[335] Act No. 8, 1908.
[336] Many of the depositions in Dinuzulu's case were taken in Nkandhla district whilst the country was still under martial law.
[337] Cd. 4328, p. 92.
[XXIII.]
REVIEW OF POLICY FOLLOWED IN CONNECTION WITH DINUZULU.—HIS STATUS.—HIS ATTITUDE DURING, AND SUBSEQUENT TO, THE REBELLION.
The amount of misunderstanding that has arisen in connection with Dinuzulu, both in England and South Africa, is astonishing. Probably no other case in South Africa has called forth quite such volumes of criticism and vituperation. Natal has been accused of following towards him a policy of petty injustice and malice—either because of refusal to hold a non-judicial inquiry; or because, when the ex-Chief was arrested, it suspended his salary without the consent of the Imperial Government; or for deferring release of the rank and file of the rebels; or maintaining martial law longer than appeared necessary, or for some other reason. In these and other connections, the Colony and its public officers have been reviled and held up to scorn by those who did not know the facts, or did not care to know them. As Natal is still held by various persons, chiefly such as live outside her borders, to have been mistaken, and Dinuzulu nothing but a martyr to official spleen and vindictiveness, it is perhaps not unfitting, in a work of this kind, that an attempt should be made to examine the position from a somewhat wider point of view than was possible during the trial or, indeed, on any other occasion.
The history of the Zulus has already been dealt with briefly in the Introduction, whilst the earlier events in Dinuzulu's life have also been touched on here and there. It is necessary now to consider the position he assumed on his return from St. Helena in 1898.