This establishment and promotion of Western Civilization operated in various ways on the Natives: (a) restrictions were imposed on former conditions or modes of life; (b) indiscriminate licence was extended to various sections, as well as to Europeans, whilst, at the same time, (c) obligations to conform to the new conditions of life were enforced.
Let us consider some of the principal causes of discontent that sprang from this action.
Under (a): Natives were prohibited from undergoing military service, or joining in various military occupations, which, as shown in Chapter IV., took up a very large portion of their time; they were precluded from leading the nomadic life customary with them for ages; individual kraalheads were restricted, by the setting up of a system of freehold tenure by Europeans, from going to live where they wished, and many of the old and recognized thoroughfares were closed by the fences put up; polygamy became more difficult because of the hut tax, and there was prescription in respect of lobolo claims; the national Feast of the First-Fruits, as well as other feasts and social gatherings, were either stopped, or interfered with, not, however, without good reason; Chiefs' powers of criminal and civil jurisdiction were circumscribed, as also the control exercised by heads of families over their wives and children; diviners were prohibited from practising their calling; restrictions were imposed on hunting game, cutting wood, or making gardens in forests; and Natives were unable to enter towns, except when clad in European dress.
Under (b): Too many Chiefs were appointed, a number of these not being entitled by hereditary rank or position to the posts; usurpation by some European landlords of several of the functions of Chiefs, or otherwise imposing restrictions on their authority; making consent by all girls to marriage obligatory; permitting boys and girls to break away from their parents or guardians, in order to be converted or educated; creating undue facilities for women to obtain divorce, or break away from their homes to lead immoral lives, etc.; exaction of excessive rents by various European landlords; excessive charges by certain lawyers; too many Native herbalists allowed to practise, a large proportion being unqualified and unscrupulous; usury by certain Europeans, especially lawyers, farmers, and other employers of labour.
Under (c): In a Christian community, with children being converted to Christianity and educated, parents were obliged in various ways to adapt themselves more and more to the changing conditions, even though themselves against being converted or educated on European lines. Enlightenment, religious and secular, accentuated by Ethiopian propaganda, infused a spirit of equality in the people. This, in a polygamistic environment, was destructive of marital and parental authority, besides undermining the authority, privileges and prestige of every Chief in the country. In the case of Dinuzulu, such influences would have been particularly acute and rapid.
Besides the inconveniences involved, the spectacle of a rapidly-disintegrating and decaying tribalism was always before the people, and, with this, the vanishing of cherished national ideals, traditions, beliefs, folklore, etc.
Other permanent obligations were the having to pay various taxes, rents, and other charges; to carry passes; to register births and deaths; the census-taking, 1904.
Under the same head, may be included other causes which were but inevitable where two such races lived together in the same country: Interference by certain Europeans with Native women and girls; communication of human and stock diseases formerly unknown, e.g. leprosy, small-pox, bubonic plague, consumption,—lung-sickness, rinderpest, East Coast Fever.[353]
Among miscellaneous causes were: Laying off large numbers of farms in Zululand for the occupation of Europeans; the inconsiderate manner in which the police, especially Native police, behaved towards Natives; punishment and removal of Chiefs without proper trial; obligation to work on roads and public works (isibalo); impoverishment of the people through the effects of locusts, rinderpest, East Coast Fever, etc.; introduction of indentured Indians, thereby supplanting Native labour. Of these, the laying off of farms in Zululand was far the most important.
The alienating of land in Zululand to Europeans has always been regarded by the royal house as a serious menace. Although liberal grants were made to mission societies and to the Boers, it was never intended that Europeans should obtain holdings in the heart of the country, as they did shortly before the Rebellion, and thereby break up the nation by subjecting individuals to the payment of rent, as in Natal. It will, therefore, be understood that the laying off of farms along the coast and elsewhere for sugar planting, etc., would have been deeply though silently resented by Dinuzulu as nominal head of the people.