Tribes: Zulu

The Zulus are one of the best-known tribes in Africa, most famous for the battles of the 19^th century at Isandhlwana and Rorke’s Drift. A fiercely independent people, Zulus are found throughout South Africa today, but the Zulu heartland is the province of KwaZulu Natal, with its capital of Ulundi. The Zulus are descended from the Nguni people, who originated in central Africa. The Nguni began to move south around 3000 years ago, moving into the hilly lands bordering the Indian Ocean, which had until then been occupied by the Bushmen, who left evidence of their presence in the form of cave paintings scattered throughout the hills. The Nguni were cattle-herders, constantly in search of good pastures for their herds, and the head of one group, who was known as Malandela, decided to settle in a fertile valley some distance inland from the coast. His first-born son was called Zulu, meaning heaven, and in time Zulu himself went to find a suitable settlement, which he called KwaZulu –Place of Heaven.

The newly-founded Zulu kingdom seems to have been relatively peaceful until around 1800, when a struggle for dominance began between two clans, the Mthethwe and the Ndwandwe. The chief of the Zulus at this time was Senzangakhona, and it was rumoured that he had made a girl pregnant out of wedlock, which would bring scandal to her clan, the Langeni. The girl’s name was Nandi, and the rumours were confirmed when she gave birth to a boy, who she called Shaka (or Chaka). As an illegitimate child, Shaka was considered an outcast, and was victimized throughout his childhood. After a sheep died in his care, he and Nandi were banished from the village, and they eventually found sanctuary with the Mthethwe clan under Chief Dingiswayo. Shaka was growing up fast, and early on his great courage was demonstrated during combat training in the Mthethwe army. This came to the attention of Dingiswayo, and he was rapidly promoted through the ranks. Shaka’s father Senzangakhona died some time between 1816 and 1818, and Shaka saw his chance to seize the Zulu chieftaincy, organizing the murder of his younger brother, who was the legitimate heir to the throne. Around this time the Ndwandwe finally defeated the Mthethwe clan, killing Dingiswayo, but could not defeat Shaka’s Zulus, who repulsed several attacks, causing the Ndwandwe to flee northward.

Shaka began to consolidate his power, strengthening the army and devising new weapons and tactics, such as ‘the horns of the bull’, a sweeping and outflanking manoeuvre which, as the British were later to discover, was devastatingly effective. He launched a series of campaigns, subduing smaller tribes across the region from the Indian Ocean to the heights of the Drakensberg, eventually absorbing the Mthethwe clan into his own Zulu clan. Although many accounts portray him as a tyrannical ruler, he did unite the disparate Nguni clans into one people, the Zulus, and he also opened the town at Port Natal to the British, who were coming up from their colony in the Cape in search of trading opportunities –an action that was to have far reaching consequences.

Shaka was assassinated by his half-brother, Dingane, who took the Zulu throne. Dingane became increasingly unhappy with the growth of Port Natal, and the growing numbers of British traders there. In the meantime another problem was developing –a large Voortrekker group of Boers crossed the Drakensberg mountains into the Zulu kingdom. A sequence of skirmishes between Zulus and Boers eventually led to Dingane being killed in an ambush on the border with Swaziland, and he was replaced on the throne by Cetshwayo. The British increasingly saw the Zulu nation as an obstacle to its aim of a confederated South Africa, and Cetshwayo was given an ultimatum to disband all the Zulu armies within 20 days. When he refused, the British army crossed the Tugela River into Zulu lands, and were promptly defeated by the Zulus at Isandhlwana. After the battle of Rorke’s Drift the tide turned against the Zulus and they suffered a sequence of defeats. By July 1879 the British were in control, using the principle of divide and rule to keep the Zulus fragmented –in many ways the sporadic clan violence that still erupts periodically amongst the Zulus is a consequence of that policy.

Most rural families still live in traditional rondavels, round huts with thatched roofs, and cattle are used as a measure of wealth. The dowry system, called lobola, involves the prospective husband giving several cattle to the father of his bride, and since cattle are expensive this means that a young man may sometimes have to wait several years before he can afford it. Many leave their home area to work in the cities or mines to try and save the money, living in hostels for migrant workers. Although few Zulus now wear traditional dress, they are famed for arts and crafts such as basket-weaving and bead-work jewellery. Most rural homes are small-scale farms, and the men and herd-boys look after the cattle while the women do the planting and harvesting as well as all the domestic work.