The Zulus and Matabele: Warrior Nations Read online

  PREFACE

  In this book I have attempted to write lucid, authoritative and enjoyable accounts of the histories of the Zulu and Matabele nations, concentrating on their rise to power in the first half of the nineteenth century and their downfall at white hands as the century drew to a close.

  My interest in both peoples stems back to my childhood in southern Africa. I can clearly recall seeing Zulus for the first time when I was on holiday in Durban. I was only three at the time and was taken by my parents to see traditional dancing by Zulu men dressed as warriors. The display they put on was awesome, and involved hitting their spears against their shields, stamping their feet on the ground, and alternately falling back and advancing in an ominous manner. It was too much for me. I got up and tried to make my escape.

  Contact with the Matabele was also made at an early age, for my grandparents owned a farm at Filabusi in Matabeleland, Rhodesia, a place which featured in the Matabele Rebellion of 1896. On visits to the farm I was shown Matabele graves by my grandfather and also met a man called Fana (my grandfather’s principal employee), a friendly Matabele, whose mother was a Zulu. Fana had two young sons, named Robert and Tembo, with whom my brothers and I sometimes played cowboys and Indians.

  I wish to thank relatives in southern Africa, Julie Edwards, Jack Crampton and Frank and Valerie Edmonstone, for either obtaining illustrations on my behalf or for sending me other material that I had requested. Thanks must also go to Philip Haythornthwaite for allowing me to use a number of photographs belonging to his collection, and to my brother, Gavin, for providing the maps which accompany the text. I also wish to thank Ashley Sutherland and other staff of Sunderland City Library for obtaining requested books and articles.

  Finally, I wish to say something about the people to whom this book is dedicated, my grandparents Edward and Mary Crampton, affectionately known as Teddy and Tony. Though born in South Africa, they ended their days in what is now Zimbabwe after living on their farm through the bitter war which ended white minority rule in Rhodesia. Although staunchly right-wing, they did not have any animosity towards blacks in general, and were kind, decent people whom I remember with a great deal of affection. This is especially true of my grandfather, who loved history and one of whose favourite books was F. C. Selous’ Sunshine and Storm in Rhodesia, a graphic account of the Matabele Rebellion. It is a source of pleasure to me to dedicate this book to their memory.

  Glen Lyndon Dodds,

  Sunderland, 30 September 1997

  1. IN THE BEGINNING WAS SHAKA

  ‘ . . . in war he was an insatiable and exterminating savage, in peace an unrelenting and a ferocious despot....The world has heard of monsters—Rome had her Nero, the Huns their Attila, and Syracuse her Dionysius; the East has likewise produced her tyrants; but for ferocity . . . [Shaka] has exceeded them all.’ Nathaniel Isaacs

  ‘That man used to play around with people. A man would be killed though he had done nothing.’ Baleka kaMpitikazi

  In May 1824 a young English adventurer called Henry Francis Fynn was sitting on a beach in southern Africa gazing out over the Indian Ocean, hundreds of miles from civilisation. He was accompanied by three natives, one of whom was making coffee. Suddenly, while the kettle was coming to the boil, they caught sight of an awesome spectacle. It sent Fynn’s companions scurrying into the bush, but he remained where he was as thousands of Zulu warriors approached, heading north up the beach, homeward bound.

  Fynn proceeded to communicate as best he could with the bemused Zulu commanders, principally using sign language, although his repeated use of the name ‘Shaka’ struck a chord. The Zulus soon pressed on, leaving Fynn to follow in their wake. He did so, in the hope of meeting the king whose name he had just mentioned; a hope that was initially to be frustrated, though in due course he was to become well acquainted with the Zulu monarch.

  Shaka, (whose name was formerly spelt ‘Chaka’), is one of the most celebrated and controversial figures in the history of southern Africa. To some, he was a bloodthirsty despot, a cruel savage whose hands were drenched in blood. But others maintain that he has been much maligned: his gruesome reputation is unwarranted and has come about as a result of a deliberate propaganda campaign by whites with selfish motives. What is undoubted is that Shaka was a man of great ability, a warrior chief who transformed the Zulu people into the most potent African nation in southern Africa, and a man who is still widely revered as a powerful symbol of Zulu nationhood.

  He was born around 1787 in a well-watered and productive region (one of the most scenic parts of what is now South Africa), an area situated between the majestic Drakensberg Mountains and the Indian Ocean to the east. The place was inhabited by many clans belonging to the Nguni cultural and linguistic group. One such was the Zulus, a small clan which traced descent from a man called Zulu who is said to have settled beside the White Mfolozi River during the 17th century.

  Shaka was the son of the Zulu chief, Senzangakhona, while his mother Nandi belonged to a neighbouring people, the Langeni. The circumstances surrounding Shaka’s conception are often presented in a straightforward manner, but an examination of the relevant source material highlights a number of discrepancies.

  In the early 20th century, Jantshi kaNongila recounted one version of events to James Stuart, a fluent Zulu speaker and an avid recorder of Zulu testimony. Jantshi (whose father had been one of Shaka’s principal spies), said that while an unmarried youth, Senzangakhona had met Nandi when tending Zulu cattle with a number of colleagues near her home. The couple were mutually attracted and Shaka was thus conceived in one of several temporary shelters the young Zulu males had constructed to serve as accommodation while they were in the neighbourhood.

  Whether or not this version of events is correct, the central point is that Shaka was conceived while his mother was unmarried. To fall pregnant in such circumstances was viewed as a disgrace, and initially Nandi is said by some sources, including Jantshi, to have tried to hide the true nature of her condition. Instead of having succumbed to passion, she had been afflicted with an intestinal ailment, an itshaka. Others, however, maintain that when word of her pregnancy was sent to the Zulus, they responded by declaring that Nandi must have been afflicted in such a manner.

  Either way, in due course Nandi gave birth to a son, who was consequently given the name ‘Shaka’, and it is generally maintained that shortly after his birth Nandi married Senzangakhona and went to live among the Zulus, though this view does not harmonise with all the evidence available. Jantshi, for instance, declared: ‘Nandi never went at all to Senzangakhona to be his wife.’ Instead, he believed that ‘when Shaka had grown a little’, Senzangakhona’s mother brought him from the Langeni to grow up at her own homestead.

  Whatever the truth, Shaka did not grow to manhood among the Zulus, for in about 1794 he returned with his mother to live among the Langeni, although the reason why this occurred is likewise uncertain.

  Among the Langeni, Shaka benefited from the affection of his maternal grandmother. On the other hand, he experienced unhappiness. He was taunted and bullied by boys of his own age with whom he herded cattle. He had been tormented previously by young Zulus, and the consequent pain, both physical and mental, evidently made its mark. By nature Shaka appears to have been proud, and such experiences evidently made him withdrawn, indignant and vengeful.

  In about 1802 Nandi and Shaka left the Langeni. One explanation for their departure is that they were expelled after Shaka stabbed an animal that belonged to the family of a boy who had angered him while they were playing a traditional game. Some suggest, though, that their depa
rture was due to a food shortage caused by drought—the Langeni eased the burden on their provisions by sending the unpopular Nandi and her son packing.

  In time, after residing among the Qwabe clan, Shaka placed himself under the protection of Chief Jobe of the Mthethwa people whose heartland lay between the lower reaches of the Mfolozi and the Mhlatuze Rivers southeast of Zulu territory. Shortly thereafter, in about 1807, Jobe died and was succeeded by a shrewd and able character named Dingiswayo who placed Shaka under the special care of one of his principal advisers and chief military commander, Ngomane kaMqoboli, who effectively became Shaka’s adoptive father.

  Reportedly, Shaka was not a handsome young man. Baleka kaMpitikazi relates that her father stated that he had ‘a large nose, and was ugly’ and that he had a speech impediment, probably a lisp or a stutter. Moreover, she declared that on one occasion (in later years) Shaka killed a ‘pretty girl’ for refusing to sleep with him. Baleka’s unflattering description mostly harmonises with other sources, though it is also generally agreed that Shaka had a fine muscular body.

  During this period, conflict was on the increase in the region and Dingiswayo was at the heart of events. Several explanations have been offered as the reason for the rise in bloodshed. The most popular is intensifying competition for land owing to population growth. Severe cases of drought were evidently also a factor, So, too, was ambition. Some chiefs were prepared to use force to enhance their wealth and power, by for example controlling trade associated with a Portuguese settlement to the north at Delagoa Bay in Mozambique, trade that principally involved supplying the Europeans with ivory in exchange for goods such as brass and beads. Dingiswayo, for instance, is said to have endeavoured to monopolise the whole of the Delagoa market, using violence to achieve this end.

  Shaka distinguished himself whilst serving in Dingiswayo’s army as a member of the iziCwe ibutho or regiment (which he came to command) and is said to have gained a reputation as a ferocious fighter. He believed that traditional Nguni warfare was too tame and inept. Instead of closing in for the kill and engaging in hand-to-hand fighting, warriors invariably stood some distance from each other at an appointed place and hurled throwing spears—often with little result— while civilians looked on. The change to a more aggressive approach was probably already underway, but if so Shaka completed the process. Zulu tradition maintains that he developed a large-bladed stabbing spear set in a stout shaft, although as John Laband comments, Shaka’s invention was ‘probably a refinement on a weapon already in use by the Mthethwa and other people of the region’.

  In 1816 Senzangakhona died and Shaka became chief of the Zulus with Dingiswayo’s backing—the rightful heir was murdered. Shaka then built himself a homestead which he called Bulawayo and organised the clan’s manpower, perhaps about 400 men, into small regiments grouped according to age.

  A programme of rigorous training followed. The warriors were drilled and redrilled. This involved instruction in how to use newly made copies of Shaka’s stabbing spear, for use of throwing spears was abandoned. They were to thrust the weapon underarm, and to employ it in conjunction with their shields. The latter, like traditional shields, were oval in shape. However, Shaka introduced larger versions that covered the warriors from shoulder to ankle. Moreover, he is said to have instructed his followers to hook the left edge of their shields over the edge of those of their adversaries, and wrench them to the left, thereby dragging the opponents’ shields across their bodies, throwing them off balance and rendering them vulnerable to the stabbing spears.

  Furthermore, to enhance manoeuvrability, Shaka is reported to have ordered his men to discard their cowhide sandals and fight barefoot. To toughen up the soles of their feet they were required to stamp on thorns, while to increase their fitness they were compelled to undertake lengthy marches. A dynamic little war machine was in the making.

  Once prepared, Shaka took the offensive. Some sources say that the first people to suffer were the Langeni, and this seems reasonable in view of the treatment Shaka had received from some of the clan. He reportedly took the Langeni by surprise and individuals who had wronged him or his mother were singled out and killed, but most of the clan were spared and came under Shaka’s rule.

  Among other clans attacked in this period were the Buthelezi, who had been a tributary people of the Zulus but had gone their own way during the chieftainship of Shaka’s father, and who were now sharply brought under Shaka’s sway, as were other neighbouring peoples. Shaka’s approach was ruthless, for he was prepared to slaughter women and children. An old Zulu warrior was to recall: ‘Women were not [previously] killed in war [nor] children . . . . The practice of killing even women was one begun by Shaka. Chiefs are responsible for acts of madness.’

  It seems probable that such brutality was calculated. Shaka evidently realised the value of terror—that it could render adversaries and potential enemies half-hearted and more eager to either simply take to their heels or submit. Others no doubt understood this as well but were insufficiently ruthless to play by such rules. Shaka clearly had no such scruples. Hitting below the belt was an integral part of his approach.

  The campaigns conducted by Shaka during this period were of course not the only ones waged in the region. As noted above, warfare was on the increase among the clans and confederations of clans. The key players were Dingiswayo and his arch rival, Zwide, chief of the powerful Ndwandwe located to the northwest, a man who is generally perceived as a more ruthless character.

  In 1817 the conflict between Dingiswayo and Zwide was bloodily resolved. The part Shaka played is uncertain. On the one hand, Henry Fynn says that the Zulu chief accompanied Dingiswayo during the campaign and betrayed him to Zwide by informing the latter where Dingiswayo would position himself to watch the impending conflict, information that led to Dingiswayo’s capture. However, A. T. Bryant (a Catholic missionary who collected a wealth of oral tradition in Zululand late in the 19th century) states that after Dingiswayo arrived at an agreed rendezvous near the border, he halted to await the arrival of all his forces, and that before Shaka appeared on the scene Dingiswayo fell into the hands of the enemy. He wandered off from his warriors accompanied by his handmaidens—hardly a potent force—and was seized by an enemy patrol. What is beyond doubt is that by fair means or foul, Dingiswayo fell into the hands of Zwide, who had him killed. It was an ignominious end for one of the most remarkable men of his generation, and following his death the Mthethwa confederacy began to collapse.

  War with Zwide

  Zwide was determined to ensure that Shaka would not become as much of a threat as Dingiswayo had been, and thus resolved to deal with the growing power of the Zulu. Hence in 1818 he sent an army, which may have been as many as 10,000 strong, south under his heir, Nomahlanjana. Shaka is said to have deployed to oppose the enemy on Gqokli Hill, a rocky knoll cresting a spur running northwards down to the White Mfolozi.

  Little definite is known about the ensuing battle. Stephen Taylor has stated that ‘the action was probably no more than a limited defence of high ground with an indecisive outcome.’ On the whole, though, it seems likely that the encounter was bloody. Of the engagement, Cetshwayo kaMpande (who was born in about 1832 and was one of Shaka’s nephews) comments that Shaka was attacked before he was ready and that ‘a desperate fight ensued [with] great slaughter’ in which the left wing of each army was victorious. Furthermore, Cetshwayo states that Shaka himself had a narrow escape when the part of the army with which he was stationed was surrounded, but that his warriors managed to break their way out. According to other sources, five of Zwide’s sons, including Nomahlanjana, were killed.

  Following the battle, the Ndwandwe laid waste much of the valley of the White Mfolozi as they headed home. For his part, Shaka retired and, after assembling his followers and cattle, temporarily withdrew towards the coast.

  He subsequently continued the process of consolidating and strengthening his position thro
ugh diplomacy and violence. Moreover, his strength was augmented by gaining the allegiance of a number of clans who deemed it expedient to throw in their lot with the Zulus. Shaka also killed the chief of the Qwabe clan—perhaps he had already done so—and replaced him with a grateful tributary called Nqetho.

  In 1819, after Shaka had beaten off a second Ndwandwe expedition near the Mhlatuze River, Zwide sent a powerful army under a formidable warrior named Shoshangane to deal with the growing Zulu menace once and for all.

  Instead of confronting his opponents in a pitched battle, Shaka fell back before them, deeper and deeper into Zululand towards the wooded terrain of the Nkandla range. The Ndwandwe had expected to forage for food— in line with traditional Nguni military practice—but Shaka had taken his cattle and grain with him. Hunger and exhaustion thus began to take their toll as the dispirited and increasingly famished Ndwandwe were led on a fruitless chase, much of it over rugged country. They were also subjected to the occasional hit-and-run action. Jantshi kaNongila, for instance, relates that at night Zulu warriors infiltrated their camp and ‘stabbed Zwide’s people a good deal’ before retreating ‘to the forest and back to Shaka.’ Matters finally came to a head when Shaka launched a full-scale attack and decisively defeated and scattered the enemy in a battle which Cetshwayo states lasted from the early morning until past midday.

  Shaka quickly followed up his victory by moving into the heart of his opponent’s kingdom. It is said that as he approached Zwide’s homestead, his warriors sang a Ndwandwe victory chant to lull the inhabitants of the royal settlement into a false sense of security, whereupon Ndwandwe emerged to greet their returning army only for many of them to be butchered.

  What is certain is that Zwide fled northwest across the Pongola River with some of his people into what is now southern Swaziland, leaving Shaka the dominant force south of the river, with the areas most firmly under his control extending from the Tugela River northward to the Mkhuze and as far west as the Mzinyathi (Buffalo) River. He had ‘emerged from a grim war of survival a king indeed,’ comments Laband. ‘All at once he found himself ruling a larger territory, with a greater population, than had any chief in south-eastern Africa before him.’