Dr Susan Bester Skool vir Geesteswetenskappe vir Onderwys

1. Dr Susan Bester Skoolvir Geesteswetenskappe vir Onderwys School for Human and Social Sciences for Education

2. On the cutting edge - The Retief-Dingane Tractate (treaty) and land claims

3. On Monday 30 July 2014, President Jacob Zuma, signed the Restitution of Right Amendment Bill into law. The bill opened way for the new tenure of land claims for a period of five years until 30 June 2019. Furthermore the bill also provides for the lodgement of land claims before 1913. That is within this time frame that various treaties (tractates), such as the Retief-Dingaan Tractate can be the trigger of the submission of a multitude of land claims.

4. To put the Retief – Dingane treaty into the context of the new legislation it is important to: • give a brief history of the events that lead to Dingane granting land to the Voortrekkers under Piet Retief by means of a treaty (Tractate) and the massacre of Piet Retief and his companions at uMgungundlovu . • give an overview of the history of the treaty, and to put the different reproductions of it in perspective, regarding the authenticity of the document and • determine the territory which was granted by Dingane to the Voortrekkers as set by the treaty, and what implications it could have according to the Restitution of Right Amendment Bill is also essential.

5. During September 1828 King Shaka was assassinated by his half-brothers Dingane and Mhlangana and a co-conspirator Mbopa. Shaka was succeeded by Dingane. Dingane’sroyal capital and stronghold was uMgungundlovu - “the place of the elephant

6. In February 1837 Piet Retief left the Cape Colony with about 300 people. By early April 1837, he joined the Voortrekkergroups of AndriesHendrik Potgieter and GerritMaritz in the vicinity of ThabaNchu and the Vet river. Since there were so many trekkers together, they elected a new government on 17 April 1837.

7. Retief was elected as Governor of the Voortrekkers while Gert Maritz was the leader of the Burger council (Burgerraad). At the end of June 1837 Piet Uys and his group of trekkers also arrived and strengthen the Voortrekkerranks.

8. For Retief it was important that the Voortrekkers have their own port and he and his supporters move to the Drakensberg on their way to Natal to negotiate for land with Dingane. In early October 1837 he left with a commission for Port Natal (the present Durban). On 19 October 1837 the commission arrived at Port Natal where they met about thirty British settlers and a number of Zulu refugees. Retief sent a letter to Dingane in which he requested an interview because he wanted to negotiate for land on which the Voortrekkers can settle.

9. Retief and his group reached uMgungundlovu on 5 November 1837, but it was not until three days later on 8 November 1837 that an interview with Dinganewasgranted to them. During this meeting, Retief told Dinganethat the Voortrekkers wished to buy land from him, but Dingane accused the Voortrekkers of stealing his cattle. Relief denied the allegations and told Dingane that Sekonyela was the culprit.

10. Dingane undertook to grand land to Retief if he return the stolen cattle. The same day Retief left uMgungundlovu so that he could prepare for his action against Sekonyela to get back the stolen cattle. Dingane also sent some of his Indunaswith Retief. On 27 November 1837, Retief together the Indunas arrived at the laagers.

11. About a month later Retief left for Sekonyela to get the stolen cattle back. He was accompanied by about 50 Voortrekkersand the Indunas. During the bloodless encounter with Sekonyela, about 700 cattle, horses and rifles were taken from Sekonyela. On 25 January 1838, Retief together with about 70 Voortrekkers volunteers and 30 servants left the laagers for uMgungundlovu.

12. On Friday, 3 February 1838, Retief and his group with the cattle arrived at uMgungundlovu. Retief wasted no time in discussing the granting of land by means of a treaty with Dingane. The next day, on 4 February 1838 both Dingane and Retief signed a written deed of land transfer - from the Tugela up to the Umzimvubu rivers.

13. On the morning of 6 February 1838, Retief and his companions were invited, as unarmed guests according to Zulu custom, to a feast by Dingane, before they returned to the waiting laagers. During the proceedings, they were overpowered by the Zulus and killed on the hill of execution, Kwa-Matiwane.

14. On 20 December 1838, the commando of Andries Pretorius arrived at the abandoned and burned out uMgungundlovu. Pretorius found the treaty in a separate blue woven sachet in a leather bag with Retief's remains,. The following day they buried the remains of Retief and his group in a grave.

15. What happened to the treaty - overview of the history of the treaty AndriesPretorius brought the treaty back with him to the waiting laagers. After his death in 1853 the treaty was the hands of his son Martinus Wessel Pretorius and was placed together with other documents for safekeeping in the achieves of the Transvaal Government.

16. With the founding of the State museum of the Zuid-AfrikaanscheRepubliek (ZAR) (forerunner of the Transvaal Museum), on 1 December 1892, the original Retief-Dinganetreaty was exhibited in the museum and reproductions were made of the document.

17. During 1900, Dr Willem Johannes Leyds was the Special Envoy and Minister Plenipotentiary in Brussels of the (ZAR). He asked that the original treaty together with certain other government documents must be sent to him while he was in Holland. Unfortunately the parcel never reached him - agreat loss to him and South Africa.

18. The different reproductions The first primary handwritten copy was that of Pretorius on the 22 December 1838 - the day after they found the treaty. Except for the handwritten copies, facsimile and tracing reproduction was also made of the treaty.

19. During 1891, printer Leo Weinthal got permission from president Paul Kruger to make a tracing reproduction of the treaty and to publish a photographical reproduction of it. This reproduction was used to make other reproductions.

20. Implications of the Restitution of Right Amendment Bill What the present KwaZulu-Natal, the territory mentioned in the Retief-Dingane treaty, is concerned, it can be expected that two land claims will be submitted. King Goodwill Zwelithiniof the Zulus are compiling a multibillion-rand land claim. This claim will not only on KwaZulu-Natal but will include Eastern Cape, Free State and a part of Mpumalanga. Research will be done to determine the exact extent of the claim. The claim would cover land taken from 1838 onwards.

21. On the other hand a claim, that can be seen as a counter claim, will came from the other side of the treaty, namely from the descendants of the Voortrekkers. Not a easy task, because research to locate them will be time consuming and evidence to support the claim must also be collected and certified. However, there wasconfusion because the Chief Land Claims Commissioner NomfundoGobodo told Parliament’s rural development and land reform portfolio committee that the constitution prevented the commission from accepting claims for land lost before 1913

22. BUT he said the Land Claims Commission would research each claim to establish its validity, no matter who had lodged it and the Land Claims Court would settle disputes.