'History repeats itself'

Posted by Madibeng Kgwete: 15 December 2010

Karl Marx observed memorably that “history repeats itself; first as tragedy, second as a farce”. This is no truer than in some events in South Africa’s history.

Exactly 172 years ago tomorrow, Zulu King Dingaan and his troops killed Voortrekker leader Piet Retief in a confrontation that would later culminate in what became known as the Battle of Blood River.

Dingaan is reported to have invited Retief to a ceremony to celebrate the signing of their land sale agreement. The ceremony, as it turned out, was a set up, organised by Dingaan to capture Retief and his troops.

After they were captured, Retief and his troops are said to have been led to kwa-Matiwane, where they were killed, with Retief being the last to be executed after watching his men as they were slaughtered one by one.

The Afrikaners designated the day of the massacre as a public holiday known as the Day of the Vow. The day, which remains a public holiday in post-apartheid South Africa, was also known as Dingaan Day.

Of great historical irony is that 123 years after Retief's killing (in 1962) the African National Congress, led by radicals such as Nelson Mandela, formed its military wing, Umkhondo We Sizwe (the spear of the nation), popularly known as the MK.

ANC President Oliver Tambo said of the MK that its formation marked the resumption of an "armed struggle under modern conditions for the restoration of our land to its rightful owners."

In a 1969 broadcast to mark the eighth anniversary of the MK, Tambo said the anti-apartheid rebel army would wage a fierce "armed guerilla struggle throughout southern Africa" that would result in the apartheid government suffering "ignominious defeat".

Up until 1990 when it suspended its operations in the face of negotiations for a peaceful settlement, the MK never faced apartheid forces in the type of struggle envisaged by Tambo. Instead, it launched targeted campaigns at apartheid operatives and strategic sites.

As a result of the integration in 1994 of the MK into the South African National Defence Force, today many former MK operatives work hand-in-hand with their former enemies.