ZWANGENDABA! THE HERO OF THE NGONI STORY REVISISTED


The Introduction
Due to popular demand, we have decided to document Zwangendaba's history albeit in two parts. Today's chapter will mainly focus on the introduction; who is Zwangendaba and why has history failed to forget him, decades after his demise in t1845?

It is incontestable that Zwangendaba has eternally been the leading flash point of the all the Ngoni factions (perhaps with the exclusion of the Masekos who did not trek with him on the historical and well documented journey that lasted for an astonishing two decades plus). So then,a lot of decorated Ngonis have surfaced and faded in the history books but why has Zwangendaba's name refused to be unglued from the pages of history?

To better understand this discrepancy or indeed answer this question,one has to go back in time;1765 to be precise.Yes! 1765 is the widely accepted year that Zwangendaba was born.But knowing the year of his birth is still far from answering the question that is before us.We need to also know who bore him?

This is where almost instantly, we 'throw the cat among the pigeons'. You see Zwangendaba's lineage has over the past two decades or so become one of the heavily contested themes of Ngoni ancestry. Just this topic has made some to become enemies.Some have become emotional and fail to argue amicably. Different groups have to this end claimed 'ownership' of this sung hero of the Ngoni story.

They are three main schools of thought on which clan REALLY belonged to Zwangendaba.Wikipedia writes that he is 'Zwangendaba Kaziguda Jele the younger brother of Somkhanda kaZiguda Jele who remained with the Gumbi clan in Kwazulu Natal in areas of Pongola'. Other accounts place him among the Hlatshwayo family. The Ncwangeni royal family equally have their own accounts which throws the weight on the position that he was in fact their own. Even so,they are accounts that he was of the Khumalo clan. In all these theories Zwangendaba has completely different fathers and mothers.So it seems there is a stalemate here.
Who really fathered Zwangendaba;Kaziguda or Hlatshwayo? Or do we act like other historians that have ignored this IMPORTANT question and made it seem like Kaziguda and Hlatshwayo are one and the same?

Please read the part two of this story that is featured here: https://nthawi.blogspot.com/2022/04/ancient-nguni-of-ncwangeni-kingdoms.html

Attached Photo: Percy photography beautifully captured the Ngoni dancers under King Mphezeni of Zambia during their annual traditional ceremony called the ncwala at Emtenguleni grounds.  

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