Face to Face with Famine: The BaSotho and the Rinderpest, 1897-1899

Between 1896 and 1898, a devastating cattle panzootic of rinderpest killed over 95 per cent of African herds throughout Southern Africa. This obliteration of the bastion of African societies' economy threatened to provoke an unprecedented rural crisis. The rinderpest was equivalent to the 'Great Wall Street Crash' in that it threatened to wipe out the only capital of the people and to restrict future capital accumulation. Despite its acknowledged importance in the unfolding of historical processes in Southern Africa in the closing decades of the nineteenth century, this catastrophic panzootic remains an under-researched topic. This article traces the history of the rinderpest and examines the responses of the victims in their attempts to survive the catastrophe. The findings suggest that despite widespread negative impact, the rinderpest did not precipitate a major famine. Its effects, exacerbated by other accompanying ecological and pestilential disasters, stopped at creating a critical food shortage. As such, the 1896-1898 outbreak of rinderpest in Basutoland proved to be a temporary setback. Society did not collapse and recovery was quick. It is doubtful if the panzootic began any new trends in the history of Basutoland, although it certainly quickened those already in process.