The ‘Wild West’: Rhodesia’s Stage-Coaches Carve A Nation

Good ‘salted’ horses cost up to 10 times the price of a good mule. The extreme shortage of horses was due to horse-sickness and this led to Zeederburg experimenting with Zebras… The animal teams in Rhodesia consisted of about 400 Oxen, almost 300 horses and more than 600 mules.

Editor: The article and images come from Memories of Rhodesia and Rhodesia Heritage blogspot.

HOW “WILD WEST” COACHES OPENED UP RHODESIA

TODAY it is a commonplace experience to cover the 322 km from Beitbridge to Bulawayo, between lunch and sundown. Indeed, such is the reliability and speed of the modem motor-car that beyond the danger of falling to sleep, the competent driver has few problems.

But of course it was not always so. Some years before the first internal combustion engine spluttered into existence, the route to the North was carved across the veld by the rumbling wheels of C. H. Zeederberg’s American stage-coaches, in the best tradition of the Wild West.

The first firm of “Zeederberg & Co., Coach Proprietors” was launched by four Zeederberg brothers in Pretoria, and was at first a purely South African concern. The first route was from Pretoria to the Northern Transvaal, in 1890. It was the occupation of Mashonaland, his subsequent friendship with Cecil Rhodes, and the tremendous demand for transport north of the Limpopo, which gave Christian Hendrik (Doel) Zeederberg reason to set up in Rhodesia.

The rainy season of 1890 was extremely heavy. The pioneers were scattered in search of gold and were unprepared for self-sufficiency. For some months any northward movement beyond Fort Tuli was practically impossible. Wagons were stuck hopelessly in the black vleis or on the banks of the flooded rivers, where, in the absence of adequate shelter, food and medicines, many hopeful young adventurers died of exposure and malaria.

For a few weeks after the occupation of Mashonaland, letters were carried by mounted despatch riders, but this became impossible due to swollen rivers, and Mashonaland was cut off from the outer world from the end of December, 1890, to the middle of February, 1891.

Among the improvements made when transport began moving again was a contract awarded to Zeederberg & Co. for the maintenance of communication between Tuli and Salisbury (547 km). This contract cost the British South Africa Co. £4500 per annum. However, the Postmaster-General of the Cape Colony, who organised the scheme, was at pains to point out that the service dealt not only with postal traffic,

“but was also the main line of communication for all purposes, the wagons being used for the conveyance of passengers and other articles besides mail matter”.

In order to incorporate Mashonaland business into their existing schedule, Zeederberg extended the coach service Pretoria / Pietersburg as far as Tuli in April, 1891, via a pontoon built by C. H. Zeederberg over the Limpopo, and thence via Fort Victoria and Fort Charter to Salisbury. According to the yearbook “Guide to Southern Africa” for 1893, the fare Tuli to Salisbury was £15 and the journey took 14 days.

When Bulawayo came into the picture in 1894, the scene changed rapidly. Traveling on trains from Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and East London, the traveler arrived at Mafeking (the end of the railway line) in time to take his place on the 9 a.m. Monday coach to Bulawayo. The week-long journey was scheduled thus: Boulderpits-Monday midnight Gaberones-Tuesday 5 a.m. Palapye-Friday noon (I hr halt) Tati hotel-Sunday 6 a.m. (1 hr halt) Mangwe Pass- Sunday midnight Bulawayo-Monday 9 p.m. What a service! The following description appeared in 1894:

“In fine weather, when the roads are in good condition, a coach journey may be very enjoyable, but in bad weather capsizes are unpleasantly frequent and occasionally a coach with its freight and passengers will stick in the mud for many hours. Teams are changed every ten or fifteen miles, and some idea may be inferred of the number of horses and mules kept at the different stations from the fact that frequently four or five coaches will require fresh teams at one place during the day. The rate of traveling, including stoppages, is not much more than six mph Fares are high, ranging from 9d. to 1/- per mile. The allowance of luggage per passenger ranges from 25 to 40 lb., and every additional pound weight is charged 6d. to 1/6d. extra according to the distance traveled, whilst, if the mail should happen to be heavy, luggage is frequently shut out”.

A direct route from the hotel at Fort Tuli to Bulawayo was made in 1894, reducing the distance Pretoria Bulawayo by 852 km. The northern half of the old road beyond Gwanda, still exists, but fell into decline following the development of mining communities at Essexvale and Filabusi.

Swaying, jolting and straining over the network of primitive tracks which linked Rhodesia’s early settlements, Zeederberg’s coaches labored and plunged like ships at sea. A broken wheel, mute symbol of this era, was recently retrieved from the bush by the police at Tuli. Nearly all of those “super-seasoned” spokes were still in place.

In 1896 most trek oxen had fallen victim to the severe rinderpest epidemic that swept across Southern Africa. During the Matabele Rebellion, which began in March of that year, Zeederberg coaches were the sole means of transportation between Bulawayo and the outlying settlements, and even went as far as Pietersburg, via Gwanda, for supplies.

One coach, with nine passengers, was attacked in a running fight between Shangani and Bulawayo. The mules were eventually run to a standstill and were killed. The driver and passengers ran to the top of a nearby kopje and prepared to defend themselves. With night coming on their situation was bad, but they were saved by the timely arrival of a patrol under Col. Napier on its way to Gwelo. The coach, however, had been burned to ashes.

Zeederberg’s continued to expand in spite of the arrival of the railway at Bulawayo in 1897. In fact, the northward advance of the railway was made possible by the animal transport industry, which thus initiated its own decline.

During the Boer [Holocaust] War, Zeederberg & Co’s. mail transport contracts were suspended and its resources put at the disposal of the British Government. A specially formed regiment with all its equipment was transported from the railhead at Marandellas to Bulawayo in 20 days, en route to assist at the relief of Mafeking.

Following the death of Doe Zeederberg in 1907, the company was acquired by speculative interests to whom tradition meant little. This, and the rapid rise of cheaper rail traffic, caused its downfall in the 1920. Nevertheless, the writer was delighted to discover that “Zeederberg’s Garage”, of Essexvale, is owned and run by none other than Mr. A. Zeederberg, the son of Doel.

The strange adventures of Zeederberg’s coaches continued after the dissolution of the firm. In 1924 a coach had been sent to England for display at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley. After the event was over, the coach was forgotten, but was rediscovered by a curious visitor from Cape Town, in a dockside warehouse in Hull, shortly before World War II.

From RHODESIA CALLS – May-June, 1973 issue