The social and economic context of African politics in Natal, 1907-1920: A preliminary research report

Abstract

In the aftermath of the Bambatha Rebellion Africans in Natal were faced with a still greater disaster, an epidemic of East Coast fever which swept Natal between 1905 and 1910 killing virtually all their cattle, with profound effects on African society.(1) In view of the important place of cattle to Natal Africans the loss was a severe blow altering in a number of ways the economic opportunities open to them in the years after the Rebellion. In this paper I will use the East Coast fever as a starting point from which to view a number of processes in which Africans were involved in this area.