Confessions of a Technophobe, New Series 14
After writing the previous blog, I thought about the whole subject of migration, colonization, land ownership and reparations. If a group or even a nation is demanding reparations, how far back does one go and is it fair to do so?
The history of the world consists of frequent migrations, both big and small. Africa is no exception. As I’ve said previously, the longest inhabitants of Southern Africa were the Bushmen (or more correctly the San) who could well have been the hunter/gatherers recorded up to two million years ago. The Khoi Khoi, later called the Hottentots, were herders of sheep and cattle. The Khoi Khoi moved south in search of grazing land and to a certain extent mixed with the San. Both recorded their history in the form of rock paintings, with the Khoi using their fingers to paint, rather than brushes. The oldest recorded so-called “Bushman” paintings have been found in Namibia and dated at 26,000 years old. San paintings and their rich oral history give clues about their social and belief systems.
In 1810 a Khoi woman, Sarah Baartman, was either persuaded or coerced to come to the UK where she was put on display by unscrupulous entrepreneurs. The public paid to see her because of her unusual (and some say erotic) figure. From a European point of view, Khoi women had huge buttocks out of proportion with the rest of their bodies. Sarah was intelligent and spoke Dutch, English and a smattering of French. It is uncertain to what extent she was kept a virtual prisoner or whether she went along with the whole thing. She did however refuse to appear naked but wore tight-fitting clothing to highlight her unusual figure. 1n 1814 she was taken to France and was exhibited there until she died of an infection at the age of 26 in 1815. From time to time, attempts were made to have her body transported back to Africa, but it took Nelson Mandela’s influence to finally achieve this in 2002.
As written previously, in 1981 I spent a week at Omega Bushman army camp on the Caprivi Strip, a small Namibian land area bordered by Botswana, Zambbia and Angola on the banks of the Zambesi River. This was during a war between South Africa and the Communist People’s Movement for Liberation of Angola (MPLA) in Angola at the time. The MPLA had been reinforced by up to 36,000 Cuban troops. The South Africans had a powerful army augmented by the Bushman regiment at Omega. The Bushmen were delightful characters, with a great sense of humor, often imitating any unusual characteristics of their white South African officers. Fortunately, the officers also saw the humor in it. The Bushmen were superb trackers and surprisingly fierce fighters. It was my only contact with the Bushmen, but they left an indelible impression. Sadly, after the war they were relocated to a sparse and virtually uninhabitable land area, where they sat around helplessly and drank large quantities of alcohol. The San or Bushman nation, once rulers of Southern Africa, are in danger of becoming extinct!
The migration of the Bantu people from western and central Africa was the largest movement of people in Africa’s recorded history. Various reasons are given for it, namely, overpopulation and exhaustion of local resources such as grazing land, famines and epidemics. There was also warfare between the tribes, climate change affecting crops and probably just the spirit of adventure all of which motivated the migration. The black Great Trek started some 3,000 to 4,000 years ago. Two streams of Bantu developed with one group going eastwards towards what is known as the Swahili Coast (mostly today’s Kenya).
The other stream headed south and began to populate today’s Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique and the eastern coast of South Africa. It could, in fact, be described as a process of colonization long before the white man’s arrival, although much of the land was uninhabited at the time. In areas where indigenous tribes were already living, the Bantu used their superior skills and technology to exchange data about local conditions such as the growing of grain crops and fishing, with iron weapons and tools. As the Bantus became more settled, villages arose and kingships were created. Weaker groups such as the Pygmies who could not match the Bantu’s superiority with iron spears retreated into the forests of the Congo. The San moved west to the Kalahari and Namib deserts and became desert dwellers.
In 300 CE (equivalent to Anno Domini AD) Bantus settled in both Angola and South Africa’s KwaZulu Natal and in 500 CE the North Transvaal (now Limpopo). Although grouped under the generic title of Bantu (literally meaning people) the southern group was primarily Nguni-speaking and settled into small groups or sub-tribes until King Shaka began his rule in1816. He was a fearsome warrior, with exceptional organizational skills and far-sighted military prowess. He invented the short stabbing spear and the method of enclosing a pack of warriors under their shields forming an impervious shell over their heads. This resembled ancient Roman techniques.
King Shaka brought the scattered clans and communities under a central kingdom and the nation was ruled by him. He was revered until political intrigue and his increasing cruelty saw him assassinated in 1828. Nevertheless, the Zulu nation became the largest and most powerful ethnic group in southern Africa, followed by the Xhosas (Nelson Mandela was a Xhosa prince). The Zulus were feared for their military strength and the Xhosas for their political and negotiating skills.
All the major black tribes in South Africa adhere to a rich oral history, with traditions such as the Zulu reed dance (Umhlanga ceremony), bead work that spells out messages and most important of all, the concept of Ubuntu.
“I am because we are” is a philosophical idea, still widely practiced in the more traditional areas. Broadly speaking, it revolves around respect for all Mankind, encompassing every level of society, ranging from young children to one’s youthful peer groups and particularly the elders who play an important role in Zulu life. Traditional African religions believe that when they die, provided that they can be buried in the family burial grounds, they will, as ancestors, provide spiritual guidance for their family. Ubuntu extends upwards to respect for the ancestors as well.
Many of these traditions are dying out as the Zulus and other African tribes become more and more Westernized. I find this tragic. If one looks at Scottish, Irish and many European nations, they have successfully combined 21st-century thinking whilst retaining their heritages. Why should the Africans not do the same?
Over the years I met and became friendly with a number of Zulu men and women ranging from the second black actor to appear in a play for white audiences. (The first being Ken Gampu who appeared in a number if international movies, working with actors such as Burt Lancaster and Cornel Wilde.) We became good friends. I wrote the screenplay “Joe Bullet” for him to star in. It ran for 18 years in South Africa, and it was described as a mix between “Shaft” and “James Bond.” The Apartheid government banned it for a while, thinking – I suppose – that a black superhero was not an image they wished to see.
Another good friend was the training manager of the first major supermarket in KwaZulu Natal. I met and interviewed the head of the Zulu Inkatha party, Chief (and Prince) Mangosuthu Buthelezi whom we filmed at the Inkatha seat of government in Ulundi. We had lunch together, Buthelezi was a very interesting and enlightened man with a good grasp of international politics as well as his determination to maintain the power and influence of the Zulu people in the fragmented nation of South Africa, both during and after Apartheid.
Then there was Credo Mutwa, a direct descendant of King Shaka and famous Sangoma (traditional healer) whose book Indaba My Children revealed much of the ancient history of the Zulus as well as some secrets of the Sangoma’s (incurring the wrath of his people who felt that these should remain within the purview of the Zulus). Credo and I would talk for hours about Zulu traditions as well as, surprisingly, flying saucers and people from other planets. He claimed that the Zulus were well aware of the “lightning birds” (UFOs) that frequently visit the Drakensberg Mountains that run some 1,200 miles near the eastern coast of KwaZulu Natal and beyond.
After the iron-fisted rule of Shaka, portions of the Zulu nation broke away from the mainstream. Mzilikazi travelled north to form the Northern Ndebele which eventually became Rhodesia, named after Cecil John Rhodes (Now Zimbabawe). In 1878 the British demanded that King Cetshwayo disband the Zulu army and accept British sovereignty. He refused and three great battles between the Brits and Zulus ensued: Isandlwana which was won by the Zulus with the British underestimating their opponents. Rorke’s Drift was won by the Brits having learned a few lessons about warfare in Africa. At Ulundi the Zulus were decimated by massive forces, breaking all major resistance to British colonial rule.
In 1970, during the Apartheid years, KwaZulu was declared a homeland, the place where theoretically all Zulus should return to and live. This was ruled by Chief Buthelezi. He and his Inkatha Freedom Party were strongly opposed to Apartheid. They also split from the African National Congress (ANC) in 1976, recognizing the futility of the armed struggle against the ruling white Nationalist Party. My former co-worker at Lintas Advertising, Ronnie Kasrils, became the leader of the Natal branch of “uMkhonto we sizwe.” the armed wing of the ANC.
He was only one of few whites in senior positions in the ANC. Had I known that this seemingly charming and very humorous young man was a dedicated Communist, the path of my life may have been different. I was fired by Lintas for my association with him.
The Sotho people only came south in about the fifth century CE. After skirmishes with the British, King Moshoeshoe did a deal with them and in 1822 settled his Sotho people high in the Drakensberg Mountains forming the Protectorate of Basutoland (now Lesotho) under British rule but separate from South Africa, although surrounded by it. Two other Protectorates were also formed by the British: Bechuanaland (now Botswana) in 1885. Uncle Dennis (my mother’s brother) ended his career in the Colonial Service as Senior District Commissioner in the capital Gaberones in the 1960s. The other Protectorate was Swaziland (Kingdom of Eswatini) formed in 1902, where my parents lived for the last thirty years of their lives.
Other tribes such as the Venda, Pedi and Shangaan are all part of the mix of communities that make up the Republic of South Africa with an incredible eleven official languages. In reality, Zulu, Xhosa, English, Afrikaans and Sotho predominate.
ExoTech has no intention to colonize the world with its unique computing system. It plans rather to be assimilated into all corners of the Earth, as a staple communication and information tool available to anyone. There will be no need or desire to declare Independence from it. Instead, there will be a continual demand for the ExoBrain product, improving the spread of Ubuntu for Mankind!
An ExoTech Ltd shareholder, Chris is currently authoring two of the four books to be published the day ExoBrain launches and has helped to create ExoBrain’s introductory video to the Confidential Technical Briefing. Chris has spent his working life in the film and television industry, starting with BBC Television in London, then ATV in Birmingham becoming, at the time, the youngest Studio Manager in Britain.
Later, in South Africa, he wrote and directed film and TV commercials, having four South African entries at the Cannes Advertising Festival. After a number of years of writing and directing or producing documentaries (eight international awards) and corporate videos, he concentrated on writing feature film screenplays (five screened) and television series (seven screened). He has a novel, ”Pursuit of Treachery,” with a literary agent and is currently obtaining finance for an action adventure feature film he has written and is co-producing. He is a published poet and has given many readings.