Lobengula and the rudd concession

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Scarecrow Press Inc. 2008

F.C. If we get Matabeleland we shall get te balance of Africa. Cohen                                                                                            Great Seal of Kingdom attached

It is further understood that should the parties commence working the reefs before the expiration of one year then the annual payment shall be made on the day the work commences.

Witness,                                                                                                 Present,   Noonje Razengwani  

M.

[A detailed account of Thomas Baines’ efforts on behalf of the South African Gold Fields Exploration Company and some of his painting and watercolours are shown in the article Thomas Baines and the Hartley Hills goldfield under Mashonaland West on the website www.zimfieldguide.com] His efforts came to nothing as the company ran out of money and Baines died on 8 May 1875 as he was preparing for another expedition to the interior.

Books of Rhodesia, Bulawayo 1977

W.R. White Induna; George Westbeech and the Barotse People.

P.T. A Council of the izinDuna and the Europeans in Bulawayo was announced but delayed until 11 March when Helm and Thompson were back in Gubulawayo.

As in the previous concession negotiations , Lobengula was not present, but remained close by.

I am the King’s chattel.” One blow from the executioner’s stick sufficed; one smart blow on the back of the head. I only want the milk.”  

The threat from the Lippert concession

Edward Renny-Tailyour, had been petitioning Lobengula since early 1888 and it came as a great surprise to Rhodes when in April 1891, Renny-Tailyour announced he had negotiated an agreement on behalf of Lippert with Lobengula for an upfront payment of £1,000 and £500 annually.

Shippard openly advocated Rhodes saying he was backed by the colonial office and was the only organisation with sufficient financial resources to keep the Boer forces from overrunning Lobengula’s territory.  

Rhodes advised Rudd that Maund, Cawston and Gifford of the London Syndicate were their main rivals and that he should not leave Gubulawayo without the concession.

Little headway was made as the King preferred talking of anything rather than discussing a gold concession. Life for him was hardly worth living without them.”

Rhodes fulfils the concession payments

Rhodes sent two shipments of Martini-Henry rifles to Bechuanaland in January and February 1889 and instructed Jameson, Dr Frederick Rutherfoord Harris and a Shoshong trader, George Musson, to transport them to Bulawayo.

Rudd’s party encountered thirst, mules dying, wagons breaking down and at Shoshong they were held up following Grobler’s death by Khama who said no white men could travel north.

Shoshong’s resident missionary, Reverend Hepburn was away and Thompson showed the high commissioner’s letter, bearing the Queen’s stamp, to Mrs Hepburn:

                                                                                                     O.H.M.S.

                                                                                                     To King Lobengula,

                                                                                                     King of the Amandabili

I beg to introduce to you Messrs.

With no food or water, at sunset he tied his horse to a tree, climbed it and spent the night in its branches. Halyet

John H. Whitaker

Fairbairn and Phillips both traded in Bulawayo; Fairbairn had custody of Lobengula’s elephant seal in the photo above; Phillips had the King’s ear; perhaps Lobengula thought better ‘the devil you know’ when he granted a concession to these old-timers.

1884	25 January - Lobengula is persuaded by Philips to sign a concession with a syndicate made up of Leask, Philips, Westbeech and Fairbairn to dig for gold and other minerals between the Gwaai and Manyane rivers - this the same area granted to Thomas Baines in 1871

Lobengula’s attitude towards granting concessions changed particularly after the 1886 discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand.

Whilst Maund left for Gubulawayo to negotiate terms, Cawston and Gifford wrote to Lord Knutsford, the colonial secretary seeking his support.

In June 1888 whilst Rhodes was in London he heard of the London Syndicate approach to the colonial secretary and realised that urgency was required in negotiating a concession with Lobengula. The concession was drafted by Rudd, altered by Thompson to suit the izinDuna’s understanding and reviewed by Maguire.

They were kept waiting for their audience, but introduced themselves and presented the King with a gift of £100 in gold sovereigns and were told to come back in a few days.

Negotiations

After three days they had their next audience and Thompson explained in Sechuana that they were not Boers and had not come to seek land, but only wanted to mine for gold in Mashonaland.

Thompson appealed to Lobengula with the following question: "Who gives a man an assegai [spear] if he expects to be attacked by him afterwards?" Lobengula understood this related to the Martini–Henry rifles and made the decision: "Bring me the fly-blown paper and I will sign it," he said.