The Bhambatha Rebellion 1906
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BHAMBATHA REBELLION


WARS & REBELLIONS

EARLY ZULU CONFLICTS

VOORTREKKER - ZULU CONFLICT 1837 -1838

THE REBELLION OF LANGALIBALELE
1873

ANGLO-ZULU WAR 1879

TRANSVAAL WAR OF INDEPENDENCE 1880-1881

THE ZULU CIVIL WAR
1883 -1888

SOUTH AFRICA / ANGLO-BOER WAR 1899-1902

BHAMBATHA REBELLION 1906

The Bhambatha Rebellion, a defiance against colonial rule, is described by many as the beginning of the armed struggle by black South Africans.

Bhambatha, a chief of the Zondi tribe, led a protest against the imposition, by the Colonial Government, of a poll tax of one pound on all male residents over the age of 18. After
four policemen were killed at Ambush Rock, colonial
forces were called in. By then many of the tribal communities in the colony were in open rebellion against the poll tax, and Bhambatha had moved to the densely forested Nkandla area, from where he operated.

Despite artillery shelling of the forests and sweeping searches by the colonial troops, the rebels remained secure. However, on 9th June 1906, Col. Duncan McKenzie, commander of the colonial forces, received word that Bhambatha and his men were entering Nkandla forest vial Mome Gorge. The next day the rebels were engaged, with 575 killed to the loss of 3 of the colonial force.

Officially, Bhambatha’s body was located on the banks of the Mome stream, decapitated and the head taken to Nkandla for identification, after which it was returned to the forest and buried with the body. However, elders of the Zondi community maintain that Bhambatha escaped the troopers and fled to Mozambique.

The battle of Mome Gorge broke the back of the rebellion, and although several influential amakhosi led sporadic displays of resistance, they were unable to match the firepower of the colonial forces and by mid July the rebellion had ended.