Lethal military collaboration on a wild frontier

A group of African refugees made a telling contribution to the British Empire's eventual military victory over the Xhosa in 1878. Mike Burgess uncovers how the Mfengu collaborated with the British to strip the Xhosa of their land and independence during the Cape's infamous Eastern Frontier Wars.

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When the Zulus, from 1815 onwards, began to violently consolidate their empire in today’s KwaZulu-Natal, groups of refugees were dispersed as far as Lesotho and Zimbabwe. One desperate group consisting of various clans such as the Hlubi and Amazizi, fled into today’s Eastern Cape where they were eventually welcomed to settle amongst the Gcaleka Xhosa in the 1820s.

In time they became known as the Mfengu, a name derived from the Xhosa phrase siyamfengusa, which means ‘we are wanderers seeking refuge’.

Although welcomed by the Xhosa in the spirit of ubuntu, they nevertheless held a lowly social status in Xhosa society, which made them gravitate towards Rev John Ayliff’s Wesleyan mission station near today’s Butterworth.

So, when a British mounted force entered Gcalekaland in mid-1835 in search of colonial cattle lifted by the Xhosa in the 6th Frontier War (1834-35) and went on to murder the paramount Xhosa chief, Hintsa, the Mfengu decided to betray the Xhosa.

About 15 000 Mfengu men, women and children followed the colonial force back to the Cape and eventually swore allegiance to the British Empire and Christianity in a moving ceremony under a milkwood tree that still stands near today’s town of Peddie, a mere 70km from Grahamstown.

The Mfengu were then settled along the nearby Keiskamma River, on former Xhosa territory, where they not only served as a buffer to Xhosa attacks, but also a valuable source of soldiers to face the Xhosa in future wars.

The Mfengu would over the next almost 45 years become an integral part of the colonial military machine that would eventually, in 1878, strip the Xhosa of their land and independence.

As it turned out, though, their loyal military contributions counted for nothing, as by the 1880s, the Mfengu were themselves betrayed by the British.