Way back in 1858 Nongqawuse, a prophetess of the Xhosa tribe in South Africa had a vision telling her that all cattle of the tribe would have to be slaughtered, having been reared by contaminated hands. She said that she had met the spirits of three of her ancestors who had told her that the Xhosa people should destroy their crops and kill their cattle. In return, the spirits would sweep the British settlers into the sea. Then their granaries would fill again and their kraals would have more and better cattle.
In the cattle-killing frenzy that followed they killed between 300,000 and 400,000 head of cattle. In the resulting famine, the population of the province dropped from 105,000 to fewer than 27,000.
Neither the cattle nor the Xhosa tribe recovered from this deadly cure.
Every species has its lurking danger waiting to pounce – Hendra virus for horses, Johne’s disease in sheep, Varroa mites attacking bees, then we have bird flu, swine fever, mad cow disease, monkey pox, wooden tongue, myxomatosis – even the plant kingdom has its rusts and blights.
The spirit of Nongqawuse lives on in today’s bureaucracy – the bureaucratic instinct is to kill every member in any threatened herd to ensure all sick ones die.
There is one fatal flaw in the scorched Earth disease control so loved by the bureaucracy – it fails to encourage the survival and multiplication of resistant individuals. Those individuals who survive, showing that they are resistant to the disease, are also slaughtered. With no survival of the fittest, there can be no evolution of a resistant strain under the Nongqawuse remedy.
There is a recent example in Australia where a pest was detected in beehives and a scorched Earth policy was initiated. Millions of bees were killed. Naturally, honey supplies dwindled in response and there are still fears for the pollination of fruit trees and crops.
In another example, I noticed in our local Woolworths the long shelves usually devoted to eggs were empty. Why? Followers of Nongqawuse found some sick hens on some farms and then murdered every hen in every flock where ‘bird flu’ was detected. Entire flocks are culled when even one bird tests positive.
In the sad but moving Australian film Rams, modern flock exterminators go after sheep, killing every sheep in the district to eliminate a few with Ovine Johne’s disease. But one cunning old sheepman, distraught that they planned to destroy his life’s work in breeding better sheep, refused to accept their Nongqawuse solution. He hid a few ewes and his top-class ram in his cellar, sprouting grass for them in his bathroom. He let them out onto the grass at night. But a diligent visiting inspector noticed fresh sheep poo on his lawn. When discovery threatened, he fled to the hills with his remnant sheep. They all survived (in real life the bureaucrats would probably have pursued the refugees with drones and marksmen in helicopters).
In America, an outbreak of measles is being used to bludgeon Amish people into vaccinations they normally refuse. One recalcitrant Amish parent was fined US$118,000.
Especially when it comes to agriculture, we need to learn from wild populations – they get diseases too. The weakest die, but the herd survives and becomes stronger.
Look at wildlife crowded around the shrinking polluted water holes at the end of a dry season in the Serengeti grasslands in Southern Africa. There can be hundreds of animals and many species all drinking from contaminated puddles of water and all adding their germs to the muddy soup via their solid and liquid wastes. All ‘germs’ get well spread around – the weak may die but the fittest survive and pass their genes to the next generation. Herd immunity is strengthened. No doubt they bureaucrats would surround the waterhole, shoot every animal, and then have a huge bonfire.
Our grandparents understood the value of natural exposure – remember when chickenpox parties were valued as a way to get a child protected from chickenpox at an age when the infection is ordinarily less severe?
There are some who believe that the human population needs a Nongqawuse solution. Prince Phillip of England said:
The spirit of Nongqawuse was rediscovered by China’s Deng Xiaoping who introduced their one-child policy. It was strictly enforced with fines for violators and often forced abortions. People risked losing their jobs if they were found to have had more than one child. But, as always, there were unintended consequences – Chinese parents made sure that their one child was a boy to look after them in their old age. Suddenly China had a generation of angry lonely young men unable to find a wife. So that policy was scrapped.
The bureaucracy is forever seeking ways to identify every one of us and our animals.
They love electronic tracking – electronic ear tags are already compulsory for Australian cattle and from now on all new sheep and goat offspring must also get their electronic tag.
Covid tracking and vaccination was a test run to see how far they could go. Soon it has been speculated that they could use electronic car controls will limit travel. Only the privileged with be allowed to travel outside their zone. Smart meters will ration energy, and controls on food and water will soon follow.
Nongqawuse dreamed a dream and most of her tribe died.
‘Net Zero’ is today’s apocalyptic dream articulated by climate change enthusiasts.
