The Deaths of Hintsa: Post-Apartheid South Africa and the Shape of Recurring Pasts

Following the tracks of South African traditional leader Nicholas Gcaleka, this account explores the reasons for his postapartheid journey to Great Britain as well as the public derision that accompanied him. Arguing that the sources of derision can be found in the modes of evidence established by colonial power, this exploration traces Gcaleka’s search for the remains of the tribal leader Hintsa, who was killed by British troops during the South African colonial period. Calling for a postcolonial critique of apartheid and for new models for writing histories, this reconstruction offers a new perspective of the colonial archive, suggesting a blurring of the distinction between history and historiography in order to forge a postapartheid history.