INgonyama UDingane’s Warrior Cry: “Bulalani Abathakathi!”
On 6 February 1838, following the “signing” of the “uMgungundlovu Treaty” between iNgonyama uDingane kaSenzangakhona and the leader of the Voortrekkers in the East Coast, Piet Retief, Retief and his party were treated to a farewell dance by the Zulu warriors at Royal Palace of uMgungundlovu. Before the function, the delegation was told to leave their firearms outside the royal kraal, as the carrying of weapons was viewed as threatening to His Royal Highness. Suddenly, when the dancing had reached a frenzied climax, iNgonyama uDingane leapt to his feet and shouted a warrior cry, “Bulalani abathakathi!” (“Kill the wizards!”).
The men were totally overpowered and dragged away to a hill called kwaMatiwane, named after a chief who had been killed there. Retief and his men were clubbed to death. It is alleged by some that the reason why they were killed, was because they withheld some of the cattle recovered from Inkosi uSigonyela of the Batlokwa. The general opinion is that Dingane did not wish to yield the land ceded to them in the “treaty”, as he had been tricked to sign it, and accordingly mistrusted the Voortrekkers and their presence within his Kingdom. However, there are various versions, based on the prior historical events, that made iNgonyama uDingane to kill the delegation led by Piet Retief into his Kingdom.
When the first Europeans, largely Englishmen, who came in 1824 to the K
