Just prior to the outbreak of the Boer War, the small mining and railway village of Hattingspruit, only a few kilometres north of Dundee, grabbed some reflected limelight. This was due to the incredible physical exertion of 7 000 Zulu workers who walked from the Witwatersrand Goldfields back to their homes in Zululand.
The logistics of this march were organised by John Sydney Marwick. At 24 years old he was a fluent Zulu linguist, and the Johannesburg Agent for the Natal Native Agency, responsible for the recruitment and personal affairs of several thousand Zulu workers employed on the mines. His Zulu nickname was “Muhle”.
John Sydney Marwick
The discovery of diamonds and gold and the subsequent mining operations had revolutionised the country. There were far reaching changes in the social, political and economic life of the country and its inhabitants. A cheap and constant supply of labour was needed and by 1899 100 000 Africans were employed on the gold mines.
Once it was clear that war was going to break out and that the closure of the gold mines was imminent, the question arose as to what would happen to the mine workers Many of the mines shut down and 78 000 workers sought refuge outside the Transvaal.
According to Thomas Pakenham’s The Boer War:
In terms of...
