adminDID he, or did he not survive the pursuit? Did he, or did he not cross the mighty Zambezi River? The last Ndebele king’s fate is certainly shrouded in mystery and we cannot be definitive with regard to his fate following his hounding by the white colonists in 1893. All we can do is collect all the stories hitherto proffered and hope one of them gives us the true story. In that vein we continue with the documentation of the numerous stories that purport to tell the story of King Lobengula’s fate.
What we do know for certain is that there is a cave in Pashu’s country which is a national monument and is thought to be the final resting place for the Ndebele monarch. The various artifacts that were found in the cave are well documented and include parts of a horse saddle and knives. We know for sure that in the 1940s native commissioner John Huxtable alias Chitemamhuru in the company of a woman known as Shoko, Thwalimbiza Ndlovu and Ndonsa Magagula did get to the cave. It is possible that the proclamation of the cave as a national monument only happened after Huxtable’s visit.
Rather interestingly we do not hear of King Lobengula’s descendants ever visiting the said national monument for ritual performances or similar ceremonies. Just how authentic is the cave as the final resting place of the king if his descendants do not seem to be attaching much significance to the shrine? Is the national monument therefore not a monumental decoy that the Ndebele crafted in order to conceal his real fate?
If that were to be the case we would expect to have some glimpses in particular from known burial traditions that attended royal burial practices. The first is that the king was buried in a cave. His remains were not to come into contact with the soil. Death was not the end of an individual. Rather it was an important transition from the physical/material world into the spiritual realm. In that envisaged journey the soul was accompanied by some of the material possessions of the deceased individual.
That was pretty easy to fulfil. Indeed, the uninvited visitors in the 1840s did find funerary items that were said to have belonged to the king. Parts of a horse saddle were found and pointed to the use and probable abandonment of a royal horse or horses. There were other items that also pointed to the royal connection. The Ndebele would have been alert to such requirements if their decoy was to carry a semblance of authenticity and dissuade the whites from further pursuing the Ndebele king. So far two traditional royal burial requirements have been met. But this was not all if the Ndebele ever hoped to convince all and sundry that the cave was indeed the final resting place for the king, an Ndebele king for that matter.
Another traditional burial practice carried out by the Ndebele was the killing of some people who would accompany royalty to the afterworld. We should appreciate that the practice in so far as royalty was concerned was a mere augmentation of a general practice applicable even to the lowly persons within the community. A woman had some of the artifacts that she used in her life placed on her grave. Included in these funerary items were her earthenware pots and wooden plates, among others.
A deceased man had his spear broken and the handle thrown on top of the grave. The spear blade was carefully kept till a year later when umbuyiso ceremony was conducted. During burial the succeeding heir held the spear (blade stuck into the ground) to signify that he was continuing his late father’s blood line. The act was a visual expression of continuity from the man who now lay lifeless in the grave and his son who was poised to take over. Later when burial practices changed the heir holding the spear stood next to the buried man’s head. We should never lose sight of the fact that in the pre-colonial days a man was buried in a sitting position. So where did the heir holding the spear stand? The possible answer is that now that the sun had set the next sun, the qualifying son, had to rise. The sun rises in the east. The heir would thus have stood in such a way that he faced the direction of the rising sun which symbolises rebirth and regeneration.
The sunrise was equivalent to the winter solstice. On the winter solstice in June in the southern hemisphere the longest night marks the end of the winter season and the onset of summer. It is a time of celebrating regeneration, rebirth and the spectre of a new season of hope and life. Temperatures will begin to rise. In due course the trees will start blooming and the rains will fall. Life is renewed to the joy of both flora and fauna. You will appreciate why the summer solstice did not hold the same hope.
With regard to royalty the funerary items were accompanied by human beings who would serve the royal person in the afterlife. It is generally known that when Princess Nandi Bhebhe, King Tshaka’s mother died many ordinary women were killed and buried with her. These women served as the mat, icansi, for the royal princess. There are accounts of a similar practice taking place when Queen Mwaka Nxumalo (Nkulumane’s mother) and Queen Fulatha Tshabalala (King Lobengula’s mother) were buried. The two were killed on the orders of King Mzilikazi for their role in the treasonable installation of Prince Nkulumane. It is ironic that one of such women who served as the mat for the queens belonged to the Bhebhe clan.
With regard to the burial of King Mzilikazi we are aware of several people claiming that their ancestors were killed and buried alongside the king. The claim may not be unfounded as we encounter a similar claim with regard to the burial of King Lobengula. The first indication of this taking place comes with the fate of Chief Magwegwe Fuyane. In the mid-eighties I interviewed a Fuyane woman who indicated that her ancestor Chief Magwegwe never returned following the disappearance of the king.
We need to shed more light on Chief Magwegwe Fuyane. Chief Magwegwe was appointed chief of chiefs when Prince Lobengula ascended the royal throne following the death of his father King Mzilikazi in 1868. Chief Magwegwe was thus playing the role that uMhlangandlovu Gwabalanda Mathe used to play during King Mzilikazi’s tenure. Visitors arriving at Enyokeni/KoBulawayo first reported to Chief Magwegwe who then took them to the king. Even during the discussions the king spoke through Chief Magwegwe and not directly with the visitor.
Minor chiefs did not report directly to the king. It was a few chiefs, izinduna zangaphakathi who had the privilege to enter the royal palace and commiserate with the king. Some chiefs falling into this category during the tenure of King Mzilikazi included Maqhekeni Sithole who was in charge of Igabha and ruled from Emagogweni, Gwabalanda Mathe of Umhlahlandlela, Majijili Gwebu of Umzinyathi and Dlundluluza Dlodlo of Emakhandeni.
Chief Magwegwe was the son of Ngazana and hid grandfather was Mgitshima. Ngazana’s elder brother was Mnengeza who was the father of Maphisa and Mantilingwane. Maphisa was the chief of Isizinda and he was the man that young King Lobengula had initially approached to become his chief of chiefs. Chief Maphisa declined the offer arguing that he had served King Lobengula’s father that is King Mzilikazi and suggested that he appoints Magwegwe instead.
What happened to Chief Magwegwe? Next week we shall go into the supposed fate of Chief Magwegwe.
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