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PODCAST

History of South Africa podcast

A series that seeks to tell the story of the South Africa in some depth. Presented by experienced broadcaster/podcaster Des Latham and updated weekly, the episodes will take a listener through the various epochs that have made up the story of South Africa.

history places & travel

All Episodes

24:22

Episode 83 – The amakhosikazi sipper of Cobra venom...

History of South Africa podcast ·

2022/09/10

This is episode 83 and Ndwandwe chief Zwide is on the run, being hunted down by Shaka after the defeat on the Mhlathuze. Zwide was sitting at his mother’s umuzi called eziKwitshini during the battle, awaiting word. And when it came it was not what he was expecting. As you heard in episode 82, the dust cloud signalling approaching warriors were not his victorious Ndwandwe, they were the revengeful Zulu Mbelebele ibutho seeking to take full toll on Zwide for his decades long attacks south. Zwide

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21:58

Episode 82 – Shaka outfoxes Zwide at the Mhlathuze River

History of South Africa podcast ·

2022/09/03

This is episode 82 and we’re picking up the story from where we left off last Episode the Ndwandwe were chasing the AmaZulu down the Mhlathuze Valley, just north of the modern town of Eshowe, just south of Melmoth. And for those geopolitical folks, that’s just down the drag from Nkhandla. Most historians believe this battle took place in 1819, but some also think it may have been a year later. But the exact year is not as important than what this battle would herald. Zwide’s Ndwandwe were on the

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22:23

Episode 81 – Shaka orders ladders, Dingiswayo dies...

History of South Africa podcast ·

2022/08/28

This is episode 81 and we’re following the story of the AmaZulu, the Qwabe, the Mkhize, the Ndwandwe and the Mthethwa circa 1819. By this time, the Mkhize and the Qwabe along with many other smaller groups and clans had been pushed southwards by the aggression of the Ndwandwe, and troubles in the Swaziland area. Zihlando was already the Mkhize chieftan when Shaka took control of the Zulu and their relationship would continue until Shaka was assassinated in 1828 – and Shaka referred to Zihlando as

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20:57

Episode 80 – Sambela the Mkhize psychopath and the...

History of South Africa podcast ·

2022/08/21

Last episode we heard how the Xhosa wardoctor had failed in his attempt at chasing the colonials out of his territory – the Albany region, and now return to significant events in the north east – Zululand. By 1819 Shaka and Dingiswayo were holding sway in an area from the Thukela to the Black Mfolozi in Zululand, but Zwide of the Ndwandwe still controlled the land between the Mfolozi and the Phongola Rivers. The landscape had changed radically over the past three hundred years as farmers cut and

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21:01

Episode 79 – The Wardoctor is defeated and Willshire...

History of South Africa podcast ·

2022/08/14

This is episode 79. Nxele the Wardoctor and 10 000 warriors failed in their attempt at overrunning Grahamstown – now they’re on the run. Three of Ndlambe’s sons were among those killed during the battle, and some of Ngqika’s people had also fought alongside their compatriots despite the chief supposedly being an ally of the British. The surprise attack had tested the small British force, and while greater battles await, Grahamstown is still one of the most significant in the entire period of the

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23:46

Episode 78 – 10 000 Xhosa warriors led by Makhanda...

History of South Africa podcast ·

2022/08/06

Trouble was not so much brewing as fermenting on the eastern Cape frontier as we heard last episode. The British were aware that Ndlambe and his wardoctor, Nxele, had gathered troops ready to invade the Albany region, the Zuurveld, and Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Wilshire, or Tiger Tom as he was known, had been dispatched from the Cape with reinforcements and he’d arrived in Grahamstown. Meanwhile, in Graaff-Reinet, Landdrost Andries Stockenstrom had raised a large commando from amongst the Boers

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21:16

Episode 77 – The strange tale of Dr (Ms) James Barry...

History of South Africa podcast ·

2022/07/30

The period between 1816 and 1819 saw the level of conflict rise significantly across southern Africa – not only were the Zulu beginning their ascent to power in the east, but in the frontier district of the Cape, war was afoot. The seer, the man we’ve tracked for a few episodes, Nxele, was about to make his move and the repercussions of his actions reverberated across the subcontinent – and in some ways – continues to reverberate. There is a direct line between Nxele, Ndlambe and our present

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25:12

Episode 76 – The vicious battle of Amalinde and the...

History of South Africa podcast ·

2022/07/24

Things were beginning to move along the eastern Cape frontier, through the region known previously as the Zuurveld, the Albany district, with its rocky rivers and ravines, thorny bush covered recesses, rolling grasslands and magnificent mountains. The Great House of the amaGcaleka had sorted out its differences, these were the amaXhosa based east of the Kei River, and Hintsa had managed to take control of clans who were drifting away. He did this by both guile and blood, for example Hintsa

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22:49

Episode 75 – Lord Charles Somerset reinforces the...

History of South Africa podcast ·

2022/07/17

It had taken twenty years from the initial British landing on the Cape for the occupation to become permanent. So by August 1814, following the first abdication of Napoleon, the Netherlands regained independence with the Prince Orange re-installed as sovereign. The British duly restored some of his colonies to him – but not the Cape. In 1803 Lord Nelson had said the Cape was not essential, but by 1814 this had changed. The problem for the Cape was that colonies were supposed to balance their own

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21:24

Episode 74 – The horror story that is Slagter’s Nek...

History of South Africa podcast ·

2022/07/09

It’s the second decade of the 19th Century - the trekboers as you heard last episode were alarmed by the British decision to drop loan farms – and using the quit-rent system to reinforce land ownership. Governor Somerset had arrived to take over the management of this new system, and to oversee the new Circuit Court process where justice was supposed to be provided for the long-suffering Khoe servants and slaves of the farmers. It was that double change that drove some trekboers on the frontier to

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24:21

Episode 73 – Shaka overwhelmes the Qwabe and the...

History of South Africa podcast ·

2022/07/03

So, in 1817, Shaka had been forced to flee his home as Zwide’s Ndwandwe attacked repeatedly – and he found himself south of the Thukela. He needed to forge a stronger relationship with the people to the north, and in particular the Qwabe who were found south of Umhlatuzi river, near his mother’s clan, the Langeni. What doomed Phakathwayo was the fact that his older brothers were gumbling about their treatment – he’d scuffled with his brother Nomo – while their father Khondlo was still alive. Nomo

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18:03

Episode 72 – Shaka flees south over the Thukela River...

History of South Africa podcast ·

2022/06/26

By the 1810s, Zwide had built a powerful centralized kingdom and reinforced this power using his extensive family. He also formed feared amabutho such as the amaPhela, the abaHlakabezi, and isiKwitshi and the amaNkaiya. Most of these were around before Shaka became king of the Zulus, and the Ndwandwe were so large that they split into semi-autonomous sections such as the Nxumalo, the Manqele and the Phiseni. At first, Zwide concentrated has raids to the north, around modern day Iswatini. The

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20:01

Episode 71 – Calendars, the lunar month and the Zulu...

History of South Africa podcast ·

2022/06/19

This is episode 71 and Shaka has just been installed as the Zulu regent in 1812. There is even debate about this as the year – some say it was more like 1816. However, I believe historian Dan Wylie’s earlier date is probably the right one – by the way 1812 is the same year that Napoleon advanced on Moscow in his disastrous Russian campaign. How dating worked in southern Africa prior to the use of the Gregorian calendar requires quite a bit of explanation. Folks have asked me how this all worked,

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23:12

Episode 70 – Senzangakhona dies and Shaka takes over...

History of South Africa podcast ·

2022/06/12

This is episode 70 and we’re walking with Shaka. He spent the bulk of his early and teenage years in Zulu country, that area to the north of the Umhlatuzi, between the Langeni and the white Mfolozi rivers. Towards the end of his youth things became increasingly difficult for him, although the history is rather murky. There are hints in oral tradition as to what was going on, and specific events can only be covered in a tentative manner. The relationship between the Zulu and the Langeni people was

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22:13

Episode 69 – Senzangakhona’s “Jerusalem of the...

History of South Africa podcast ·

2022/06/05

This is episode 69 and we’re hunting the origins of Shaka. Throughout the area north of the Thukela River the main medium of exchange in terms of goods was no longer cattle by 1810 – it was beads. These glass objects manufactured in Europe had flowed through southern Africa starting in the first days of contact between Europe and Africa – way back in 1480s. More than 300 years later, these beads could be found in every corner of the continent. And one of those corners was Zululand. By the time of

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21:13

Episode 68 – Stockenström’s anguish, Dingiswayo and...

History of South Africa podcast ·

2022/05/29

We heard last episode how the fourth Frontier War of 1811/12 had been a short sharp affair and the anger bubbling away amongst amaXhosa leadership about the brutal emptying of the Albany district, so recently called the Zuurveld. We need to close a chapter here for a while to return to the incredible happenings further north east as Shaka began to impose himself along with Dingiswayo on the people of the region north of the amaThukela – that part of the country which goes by the name of Zululand

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20:51

Episode 67 – Wardoctor Nxele begins to see visions as...

History of South Africa podcast ·

2022/05/22

Graham’s war in the Eastern Cape had sent the amaXhosa hurrying eastwards over the Great Fish River, with Ndlambe settling near where East London is today. Not surprisingly, however, the 1812 explusions caused an increase in cattle raiding rather than more stability because the power of the chiefs had been removed from the area. While the British were putting their faith into the Rharhabe chief Ngqika, he was now a weak leader and no longer appeared to represent the views of the amaXhosa. By now,

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23:36

Episode 66 – The Fourth Frontier war bursts into...

History of South Africa podcast ·

2022/05/15

This is episode 66 – it’s late 1811 and Sir John Cradock has just dispatched Lieutenant Colonel John Graham into the eastern Cape frontier to rid the Zuurveld of the amaXhosa. Cradock suffered from none of his predecessors inhibition against taking military action. This did not reflect a change of policy in London – in fact, far from it. As you’ll hear next podcast he was subsequently reprimanded by the government and sharply reminded that his main aim was to keep all the troops available for the

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19:29

Episode 65 – Graham launches his terror campaign in...

History of South Africa podcast ·

2022/05/08

This is episode 65 and we’ll spend time with the amaXhosa, and hear about Lieutenant Colonel John Graham. I mentioned last episode that he was going to introduce what he would call a proper degree of terror in the Zuurveld where the British adopted an ethnic cleansing campaign in 1811 and 1812. All the important players in this terrible drama have been met – Jacob Cuyler the Uitenhage landdrost, Governor Cradock, Ngqika, Ndlambe, Chungwa of the Gqunukhwebe, Stockenstrom of Graaff-Reinet. So when

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20:39

Episode 64 – The amaXhosa “strolling” days are...

History of South Africa podcast ·

2022/05/01

This is episode 64 and we’ve rejoined Lieutenant colonel Richard Collins and Governor Caledon in Cape Town. If you remember last episode we heard about Collins’ military intelligence gathering trip to the eastern Frontier.He’d returned with two main ideas about what to do about the amaXhosa still living in the Zuurveld. His report of 6th August 1809 is another one of those key moments in South African history. In response, Caledons first initiative was to setup a mechanism to regulate the

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