They had a real problem with cattle diseases -- and a more imaginary problem with Europeans in "their" land -- and somehow imagined killing ALL their cattle would help solve both problems.
(Both the Xhosa and the Europeans were recent immigrants to the area.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Cape_Colony_fro...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nongqawuse
They had a real problem with cattle diseases -- and a more imaginary problem with Europeans in "their" land -- and somehow imagined killing ALL their cattle would help solve both problems.
(Both the Xhosa and the Europeans were recent immigrants to the area.)