PLIGHT OF THE ZULUS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19761, 12 April 1926, Page 12

PLIGHT OF THE ZULUS.

j 1 NATION WITHOUT A LEADER. The settlement after the last Zulu War left Zululand divided up under the rule of 13 chiefs —an unlucky number, as the sequel proved. This arrangement was, however, not destined to continue long. It came to an end regretted bv none, not even those who had most benefited from it. The choice of rulers was arbitrary and unsatisfactory, and both rulers and ruled chafed under the choice. Since the collapse of this arrangement (writes a correspondent of The Times) the tribes have reverted more or less to their pre-Chaka position politically. Wherever possible a tribe is ruled by its hereditary chief under a European Resident Magistrate. When the ancient house has disappeared others have been promoted to (he chieftainship, with results which have on the whole proved not unsatisfactory. The nation has thus been left without a head. Dinizulu was deposed from his position of paramount chief for sedition and was eventually nanished to the Transvaal, where he died. His son Solomon has been reinstated as head of the Usutu faction, but legally he has not been recognised as paramount chief As always, there is even now’ a rival claimant to whatever shadow of' kingship remains to the house of Senzangakona, in the person of a younger brother of Dinizulu, who claims that he was the chief son of his father. So the tendency to division and intrigue still survives. Until this year the Usutu and the Madhlakazu factions have kept up their mutual enmity. Every' excuse for faction fighting between them has been seized with enthusiasm. Only two or three years ago a really serious fight between them was only stopped by the pluck and calm/iess of the local Civil servants. Other private hatreds have also been indulged. Chiefs whose families suffered under the Zulu kings axe inclined neither to forget nor to forgive the past. Looking back over the past the disinterested observer is able to see with clearness that these divisions and quarrels made it impossible for British officials, after the conquest of the Zulus, to attempt to preserve the integrity of the nation. Neither then nor for many years after was there one leader under whom the whole of the people would have settled down. What Zululand has missed during the years after the war until now in the way of contented progress along the path of civilisation and enlightenment is almost incalculable. A comparison, however, of the present state of the Zulus with that of their neighbours, the Basuto, who were wise enough to preserve their national untiy and fortunate enough to be treated as a nation, will give some idea of the losses sustained by Zululand during this period

The Basuto have under the care of successive Resident Commissioners, made much progress in agriculture, in education, and in the arts of self-government. With a paramount chief of their own, with a National Council —the Pitso —meeting regularly to discuss necessary legislation, taxation, and other matters connected with their daily life, with none of their ancestral land alienated inside the limits of their country proper, this people has not only preserved its manhood, but has also consolidated its claim to be regarded as a separate entity The Zulus, on the other hand, have lost large tracts of their country, which have been given over to European occupation; they have no responsible head, no voice in framing the laws under which they live, and little means of fitting themselves to face the altered conditions of life which their contact vith European civilisation has forced upon them. Their only means of education has lam until recently along the lines provided for them by missionary bodies, where zeal and self-sacrifice have been remarkable, but who possessed neither the means nor the ability to carry out the large schemes of agricultural and industrial training which the position demanded Small progress has been possible under these unfavourable conditions, and it is little wonder that this fine people shows a rapid anfl increasing deterioration. The apparent disregard of the interests of the Zulus shown by successive forms of Government —Imperial, Colonial, and Union —is almost unbelievable. At no time does the country appear to have boon - 4 n the intgyests of its original owners. It is trne v that a certain proportion of the taxes levied upon them has been returned in the making of roads and railways, in the provision of police and justice and the forwarding of such limited education ns has been offered to them. But none of these provisions really -omponsates for the immense harm that has resulted to the morale of the nation from the absence of altruism in the aims of the governing bodies. It is possible that better times are in store for this people. The Government at present shows sonic disposition to think out the principles of the art of governing subject races. The immense difficulties which lie in the way of developing the black races of the Union side by side with Europeans should not he lost sight of in trying to estimate the action of past Governments. But these difficulties General Hertzog is showing a disposition to grapple with, and, if he can succeed in keeping his native policy out of the region of party politics and free from the intrusions of extremists on both sides, he will probably grapple with them successfully. Although the day has not yet dawned whereon the Zulus are consulted upon legislation which touches their daily life, yet a tendency in this direction is distinctly observable. The work of the Native Commission is beginning to make itself felt. Lately this commission toured Zululand in order to explain the incidence of the new taxation measures which passed the Legislative Assembly last session and to ask the opinion of the people upon them. If the commission had been allowed to take this step before the measures bad been passed into law rather than afterwards there would have been real hope of advance.