Bambatha at Mpanza: The Making of a Rebel

Bambatha at Mpanza: The Making of a Rebel. By Paul S. Thompson. Pietermaritzburg: P. S. Thompson, 2004. Pp. xi, 153.

This is a very strange book. It is a study of the Zulu chief Bambatha, whose 1906 rebellion against the colonial government of Natal was a watershed in the region's history. But Thompson's account ends with Bambatha's defeat at Mpanza on April 7 and has nothing to say about the colonial army's pursuit of him from then until May 5, or about the minor skirmishes that took place between the two sides from May 5 until Bambatha's defeat and death at the battle of Mhome Gorge on June 10. Thompson's rationale for this exclusion seems to be that Bambatha's rebellion in Natal "was a failure ... except for one confused battle" (p. vii), namely Mpanza. True enough, but to end the story there is to leave hanging all the readers who might not already know the ending.

Indeed, the biggest problem with this book is its persistent failure to provide the necessary context for the newcomer to the subject. Not that there is a lack of information: Thompson has done an enormous amount of archival research and even visited the sites of the battles and other events himself. He tells us Bambatha's life story, and especially the story of the rebellion itself, in pains-taking detail. But there is neither a structured argument nor a driving narrative to help the reader differentiate colorful incidentals from key bits of information. Thompson does not do enough to...