About culture and not about golf.

Today was a travel day. We are heading toward Leopard Creek and decided to brake the travel into 2 parts and stop for the night at a town called Piet Retief.

Piet Retief was the leader of a group of white settlers. He took the group over the Drakensberg mountains in or around the year of 1836. He got killed by the Zulus under their King Dingane’s orders after a negotiation for land failed. The official name of the town is now Mkhondo. Though on Google Earth it is still Piet Retief. If you want the real story about the reason for killing Piet Retief, it’s in the end of this blog told by Eza’s brother Gerard.

Eza didn’t put in a specific address, just Piet Retief. And that we learned was a failure. The GPS lady took us on a very bumpy dirt road around the town into what might have been the first town like area where the black people settled many many years ago, where houses like the ones on the next pictures are common.

About Zuma – not king Zuma Dingane – but the former President of the Republic of South Africa.

I am trying hard to not be politically incorrect and if I’m Eza will tell me. During our trip I have been wondering about many things. For example; when you are passing the town ship areas where the black people stay, you will see some houses – a better word in our language would be a shed or a shack – many only half finished, and some seems to have been deserted.

From a local I learned this: After initiation the young boys (17+) are given a plot of land by the tribal leader. Later we meet a young man. He told us that after his initiation he got his peace of land for 22 Rand (a little more than 1 Euro), which his family have to pay back when he die.

That’s the explanation why some houses are looking deserted. That is changing now, if I understand it correctly. But another part of the tale is probably also that in the older days – in according to belief – it didn’t bring luck moving into a dead fathers house.

And here a story from the gossip magazine. This time about the former President.

In our B&B Eza found some glossy magazines. One from May 2018. One of the stories is about former President Zuma, now charged for taken money that wasn’t his during his reign. So far he hasn’t showed up in the court, due to sickness. Anyway the 17 of May 2018 he proposed to a girl. That is asking her to become his wife number 7. See the picture.

As we say: don’t necessarily believe in everything you read. But if you can translate from Afrikaans – go ahead.

The Magazine also brought a photo of Zulus 7 wives. I don’t know how many of them he is still married to. Though one of his wife’s (Eza think it is nr. 4, tried to kill him by poisoning him).

But as the African tradition goes. If you want to marry a women you will have to get her fathers acceptance and you have to pay a price to the father (called lobola). The father of this women asked for 11 cattle and required that Zuma made a thoughout cleaning of his house. The last part, which I understand, is a common thing in this culture (or – maybe – was).

Now you can think about life, marriages and fatherhood – not to mention the young girl. This you will, when you bear in mind that a man who wants to marry a second, third – or what ever number wife – that women have to be younger than the last women he got married to

The end of Piet Retief.

Piet Retief  was the pioneer colum leader from Eastern Cape. Was elected the first President of the new over the Orangeriver Republic .

The pioneers camped at Bethelehem and split up. Some under Piet Retief wanted to go Natal others wanted to go Pretoria area.

Poor Piet Retief led a party of 79 men to the Zulu kraal of Dingaan to negotiate land for relocating basically on the N3 route today. Dingaan the Zulu king was initially eager for white settlement against the Drakensberg mountains, to act as a buffer between marauding Bushmen and the Zulus. 

Sadly to say when Piet Retief and his party arrived at Dingaan’s palace called Umgingindlovu, with the stolen cattle, Dingaan requested Retief and his men to recover from his arch enemy Sekonjela, things went wrong at the festival .

Dingaan requested  that Retief and his men leave there guns outside, because accidental discharges have killed an mained a lot of Zulus. 

So Dingaan hosted a crude barbarian spit braai with Oxen slaughtered and local brew, which was very potent.

Then the debrief started on how they managed to get that Sekonjela surrounded and the cattle back. War stories are always elaborated and more heroic as the beer start taking effect. 

Then when Dingaan was really under the influence  he called his harlem 300 woman to come and dance. Remember they were the Royal herd ,’no touch’ .

Dressed only in scanty bikini type coverings , and bare breasted ,they started dancing . Dingaan was a lazy lover he sired only 3 children so these girls were oozing with lust , and it did not take long for Retief’s men to start touching when they danced in front of them, with tities being followed like and aeroplane propeller, round and round . Things got out of hand, some men of Retiefs party started dragging some women into open huts for some good sex.

It is then that Dingaans ,General warned him, that he cannot allow these Boers to make love to his Royal Woman and that in front of his whole kraal.

The order went out to Retief, control your men.

What Retief then tried to do but the liqour and lust took their toll , his party was uncontrollable,  and then Dingaan had to save face, and ordered them to bludgeoned and strapped with ropes around their necks and dragged outside the camp , where all 79 plus Retief was poled throw their behinds. And not planted like they used to do with renegades. 

All the bodies was left there no clothes was taken or shoes, and the bodies was buried 4 months later.

To conclude SA was the first country in the world to get the Immorality Act – sexual contact with other races.