Johan Wilhelm Colenbrander | |
|---|---|
 An 1893 drawing of Colenbrander | |
| Born | 1 November 1855 Pinetown, Colony of Natal |
| Died | 10 February 1918 (aged 62) Klip River, Transvaal, Union of South Africa |
| Occupation(s) | soldier and colonial officer |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards | Companion of the Order of the Bath |
Johan Wilhelm Colenbrander CB (1 November 1855 – 10 February 1918) was a Natal-born soldier and colonial official in Southern Africa. Colenbrander served with the Natal Mounted Police and the Stanger Mounted Rifles, seeing action in the 1879 Anglo-Zulu War. During the war Colenbrander negotiated the surrender of Zulu Inkosi (chief) Zibhebhu kaMaphitha and afterwards worked for him as a secretary and gunrunner. He fought for Zibhebhu during the 1883–1884 Third Zulu Civil War but lost all his trade goods and cattle when Zibhebhu was defeated.
Colenbrander worked as a trader in Swaziland for a period before moving to Mashonaland by 1889, where he worked closely with the British South Africa Company (BSAC). He won the trust of Ndebele King Lobengula but worked against him to set up the 1893–1894 First Matabele War, to the benefit of BSAC. After the war he was appointed head of a land commission that confined the Ndebele to a reserve of land much smaller than their pre-war territory. Colenbrander led a mercenary unit fighting for BSAC in the subsequent 1896 Second Matabele War. He raised another unit which served under British command in the 1899–1902 Second Boer War with Colenbrander leading a column against the Boer Commando of Christiaan Frederik Beyers. Colenbrander died in 1918 during filming of a movie about the Zulu War.