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This is episode 130 and the Voortrekkers are moving inexorably towards Natal, where the Zulu king Dingana awaits.
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\nAt about the same time and as you\u2019ll hear next episode, a large Voortrekker commando of more than 360 Boers, Griqua and the Rolong warriors were going to gather with the intent of finishing off Mzilikazi Khumalo. The amaNdebele king had arrived back at Mosega in the Klein Marico valley, and had also just fended off an impi sent by Dingana.
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\nBy now, the number of trekkers arriving at Thaba \u2018Nchu area had increased to a few thousand, including a large party under Pieter Jacobs that had left the Beaufort West district.
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\nThese were the remnants of the Slagter\u2019s Nek rebellion, they were relatives of the Boers who\u2019d been hanged 22 years earlier. I covered the Slagter\u2019s Nek rebellion in episode 74, the bitter resentment about what the British had done had never been forgotten nor forgiven.
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\nAnd here was the result, dozens of families from Beaufort West and elsewhere, determined to escape the might of the British Empire in their little wagons, determined to seek freedom on the expansive veld, the deep African hinterland with all its mysteries and excitement.
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\nThere was also Jacob de Klerk who\u2019d left the Baviaan\u2019s River district - 62 families in 30 wagons. Another important group were the 100 trekkers led by 72 year-old Jacobus Johannes Uys which had departed from the Uitenghage district in March 1837.
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\nThe real leader of this group, however, was his son, Piet Uys. He\u2019d befrended Louis Trichardt a few years before - and was called dynamic \u2014 energetic \u2014 charismatic. Uys had also visited Dingana two years before to sound out the Zulu king\u2019s views on possibly granting land to the trekkers in Natal.
\nUys was well liked in the eastern Cape \u2014 and when he arrived in Grahamstown en route to the hinterland, a deputation of 1820 British settlers turned up to present him with a huge Bible bound in leather from Russia and inscribed with a stirring message that God would guide the Voortrekkers because the Volk had faith.
\nBy April 1837, Dingana was even more troubled by the Qadi people and specifically, their chief Dube kaSilwane. They inhabited a small territory to the north of the Tugela in the vicinity of where Kranskop is today. Dube was often referred to a peace-loving, but some say this was post ipso facto because a lot of men killed by Dingana were characterised as peace-loving.
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\nBut just to explain further, Zulu oral history says that Dingana had Dube killed for no other reason than he excelled during a dancing competition in which the Zulu king was participating.
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\nVery ancient rule there. If you have a dancing king, don\u2019t show off and make him look like an amateur. Bad career move.
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\nUvezi, uNonyanda Mgabadeli goes the most famous izibongo zikaDingana, \u2014 Vezi Nonyanda, Mgabadeli means the Prancer and this is how the entire 430 line poem about Dingana starts.