admin Pathisa Nyathi
REVEREND Dr Robert Moffat, like other European travellers, hardly gave credit to his African guides and helpers. They give an impression that they were travelling alone, knew the route to follow and attended to all the vicissitudes of wagon travel. They ‘‘discovered’’ geographical phenomena such as the mighty Victoria Falls which were known to and named by local Africans. Africans simply did not count for much and appeared in historical accounts more by accident than design.
The LMS missionary observed that while he and his entourage were visiting King Mzilikazi kaMatshobana in 1854, there was one Ndebele man that obtained meat from the pot dedicated to the missionary’s unnamed servants. They thought the man was obtaining the meat for his own consumption.
But lo and behold, he was taking the meat to one of the sons of King Mzilikazi kaMatshobana, the one ‘‘Manguane’’. As usual, the missionary who was au fait with SeTswana corrupted the Ndebele name for the Royal Prince.
He wrote, “The man was obtaining the meat for Manguene, the eldest (son) and heir — his home (was) at the opposite side of the fold where he was staying during his visits. He lives in another town. (There is) no child living in the same town with him.” Just from this short account, we are in a position to glean quite a bit regarding royal sons and where they lived in relation to the royal town. For starters, Reverend Dr Robert Moffat was not quite familiar with the idea of a Ndebele heir. From his account, it appears that Prince Mangwana was the heir to the king, by which he implied ascending the royal throne once the kind died.
We do know that Prince Mangwana kaMzilikazi’s mother was one MaDlodlo who was married prior to the king ascending the royal throne. Prince Mangwana kaMzilikazi was thus in the same fold as Princes Muntu (Tshukisa), whose mother was a MaSigola, Qalingana whose mother was Masuku.
Last week, while undertaking field research on the Makhalimas at Mbazhe in Nkayi, I bumped into the name of Mlotha Khumalo who ran a store at Sivomo where one turns left to get to Mbazhe. Mlotha was son of Sikhonkwane Khumalo, okaQalingana, umfokaNgolokoto ziwela emaweni. When Sikhonkwane relocated out of Filabusi, he went to settle at Ntobe in Silobela in the Midlands.
Whereas quite several schools in Silobela belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, Ntobe School belonged to the London Missionary Society (LMS) and was administered from Ezinyangeni. The royal Prince evicted during the acrimonious land alienation in the early 1950s, left behind his brother Mahanka working at Campbell’s Store (KoKhembo). Prince Qalingana’s mother was a sister to Mbiko kaMadlenya Masuku Chief at Zwangendaba Regiment/Village whose senior wife was Princess Zinkabi, daughter of King Mzilikazi kaMatshobana.
This is an important case demonstrating how the social, political and economic elite within the Ndebele State was being established. The king married some of his queens from important families of chiefs. At the same time, the same chiefs were marrying daughters of the king. We could cite one further example. King Lobengula kaMzilikazi married Mpoliyana Ndiweni daughter of Chief Mabuyane Ndiweni of Ezinaleni/Ezisongweni. As is well known, this is the daughter of the Ndiwenis who was mother of Prince Njube kaLobengula; the most senior of King Lobengula’s qualifying sons.
This became so after the woman earmarked to bear the future King, Princess Xhwalile Nxumalo, daughter of King Mzila of the Gasa/Amatshangane people, failed to produce a son. Queen Lozikeyi Dlodlo, daughter of Ngogo Dlodlo from Enqameni (do note that her biological father was Tshotsha, twin brother of Ngogo, both married Tshabalala sisters) also did not produce a child, whether boy or girl, prompting the Dlodlos to send an inhlanzi, surrogate wife, in the name of Mamfimfi, daughter of Mletshe Dlodlo to bear a son for her. Mamfimfi failed to produce a son. Instead, a daughter, Princess Sidambe kaLobengula was the offspring from that marriage. We have not mentioned older sons such as Princes Mhlambi, Nyamande and Tshakalisa because their mothers were married to a man, that is, prior to the accession of Prince Lobengula kaMzilikazi to the royal throne in 1870.
The matter would have emerged different if the Dlodlos had officially indicated they were sending Queen Ngotsha Dlodlo, sister to Mgandane Dlodlo kaLoyiswayo Chief of Inxazonke as inhlanzi to Queen Lozikeyi. Queen Ngotsha Dlodlo did produce a qualifying son in the name of Sidojiwe. He survived the dragnet when Cecil John Rhodes whisked away the qualifying sons to the Cape Province ostensibly to give the Western education when, it is known, he sought to make sure the Ndebele monarchy would not be resuscitated again as he had removed all possible rallying points from Matabeleland. Prince Sidojiwe kaLobengula was very young when his brothers were taken out of the country kicking and screaming. In fact, there were attempts to assist him flee to the land of the Shangani people. He later tried to follow his brothers but Cecil John Rhodes died before he succeeded in his endeavours.
When the Khumalos chose Prince Bulelani as Crown Prince and yet he is resident in the Cape Province, that should not come as a surprise at all. That is what arch imperialist Rhodes desired and engineered for a purpose. It is thus misplaced to refer to him as a foreigner. He is, as a matter of fact, the most royal of the descendants of the last Ndebele monarch King Lobengula kaMzilikazi regardless of where he hails from.
The other prince, in addition to Qalingana, Muntu (Tshukisa) and Mangwana, was Lopila whose mother was MaFuyane. Succession rules were explicit with regard to such princes born before their father became king. These four houses do know to this day, that they do not qualify for the throne but they are as involved as all other Khumalo houses in the selection of a new king.
Reverend Dr Robert Moffat was accurate in noting that Mangwana was the oldest, but not one to succeed him as the next monarch. That honour fell on Prince Nkulumane kaMzilikazi whose mother was Mwaka Nxumalo. The Nxumalos had brought usomthanyelwana just in case Princess Mwaka Nxumalo did not produce a son and that usomthanyelwana was Fulatha Tshabalala, okaMabindzela, whose son was Prince Lobengula kaMzilikazi.
With the fate of Prince Nkulumane unknown following his treasonous installation, the mantle fell on Prince Lobengula to take over as king.
Not all the sons of the king lived with him at the royal town. This was because not all queens lived with the king at the royal town. This was even more so with the less royal queens. Only Indlovukazi plus a few others lived at the royal town. We do know that Princes, Abantwana, such as Mahlahleni (Brethren-In-Christ Church’s Evangelist Manhlenhle’s father, Makhwelambila (father of Ngulukudela who is buried at the Roman Catholic Church’s Empandeni Mission in the Mangwe District) and Nyanda (Mthimbili’s father and King Mzilikazi’s last born son) lived with the King at Mhlahlandlela. The other sons were scattered all over the State. Queens lived in various villages where they served ears and eyes of the king — part of intelligence network. Their sons lived there with them. A son, his mother the queen and probably other queens and their sons and daughters, and the chief of the village constituted the ruling elite at dispersed villages and maintained links with the king, their father, husband and king. Reverend Dr Robert Moffat does tell us that Prince Mangwana lived at another town, most probably where his mother lived.
It is the relationship between Princes Mangwana and Nkulumane that the LMS missionary needed to know a little more about. It is not the eldest son that succeeded the king when he died. Each had a culturally defined position and role in the affairs of both the State and royal Khumalo family. This is how some small pronouncement by Reverend Dr Robert Moffat opens up a whole broad political, cultural and social vista into the intricacies of Ndebele royalty, succession rules and related issues.
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