7 the Battle of Kapain (28–30 November 1837) B2

7 The Battle of Kapain (28–30 November 1837) B2 C2 D N 7 Kapain 26 27 1 25 2 East wall (panel 9/31) 24 3 h. 2.3 × w. 4.32 m (small overlaps with Inauguration and Negotiation) 4 23 Restored fractures on vertical edges between panels 8 to 10 Sculptor of clay maquette: Hennie Potgieter 22 5 Stages of production 21 B1 One-third-scale clay maquette, not extant but replicated in B2 (1942–43) 6 B2 One-third-scale plaster maquette, h. 77 × w. 152.7 × d. 9 cm (1942–43) 20 C1 Full-scale wooden armature, not extant (1943–45) 7 C2 Full-scale clay relief, not extant but recorded in photograph; 19 replicated in C3 (1943–45) 8 18 C3 Full-scale plaster relief (1943–45), not extant but illustrated 17 9 (Die Vaderland, 26.2.1945 / 10.9.1946); 16 10 copied in D (1948–49) 15 14 13 12 11 D Marble as installed in the Monument (1949) 0 5 10 m Early records None Open Access. © 2020 Elizabeth Rankin and Rolf Michael Schneider, published by De Gruyter and African Minds. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110668797-012 126 7 Kapain Figure 7.1: D. Kapain. 1949. Marble, 2.3 × 4.32 m (courtesy of VTM; photo Russell Scott) Description 127 Description A most unusual battle is portrayed: four Voortrekkers on saddled horses fight against nine half- naked Ndebele233 riding bare-backed on oxen (fig. 7.1). The Voortrekkers are dressed in their con- ventional jackets and trousers, while the Ndebele wear the traditional dress of Nguni warriors, a knee-length back apron made of skin (‘ibeshu’), a bunch of skin tassels (‘umcedo’) sewn together to cover the genitals, a long, bulky skin tassel which may be part of the front apron (‘isinene’), and the tuft of a cow’s tail on a band around the upper arms and below the knees (‘amashoba’).234 The two groups fill the marble panel edge to edge, positioned close to the picture plane with very little spatial depth to accommodate them. The space is further curtailed by three Zulu shields, horizon- tally arranged, that form a screen behind the collapsing figures on the left. Whereas the small group of Voortrekkers ride almost effortlessly towards the right, most of the Ndebele are enmeshed in terrible turmoil. Only two of them are still advancing on their mounts, while the rest, like several of their oxen, are either collapsing or already dead. To the rear, the Voortrekker who leads their charge fires at the two Ndebele in front of him, while the rider behind him loads his gun. A third holds his rifle upright as though newly arrived, the bag over his shoul- der and his loose kerchief streaming behind him; he still wears his hat, which the others seem to have abandoned in the melee. The fourth rider in the foreground is none other than their leader Hendrik Potgieter, who has thick wavy hair, longer than that of his companions, and a moustache and beard. His head rests on his horse’s neck, so that his beard mingles with its mane, as he leans down to seize a dismounted Ndebele from behind by the neck. His adversary is half-kneeling and half-falling, his left leg strangely elongated. The aggressive horse, with mouth agape and ears laid back, tramples another collapsing Ndebele, its right hoof on the man’s chest, the left thrusting into his crotch. A dynamic counterpart to this figure is another on the right who is pitching headlong to the ground from his collapsing mount. Two further Ndebele, their faces turned towards the viewer, lie dead in the foreground, one supine, yet with his far leg bent in a mannered fashion, the other lying on his right side. Above the collapsing ox in the foreground, the heads of three further beasts, one behind the other, portray their agitation, particularly one that roars in distress. The volume of the Ndebele force is also suggested by the rumps of oxen, receding one behind the other on the far right. Above, in the background, only four Ndebele remain to face the Voortrekker riders: the first topples backwards fatally, as does the last, prefiguring the fate of their mounted kinsmen, who are held at lethal gunpoint by the foremost Voortrekker. Although the Ndebele are armed with spears and shields, only one of them, distinguished by an uprising coil of hair,235 holds his spear as though ready to attack. 233 For Ndebele, see Vegkop. 234 For (high-ranking) Zulu clothing, see Krige 1981, 370–382, esp. 374–375; and Treaty (‘Description’). 235 It seems to be a reduced version of the much larger Zulu headgear shown in Coetzer’s drawing and Kruger’s subsequent clay maquettes for Treaty. 128 7 Kapain Figure 7.2: B2. Hennie Potgieter. Kapain. 1942–43. Plaster, 77 × 152.7 × 9 cm. Maquette (courtesy of VTM Museum VTM 2184/1–28; photo Russell Scott) Figure 7.3: C2. Kapain. 1943–45. Clay. Full-scale relief (courtesy of Romanelli files; photo Alan Yates, with pencil lines added for copy process) Developing the design 129 Developing the design In Part I Chapters 3 and 4 we argued that the late addition of Kapain was influenced by personal, formal and political considerations. Two reasons were crucial. First, by the introduction of the new panel, the key ideological issues of the visual narrative on the east wall were given a clear symmet- rical order: the centre piece, Inauguration (with Retief but without Potgieter), was now framed by two battles, Vegkop and Kapain, and then two scenes of negotiations, Delagoa Bay and Negotiation. Second, in contrast to earlier designs of the frieze, the increased focus on the achievements of Hendrik Potgieter, the victor in both battle scenes, meant that his representation was on a par with those of the other three main Trek leaders, Trichardt, Retief and Pretorius. Hendrik Potgieter owed his upgraded status to Hennie Potgieter, who proposed Kapain, encouraged by the gift of a book by Potgieter’s grandson, although the sculptor was quick to point out that he was not himself related to the Voortrekker leader. As the scene was first conceived by him, we have no drawing by Coetzer. But fortunately we have the small clay maquette cast in plaster (fig. 7.2), and a photograph of the full-scale model made in clay (fig. 7.3). The composition is for the most part already developed in the small plaster maquette, although there is more breathing space for the figures at the top than in the full-scale clay relief and the marble. But there are also significant alterations in the detail when the small plaster was remod- elled on a large scale. For example, Potgieter is shown with a jacket (not in his shirt sleeves), and is sitting in the saddle instead of half-standing in the stirrups, two changes that may diminish the drama of his intrepid action. In the full-scale panel he is also endowed with unusually long and wavy hair. There is also an increase in the very packed nature of the composition, as in the addition of yet another beast to the three oxen whose hindquarters appear on the far right of the maquette. And most heads, bodies and accessories of the Ndebele are more dramatically staged, with a more refined finish. 130 7 Kapain Figure 7.4: Routes of the main treks with Kapain in the north. 1835–38 (the authors; drawing Janet Alexander) Reading the narrative 131 Reading the narrative Thanks to studies by R. Kent Rasmussen, Pieter J. van der Merwe and Alkis Doucakis, it is possible to achieve a better understanding of the credibility and diversity of the historical sources that relate to the confrontations between the Voortrekkers and the Ndebele.236 Three months after Hendrik Potgieter’s small party had put to flight a major army of Mzilikazi’s Ndebele at Vegkop in October 1836 (fig. 7.4), a commando of one hundred and seven Boers, and about thirty-five Griqua, four Koranna and sixty Rolong, led by Potgieter and Gerrit Maritz, defeated him again on 17 January 1837. This time they massacred up to four hundred of the inhabitants of Mosega and destroyed thirteen to fifteen kraals of this major Ndebele settlement built in the valley of the Marico River.237 The Voortrekkers captured about six to eight thousand cattle, more than they had lost at Vegkop.238 Hearing about Mzilikazi’s misfortune, Dingane aimed to take advantage of it and sent a Zulu army in June against his old adversary but with limited success. When the Zulu returned home in Sep- tember, however, they were able to drive with them ‘considerable numbers of captured … cattle and sheep’, some of which ‘had originally belonged to the Boers, who continued to lay claim on it’.239 At the time that Retief set out for Natal, a new and larger Boer commando was formed from Hendrik Potgieter’s party, reinforced by the recently arrived trekkers of Petrus Lafras (Piet) Uys,240 as both these leaders wanted to regain stolen livestock and take control of the northern Highveld. Hence a last and decisive battle was fought against the Ndebele, as far north as the royal headquar- ters of Mzilikazi at Kapain (eGabeni), situated some sixty-four kilometres north of Mosega and close to Silkaatskop (fig. 7.4).241 As at Mosega, the Voortrekkers did not use the laager with its superior defensive strategy that is associated with Boer battles, but were proactive aggressors, who fought a decisive running battle on horseback.

Load more