History Department at UKZN

“… About the year 1845 the Rev. J. Allison formed a native syndicate and bought what is at present the farm of Edendale, near Maritzburg, and there he founded a Native Mission Station. Soon Edendale became too small. So in 1867 another syndicate was formed under Johannes Khumalo and it bought the farm Driefontein, 7.500 acres in extent, situated fourteen miles northwest of Ladysmith.
“In 1868, having paid for Driefontein, they, in connection with some other native men, bought the adjoining farm of Kleinfontein (8.800 acres) which was not paid for until some years had passed. This being done, another syndicate was formed … and the farm of Doornfontein (7.800 acres) was added to the other two. This was in 1879. In 1882, a fourth farm – Burford – of 3.000 acres was bought; in 1883 Kirkintilloch 3.000 acres; and in 1892 Watersmeet 7.300 acres was acquired; bought not from the Crown lands of the Colony but from private owners. … All the farms are paid for and they form a pretty good slice of one country, owned by natives, who, by their own industry and application, have managed to make it their own.”

Robert Plant (1905): „The Zulu in Three Tenses“. Pietermaritzburg: P. Davies and Sons. Pp. 91-92: