The Life, Work and Influence of JOHANNES JULmS AUGUST PROZESKY (1840-1915), Missionary of t~e Berlin Missionary Society in South Africa " Thesis submitted by OSKAR EDUARD PROZESKY in fulfilment of the academic requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Religious Studies, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg 1995 i ABSTRACT Johannes Julius August Prozesky (1840-1915) spent 34 years (1866- 1900) as a missionary of the Berlin Missionary Society in Natal. At the Konigsberg mission station which he founded south-west of Newcastle in 1868 he attempted to create a model Christian commun­ ity governed by his own strict paternalistic discipline and char­ acterized by his motto "Work and pray". Notably pro-Boer, he was tried and found guilty of high treason by the British during the Anglo-Boer War and sentenced to a heavy fine and a year's im­ prisonment. After two years in Germany (1901-1903) he returned to South Africa to work in a substitutionary capacity in the Cape Colony at Amalienstein (1903-05) and Laingsburg (1905-07). In semi-retirement in Heidelberg, Transvaal (1908-13) he acted as assistant to his son-in-law, Rev. Hermann Muller. Prozesky was a missionary in the fundamentalist, pietist, escha­ tological mould: his chief concern was to save as many souls as possible from perdition before the Judgement Day which he believed to be imminent. In the practical sphere he attempted to prepare the blacks under his care for the life of manual toil which he believed would remain their lot in white-dominated South Africa . This thesis provides the following conclusions about Prozesky's Natal ministry: 1. He was least successful in converting those traditionalist Swazi/Zulu at Konigsberg who had most to lose by embracing ii Christianity: the chiefs Mafofe, Mkankonyeke and Tinta, their councillors, the heads of imizi, izinyanga and tradi- tionalist men in general . 2. From 1884 an increasing number of traditionalist women at Konigsberg found a new freedom as Christians, liberated from the subservience of Nguni marriage and the indignity of polygyny. They were followed by men who were commoners . 3. Through his conversion of Johannes Mdiniso, the later "Apos­ tle to the Swazi", Prozesky was instrumental, albeit indir­ ectly, in introducing Christianity to Swaziland. 4. A considerable number of oorlams blacks found a safe haven at Konigsberg where they could live as peasant tenants free of servitude. 5. As a doctor practising homoeopathy and minor surgery, Pro­ zesky brought healing or relief to countless people, white and black, free of charge, for a third of a century. 6. Through his friendship and example he influenced many Boer neighbours to accept and even advance mission work and to see blacks as fellow human beings. iii PREFACEANDACKNO~EDGEMENTS This thesis, venturing as it does on to contentious terrain haz­ ardous with pitfalls, could not have been written except in the climate of openmindedness and tolerance created by the writer's supervisors, Professor Ron Nicolson of the Department of Religious Studies in Pietermaritzburg, and Professor Martin Pauw of the Dep­ artment of Missiology at the Faculty of Theology in Stellenbosch. While its conclusions do not necessarily coincide with their views, I wish to thank them for their wise and sensitive guidance. A debt of gratitude is also owed to Frank Jolles, formerly pro­ fessor of German at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, at whose suggestion this dissertation was written in the first place. Also to Professor Martin Prozesky, Dean of Arts at the same university, to Dr John Laband of Historical Studies and Dr Neville Richardson of Religious Studies for their help and advice at various stages. Thanks go further to the following people who assisted me in various ways: Professor Adrian Koopman and Mr M.A. Hlengwa of the Department of Zulu, Pietermaritzburg, Mrs H. Marlo of Durban, Mr Al Mennie of George, Ms Annelie van Wyk of the Cape Archives Depot, the staff of the Natal Archives Depot, Ms Sandy Rowohlt of the Cory Library, Grahamstown, Frau Kienitz-Jannermann and Frau Golz of the library and archives of the Berliner Missionswerk respectively, Warren Snowball, Brenda Nichols, Julian Cobbing and Dan Wylie of iv Rhodes University, Grahamstown, Professor Jeff Peires of the Uni­ versity of Transkei, Professor H. Bredekamp of the University of the Western Cape, Mr Ian Huntley of the Surveyor-General's Office, Pietermaritzburg, Jock, Eve and Terry Gordon-Keylock of Stanford and James Sleigh of Overberg Computers. The financial assistance of the Centre for Science Development towards this research is hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed in this thesis and conclusions arrived at, are those of the au­ thor and are not necessarily to be attributed to the Centre for Science Development. This entire thesis , unless specifically indicated to the contrary in the text, is my own original work. v GLOSSARY OF ZULU AND OTHER SOUTH AFRICAN WORDS dagga cannabis, hemp donga erosion gulley idlozi (plural: amadlozi) = ancestral shade or spirit ilobolo = bridewealth, cattle paid for a wife induna (plural: izinduna) = chief's councillor inkosi = chief, king, white man, especially the magistrate inyanga = doctor inyanga yokubhula = diviner, witch-doctor inyanga yemiti = herbalist, doctor of medicine kholwa believer, black Christian laager Boer encampment, often a ring or square of wagons for defensive purposes oorlams westernized black in South Africa sjambok = short, semi-rigid riding-crop ukulobola securing of a wife by means of a bridewealth payment, usually in cattle ukulobolisa giving of a daughter or other female dependant to a man in marriage for ilobolo umuzi (plural: imizi) = kraal, homestead vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract i Preface and Acknowledgements iii Glossary of Zulu and other South African words v Table of contents vi Introduction 1 PART 1: BACKGROUND Chapter 1 The Pre-colonial Inhabitants of South Africa 7 Chapter 2 The European Impact on South Africa, 1652-1866 28 Chapter 3 Zululand, Natal and the Newcastle district, 1835-1866 47 PART 2: THE LIFE OF J.J.A. PROZESKY Chapter 4 Descent and Early Life 83 Chapter 5 Natal and the Transvaal, 1866- 1868 92 Chapter 6 The Founding of Konigsberg, 1868-1871 101 Chapter 7 Prozesky and Bauling, 1872-1875 114 Chapter 8 The Construction of the Konigsberg Church 1876-1880 123 Chapter 9 Konigsberg, 1880-1883 139 Chapter 10 Konigsberg, 1884- 1889 151 Chapter 11 Prozesky and Franke, 1890-1892 168 Chapter 12 Konigsberg, 1893- 1895 178 Chapter 13 Konigsberg, 1896-1897 186 Chapter 14 Konigsberg, 1898- 1899 198 Vll Chapter 15 The Second Boer War of Independence , October 1899 - May 1900 205 Chapter 16 Arrest, Trial and Imprisonment 215 Chapter 17 Port Shepstone and Germany, 1901-1903 226 Chapter 18 Amalienstein and Laingsburg 236 Chapter 19 The Final Years 252 PART 3: AN ASSESSMENT OF PROZESKY'S WORK AND INFLUENCE Introduction 261 Chapter 20 Prozesky's Theology, Missiology and Ecclesiology 269 Chapter 21 Prozesky's Impact on the Traditionalist Nguni 279 Chapter 22 Prozesky's Influence on the Oorlams Blacks and the Konigsberg Congregation 316 Chapter 23 Prozesky's Medical Mission 336 Chapter 24 Prozesky's Interaction with the Boers 341 Chapter 25 Prozesky's Relations with English-speaking People 352 Chapter 26 Prozesky and his Missionary Colleagues 357 SUMMATION 372 BmLIOGRAPIIY 388 MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 402 1 INTRODUCTION Daunting problems beset any attempted assessment of the impact made by a European missionary on the South African people among whom he lived and worked. These problems were compounded in this specific investigation by the fact that the titular subject is my paternal great-grandfather . The natural bond of blood obviously tended to predispose me in favour of the missionary, and I had constantly to check and compensate for this bias. Assumptions of religious, cultural or moral superiority needed to be abandoned at the outset if the truth was to be discovered. The investigator in a study of this nature is confronted by an extremely complex set of historical circumstances which it cannot be his task to unravel. All he may do with confidence is to com­ pare the life led by pre-colonial societies with that thrust upon them by European colonialism or brought to them through the zeal and concern of Western European Christianity. But even this is difficult; the subject is vast and the symbiosis of colonialism and Christianity is too complex and organic for the two compo­ nents to be clinically separated and examined in isolation, each with its respective effects on the indigenous African people. Trends in historiography biased in favour of either whites or blacks further complicate the task. In my own interpretation of the past I have attempted to bear in mind that history is not the record of the struggle between the "angels" and the "devils", but rather of the interaction of forces generated by the complex 2 motives of human beings, groups and societies, some at times more avaricious/generous, cruel/kind, unjust/just than others. As a post-christian I stand between Prozesky and the Nguni tradition­ alists among whom he worked, sharing the specific beliefs of neither. I have attempted to look at all parties concerned with fresh eyes and an open mind, noting the attributes of all, as measured by the yardstick of the simple categorical imperatives of justice and compassion. The method I have employed in this investigation has been to ob­ serve the conditions and the forces at work in South Africa be­ fore and during the lifetime of the missionary, and to assess against this background the impact the missionary had on the real lives of those among whom he lived and worked. Were they materi­ ally better off, healthier and freer than they would otherwise have been? August Prozesky worked for a third of a century (1866-1900) as a missionary in Natal among traditionalist Zulu-speaking people and semi-westernized Dutch/Afrikaans-speaking blacks (so-called oor­ lams people) of mainly Nguni descent.