Oral history and the 19th- and early 20th-century San occupation of the Mnweni Valley, northern Maloti-Drakensberg

Abstract

The oral history of Zulu-speaking farmers in the Mnweni Valley, recorded in 2009–2011, in the northern Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains, South Africa, documents interactions with and sightings of San in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This paper summarizes the oral history evidence for a San occupation of the Mnweni Valley from 1870 to 1930 and reconstructs the events that led to the demise of the San in the northern Drakensberg. This demonstrates that the disappearance of San from the northern Maloti-Drakensberg was more recent than previously thought. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of a 20th-century San presence in the Mnweni Valley for archaeological and historical research in the Maloti-Drakensberg.