As the DA led by Helen Zille swept towards the President Jacob Zuma compound known as Nkandla social media erupted with name calling, racist and political taunts today.
One of the tweets by @ras6, in response to Helen Zille tweeting an image of Zuma’s neighbour (image below), that caught my eye is kind of a puzzle to me – what do you think Mchenge is saying?
“bulala’bathakathi” “@helenzille: A view of Nkandla from the hill we are on #Nkandlagate http://t.co/J1lEIjFW“
about 15 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®ReplyRetweetFavorite
I presume that this is a reference to an early conflict that Zulu Chief Dingane had with Piet Retief, the leader of the voortrekkers, during November 1837. In return for their recovering some stolen cattle, Dingane signed a deed of cession of lands (written in English) to the Voortrekkers. After two days of feasting, on 6 February 1838, the chief had Retief and his diplomatic party killed. At the same time, Dingane’s forces ambushed and killed Retief’s trek party, about 500 Boers, including men, women and children. The Boers called this the Weenen massacre. The nearby present-day town of Weenen (Dutch for “weeping”) was named by early settlers in memory of the massacre.
The killing was precipitated by Dingane getting up and yelling “Bulalani abathakathi” (“kill the magicians”) and his warriors immediately killed the Boer representatives outside the royal kraal on the execution rock called Matiwane.
Left: Zulu Warriors pose in front of their huts after killing of Voortrekkers. Right: The abode of Jacob Zuma’s ‘neighbour’.
One can’t help but thinking that the wealth and care gap between Zulu Chief and foot soldier has been widened to such an extent that something will break soon. Sir, Mr President, Owner of Chez Nkandla – listen to the plea of South Africans to serve THEM and not your narow cliche!
