Move over, Huckleberry Finn.
It’s time to hear about the adventures of a man known as Tom Macweba, of the Mapumulo clan, who was born in Inanda and later lived in the foothills of the Drakensberg.
In between, he worked as a gold digger in Australia, came close to the action in the Crimean War, was arrested for disturbing the peace in London, was shipwrecked, he thinks, off South America and had to escape a woman in Central Africa who wanted to marry him.
His story, recorded and written circa 1940, recently circulated among the Forsyth family from Hilton. It had been written by a relative, Jack Rawlinson, who was once a magistrate in Ladysmith and recalled seeing Macweba routinely arrive by pony at a Drakensberg court house every month-end to draw a pension of one pound “for services rendered to the Native Affairs Department on the Rand”.
“After receiving his sovereign, he would sit on a bench and talk of his varied experiences. In those pre-Union days officials of the magistrate’s offices had ample time to listen to such stories.”
As a young man, Macweba worked for an officer in the Imperial Army stationed in Durban and liked the idea of going back to England with them.
His father did not and went as far as taking his son off a vessel as the regiment was boarding.
“But on the way (home) I ran away and rejoined the ship. I hid from my father and we eventually sailed.”
However, on the way, the ship hit some rocks.
“I think it was somewhere near South America but I am not sure. I remember to this day the Captain’s words: ‘Take·to the boats men’. We took to the boats and were picked up by another ship after some days.
“We eventually arrived in England. My master was so pleased to see his wife that he forgot all about me. I got into the wrong train, which eventually arrived at a station on the borders of England and Scotland.
“A man came into the compartment and asked me if I was Tom. I said ‘yes’. He then said: ‘Get to hell back again, you are on the wrong train’.”
And so Macweba returned to London and eventually to the officer’s house, whose children “thought I was an iMtakati”, never having seen a black man before.
“I soon made friends with them.”
On an outing to London, Macweba encountered some Zulu folk from Natal, who had been taken to England by a missionary.
“I shouted and ‘giya-ed’ with joy. This caused a crowd to collect and a policeman arrested me.
“I was brought before the Lord Mayor of London and charged with creating a disturbance. I explained what had happened and he said to me, ’Tom, you can go but be a good boy and do not do it again’.”
Macweba remembers the outbreak of the Crimean War, which England joined against Russia this week, 169 years ago.
“As an officer’s servant I was not allowed to land but had to stay on board ship. Whilst waiting there the battles of Inkerman, Sebastopol and Balaclava were fought. I heard of the Charge of the Light Brigade.
“Hau, they were men!”
Back in England, Macweba became homesick and the officer sent him back to Natal.
“I lived with my people for some time but I could not stay as I wanted to see other parts of the world. I worked my passage on a ship sailing to Australia and joined two Europeans, a South African and an Australian, in search of gold.
“We found it and after many months I saved eight hundred pounds and decided to return home.
“I was about to pay my fare when the South African advised me to work my passage as I would be robbed if it were known that I had so much money.”
After a stint back home, wanderlust struck again, “so I went up to the Transvaal”.
“Whilst there I met a European who was going into Central Africa big game shooting. During the shooting trip we camped near the chief’s kraal, where we stayed for some time.
“The chief’s sister fell in love with me and wanted me to marry her. I knew that if I did I would have to remain there and never see Natal again.
“I persuaded my master to leave, which we did one night thus escaping from the woman.”
Macweba later worked for the government service in the Transvaal and, apparently, died back where he had been born, in Inanda.
The Independent on Saturday