By Timoteus Mashuna
AN historical analysis of archival records on the life of Saul Shephard by Dorian Haarhoff, published in an article entitled, ‘Saul Shephard: The Story of a 19th Century Namibian’ suggests that Shephard was one of the first pre-colonial Namibians to resist colonial annexation. Even though he was one, if not the first pre-colonial Namibian to have been educated in Europe as early as 1873, he did not commit his life to serving the interest of his western educators. Instead, he was more pre-occupied in settling disputes among pre-colonial communities in Namibia. It is within this context that Dorian’s historical reconstruction of Shephard’s life concludes that Shephard “did not permit his knowledge to separate him from his people. While he was biased toward things British, he did not always conform to western expectation.”
Shephard’s parents were Herero, however he was in the captivity of the Namas at Chubeeches in the former Namaland. Whilst in captivity he came into contact with James Alexander, one of the earliest explorers to set foot in what was then called the great Namaqualand. There he forged a good relationship with Alexander’s sheep groom. He got hired as a keeper for Alexander’s expedition sheep. Although Alexander hired Saul to look after his sheep he also harbored ambitions to provide him with education. “I bought him (Saul) for him to tend my small flock, with the view to his eventual emancipation and education in England,” writes Haarhoff quoting a report by Alexander. Since Alexander was an explorer, Saul spent most of his time in the company of Alexander exploring Namaqualand.
The records analysed by Haarhoff indicate that in 1837, Saul in the company of Alexander and his family left for Cape Town for London. Whilst in England, Saul was sent to attend school with Rifle Brigade’s children in Woolwhich. He returned to Namibia in 1843 accompanying the Dixon & Moris trading team with the aim to engage in trading activities north of the Orange River. As a local person with knowledge of the local language, he first started working for the Dixon and Moris team as an interpreter. He later on left them in Windhoek and started to work as a teacher at the Red Nation in Hoachanas. Besides teaching, he also served an interpreter for the Nama leader Oasib and Kamaharero. According to Haarhoff, it seems that Shephard was a hardworking person as many missionaries who commented on his life respected the fact of which they often made mention that he was a hardworking person. One of these missionaries is F. H Vollmer who is quoted by Dorian to have said, in his report of 1854, that Shephard was a hardworking administrator.
His bias toward the establishment of British Powers in the pre-colonial Namibia which according to Dorian was revealed in an extract from a letter sent by Shephard to Sir Henry Barkly in September 1876, had missionaries and traders worried about the influence Shephard had in local politics. Some of the missionaries tried to persuade local chiefs to not hire Shephard as their interpreter. A classic example is that of a colonial official, Theofilus Hann, who wrote a letter to William Coates Palgrave. Hann, as quoted by Haarhoff, wrote that “the Hottentots are very indignant about you having Saul Shephard as your interpreter and informer. They hate the sight of Saul and so, every white man does. No one speaks in favour of Saul, even not the most respectable missionaries.” Such views clearly reflect that Sherphard’s services were not in conformity with the interests of the colonial agents.