CRIPPLE WALKS AGAIN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 April 1938, Page 7

CRIPPLE WALKS AGAIN

ZULU WARRIOR OF KAMBULA. An old Zulu warrior who fought at the battle of Kambula in 1879 has begun to walk again after being a cripple ever since tthe battle, a South African correspondent writes. The man’s name is Zukuzela. He is about 85 years old and he lives on Captain A. L. Pretorius’s farm at Inhlazatje. When he fought at Kambula he received in all five bullet wounds —one under the kneecap, a second through the shoulder, two through the thigh and one through the ribs. The source of his lameness was the bullet which had lain unsuspected beneath the kneecap, and has at last been dislodged. It took Zukuzela several days to crawl from the battlefield to the spot where Vryheid has since been built. He slept there for two nights in a state of exhaustion in the long grass, and eventualy crept to the Umfolozi, which runs on the outskirts of the town. While hiding during the day he made a paste to staunch his many wounds.

He hugged the river for many days and by gradual stages managed to reach Lenjanedrift, 22 miles from Vryheid and nearly 40 from Kambula. There he was picked up by Dabuiamanzi, the brother of Cetewayo, who took part in the fight and was then a fugitive. Dabulamanzi set him on a horse and carried him 50 miles farther, almost to his present hut.

Dabulamanzi was the leader of the Zulu force at the massacre of Isandhiwana and also at the Kambula Heights. Native doctors twice operated on Zukuzela to remove parts of his ribs, but they did not suspect that a bullet was hidden under the kneecap.