When the 1820 settlers signed up for life in what is now the Eastern Cape, they were told they would be coming to a “rolling English parkland”.
“They weren’t told they would have 20 000 angry neighbours.”
Alan Weyer was the drawcard for Historic Bathurst’s 2025 annual general meeting on December 11. He spoke about the impact that the British settlers had on the Eastern Cape, and South Africa.
It’s easy to understand why he’s is a sought-after guest speaker.
The sequence of events that saw a 5 000-strong cross-section of British society make their way here by boat and wagon in 1820 is well documented – the Napoleonic Wars, the Industrial Revolution, appalling working conditions, high unemployment and dire poverty.
But Weyer draws together the many complex strands of that story in such an engaging way that it’s as if you were getting the inside track on your neighbour. In a frank, Eastern Cape way, he brings to life the protagonists – from Cuyler to Ngqika and Ndlambe, Mahoney to Hintsa.
He talks about the mismatches and misunderstandings – some with dire consequences, but some quite funny – between the settlers and their environment. One of the more benign acts of ignorance was a settler who planted carrots in a half-metre-deep trench in the belief the carrots would grow longer.
Not benign from anyone’s perspective was their role as a buffer against the area’s existing residents, the amaXhosa, and to bolster the colonial presence alongside a series of hostile British military campaigns.
Weyer explains how the ninth frontier war ended 100 years of conflict in the region and points out that the amaXhosa hold the record for the longest resistance to colonial expansion.
“The Eastern Cape has had a huge impact on South Africa’s history,” he said.
Weyers’s tale has a hopeful ending: “At this point in our history, I have more hope for South Africa than ever before,” he said.
Weyer offers a fresh take on our history. If you find an opportunity to spend an hour listening to this skilled storyteller, take it.
-
This article was first published in Talk of the Town, January 15, 2026. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays
