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Sekonyela and Moshweshwe: Failure and Success in the Aftermath of the Difaqane

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

P. B. Sanders
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Extract

Sekonyela's downfall is commonly attributed to his personal defects—to the love of war by which he alienated his neighbours, and to the rough treatment by which he alienated his own people, Conversely, Moshweshwe's rise to power is commonly attributed to his love of peace and to his benevolence.

This article does not seek to refute the traditional assessments of the characters of the two chiefs, but to suggest that as explanations for their diifering fortunes they are inadequate. Basically Sekonyela failed because, after 1829, he was poorer than Moshweshwe. The Tlokwa had to kill and consume many of their cattle during the first two years of the difaqane, and it seems that they never fully recovered their former prosperity. Moreoverj they suffered further heavy losses in the war with the Korana and their allies in the early 1840s. Sekonyela, therefore, was not in a position to attract and bind thousands of followers to himself by sustaining them. Hence, to a large extent, his raids on his neighbours' herds, and his unpopularity among his own people.

Moshweshwe, however, retained most of his cattle during the difaqane, and in 1829 conducted two richly rewarding raids against the Thembu. Thereafter his wealth far surpassed Sekonyela's, and it was mainly because of this that he was able to attract and hold so many followers.

The territorial expansion of the Sotho naturally brought them into conflict with the Tlokwa, and in 1853, after the British had indicated that they were not prepared to interfere in this dispute, Sekonyela was overwhelmed by Moshweshwe's superior forces.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , July 1969 , pp. 439 - 455
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1969

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References

1 Ellenberger, D. F., History of the Basuto: Ancient and Modern (London, 1912), 42Google Scholar. Ellenberger (1835–1920) worked as a missionary among the Sotho from 1861 to 1905: for further details, see Lye, W. F., ‘The Difaqane: the Mfecane in the Southern Sotho area, 1822–24’, J. Afr. Hist. viii, no. i (1967), 111.Google Scholar

2 J. C. Macgregor, Basuto Traditions (Willem Hiddingh Reprint Series, no. 12, Cape Town, 1957; originally published in 1905), 12. For Macgregor, see Lye, 113.

3 T. Arbousset to the Committee of the Société des Missions Evangéliques de Paris (Paris Evangelical Missionary Society, hereafter P.E.M.S.), 28 Nov. 1853, in Le Journal des Missions Évangéliques (hereafter J.M.E.), 1854, p. 162. Arbousset worked as a missionary among the Sotho from 1833 to 1860. The date of his letter is taken from the original in the P.E.M.S. Archives in Paris.

4 Ellenberger, History, 48.

5 For these and other details of early Tlokwa history, see Ellenberger, History, 39–51.

6 A. M. Sekese, ‘History ea Lesotho’, Leselinyana, 5 June 1909. Sekese (1849–1930), who derived nearly all his information from oral sources, published more than 200 articles in the P.E.M.S. newspaper, Leselinyana.

7 For these and other details of early Mokotedi history, see Ellenberger, History, 99–111 .

8 See footnotes 5 and 7 above.

9 The difaqane are described in great detail in Ellenberger's History.

10 See footnote i above.

11 E.g. the Tsheele Fokeng (Ellenberger, History, 124); the Patsa Fokeng (ibid.); the Mokotedi (pp. 126, 143–6); the Monaheng of Makgetha(p. 127); the Tloung of Montsho (ibid.); and the Ropodi (ibid.).

12 E.g. the Monaheng of Makgetha and the Tloung of Montsho (Ellenberger, History, 127. 135).

13 Ellenberger, History, 135.

14 Papers of Dr Andrew Smith (in South African Museum, Cape Town), vol. x, 186–7. Smith visited Marabeng in November 1834 and obtained much of his information from MmaNthatisi herself.

15 Certainly they were so regarded in later years: see, for example, Arbousset, Relation d'un voyage d'exploration (Paris, 1842), 63–4Google Scholar, 100–1.

16 Arbousset, Relation, 63–4. (A reduction in the numbers of the Tlokwa is certainly implied in this passage.)

17 Smith Papers, x, 185.

18 For Moshweshwe's activities during the early years of the difaqane, see Ellenberger, History, 126, 128–9, 143–8, 151–3, 163–4, 170–2. 176, 181–4.

19 See Ellenberger, History, 192–3.

20 Relation, 603.

21 George Tladi Moshweshwe, ‘Litaba tsa Mofuta oa Basuthu’ (History of the Sotho tribe), 81. This work was written in Sesotho at Cape Town in 1858, and the manuscript is now in the Grey Library, Cape Town.

22 Ellenberger, History, 193–5.

23 For the Korana, see Ellenberger, History, 212–16. In 1836 Moshweshwe inflicted a decisive defeat on the Korana living on the Riet River: see Ellenberger, History, part iii, chap. vii. (This part of Ellenberger's work was never published, but survives, only in part unfortunately, as a manuscript in the Ellenberger Papers, which are now in the custody of the Rev. P. Ellenberger, Masitise, Lesotho.) When Dr Smith visited the Tlokwa he found that they were just beginning to recover from their losses in the early years of the difaqane: see Smith Papers, x, 187. Clearly, therefore, they were beginning to get the measure of the Korana.

24 For the establishment of Mpharane, see Arbousset, Relation, 78.

25 Archbell (a Wesleyan missionary) to the General Secretaries of the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society, 17 Jan. 1834, in South Africa, box vii, Archives of the Methodist Missionary Society (hereafter M.M.S.) in London.

26 Arbousset to GrandPierre, 22 Feb. 1836, in Lettres de Thomas Arbousset, P.E.M.S. Archives, Paris.

27 Relation, 63.

28 Ibid. 65.

29 French missionaries to Lieutenant-Governor Hare, 30 May 1842, in G. M. Theal (ed.), Basutoland Records (hereafter B.R.), 1, 43.

30 Sir H. Smith (High Commissioner of the Cape) to Grey (Secretary of State), 3 Feb. 1848, B.R. i, 163–4.

31 E.g. the ‘Matlapatlapa’ of chief ‘Lepaloule’, who numbered between 2,000 and 3,000, and, it seems, joined Sekonyela in 1838. See Arbousset, ‘Excursion missionnaire de M. T. Arbousset dans les Montagnes Bleues’ (a MS written at Morija in 1840, now in P.E.M.S. Archives in Paris), 40–1.

32 It is clear e.g. from Arbousset's Relation (65–7) and his ‘Excursion missionnaire’ (passim) that Sekonyela allowed his subordinate chiefs to gather their own followers around them at their own villages, and that he was using at least his uncle Masiu and his brother Mmota to supervise them.

33 See, for example, Arbousset, Relation, 254–9.

34 Macgregor, Basuto Traditions, 30.

35 J. Bird, Annals of Natal, i (Pietermaritzburg, 1888), 367–76.

36 Arbousset, ‘Excursion missionnaire’, 39.

37 This war is fully described in the Wesleyans' letters to their Society: see South Africa, box xii, in the M.M.S. Archives in London. See also the Letter Book of the Wesleyan James Cameron, Accessions no. ii .2, Henderson Collection, Archives of the Orange Free State (hereafter O.F.S.), Bloemfontein; the letters of Daumas, the missionary at Mekwatleng, in the J.M.E. at this time; and Macgregor, Basuto Traditions, 28–9.

38 Daumas ascribes the advent of peace to the threatening attitude of the neighbouring Boers, but does not go into detail: see letter to P.E M S. Committee, 15 Oct. 1842, J.M.E. (1843), 321–2.

39 See, for example, Moshweshwe to Southey, 3 Oct. 1848, B.R. i, 180.

40 Cameron to General Secretaries, 25 Dec. 1843, in Letter Book, op. cit.

41 Sekese, ‘History ea Ba-Sotho, ix’, Leselinyana, 15 June 1905, and ‘Selekane sa marena, ii’, Leselinyana, 13 May 1921.

42 Daumas's journal, April 1848, J.M.E. (1848), 332.

43 E.g. Arbousset, ‘Excursion missionnaire’, 57.

44 Arbousset to P.E.M.S. Committee, 28 Oct. 1843, Lettres 1844–5, P.E.M.S. Archives, Paris; George Tladi Moshweshwe, ‘Litaba’, 94; Macgregor, Sasuto Traditions, 30.

45 Arbousset to P.E.M.S. Committee, 21 Sept. 1846, J.M.E. (1847), 210; Macgregor, Basuto Traditions, 30.

46 ‘Proceedings of the Land Commission’, 8 Nov. 1848, B.R. i, 191–7; Sekese, ‘Buka ea taba tsa ba-Sotho’, Leselinyana, i Oct. 1892; Macgregor, Basuto Traditions, 30–1.

47 Maitin, the missionary at Berea, to P.E.M.S. Committee, 7 Aug. 1854, J.M.E. (1855), 10–11.

48 For these disturbances, see B.R. i, 180 et seq.

49 ‘Proceedings of the Land Commission’, 8 Nov. 1848, B.R. i, p. 197.

50 Warden to Smith, 5 Aug. 1849, B.R. i, pp. 259–61.

51 For Moshweshwe's opposition to boundaries, see, for example, ‘Proceedings of the Land Commission’, op. cit., and Moshweshwe to Warden, 2 June 1851, B.R. i, 403–4.

52 Certainly Sekonyela welcomed the imposition of a boundary between himself and Moshweshwe: see, for example, ‘Proceedings of the Land Commission’, op. cit.

53 See, for example, ‘Minutes of Meeting of the Native Chiefs at Bloemfontein, on Monday, 27 Aug. 1849’, B.R. i, 270–3.

54 For accounts of the battle, see B.R. i, 420–7.

55 See B.R. i, 428 et seq.

56 For a concise account of the Taung's reverses, see ‘Statement drawn up at the request of the Chief Molitsane’, enclosed with letter from Moletsane to Hogge and Owen (see below), 28 Jan. 1852, B.R. i, 521–32.

57 Warden to Sekonyela, 7 Aug. 1850, B.R. I, 314, and Warden to High Commissioner's Secretary, ii Aug. 1850, B.R. i, 314–15.

58 See, for example, Freeman (who visited Moshweshwe early in 1850) to Grey, 20 Aug. 1850, B.R. i, 316–18.

59 Arbousset to P.E.M.S. Committee, 15 June 1852, J.M.E. (1852), 362.

60 Biddulph (Civil Commissioner at Winburg) to Owen, 26 Mar. 1852, B.R. i, 560.

61 See, for example, letters from ‘the Basuto country’ and Moletsane's country in The Friend (a Bloemfontein newspaper), 6 Oct. 1851; Moshweshwe to Hogge and Owen, 9 Jan. 1852, B.R. i, 486; Daumas to Owen, 4 Mar. 1852, B.R. i, 553.

62 Arbousset to P.E.M.S. Committee, 15 June 1852, J.M.E. (1852), 363–4; Moshweshwe to Hogge and Owen, 23 June 1852, B.R. i, 568.

63 Daniel (the missionary at Mpharane) to Cameron, 16 Nov. 1851, B.R. i, 468.

64 For a full account of this expedition, see Arbousset to P.E.M.S. Committee, 15 June 1852, J.M.E. (1852), 361–5.

65 ‘Message of Moshesh to Sikonyella’, The Friend, 16 Dec. 1852. According to this account, Moshweshwe told Sekonyela: ‘Peace is granted you and I am now making preparations for Molapo's return to his old station, as your neighbour.’ Molapo had moved from Peka to the newly established mission station of Cana in 1846, and subsequently had withdrawn from Cana to Tshwanamakgulo because of the pressure of Korana and Tlokwa raids: see Maeder (an aide-missionnaire) to P.E.M.S. Committee, 9. Jan. 1850, Lettres de Maeder, P.E.M.S. Archives, Paris. It is therefore not clear whether Molapo's ‘old station’ is Cana or Peka.

66 ‘Message of Moshesh to Sikonyella’, op. cit.

67 Moshweshwe to Green (who succeeded Warden as Resident), 29 Jan. 1853, B.R. ii, 16; Biddulph to Green, 18 Feb. 1853, B.R. ii, 34; Green to Cathcart (who succeeded Smith as High Commissioner), 2 Mar. 1853, B.R. ii, 37.

68 E.g. Green to Cathcart, op. cit.; Daumas to Green, 3 May 1853, B.R. ii, 50–1; Casalis to Green, ii June 1853, B.R. ii, 55–6.

69 For accounts of the battle, see Arbousset to P.E.M.S. Committee, 28 Nov. 1853, J.M.E. (1854), 161–72; Clerk (the officer in charge of arrangements for the British abandonment of the Sovereignty) to Newcastle (now Secretary of State), 3 Dec. 1853, B.R. ii, 76–8; Casalis to GrandPierre, 4 Dec. 1853, J.M.E. (1854), 41–2; ‘Account of Sikonyela’, The Friend, 10 Dec. 1853; Daumas to P.E.M.S. Committee, 4 Jan. 1854, J.M.E. (1854), 174–6.

70 ‘Account of Sikonyela’, op. cit.

71 Austen (Superintendent of Reserve) to Burnet (Resident Magistrate at Aliwal North), 21 July 1856, B.R. ii, 216.

72 Arbousset, Relation, 568–9.

73 George Tladi Moshweshwe, ‘Litaba’, 34.

74 Shepstone (a Wesleyan missionary) to General Secretaries, 18 Sept. 1841, South Africa, box xii, M.M.S. Archives, London.

75 Casalis to P.E.M.S. Committee, 20 May 1841, J.M.E. (1841), 404.

76 Smith Papers, xii, 23.

77 Casalis to P.E.M.S. Committee, 24 July 1837, J.M.E. (1838), 5.

78 Smith Papers, x, 187.

79 Relation, 255.

80 Sekonyela, F. M., ‘Batlokoa’, Leselinyana, 9 Nov. 1948.Google Scholar

81 Casalis to P.E.M.S. Committee, 31 July 1833, B.R. iii, 2–3.

82 Ellenberger's ‘Notice’ on ‘Généalogie de la famille de Moshesh’, Livre d'Or (Paris, 1912), 676.

83 Sekonyela, F. M., ‘Batlokoa’, Leselinyana, 16 Nov. 1948.Google Scholar

84 The passages quoted are from the Smith Papers, x, 174–5, and Edwards, J. (a Wesleyan), Fifty Years of Mission Life in South Africa (London, 1886), 86.Google Scholar

85 Daumas to P.E.M.S. Committee, i Sept. 1841, J.M.E. (1842), 91.

86 Cameron to General Secretaries, 23 Aug. 1841, in Letter Book, O.F.S. Archives.

87 Giddy to General Secretaries, 4 Oct. 1841, South Africa, box xii, M.M.S. Archives, London.

88 Smith Papers, x 184–5; Arbousset, Relation, 61.

89 Smith Papers, x, 188–9 (two pairs of pages are numbered 188–9 in vol. x: this is the second pair).

90 Smith Papers, x, pp. 188–9 (this is the first pair: see preceding footnote).

91 Nehemiah Moshweshwe to J. Orpen, 4 Dec. 1905, in Ellenberger Papers.

92 Sekese, ‘History ea Basotho’, Leselinyana, 15 Sept. 1906.

93 George Tladi Moshweshwe, ‘Litaba’, 97–8.

94 Sekese, ‘Mokolokolo le Malimo’, Leselinyana, 28 March 1912. Mokolokolo's offence is suggested by oral tradition today.

95 For Tshehlo's disagreement with Moshweshwe, see Sekese, ‘Buka ea taba tsa ba-Sotho’, Leselinyana, i Apr. 1893, and Sekese to R. Ellenberger (D. F. Ellenberger's son), in Letters of A. M. Sekese, vol. i, Ellenberger Papers. For Sekonyela's dealings with Tshehlo, see Arbousset, Relation, 255–8. For subsequent Tlokwa attacks on the Maiyane, see B.R. i, 139 et seq. In fairness to Sekonyela, it should be stated that, according to Macgregor, Tshehlo had acted as a guide to Retief's commando: see Basuto Traditions, 30.

96 Note in the Orpen Papers, Accessions no. 302, Cape Town Archives.

97 This sentiment was expressed by Moshweshwe's uncle, Dibe: see Casalis to P.E.M.S. Committee, 8 Jan. 1847, J.M.E. (1847), 215.