History of South Africa podcast

Episode 154 - The Swellekamp grifter and Captain Smith marches from the Umgazi River to Port Natal

This is episode 154 and the amaBhaca people under chief Ncapayi have just raided the Boers along the upper Bushman’s river and near their new town of Weenen. Joining the Bhaca were the San raiders you heard about in episode 152. The area around the Umzimvubu River had been unstable…

21 Jan 24 min

Episode 153 - Dr Livingstone disembarks and Pretorius and Potgieter bury the hatchet

1840 was a leap year, and in November David Livingstone had left Britain for Africa. His story of exploration and commitment is extraordinary. While he would go on to become better known for his attempts at finding the source of the Nile River in east Africa, it was his formative…

14 Jan 19 min

Episode 152 - The amaTola San raiders of the Drakensberg: Horses, plant meds and the Chacma Baboon

This is episode 152, we’re going to dig into a story that is not often told — the amaTola San raiders of the Drakensberg. They emerged by the end of the third decade of the 19th Century as a result of a mish-mash of forces at play on the veld…

7 Jan 26 min

Episode 151 - The polymath Sir John Herschel, his free school system and other 1840 interconnections

Episode 151 and we’re into the 1840s - and its time to analyse some issues. One is education, the other, roads. Given our crisis in education these days, its perhaps another of our historical ironies that state funded schooling was offered by 1839 and 1840 in the Cape, something that…

31 Dec 2023 22 min

Episode 150 - Dingana assassinated near Ghost Mountain and the cultural appropriation tale of the toyi-toyi

For those who’ve lasted the journey thus far, thank you for listening. The number of downloads is approaching 1 and a quarter million, which by itself is quite a shock. Adding to the selfserving histrionics, Episode one of this series has just made to Spotify’s fourth most listened to podcast…

24 Dec 2023 22 min

Episode 149 - Mpande defeats Dingana at the Battle of amaQongqo and Bhibhi the beautiful is killed

This is episode 149 and Mpande kaSenzangakhona and the Boers are going after Dingana. We’re entering the 1840s where momentous events would continue to shape South Africa’s future. After Shaka’s death in 1828 his half-brother and murderer, Dingana, was supposed to usher in stability. Instead, Dingana embroiled the AmaZulu in…

17 Dec 2023 24 min

Episode 148 - The AmaZulu routed by amaSwazi Widow Bird warriors and Mpande’s exodus

This is episode 148 and there’re negotiations afoot between Dingana and the Voortrekkers, at the behest of Captain Henry Jervis who led the small detachment of British troops based at Port Natal. Their role was to stabilise the Natal region after a year of extreme violence, the Voortrekkers and the…

7 Dec 2023 24 min

Episode 147 - Coloured enters the lexicon in 1838 as Captain Jervis reports his coal find

Cape Town was burgeoning — and trade was starting to pick up. There was also a paradox, the real effects of the emancipation of slaves back in 1834 was only really felt in 1838 because it was in that year the 38 000 slaves were finally allowed to leave their…

3 Dec 2023 27 min

Episode 146 - The Battle of oPathe where Bhongoza and Hans Dons earn oral history stripes

Andries Pretorius had won a major encounter with the Zulu army, which was now in full retreat and the way to emGungungundlovu was wide open. A day after the Battle on the 17th December 1838, Commandant General Pretorius had two Zulu captives brought before him. According to Voortrekker records, he…

26 Nov 2023 23 min

Episode 145 - The seminal Battle on the Ncome known as Blood River

This is episode 145 - we’re joining the AmaZulu and the Voortrekkers at the apocalyptic clash on the River Ncome, which was soon renamed Blood River. This battle has seared its way into South African consciousness — it is so symbolic that its reference frames modern politics. Just when someone…

18 Nov 2023 26 min

Episode 144 - Mpande evades Dingane’s assassination plot, the British seize Durban and Pretorius plans a covenant

This is episode 144 and a momentous event is about to take place. One that will shape Boer Zulu relations for centuries to come. The Battle of Blood River - or Ncome River - is etched in the consciousness of South Africans. While the gory details are not contested, its…

11 Nov 2023 26 min

Episode 143 - The World in 1838, New Veld Tech and Plough Enhancements

This is episode 143 and we’re back in Cape Town, it’s late 1838, our new British Governor Sir George Napier is in the hot seat and he’s already regretting taking up the position. He was trying to make Andries Stockenstrom’s eastern Cape Treaty System a success and this was not…

5 Nov 2023 20 min

Episode 142 - Moshoeshoe the beard-shearer and the complex theological soup of the BaSotho

This is episode 142. It would be remiss of me not to say Congratulations Bokke on a gritty win over the All Blacks to become world champions for a record fourth time. With that said, picture the scene. We are standing on the western slopes of the Drakensberg, looking out…

29 Oct 2023 23 min

Episode 141 — An ode to the Orange River and San spoor blows in the wind

Welcome back to the History of South Africa podcast with me your host, Des Latham. This is episode 141. First a little admin - a big thank you to for tuning in. This series has passed one million listens, the response has been staggering. When I began planning the history…

21 Oct 2023 26 min

Episode 140 - High Noon at Gatslaager & Mzilikazi barges into the Batswana

Ten thousand Zulu warriors had appeared at GatsLaager, the headquarters of the Voortrekkers under the brow of the Drakensberg, sent by Dingana and led by Ndlela kaSompiti. In South African history and general memory there are major confrontations which are part of modern consciousness. These would be things like the…

15 Oct 2023 18 min

Episode 139 - The Battle of Thukela/Dlokweni, Durban is sacked and the Republiek Natalia proclaimed

This is episode 139 and the Grand Army of Natal has marched over the Thukela River to attack the imizi of Ndondakusuka. And if you’re following, you’ll know that a large Zulu army is camped to the north of Ndondakusuka, led by Mpande Senzangakhona. We’re getting straight down to business,…

7 Oct 2023 23 min

Episode 138 - The yin and yang of Stretch and Bowker and the Grand Army of Natal marches again

The world was undergoing some other major changes — including the climate. Explosive volcanic eruptions late in the 1790s had led to vast quantities of dust being thrown in the stratosphere and this had a short term effect on temperatures around the world. Nowhere on earth was safe — in…

30 Sep 2023 23 min

Episode 137 - The Vlugkommando of April 1838 and a hard rain continues to fall

It’s been a harrowing few months in southern Africa back in 1838. All manner of change has rolled in across the veld, there are worlds colliding, roiling, like thunderclouds, seething and churning. And almost allegorical, because lightning from real storms had already killed Boer horses and Zulu warriors in separate…

23 Sep 2023 24 min

Episode 136 - The place of weeping earns its name and the“Grand Army of Natal” marches off

This is episode 136 — the Zulu army has fallen on the Voortrekkers along the Bloukrans and Bushman’s rivers, close to where Escourt and Ladysmith are to be found today, but right now it’s February 17th 1838. The tributaries of these rivers were renamed Groot and Klein Moordspruit because of…

16 Sep 2023 27 min

Episode 135 - The Zulu army overruns the Voortrekkers along the Bloukrans and Bushman’s River

As you heard, Piet Retief and 100 Boers and Khoesan agterryes had been killed by Dingana on the 6th February 1838. Missionary Owen watched the killings through his telescope until he couldn’t take it any more and collapsed in shock. The Zulu king was not done, he’d ordered his amabutho…

9 Sep 2023 27 min