adminONE avid follower of the column enquired on the term abantwana besihlangu which literally means children of the shield. Isihlangu is part of an Ndebele soldier’s war arsenal that provided protection to his body. Made from ox hide, isihlangu was long enough to cover the better part of a man’s body. A soldier held it in the left hand while in the right hand he held an assortment of spears and knobkerries.
The defensive shield, isihlangu should be differentiated from ihawu, usually a smaller version often used during certain ceremonies. Isihlangu, in the hands of an adept soldier will deflect spears targeted at the man holding the shield. The captive men and women are the ones that were referred to as abantwana besihlangu. They were captured during a raid on a particular group.
We need to explain why the reference to children. We have seen that the shield was used during military encounters such as when raids were undertaken. That landed the term, half of it at least, to the captives that were taken during the encounter. Generally, during such encounters it was children who were targeted. The reasoning behind this is pretty clear. Adults are not easy to take away from their old ways and habits. Sometimes even their language will not adapt readily.
Such people are not easy to train into new ways and ensure they acquire a new language of the captors that readily. Because they know the geography of where they once lived, they may be tempted to run away from captivity and return home. They know the geography of where they came from. On the other hand, children do not possess a long memory of where they once lived. They are at a stage where they will easily learn a new language and adopt the ways of their captors. They are, therefore, unlikely to attempt to escape from captivity.
In fact, these captives were so well looked after that they quickly came to identify with the community in which they were living. At the capital town they were well fed on meat and would sleep without anything in the form of a blanket – hence they were called amalalaze – those sleeping without cover over their bodies. Some of them grew up to become imbovane, the fierce fighters who defended the state. We hope the term abantwana besihlangu has been clarified and explained sufficiently.
Where a society had a small population the captive men and women came in handy to boost the national figures. As pointed out in the last instalment, the captive men and women assisted in the various household chores. Following their capture, the captives were socialised fully into Ndebele society. They knew the various traditions, the various etiquettes and language of their masters.
For example, they knew that each wife or queen had her own milk cows (ezesengelo lakhe) whose milk was collected into vessels destined for the appropriate wife/queen. Each wife was independent and wished to retain that status. Imithanyelo kayithanyelelani, each broom has its own boundary where it was used (in sweeping).
Now we can turn to Princess Sidambe Khumalo’s captive men and women. It should be noted that Princess Sidambe got married during the colonial era when raids were no longer being undertaken. Whatever captive men and women she had were inherited from her surrogate mother, Queen Lozikeyi Dlodlo. Generally, the captives did not return to their homes following the demise of the Ndebele State. Some did not know where they had been captured. Others had come to enjoy the Ndebele way of life they were no longer keen to go back. This was the case with some of the white girls that were captured by the Ndebele in the Limpopo Province. The white girls were found by the Boer raiding party of Andries Hendriek Potgieter in 1847. One of the maidens under the care of the Ndiwenis, refused to join the Boer party and preferred to commit suicide than to abandon the Ndebele society that she had grown to be an integral part of.
The one captive that Princess Sidambe had was Thwalimbiza Ndlovu, a captive from Tongaland. Thwalimbiza was familiar with the geography of the land to the north and was engaged by Native Commissioner John Huxtable (Chitemamhuru) to guide him to the supposed grave of King Lobengula at Pashu’s country. The famous wosana generally referred to as Shoko was part of Huxtable’s expedition to the royal grave in 1945.
Thwalimbiza married a woman, one Nyobonyobo from the land of the Nambya. As indicated in an earlier instalment he would not have married a woman from the Nguni community. Captive men married captive women. Another captive in the service of Princess Sidambe was a man called Sonile Ndlovu. You will note that his surname was not Nguni, lest there be some confusion that would have led to a breach of marriage guidelines and restrictions that kept the two social groups apart. He married a lady of the surname of Moyo who came from Gwampa. Once again, this is another example of a captive man knowing the social boundaries when it came to marriage. He kept within the confines of his social class.
Some raids took the Ndebele to distant lands. One such targeted place was Zimuto in Masvingo. There one man captured a young boy who would later be renamed Ndlalambi Mbayiwa Ndlovu. What had been Mubaiwa became, in the SiNdebele language, Mbayiwa. The relevant totems were always known, even where Mubaiwa was used. No wonder therefore, the Mubaiwa man became Ndlovu. The name Ndlalambi is unlikely to have been used before capture. It must have been used following capture and is in line with the naming tradition among the Ndebele. Ndlalambi is a name given to one who is born during a severe drought (indlala embi).
The raid on Zimuto led to the capture of one Ndebele soldier called Mfecana. His Shona captors gouged out his eyes and he became blind. Mbunjwase Nyoni was one of the captives in the service of Princess Sidambe. The woman, a daughter of Nkwathabana, came from Matobo and was married by a fellow captive also in the service of Princess Sidambe. She got married to Ndlalambi Mbayiwa Ndlovu.
Next week we shall look at Siyatsha’s efforts at becoming a businessman. He bought and ran a few buses that were apparently catching fire, a situation that led to a quarrel between him and her wife Princess Sidambe Khumalo.
Online Reporter