Ndwandwe and the Ngoni

NDWANDWE AND THE NGONIAuthor(s): G. NurseSource: The Society of Malawi Journal, Vol. 26, No. 1 (January, 1973), pp. 7-14Published by: Society of Malawi - Historical and ScientificStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/29778286 .Accessed: 03/07/2014 04:51

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ndwandwe and the ngoni 7

NDWANDWE AND THE NGONI G. Nurse

The origin of all the "true" Ngoni of Malawi from the extinct kingdom of Ndwandwe is tentatively suggested by Omer-Cooper (1966) and dogmatically affirmed by Rangeley (1966). Rangeley's account has obvious origins among the traditions of the Ngoni of Mzimba district, though it differs in a number of details from the conflation of traditional accounts collected by Chibambo (1965). Unlike Rangeley, Read (1954) supplies the names of her in? formants and provides a literal translation of their statements.

According to her sources, Zwangendaba Jere refused to support Zwinde, the king of Ndwandwe, in his quarrel with Shaka, and it was only on his departure from Ndwandwe, taking with him a number of supporters, principally his kinsfolk, that he became an autonomous chief. He is said by Owen (1833) to have come to the lower reaches of the Limpopo by way of Maputa and Tembe, areas near the coast of which is today sometimes called "Tonga land" in north-eastern Zululand. He does not seem to have entered Swazi country at all.

The impetus for the migration of the Maseko Ngoni was, it appears, also transmitted through Ndwandwe, though many of the

migrants, and their leader, came from Swaziland. The Msane clan under Nxaba was defeated by Shaka, and leaving their homeland just to the west of Lake St. Lucia, crossed Ndwandwe to the

Pongola River and thence into eastern Swaziland (Bryant, 1929) where they found refuge among the Sotho remnant which had adopted the Nguni language and culture after the campaigns of Sobhuza (Omer-Cooper, 1966). Ishmael Mwale, the official historian of Paramount Chief Gomani II Maseko, informed Read

(Read, 1954) and many years later confirmed in conversation with the present writer (Mwale, 1967) that Ngwana Maseko, the chieftain to whom Nxaba fled, was so apprehensive of a punitive expedition by Shaka that he decided that he, too, should flee; and, in company with Nxaba, did so. This probably signifies that the

Maseko, who according to Bryant, did claim Ntungwa origin, and

consequently to be of common stock with the Zulu, were well within the range of Shaka's armies and not as completely protected by the overlordship of Sobhuza as one might suppose. On the other hand, the tradition mentioned to the present author by the late Induna Robert Golozera of the Nzunga clan, and recorded by him elsewhere (Nurse, 1966) to the effect that Nxaba was a


8 THE SOCIETY OF MALAWI JOURNAL

neighbour of Ngwana, does not appear substantiable. The Usutu Valley where the Maseko lived is at some distance from Lake St. Lucia, though it could still be said to border on Ndwandwe.

There are few indications of how far the realm of Zwide extended. The area known as Ndwandwe today consists of the segment of Zululand to the north and east of the Black Mfolozi River, excluding, apparently, the part to the south of Lake St. Lucia but extending vaguely northwards across the Mankatini Flats east of the Ubombo Mountains to take in part, and probably all, of the Mabaso and Tembe country included in what is now

"Tongaland". At present the term seems to have only a traditional and historical significance. The Mabaso tribe, of which Zwide Nxumalo was a member, maintains a certain prestige and holds a

good deal of the political power.

I have recently, in the course of field work in Ndwandwe, had an

opportunity to make a few enquiries relating to the origins of the Ngoni of Malawi. These consisted in the main of questions about the modern existence in the area of representatives of clans found among both divisions of the Malawi Ngoni; excluding, of course, those clans known to have been assimilated during the northward journey. The informants were mainly izinduna of Chief Bhukwane, whose court is situated just to the south of Lake Sibayi. Of these, the principal sources of information were izinduna Horace

Nxumalo and Sikonyane Mavundla. Mr. J. Seme, the excellent interpreter who accompanied me, is a native of Ndwandwe, and supplied me with a considerable quantity of information, while the staff of the mission hospital at Mseleni answered my questions as fully as they could.

The standard lists of Ngoni clan-names in Malawi are those of Cullen Young (1932), Hodgson (1933) and Read (1954). The list of Cullen Young is, of course, applicable only to the northern Jere kingdom, while that of Hodgson relates entirely to the Chi were and Nsakambewa chieftaincies of Dowa district. Read sorts her list into two independent moieties, that relating to the northern Ngoni and that to the central each being divided according to the occur? rence of the clan-name in the lists of Kuper (1947) and Bryant. The present author is in the process of preparing further lists for publication (Nurse, in preparation). These four lists have been compared with data assembled from informants in Ndwandwe, and with additional clan-names from the registers of Mseleni


NDWANDWE AND THE NGONI 9

Hospital, which lies in Chief Bhukwane's area, a little to the west of Lake Sibayi and about a mile from the main road connecting the two district administrative centres of Ubombo and Ingwavuma.

The results of the comparison are set out below:

Clan-names found among Malawi Ngoni and in modern Ndwandwe: Jere Ngoni: Maseko Ngoni: Mngomezulu Mngomezulu Zulu Zulu Ngwenya Ngwenya Ndlovu Magagula Nkambule Mashabana (Masawani) Muyeni Mgabi Ndluli Msane Mabaso Magwagwa Mhlongo Mthombeni Mhlanga Malinga Chongwe Msimango

In addition, the name Dube is found in the Maseko area, and is said by the older men to be "the same as MbonambV\ Mbonambi seems, however, never to be used in Malawi, though it and its

companion name Mbuyazi, which is an isitakazelo or address name for Dube, are very common in Ndwandwe. Xulu is also found in Ndwandwe but not Malawi, where the form Buyeni or

Bieni, its isitakazelo, appears to have replaced it among the Maseko people. In Mzimba district Nyambose is used as a clan name, whereas in Ndwandwe it is the isitakazelo of the Mtetwa clan. Gumede, Qwabe and Manzini represent one of the most ancient stocks in Ndwandwe; Gumede is among the praise-names of the Maseko Paramount, and is also the isitakazelo of the

Mashabana or Masawani clan of the Maseko Ngoni.

Neither the Jele clan nor the Maseko is found in modern Ndwandwe. Many attempts have been made to create an august past for the former. Rangeley (1966) states that Zwangendaba was "the son of Mbekwane, of the Kumalo division of the abakwa Nxumalo clan;" an assertion which casts considerable doubt on the authenticity of his sources. Most accounts name Hlatshwayo or

Hlacwayo as the father of Zwangendaba; Mbekane was the father of Nxaba Msane; and Kumalo is not a "division" of Nxumalo but shares with it a common origin from Mabaso. The

present author has been told by scions of the Jere royal house that



Zwangendaba was of the paternal family of Zwide, who was

Nxumalo; but this seems very unlikely, as the prestige attaching to

membership of that clan was and is great, and the name would not be lightly discarded. The counsellors of Chief Bhukwane, when I questioned them, repudiated any connection of the name or clan of Jele with Nxumalo, though one of them maintained, despite contradictions from the rest, that a minor division of the Mabaso, living on the Transvaal side of the Pongola River, is known as Jele. Cullen Young's (1932) fanciful suggestion that Zwangendaba sprang from a powerful family of aristocrats called Qeko is contradicted by the omission of any mention of a clan of that name in Bryant (1929). Bryant does, however, suggest quite plausibly that Zwangendaba may have come from the Gumbi clan, which has Jele for isitakazelo.

On the other hand, the Maseko, though not of great prominence, do appear to have comprised the ruling stock of the Usutu Valley at least since the consolidation of Swazi power, and probably before it. The name is not only common among the Swazi; it is also found in Lesotho. The latter provenance is probably due to the scattering of the Natal Nguni during the Mfecane period, when a number of refugees from Shaka crossed the Drakensberg (Mse6enzi, 1938). There are still in the Usutu Valley Maseko chiefs whose funeral rites are similar to those described by Rattray as taking place after the death of Cikusi Maseko at Luwisini in

Malawi. It therefore seems improbable that at any point in their journey the Maseko should, as Rangeley claims, have been subordinate to the Jere, or, as Archdeacon Johnson (1922) states, should ever have assumed the name Jere as a means of enhancing their prestige. It is not likely that a lineage recognized as chiefly would submit to or emulate one of obscure origin simply because of a single outstanding leader, when that leader's antecedents were so uncertain. Furthermore, in grafting Ngoni polity on the social and ritual structure of the Maravi among whom they have settled, the two clans have become associated with polar opposites. Jere is now associated with the Phiri clan, which is that of secular authority, while Maseko is associated through Ngozo with the spiritual and magical influences of the Banda (Nurse, in prepara? tion; Langworthy, 1972).

Each of the divisions of the Ngoni of Malawi includes eleven clans which are represented in modern Ndwandwe. Of the eleven, three are common to both; but these three are also among those



which in Ndwandwe are most frequently met with. In both the northern Jere and the central Maseko kingdoms there are a number of undoubtedly Nguni clans other than those mentioned in the lists, and which seem to have been collected from Nguni territories other than Ndwandwe. A few of these, such as Gama, Gausi (Gcabashe) and Mlangeni, occur among the followers of both the Maseko and the Jere. A number, however, are found only in one kingdom or the other.

The harrowing of the small Nguni tribes and clans during the Mfecane must have led to breakaway segments of many becoming attached to any emigrant party powerful enough to give some

protection, and it is not easy to appraise the significance of the present-day distribution of clans; but in wars of raiding-parties bent on plunder and not equipped with firearms the overall tendency has always been for those attacked, if they are poor enough and insignificant enough, to return to their homes when the danger is over. It seems probable that the names extant in modern Ndwandwe do represent to a great extent the population of a hundred and fifty years ago. That the Nxumalo have survived and flourished in the same area since the death of Zwide supports this supposition; the most powerful clan would have been that in greatest danger of suppression, and since it was not suppressed, it is unlikely that lesser clans would have been made to suffer instead.

The outset of the two migrations can consequently be re? constructed rather tentatively as follows:

1. The Jele Ngoni. The Jele division of the Gumbi clan, starting either from the Pongola area or from the headwaters of the Hluhluwe River, accompanied by or attracting members of non Ndwandwe clans to the south or west, and moving either east and north or due north across Ndwandwe into the Ronga country west of Lourenco Marques; assimilating Mngomezulu, Ngwenya, Zulu,

Ndlovu, Mtetwa, Mhlongo, Nkambule, Ndluli, Mabaso, Mhlanga, Chongwe and Muyeni recruits and/or captives from among the local Nguni, and eventually by the addition of Tonga and Shona gro wing into an army large enough to fight their way further north.

2. The Maseko Ngoni. The Msane clan led by Nxaba from the west of Lake St. Lucia, sweeping through Ndwandwe in a direction just west of north, taking with them on the way Mngomezulu, Zulu,

Ngwenya, Magagula, Mashabana, Mgabi, Magwagwa, Xulu, Mbonambi, Mthombeni, Malinga and possibly the half-Sotho Msimango, who may, however, have entered the migration in



Swaziland; joined by the Maseko and followers representative of various Swazi clans in the Usutu Valley; proceeding first north? east against Soshangane, then westward to the Lozi country, and eastward again; with a shortage of food leading to an eventual amicable division cf forces between Magadlela Maseko and Nxaba, following which Nxaba went towards the upper Zambesi and Magadlela made for the Nyungwe country near Tete.

f ' ,1

Separate origins for the two Ngoni invasions of the Maravi and Tumbuka lands may, at first sight, seem improbable. If the only contact between the migrating parties was the battle fought between Zwangendaba and the Maseko in Gazaland (Read, 1954; Omer-Cooper, 1966), why should they both have moved across the Zambesi into Malawi and eventually have settled comparatively close to one another? This geographical propinquity must, in my



opinion, have been responsible for a quantity of the misapprehen? sions perpetuated by early writers. Yet a consideration of the historical situation in the 1820's and 1830's in Southern Africa goes a long way towards explaining them. The Mfecane was not confined to the Nguni. When the Maseko went westwards they trespassed on the Ndebele kingdom lately set up by Mzilikazi; but skirting it to the north meant that they confronted the Kololo power of Sebetoane just after the conquest of the Luyana had been con? solidated. For a large party to cross the Zambesi in the inhospitable and gorge-obstructed valley between the Victoria Falls and Zumbo was virtually impossible, while from there to Kebrabassa and Tete the Portuguese were in tenuous but threatening posses? sion. To move eastwards was to encounter Soshangane, with whom an unsuccessful battle had already been fought. A shortage of food led the party to divide, and resulted in the death of Nxaba at the hands of the Kololo. The safest direction left was the route

taken, across the Zambesi between Tete and Sena, where the plains around the river were too broad and swampy for the thinly scattered Portuguese to control effectively, and so northwards into the territories of the disintegrating Malawi empire.

That this direction had been taken a year or two earlier by Zwangendaba would not have been a deterrent. Neither party could have been particularly numerous, and the Maseko may even have been encouraged by rumours of the success of the Jere. It must have been well known that no effective organized resistance could be anticipated from the uncoordinated chiefdoms which owed nominal allegiance to the powerless Kalonga of Malawi. The main opposition that was to be feared was from the other Ngoni; and it is one of the most remarkable features of Malawi history that, with the exception of the encounter in the Songeya country (cf. Nurse, 1969; Omer-Cooper, 1966), there was never, once the Zambesi was crossed, either alliance or war between the Jere and the Maseko.

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank Professor J. H. S. Gear, Director, and Professor J. F. Murray, Deputy Director of the South African Institute for

Medical Research, for facilities which made this study possible; and the National Research Institute for Nutritional Diseases of the

Medical Research Council of South Africa for financial support of my field-work in Ndwandwe, which was concerned primarily with

investigation of hip. disease in the Mseleni area.



REFERENCES Bryant, A. T. (1929) Olden Times in Zululand and Natal.

Chibambo, Yesaya (1965) Makani gha Wangoni. Cullen Young, T. (1932) Notes on the History of the Tumbuka-Kamanga Peoples. Hodgson, A. G. O. (1933) Note on the Angoni and Achewa Tribes of Dowa District,

Nyasaland. /. Roy. Anthrop. Inst., L XIII.

Johnson, W. P. (1922) Nyasa the Great Water.

Kuper, H. (1947) An African Aristocracy. Langworthy Harry W. (1972) Chewa or Malawi Political Organization in the

Precolonial Era. In The Early History of Malawi, ed. B. Pachai.

Msecenzi (1938) History of Matiwane and the Amangwane Tribe. As told to his kinsman Albert Hlongwane. Ed. N. J. van Warmelo.

Mwale, Ishmael (1967) Personal communication.

Nurse, G. T. (1966) The Installation of Inkosi ya Makosi Gomani III. African Music, iv, I.

Nurse, G. T. (1969) The Matengo Settlement. Occasional Papers No. 7, Malawi Department of Antiquities.

Nurse, G. T. (in preparation) Clan Names in Central Malawi.

Omer-Cooper, J. D. (1966) The Zulu Aftermath.

Owen, W. (1833) A Narrative of Voyages to explore the Shores of Africa, Arabia and Madagascar.

Rangeley, W. H. J. (1966) The Angoni. Soc. of Malawi J., XIX, 2.

Rattray, R. S. Quoted by Read, op. cit. Source not mentioned.

Read, Margaret (1954) The Angoni of Nyasaland.


Article Contentsp. 7p. 8p. 9p. 10p. 11p. 12p. 13p. 14

Issue Table of ContentsThe Society of Malawi Journal, Vol. 26, No. 1 (January, 1973), pp. 1-78Front MatterEDITORIAL NOTES [pp. 5-6]NDWANDWE AND THE NGONI [pp. 7-14]A PRELIMINARY LIST OF SOME EDIBLE FUNGI OF MALAI [pp. 15-27]ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF A PAINTED ROCK SHELTER AT MWANA WA CHENCHERERE, NORTH OF DEDZA, CENTRAL MALAI In July to September, 1972 [pp. 28-46]SOME NOTES ON THE HISTORY OF THE ZOMBA DISTRICT [pp. 47-59]A LIST WITH NOTES OF THE MAMMALS OF THE NSANJE (PORT HERALD) DISTRICT, MALAI [pp. 60-78]Back Matter

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Ndwandwe and the Ngoni