John Robert Dunn (1834 – 5 August 1895) was a South African settler, hunter, and diplomat of British descent.

Robert Dunn worked as a trader, owned land at Sea View[3]: 59  and became wealthy trading hides and ivory.

His love of hunting and his skill with a rifle took him across the Tugela River into Zululand on a regular basis, where he became fluent in the language and was befriended by local chiefs.

[4]: 76  His involvement in the battle led to resentment towards Dunn by the white settlers of Natal, so on his own account he re-crossed the Tugela to ask the winner, Cetshwayo, to return the cattle that had belonged to the traders.

[4]: 76–7 With use of his land, Zulu marriages and the loaning of cattle, Dunn built a network of clients and contacts along the Zululand coast that allowed him to exploit the region's wealth.

[4]: 86  Organising his Zulu subjects as hunters, guides and porters, they successfully hunted for ivory, hides and skins, but by 1880, game had become scarce in Zululand.

On 11 January 1879, British troops crossed the Tugela, near Fort Pearson, to present Cetshwayo with an ultimatum that amongst other things, included the disbandment of the Zulu Army and the age-group system within twenty days, which he could not and would not accept.

[3]: 62  Fearing for his life, he did not deliver the ultimatum to Cetshwayo and retired to Emangete, wanting to remain neutral in the conflict between the British and the Zulu.

[3]: 64  He and his scouts provided excellent service to the British forces and took part in the Battle of Gingindlovu and in the relief of Eshowe.

Then the thirteen chiefs were disposed, Dunn lost his power and income and was included in a large native reserve under the control of the British Commander Sir Garnet Wolseley.

[4]: 79  All were married in the native custom, though some were baptised, converting as Roman Catholics or Anglicans, with all his children brought up as Christians and given some schooling.

His western style house stood at its centre, with separate beehive huts for his wives, soldiers, servants and Zulu visitors, cattle kraals, stables and food storage pits, all surrounded by a hedge of thorns.

[4]: 83 John Dunn died on 5 August 1895 of dropsy and heart disease and was buried at Emoyeni in the Colony of Natal,[3]: 64  having married 48 wives and fathered 117 children.

The situation escalated from 1996 onwards when chief Nkosi Mathaba began settling his Macambini clan members on the Dunn farms, and some 2,000 squatters built their shacks on the cane plantations.