an electronic once again.
Being a bona fide technophobe, I have no idea of what that entailed so you can imagine
my gratitude to my sister, Lana Daniels, and my good friend at the Mayibuye Archive,
Andre Mohammed for restoring my thesis to its electronic form. Thank you.

To my supervisor Prof. Premesh Lalu- I think of you as more than a mentor, I think of
you as a friend. This project had the most innocuous of starts in your office in 2005 while
I was still completing my Honour’s degree. It seems appropriate that you are once again
in Minnesota at the conclusion of this project, the same place you were when it started.
Thank you for the time you have invested in this thesis reading endless draughts,
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lamenting the ‘Virgilisms’ and always prepar ed to serve as a sieve for my ideas. Premesh,
you are a legend.  

My parents, Ivan and Sybil Slade, you remain the stability upon which I am able to do
what I do. Words could never do justice to the appreciation I feel for what you do for me.
I could never repay you for what you do but know that I am thankful. I love you.

To my partner, Danielle Abrahams- you probably had to endure the most this last three
years. You have ridden the crest of every wave with me and felt the lowest trough of the
journey that was this dissertation. You had to put up with my frustration and always tried
to be positive through the process. I know that you had to read about things that you have
no interest in but you did it anyway. You remained interested and always endeavoured to
motivate and encourage me. I do not how to say thank you enough. Love, always.

Lastly, to my son Nicholas: now for number four my boy! You inspire me more than I
thought possible before you came into life. As always, everything I do, I do it for you. I
love you my boy.

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Photograph 1
  viii
Photograph 2
  ix
Photograph 3
  x