SHAKA ZULU - Great Warrior King

5/16/2018 SHAKA ZULU - Great Warrior King

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SH"""K A : : ~ . . '. Z . U " ' L ' .U- ..' . . -. . , . .Great Warrior King


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OTHER L IO N BO O K. . . . ' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 , _ : 'B[LDAD .KAGGIAVoice of (be People

MOT-: ' ]Ai . lED AM]N1 " he Eyes of Africa.

D ED AN KJI~1(A TH]Leader ofMau M:iI .1"l

,M,WAI KliAKIEcono.mist for K~l1y; i l j

ELrJAI~ . f ; , . .L\SJ ND ERebel wilth a Cause M\VANA KUPO'NAPoetess from Lam ufEEVANIEEBe be I of the Empire

N"E L S ON .MAND ' : ELAFighter for Humanity

]"0]\0110 I


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S R A } ( A " : " " " Z : U - L ' U " . .'. - , . ' . . ' / I. ." . - ..': . . ~, ...: : .." ., ," " "..' . - '," . .. I "". .."Great Warrior King.~...

byStanley Gazembs11]usu3ted by

h.phaeJ lGmQ sop

Sasa Serna PublicationsNairobi.


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Copyr igh. r .2004 Srnn leyA 'Gaze ID1~T h x t W u s r r a ;~ o :F J Sc o p y r i g _ h [ Z 0 0 4 R a p h ~ l ' f . o ; . ] m o .I D pCover' illnstration cCipyrlght e . 2 004 J an n Nysgih

Cover design by Zand Graphl C 5 . Ltd.

ISBN: '9966-9.r:i] -2 7 '~X

'Publ ished b vISa~2I. Serna . P . 'l .d :~ lici !L t io l Ji$ ltd .P .O. n UK 139 .56~OD80o Naiirob~

.i\il rights reserved,No part oftbis publication m ;] ,y be rcp r.o diu c cd ~ sto (Cd :lll a ,[~tr.~~,.aJ.sysremer 'h 'a [l1 ~m :ittt:d in , any fmm by ;a!l1Ymeans wirhout permiss ion

a , f!...~ ~I 1~I~~I,lID\l'Il~ r rom ' 1 l J J . e POLl , I I J .Mle l l : 'S .

i : . " ! r i rm : : d byFtOi furn ' iL td ,P.O. Box 14681. N~irobi


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CONTENTS

P r 1 e j a r ; c 'I Shaka Is Expelled. from H O . m . ! !

, .[ X

II 'Growing into a Warrior13 ,

I t ) 1IV Dingiswayo is Killed 22V 'War with the Ndwandwe .27

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PREFACE

T he legen d of S haka is w ell -kn ow n am o ng'the peop le oJ southern Afiica and A ttica as a,wfu.oJe,

There w . i l I J l . nway s be ~yi[1,g accounts ofwhat histo ricaI an d ]egem .dary 6gu res m e t

e~crly I tO attain the enviable status they It;njoy in HlstOry ;illmy' a t t empt to unearth the legen d of S haka ~the greatwarrior I. had &5'L heard about as . 3 . yOll l lg boy : i 11. l1!}'pr imary ' school hi 5 ' 1 : 0 : 1 1 " lessons, J set lou'r 'to do som eresearch about r u m and about the Zu lu . p eop le.

M(U;gthe books I D ' read and found enligh t en ing'were: Ni'; le G n l J c t Africttns by Sir Rex Niven (G. Be~)')S on s o !Z -u l.u by A u b : n : e y E llio r {C olli n s), A Histor, o f th.eAfr'i 'cil tn Peop 'u by Robert W : , . J l!l~y(EARP) and T h e


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SHJ\.KA ZULU

D~maR a/ the Zulu K" 'Uf i l om by J'eff'GUly (Longman).In addi t ion watched ffi]ms made onthis great Zu ' Ju .They a u 1 l l l g3Ye d liT eren t versio n s o f ~at happened,'and in ln stan ces they clashed on m e . sequ en ce o :feven g and even the y ~ a n ID whlch 'M o 'e r Mppened*

Nevertheless, in fIll' anem .p t to, vnire a balanced~ um o r re~der.)Thad to find a middle ground and ..warry allthese veesions 1 m . order to come up 'W l , W this b o o J k . Iadmit iba.t i t [ : m ay b e : flawed, as matters to do with myths:wd ..i.tg efid s cam ,be, bu r. I am confident that most of theeven t s d escrib ed . 31" \vha:t reallyhappened,

I 'YfOnld . W r e 'to i\db.'lO'i.,jed~'ehere the contribution of1.Ia Lute and Silas Okutoyi ofS~sa Serna Publicationsw ho furnished m e: " . . . n t h n ew ideas ~Eliz3Jb~th :N du a fo rreading the' rnanusceiptand glvmg vilulbie mmgestions:l'and also S~ ..L in nee 'W ho he~.pedrne edit the scrip t. Bu em ost of a r u I D the i invaJ:uab~e.help afme Kenya Natiul]JaJjUbrary S e rv ic es spec ia l lIerereru:e section s~, who. ~Iu rour of their' ' 'W 3 . y 'to ind v a m r u a b l e literature 'O n , S h u a form.C" Thank y ou v,err much,

..-iil'liYlU


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CHAPT'ER ONE

S , R A K A - ' lS I ' E ' , ' X , " p , " E L - , - L ' , E , ' D " ." .. " .. '. . . '_, . . . . ..... . . . .F 'R ' 0 '" 'M H ' 0 -- - 'M E '""- - , ,..' . - ' ,,-'._. , ' , ' ,

on ee melle lived a. g Iieaf[ king, ofth e Zu lu peop le called S haka,Shaka was a strong hard-

wodd .n ,g warrior. He led hispeople in battffie5conquering m a n y

neighbouring tribes, And he was not just strongbu t aJI_IO a m g h ! ,y r nI]telHgen t leader 'w ho 'thoughtC J i I - - e f u U y befo re sen din g his w arrio rs to. :face them ,e,m y . T his is became be loved them. andwouJdDot risk lo sing anyofrhem, given that he. had spenta,lot of time training them.

The Zulu arc a smrthern African tribe

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whose territory lies between two great rivers, meMfolozi [0the north, and the Tugela to the south.Their name, Zulu, means 'sky'-'"and so they calJth emsel yes. the "pe ople of the sky~. Throughtheir .hiUy country passes yl~t another river, me:Mhlamse. To the west tower the DrakcnsbergRange of mountains; to the east i s , the endlessIndian 0C ' C 3 . . l 1 . ,

At ' m e 'time that Shaka lived, the Zulu hadftiendly neighbours, the Mrctw3 tribe to theeast, and' the Qwabe 'tribe to th e south. Upnorth towards the hilly country that is themodern-day Swaziland wen! the fieryNdwandwe tribe. The Ndwandwe werePerhaps the fiercest enemies of 'the Zul u. Butstill und Pili" ....L.,p gallantJI. 1 1!j"UJ..' '!i;,>JII UJli!r .(JlJtl_~~leadership of S haka - ' theywere no matchl

In those days" tribesfought bitter wars with theirneighbours, seeking to rob themof their cattle and ,rapture theiryou ng men an d 'W O O len . The young men were

SHAU .zU]~U


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EXPELLED PROM HOME

forced tojoin their

army~ 'These warswere called. the

Mpcsn.e, or W ar-s ofWmdering'. And Shaka was

: iU1 exp er i t : at them: he managedb ::'Id u, u ' 2 5 0 " O ' 00 1o -UJIIJ;. It uug't! nanon 0.' -., _ _ '. ~ _ . ' . ' _ I peop e outof only l~.sOO. He, also expanded his territoryun t i l l it covered an area of a lbaut 3 2 0 ~000square,khlornletre~ across what: is today South.Afrka, , his area was about two thirds the sizeof Kenya,

Even though he became great, Shaka w as

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nor. brought up in a royaJ household. He hadto stru ggle from a life of poverty to rise towhere he 'vas.

Shaka 's father Scnzangakona was 3. Zuluchief who had. ma n y wives, But Shaka, h is first-born child, W~$ born to .J . woman who was notproperly married to him, Shaka was bornaround the year 17~8~,long before any of us'were ever born !

Shaka grew up like any other Z u I1 l1 'boy. Hismain task was herding his father' s cattle andprotecting them from wild dogs, and otherdangerous animals,

O n e daY 'when Shaka was ou t herding hisfather's cattle, a ' \ - v L ] d dog sneaked up on the herdand killed one ofthe sheep.Shaka's father was so . angered by what hethought to beShaka's owncarelessness thathe bad the boy ,along with

SHA:KA Z 1[ f LU


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EXI~ELLEn FhtOM ~IOME

his mother, Nandi " thrown out of his largehou sehold, Shaka was on ly ' six ye ars old HCas:t on t of his father'5 household ~or ,kraal)as it w as known, S haka an d! hi~mother wentthrough a. lot of difficulties, Suddenly they hadnowhere to live, and had 'to beg for shelter fo,rt h , e night from strangers. They would comeupon a household on their path, as night felland knock at the [11a in house and beg to beshel tered for the night,

LSometimes the kind strangers tookthem inand fed them" And then. early at dawn theywoul d leave Ion their way ;

But often they 'were DOt so hl'cky; and hadto spend the l]ight in the biting coldundernea th the stars ~hungry and misera ble ,.This, was, certainl y , . , r e r y different from the life ofan "~_~Ii.i'Yti.a or P I ] ' ' I l " ' I iC p11 i~ ~ 1 1 '1 ' , 1 1 '0 ( 0 ' ~:v.w"Fn1i . _ . w ,I,._""~

Shaka and his mother traveled this W ,J.Y untilthey reached Nandi '8 relations of the Langeni tribein the hills north of Zululand '. The Langenipeople took, them In,

However, the clansmen were unkind to5


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SI-IAUZULU

t h em . because of the dishonour his. mother hadbr( lugb[ on their name by conceiving Shaka out 'O fw ed lock. O ften S haka w as the laughing stock. o fm e other boys becau se his paren ts bad. not beep ,marr ied , They wou l d also ~,~ru ,g h3[ h i s , , c r i . n k r u ! e dears ~ a n d. this. m ade him 'Very bitter,

Soo D. drought came; over the Iand andShaka and his mother had to set off yei[ again ~

Thi S o tirn e ~ though, nature was kinder 'tothem, and ' they found. refuge with a kind lyn eighbou rin g clan cal led the. M tetw a, TheMtetwa chief ruled mer lllall.y of the S,WT-O'LU1.din,gsmaller tribes, including the Zulus. These tribes'w ere co llec tively called Ngu n i speakers,

Having found l1 t little peace at last, the you ng ,man 'was not aboutto l e t . down . his hosts. Hew orked very hard :in every chore he w as g iven , an dgreatly Un pressed the M t,e tw ,i people. Hewas alsogrowing into ,~,tan~ f ine ly-bu i l t y10 lmg man whocould throw his spear with amaz i ng ' accuracy;

One day our herding he came upon a leopardly ing r u n a.tree, Nat on e to ru n , iiW :3 ,Y, Shakaaimed his spear and struck the le opard ill the ribs,


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BXP,E L L ED ,PR O M HOM t :

bringing it down out o f the tr-ee. As thewounded leopard lunged at h im , ~Shaka 'waspIiepared with his other spear and dub and hebravely struck it dead,

The chief heard of wha t the young m ant baddone and he was very impressed. He orderedm e leopard's skin [,0 b e prepared and broughtto him,

Burt he did not send Shaka awayempty-handed, Hie rewarded the yo u n g n13JJ with aCO~~ his very fin t P ossession, So gre at wasShaka's pride and Joy!

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,CHAPTER TWO,'GROWIN'G INT'O' A.

WARRIOR

Upon the death of the. kindchief o f tl e Mtetwa ~n1807, his son, Dingiswayo,took. over. Ding i swayo

befriended Shaka and trained him 3S a warrior ..By ' this r u n e Shaka was only 20 ' ycMS old ,

and yet he was so tall, he towered over othermenl On top of that he had a very powerfulbody and a restless mind. Soon Shakadistingui shed him self as. a clever warrior ~andwas given a. reghl1,ent to lead,

He taugh his men how important p h y s i c a l l ifitness is to a warrior, He also taught 'them to

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GROWING INTO AWARlUOR

foilow 'm e orders of their superiors, Hebrough t in ma n y other cb :an~es,. F or instancehe made 'them discard their cowhide sandalsand fight barefoot so that they- could be as fastas antelopes,

FOf' the few who resisted, he ordered that a .field be covered with nku,nz'gn(l,~ the fiery sharp"devll-thoms', and ordered them to tramplethem into m e ground with their bare feet!

And such w as his w isdom he would nut lethis prized warriors go 'through the orde alw i thout first showing that it could be done iHe personally led the exercise, going first intothe field of thorns! '

By the end of the exercise few' of m e , mendare d ques tion S haka' s orders ~He e~re.nd1esl:gned a " .new kind of weapon,Tradl : t i ,onaHy~warriors were used to fightingwith Q , long, light RJ'f8ai' spear which they threwat the enemy, Shaka introduced a short heavyspear called an i - ,k lwa. Shaka taught h is warriorsto hold the i . = k l w a un til the ve r y end of thebattle, They 'were not to throw 'their spears like

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S,HAKA, ZlJ LU

thei r enernies d i d .A s a result i) their fighting 'ta ctic s had [0. . t

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change, Now 3. Zulu warrior had to advance asclose as possible to his enemy and engage himEll close hand-to-hand combat, This called forimmense bravery!

'T o Furth er pro te cfr the warrio rs, Shaka ,invented a longer, heavier shield m ade of rawox -hide that covered the entire body . Hetaught the warrio rs how [0use this. b ig shiel d topush tile enemy's shield to, the side. Then m eenemy')s body was open. to the fatal, stab of thei , . , . . kl lVt t . ,

S h aka. a J so taugh this warriors never tosha\v th ernselves to the en erny at the beg]nn ingof a battle, He told them 10 stay in hiding untilthey had seen enough of the enemy to knowhow strong he was, Once they were certain ofthe enemy's strength, they could COIne outfighting. Indeed, they were to be as cunning asfoxes,

Finally, Shaka faught h is warriors them etho d of the ' bu l 'I's-ho rn s. ~ When the ~bu ll " s-


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horns' trick was used, the enemy could hardlygel! : 'ou t alive!

The army was to be divided into threegrDUpS. . .A central solid block of warriors rust :advanced and lockedarms with theenemy in a fiercehand-to-hand fight ..They were thelargest group of thethree, and. formedthe !l;ch.est'or ~head'of the unit .

.Meanwhile, thetwn other groups ofwarriors ran around oneither side of m e enem y in thincolumns, one" group to 'the right, and 'the otherto the ].cft. These were the ~horns, ~ and theenemy would be trapped in between.

Soon an opportunity carne for Shaka toShO'N his skills as a fg i l t e r, T he Mterwa went towar with a neighboring clan, t 1 1 1 Ie' Butelezi,

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Chief Dingiswayo took three regiments withhim to fight the Butclezi,

They stood at opposite ends of thebattlefield exchanging insults, ~hen achampion 0 the Burel 'Zi stepped forward and ..beating his chest proudly, dared anyone tocome for"vard and face him,

Sudden ly Shaka sprang forward, holdinghis short i -khvtl sp,e'ar in his. hand an d a hugewhite shield in the other, The ox-tails he worearound his knees and elbows dancedmenacingly as he approached the enemy, hiseye staring' fixedly at him,

The Butelczi champion carnie to meet him."confident that Shaka was an easy catch, A J [around the m the cheering ''''arriors had gonesilent, tensely watching the l\VO men,

The Butelezi champion raised his spear andlunged ,1, Shaka a snarl spreading on his face.But Shaka, fleet as a. buck] was ready for him,and easily took the spear 0]] h i s . shield,sweeping ~.tout. of m e enemy's grip.

The Bute]ez] champion was alarmed and1.2


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GROW[NG ,[NTOA '\ARlUOR

raised his second! spear for another attack,Yet again Shaka bravely stepp ed ]nto then\I1ng of the long spear and took m t on his

huge shield, pushing it over '[0 his left, and

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S,HA.K!1 ZULU

th en he used his shie 1d again to push UteButelezi's shield out: of m e \V~,y" Applyin.gb rute force, Shah forced both shields to hisleft, leaving the left side of the startled B utele ziexposed to the stab of his deadly i -k /wa spe ar.

As Shaka' s f :u:~a 'Yjt i ,-llwt! descended M J j , d , theround-eyed Butelezi champion feU to his kneeswith ,~yell, fear descended on the unbelievingButclezi warriors ]~,nedup behind him, Thisman was their best warrior, .'.. and yet Shaka hadfloored bill'] so casily ..,,.. ,.,..,~But Shaka was not ab out to give them abreak, Immediately their champion had fallenhe sprang forward and raced towards the frontranks of the Butelezi army. Behind him rushedthe other .Mtetwa 'warriors who made up the~h '" ,C h 'b ' I 'n I - "i!, hni he h . . . 2 1 1c est o~ tt eu .I, s-norns r ec r fnque ne '_'autaught 'thenl '. The rest of the Mtetwa hurriedlyformed into the VI\VO columns of 'the 'horns'and raced ahead very fasr along each flank, oneto, the left and the other 'to m e right of theBu tele zi arrny. . A s they had been trained, thetwo IC 'O[umns suddenly turned inwards, closing


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GRO\VING fNTO AWAl00:0R

in and trapping 'the front ranks, of the Buteleziarmy inside the "hull's horns.'.

The rest of the Butelezi army, astonished atwha thad happe ned, turned rail. and ran, hacktowards where their 'wornen and cattle werewaiting. They were expecting to start theja.bulll" the victory dance!

Seeing this, Chief Dm,giswayo stopp ed thebattle and ordered the Butelezi 'to surrender,There was no need for senseless bloodshed,The Mtetwa had won the battle hands-down,thanks to the bravery and ingen uity of oneman, Shaka ~

Later ~Chief D iagiswa yo rewarded Shakaw i th teu head of cattle an.d promcted him tothe rank of captain of a hundred-mart unit,And it was a well-deservedreward indeed!


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CHAPTER THREE

R E T "U ' R N . . H O '. M 'E. . . .. '. . _. ' . . .

&he fame of this. braveyoung rnan spread far andwide, back. horne inZnluland Shaka 's ageing

father Senzangakona wed. This w:as iD the year1816.

When Shaka heard the n ew s he prepared totravel horne to assume Jeaderahip of the clan ' I Ube was the eldest son,

Bnt this \I\"a5not. going to be easy. Beforehe wed., the o ld . m an . announced that bewanted one of his olher sons, named Signjana,

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RETURN HOME

to take over leadership of the c]an. This meantthat now Shaka had to fight for the throne,Fortunat ,e~y." Shaka's friend, ChiefDingiswayo, 'was there to help him, With theaid of Mtetwa warriors, Shaka managed to micethe throne of tile' Zulu people from his.stepbrother ..

As the gallan t warriors marched throughthe village, with Shaka at the head, there weresho '!""(C 'o f h, l i .T t : r ; i ln1. i l n~; ' l L T f : l O M ; '\ I 'o ' i I I ; m : , j I ;' Li'O"'I 'II11~'_ U.:l1 ", l:~,rlll .":r/... ...,'I{"'lP. 1..~b. r:1~Jill! "..,I?,i., ~ -i' ~ " I, ; M ! BLion! " The 'peop~.eof 'the tribe were salutingtheir new leader, Shaka 'was happy to be backhome after so many years wandering in. thewild,

A ft full', . t I - ! I ! . . . . . . . L. tler successn y capmnng t . J L J e ! tnrone . aatrigh t f l E 1 1 y belonged to him, Shaka realized thatbe had many enemies. Some' of his enemieswere , I D s , brooding half-brothers, They were n o thappy that Shaka had returned from exile andD13,de himselfkin ,g of the Zulus , However, ' thegreatest enemies were the powerfu l clan s like m eN dw an dw e to 'the north..The ,Zu lus ,could bea .'n a .cked a t any t ime .

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SHAUZULU

Shaka's army WdS small, and he bad to' buildit up before going to war, He was not preparedto lose the few warriors he had! But how couldhe conquer the other clans without going towar? This called for a, lot of careful thought.

He first took 'Wl]L1 t remained of ChiefDingiswayo's Mtetwa army and added them tohis own, Then he burned to his mother's clan,the Langeni ~up north. He had some persona]business. to settle with ' t hem"

To do this, he selected some of his. finestwarriors and sneaked them into ,Langerli Iand,Of course, the place' was familiar to him becausehe had spent : P 'M t of h is childhood there.

So carefully did Shaka plan the mission 'thatMakcdarna the chief of the Langen i,woke upone morning to find his k'rasl surrounded byZulu warriors! And this was the same for. theocher senior men ~n .the dan, whom Shakaknew 'weI], 'What J" shock it was for them towake up an d 'fin d stran ,g e rs in their mi ld S ' C } [heirw ell- honed spears gHnting menacingly in themorning sun!

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RETURN HOME

There was nothing for Chief.Makedarna 'to dobut surrender. Shaka, not wishing to engage insenseless bloodshed w i th his kin, ordered the chief tosendyoung menfrom the tribe to join the Zuluarmy, in exchange for his being Le f t alone to runhis affairs.

But this was not all. Shaka also had a scoreto. settle wi th those of . h i s mother ~s relations,who had, been unkind to him. and. his mother,when Shaka was but a,mere boy .

M;arching through the VllH .agewithhis []icry Zu J u in tp i s , as the warriorswere known, Shaka found his unkindrelations. He ordered 'them to beexecu ted o n sharpen ed stakes made :from, split tree trunks ..These stakeswere normally usedto fence incattle. l\nd JJ; the unkindre lations writhedL . I l pain )Shakaorderedthe Zulu i '

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SHA.KA .zULU

warrior 'S to set the :fe:n ces on fire i.VVha t agony the unkind rela t ions lived'through 3$ they died! And yet S U t c h was their

awe that they shouted the royal greeting,t;t; B l l : y ; e i k J Bt tye 'de f ' to the king, even as theydied" Shaka fe~tn .o mc:rcy' at 1 l 1 L It w as paybacktime for what they had done to him and hismother,

And so the remaining Langeni 'warriorsjoined Shaka's a rmy , Atfter that, the Zulu easilyconquered other neighbouring tribes, Hemade their ' chiefs send young' men 'to serve inthe ,Z I I Iu army in . exchange for their being leftmec'to run their own affairs, Moreover, youngmen nom other neighboeing clans heard of hisconq nests In war and.wil l ing ly came to join him.The Zulu arm y was grow. io. ,g from strength tostrength ..

'Those : fe \v c lans who dared resist the Zulu.were soon to regret it. The Zulu descended onthem in fearless droves and razed their villagesto the ground, They took away cattle, grainand women, mat is; all their wealth, Left to

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R.E:r U RN H:O.M. I i

wander the open peld, the wilderness, they hadno option but 'to surrender and be enlisted intothe .Z l L l J . 1 J J army,

And as they came into the Zulu army, theyou~g men learned a discipline that they hadnever known and were honed into the finestwarriors. sou th of the Sahara!

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CHAPTER FOUR

D,INGISWAYO ISK I L . L E D . : , . . . '-

To the north of his friendD " . ') 1- d ....,mgiswayo s rana was tnchostile Ndwandwe clan, whohad been giving Chief

Dingiswayo trouble fot a. long time, Often theyhad ,gone [0war, The Chief of the Ndwaridwewas a crafty fe . l low m am ed Zw ide,

Dingiswayo was stronger." and occasionallycaptured Chief Zwide, but, 'to keep the peacehe ~w~ys, released the Ndwandwe chief with afine of a few head of cattle: and a stern warningto behave himself

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DING[SWAYO ]'8 K]I ..LED

Shaka warned his friend that theNdwandwc chief was not to be trusted .. In fact,he could. not believethe levels to. which hisfriend and mentor could go in the name ofgood relations with h is neighbours. "The man.is going to make an attempt on your own lifenext," he cautioned. ''''] say next time yOll catchthat weasel you should slit his throat! That isthe proper thing to do" m y friend ~"

But Chief Dingiswayo brushed aside hisfj-' -...J" drienn s : t 1 1 . , VIce.

Zwide W,W; unable 'to defeat the strongerChief Dingiswayo Sf) he hatched an evil plan"

Zwide sought the help of his mother,Ntombazi, Ntombazi was an old witch who~,used her craft 'to destroy people. Moreover; shekept the skulls of the people she killed in herbouse!

Ntombazi agreed to. help him, She wantedto keep his prized head to add to her collectionof sku l 1.6! 'Tog:eth,er tb e y ' plotted to cast apowerful magic spell on Dingiswayo, To dothis they needed 80me of his. hair and bits of his,

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,toenails, The: witch would use these to brew' a.strong magic medicine which would trapDingi sw a yo'.

To get the hai r and toen ai ls, they sen t abeautiful \VOnl:.I1.1 to Dingiswayo, This womanwas to trick him into marrying her so that she

Id - ' I ! . . . ~ L d f his t . ~! - . .CO lD . . -, get rus nair an - s ome 0 - n ; toenans.01ngi swayo was so taken by the stu n n i n g l ybeau tifiil woman 'thai he married her.

'W hen the' m ag ic w as read y" 'tile o ld 'witchtold her SOD to !chaUengeChief Dingiswayo tobattle, And Diugi sw ay 0,like a true Nguni, tookup the challenge, notek_ n oM flg he w ascourting his own.deathl

It had beenarranged that Shakaand some of thewarriors, wo uldm eet Digl is '\W yo ' s

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army. Then they 'would ,go together to, meetthe Ndwandwe Wi:r.r iors and givethem, a . thrashing once and forall.

But sorneho w ,either by magic OF 'a" f' c . : S L ...~...twist 0 ;rate, .'.'.!Il1~ was

late in getting 'to theagreed rendezvous. So, Dingiswayo had [0goon without him, This was going to I(OS,t thegreat chief not omy m e battle, but his life a swel l ,

As the two enemies stood facing' each otherin 'm e b attlefield clo se to the b lack Mfo l 0ziRiver N . . . . .. . . . mbazi 111In~;;o.a shed her powerful m.' ~ m ; o i " '"J:U" ~ ; ", -LU U _..!~ UJII..LJl.!!i.r. MJ. _I ,~ .,'.y.. ,--..1 ! L .J . J . , - niO"~.Ib.- . -Soon 'Chief Dingiswayo like a mad man, leftthe s~fety' of his own army and started 'walking'right into. the enemy ranksl

So strong W~ the spell that not one of h iswarriors accompanied himl On l y a handful ofhis wives 'went faithfully with h im ,In this. way, th e mighty chief of the Mtenva'was lured into the hands of Chief Zwide and


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26

SHAK..\ZULU

was, killed.Shaka's grief '\Y2S immeasurable when he

got the news of the cowardly murder of hime d and mentor" wise Chief Dingisv ayo,Silently and sur ly, he vowed to avenge thedeath of his friend.


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CHAPT,ER FIVE

' l ' ~ , r A R , ' . W I ' , , ' : - : '" T H , T , ' H ' E - : " I~. '~~..". . ... '". . " -.N D ' " ' : " W . ' " , A " " N " " ' D " " V { E , : ,' , : _'I".' ," : ,'._ '" ""'" "I " .. "_ ' ~", L '."

In the following months,Z',-vJdemd his Ndwandwewarriorskept moving steadily

~.lIl~ south, pkmde.rjng weaker./ tribes [n their ' \vay; In the.

p',roC{!:ss."he o ld 'w itch added many skul ls , to hercollection

Eventually, Shaka's spies brought r u m newsthat 'Chief Zwide was planning 'to attack 'm eZulu,Shaka had a bon e to p 'i(~k"vith the'Ndwandwe because they 'had killedDingiswayo. However, be knew that Chief

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WARM1"H THE NDWANDVVE

Zwide's army was much bigger than his own ..lNhile Shaka's army numbered about 10,000warriors, Zwide had an enormous force of over18~000 warriors, almos t .mice the size of Ju sow n ! He had to t hin k . care fu lly .

There W'dS a man called Noluju who wasUI0\Vn. to Chief Zwide and who was, ofteninvited ItO the Chief's ItrGlal. Shaka sent him togo and spy on. Zwide and report to hirn on hispreparations, Noluju was also! to He to Z"'IVIdeabout Shak~~5plans, and to tell ,Zwide that theZulu army W:U smaller than i t t reallv "vas.... J

In this W' 1 l y ~ ' the Ndwandwe cbief 'was made"to give away his strategy for the battle, and tounderestimate the size of the Zulu army.

Shaka careful lv chose where the battle~L J b 1 ...'i d Q 1 1 . . . 'i,: H i' 1I'~ Q " 1_11:' Hill1woum .'e: a . pace CMlC- v, ozu n,-.f,)lUJ " .

had . a J . steep escarpm,enr, which w as not: easy toclimb from the direction of the Ndwandwe

28

a rmy ,lit was 'very dry, The closest river W,ll iS the,

Mfolozi, and it was quire far. There w as 11'0foad for the Ndwandwe warriors, nor water ~


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WAR WITH THE Nr:nv.ANDWE

which they would ct;ttairuy need. in the beat o fbattle!

The dense . Nkandla Forest was nearby.This Forest was haunted by evil spirits, and noNdwandwe in his right mind woru1d dareventure inside, Shaka planned to lure theminto this forest, The Ndwandwe were not tosusp ect anything until. they w,'en~rightin the' thick of it~'

Shaka had his rnen evacuatethe Z'ulupeople from thesurround r u n g homesteads ~They hid [ 1 1 the dense andswampy Nkandlaforest. He

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S ;H . .AKAZULU

had his, men empty the gra in . pits, carry off allthe food and drive away the cattle, However,Shaka 'asked a few of his. men to ' stay behind in

. the. d ,eserted . v il lage w i til. a. few cattle. He had aplan for them,

Other men 'wok some of the food andwater up to Qokli Hill. for the Zulu warriorsduring the battle. In. that dry area the sun gatscorching hot by mfudday, 'and even 'the. toughestwMT i o r would be weakened without water,

It was , the yeat~1818.~and 'this was going tobe the roost difficu.bt battle the N dwandwe hadever fbughr.

And so th e next d~y dawned, and.the Ndwandwe beganstreaming towardIQ . ' l...! , . : ' l ['T~:fI" . ' . O . l! ! .. U . ..iD..W.

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Shaka , ObBerV,~Il.g them from atop the hil!~sawto Iu s disappointment that m e' wily Zwide hadchosen to stay at horne. He hadinstead sent h i s ,son, Nomahlanjana, to lead, the army .

The Ndwandwe carne running in theirthousands, all shou r . s and bravado, ta i l ing,"ICOHle out, you Zwu cowards! 'CODlJC out andface the champions of battle in a ll Nguniland,'the m igh t J r N d w , a n d ' N ' e , ~ : ) )

But there 'was no Zulu an.f\Vhcl'"C in sight.The place was as deserted as a ghost villagelShaka gave a signal, and the warriors whobad remained hidde II ~nthe 'rillag1e drove thecattle into the view of the Ndwa n dw e ,

11rb. ~V Hat~..Wait~was that 3. herd of cattle hurryingaway?,. ,T he N dw an dw e ru shed after the cattle that

were going toward the dark forest, In, their haste[tograb the well-fed Zulu cattle, the Ndwan dwedid not suspect that this was a. plot to ' t J r - a . p them intheforest!

As soan as th e Ndwandwe were weU , iusid.e31


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SHAKAZULD

the forest, tile ZUlu warriors descended onthem, from the 'trees like bees, stinging withtheir deadlyI -ltwt,. spears. Zwitne.,.Lzung !.Zuri i ;~, .~.tu~B! It was, lik'e. a S\vann IO f devilsdescending on 'we' poorNdwaadwe with

and jackals in 'the distance!Those few' Ndwandwe 'who 'were able to

escape from the forest were DO luckier. TheZuJu mined down on them from the hill andham m ered . them sen seless, They chased the.m a n theW;'( IY bid north where they had come n o m , intenton. capturing their chief.

However, Zwide bad. leamt of the defeat ofID S men 'and. :fled. to another land, Instead, theZulu. found the evil V litch woman, Nltom bazi., ..A.nds.: i ' .u: 'W,3;S good en ough, because she wouldjust as well .pay for the sins she had done,

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For punishment, the witch 'was dragged allthe w ay 'back to Zululsnd and locked up ins idean o ld 11ut w ith a, scary companion. to .keep hercompany: a half-starved mad hyena.

Ll!: 1Nhat a terrible fate! Cries ofterriblet:: 11 ..JI .... .. m ittl-, '1 _ . . I ' 'T h L.:ag 'Ony .l.lIllleUUJ.lc .W J . . ' . e . uU[., .'. c crazy l lnye:n I

chased m e old 'witch round and round,snapping :IW3:Y a limb, then a . piece of herbuttock! And no sooner .had he finished onebi't~ than be would be '~nneed of Inure, for thehunger of a starved hyena is enormous!Eventually Shaka ordered dlat the hut beset ablaze ~thus .purting an end to the evilwo.m an .' s yt;~ 1 0 witoChttry.

.After Chief Zw ide and his men fled,another Ndwandwe chief called Sikunyana tookover, He tried. to . reorganize, the scatteredNdlwand .w,e w , ! l m o . r . to .much back to . red: l im,their motherland ..

'Yet again Shah's many informers, broughthim word, and he let off with an 3 i D D Y , this timeof , 50~O[]Omen " to meet the new' t rouble-maker, They ' marched for m :m y days through

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SIMKAZULU

the hot plains in. along c,oJ.umn~singing war~ongs,) their enormous ax -hide shields anddeadly ' i~klwastlashlng ill the sun, They were' I i ke a.m ighty column offiery safari ants crossinga 'bare field!

They met the fe~rNdwandwe camped at al!..; n J"" ~ He d N : O]JOlIW~'I i " i iP A . .. . ' ~ a o T i i ' . -l i l ~ S : h ' c - . . .~-'a~ . , , - v : . . ] ;, J L L I J . . U ~ ~ ~ . " , ' . ' , M ~Jh.;(!fi...p. ..f"lb ill ':'.1,I..ruJJi]I I ~ .: U', Lthe order the fearless Zulu swarmed up theslopes and devoured them.

It was only by luck . that the you n g S iku nyan amanaged to evade capture by the Zulu, Heescaped by h [ding: in apit that was disguised as anelephan t trap, and later fled up norm into Swazi,country, never '[0 C3.use Shaka trou ble again. Therest ofthe Ndwandwe warriors were captured and.forced to jo in . the zu~u, r , m y .As for ChiefZwide who had. run :~w~ylike acow ard , a w o rse fate. aw aited . r u m . He travellednorth-west into the modern-day Sarno country with~few of hls men, and . mM1.a,ged to take overmather tribe and. become chief.

However, Zwide S0011 carne face to f aa : with afierce foe by the name of'Queea Mabelemane. She

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W AH Wl.TH THE NDWANDVfE

'was,'tile Chieftainess of the Pedi people and hadterrible supernatural powers. Even stranger.~hername me ant 'Pour Breasts;" and, indeed" shewas, b .~ .Ie .sscdwith a set of four pendulous breastsinstead of the normal human two=what asight!

QUf,en Mabelemane se ther pOiwler fuLi mag ic : to. 'workon Zwide and, woe untohim ~1,j8 rncther, the witch

Ntombazi, was notthere 'to helphim, Zwide'sown medicinemen were nomatch for thispowerful.m .ag~.(' ,.an d

Z id-,,~oon '\\71 ~e ....pow ers d leclifL ed~and he died,forgotten, in . a

strange land,


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SHAKAZULU

Wi.th Zwide den:. ~ the last seriousopposition to Shaka '5 power was gone, Andthe Zulu empire kept growing, just as a.clumpof'andering Jew weed grows over a manureheap in the rains.


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CHAPTER SIX

THE DEATH OFS H A " , _ K A ' , , ' , '

By this time, m e Zuluhad becomethe 1}10S[ powerful tribe f u n . all ofso ern Africa," Their king Shakareigned unchallenged.

Sometime in the year 1824,Shaka encountered the 'first Europeanstravelling through Zul uland, It happened tha~haka had been wounded in battle and was in abad state, and an English doctor carne '[0 therescue of this g~eatZulu and treated hiswounds,

In appreciation, Shaka allowed the :nglishtraders to operate in Zululand, .e even tried

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S,H1'iJCA.Z'UIJJ

to establish diploma tic relations wi th KingGeorge, the king of '[he 'white people thousandsof kilometres a:way,

But around this time misfortune struck.Shaka '8 beloved mother N andi died,

S.hak,a w as inconsolable for he w as veryattached 'to his rn o the f.' In his mger he orderedmany people killed') suspecting them of beingwitches who had caused his mother's death ..He would j u s t walk up to. someone and, if helooked suspicsous, he would order that thepoor fellow be dragged out into the plain andstuck on , 2 I L stake, And his warriors did just that"leaving the poor man to die in . agony out therein . the dry fJe ld , at the m.ere}'of an 1 : 5 andvultures, So great was. the awe inwhich thisman was held no one dared question hisorders, Iest the same fate befall him!

These killings created fear and discomfortaLC IOSS the land, The warriors became un ha.ppybecause 'Often they were ordered to do things,they did not agree with. And it was just whathis scheming half-brother Dingane bad been

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THE D'1!ATli OF 5HAKA

' ' \vait ing for,Secre t ly , Dingane an d a few other membersof the fami ly plotted Shaka ':5 death, They crept

upon him early one !llOrntng as he stood. alonei~a small kraal ailed kw aNyakan lUb ! ~The' a rmy was not 'there to defend cllcir ~e3der~forShaka had ordered them 'to go '[0war just theday before.

Thew I l f) joun -if"p'd ......n l h i "m .,.~bbing ' i ! . . ~ : ~ in th e..:I r"' - :lL.rb. ",. Ul)dl. " , ~ r . : J L m L . . " . . . . lL.LJ.. . JLUJ~]:l , _. I~back with the d.ead]y i~llfw'a spear he hadfashioned, He died. in 182g,~at 41 year-s of ageat the hands of his own ha lfc'brother Dingane,

And S IO ended t h e e life of a great k[ngf~theimaginative, brave 111M1 who built and led rhemost ferocious army Mrica had ever seen..

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. ;!tv . ! ! iji i. ! :f l 'e f 'f i; lm;Pepp.an:l lni I ' I I ,Bitloq & ~""Si.S,Po~.L : !i:!I~ .s~ ~" NC ifl~g'

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SHAKA ZULU - Great Warrior King

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