The Sunday News
Pathisa Nyathi
ROYAL coronation, like other cultural practices, reflected ideas, beliefs, worldviews and cosmologies of society. The rituals, through which critical beliefs were expressed, encompassed a lot of symbolism, an important medium for bringing to the fore, in a vivid and convincing way, underlying bases, were resorted to. So it was with the coronation of the last Ndebele King, Lobhengula kaMzilikazi Khumalo.
Before pinpointing some of the rituals and processes involved, it might be prudent to pin down some cosmological underpinnings for some of these. All along the Crown Prince was regarded as a man, and indeed he was. It was important that he be elevated to a new higher status, befitting his new role as King.
In the case where he was already married, which was true of both Kings Mzilikazi and Lobengula, the children born of a man were not considered in the succession matrix, just as we pointed out in the last two articles. Those children born after his ascension of the throne were called AbaNtwana and were eligible for selection.
Essentially, coronation extended the line of kings of a particular family or clan. In this particular case, it was the Khumalos whose rule and hold on power, was being consolidated and extended into the present and future.
It is important to appreciate that the Ndebele people, indeed like other Africans, posited two realms of life — that of the living and the living dead. Both people and land belonged not to the living, but to the living dead. The living hold it in trust and are obliged to pass it on to future generations.
With this view of the world, there was a ritual that required that the ancestral spirits be informed about the new king who had inherited their throne.
Similarly, there must be rituals or rites that symbolised the elevation of the King-elect from man to King. His new social standing required that he be treated and regarded with awe, honour and respect.
For the Ndebele, that recognition was not automatic — rather, it must be induced through administration of relevant medicinal formulations.
The State, it was believed, took on the character and personality of a King. The nation must be clean, and led by one who himself is clean, in a spiritual sense. The new King underwent a series of purification rites after elevation, transformation and introduction to the living dead and the living.
There were some Khumalos who were qualified and recognised as possessing both the knowledge and skills to perform those roles. AManyangana (oNgwende) were the chosen Khumalos for those roles and their title does suggest that.
A royal town consists of various sites of varying degrees of political and spiritual power and authority. It has been pointed out that cattle pens/byres were regarded as holy of holies where supplicants propitiated the living dead — also referred to as ancestral spirits.
The King entered the goat or buck pen which was one site where spiritual meaning, significance and power were concentrated. It was a site that provided the necessary link between the King and his ancestors — the previous rulers.
This may be compared to rain-making rituals, ukuphehla izulu, which were performed by the monarch in the goat pen. Apparently, King Lobengula signed the 1888 Rudd Concession in a goat or buck kraal at Umvutshwa, one of his royal retreats. Compare too with the bridal dance, ukumekeza, performed by bride and groom during a wedding ceremony.
The site for the dance by a full bride, intombi egcweleyo, was the buck kraal. This was part of incorporation and integration rites of a new member, the bride, to a new family and clan, those of the groom.
The Ndebele considered life in its various manifestations in the context of two realms of life as irreversible. The puberty ceremonies carried symbolic expressions of this idea of an irreversible cyclical movement to higher level of expression of life.
In puberty rites, the idea was expressed through burning of a temporary dwelling structure, ibhoma, which was used by initiates. Old life and its trappings were being abandoned for ever — as happens in chemical reactions where there is no reversal.
However, to cap it all and render more emphasis, there was some symbolic act that was performed. Stone cairns were created which had ash sprinkled over them. To speak or to communicate is not always achieved orally. This particular symbolic act expressed the idea of irreversibility.
The dead are buried under an earth mound which is covered with stones — intaba as it is called in IsiNdebele. What have been buried in this particular case were the old stage and its associated responsibilities and habits.
To further drive the point home, ash was added. Ash is a product of burning fire brands, izikhuni. Out of the chemical reaction the products of burning include, inter alia, ash, water vapour and carbon dioxide, and sometimes carbon monoxide. There is heat and light which are also emitted.
Africa knew that it is impossible to reverse the reaction and hope to get back from the products, some wood. It is a reaction that goes in one direction.
Oh how I miss the days when I was a Science teacher!
Ash is thus important in symbolically expressing irreversibility and was used when people engaged in restorative reconciling, ukukhumelana umlotha.
Similarly, the King entered a stage in his life where there was irreversibility — as expressed in Science such as through the use of a water valve which allows the flow of water in one direction only. The human and other hearts use the same principle. Who dare say Africans did not grasp these scientific ideas? Science is culture by the way!
The king discarded his old clothes and put on new ones to express his new role and status. King Lobengula kaMzilikazi, through his close contacts with hunters in particular, had adopted Western clothes which, for purposes of coronation, were deemed not to be traditional enough. Indeed, King Lobengula kaMzilikazi, for the duration of traditional rites, put them aside only to resume putting them on later.
All that we are pointing to here is the need to appreciate and understand the cosmological underpinnings of cultural practices. Failure to unravel the underlying worldview makes us see a hotchpotch of meaningless rituals which, in our misguided attitudes, we label as superstitious. What foreigners, unschooled in African Cosmology, term superstition, exists only in their minds and not in the minds those of the people concerned. Some self-given sense of arrogance and superiority lead us astray.
Crown Prince Lobengula, after a failed search for the rightful candidate, Prince Nkulumane, was fetched from Tshayile (Shiloh) where he had retreated, by Lotshe Hlabangana, Induba Chief, Mazwi Khumalo, Chief and Commander of Inyanda Regiment/Village and men from Godlwayo kaMthikana Mafu. This marked the start of the numerous stages in the process of coronation. A man was fetched and was to become, after the rituals, a King.
Crown Prince Lobengula kaMzilikazi came in the company of his close friends Mtshane Khumalo, with whom he had been conscripted into AMahlokohloko Regiment. He also enjoyed the company of Magwegwe Fuyane, son of Ngazana kaMnendeza, later being appointed Chief of Chiefs at Gibixhegu, later renamed KoBulawayo.
The Crown Prince was led to Tshabalala the village of his maternal people. His mother was Fulatha Tshabalala. Here the Crown Prince sought assurance from the Khumalos that they were sincere about coronation and would dutifully perform all relevant rituals and surrender all power and requisite medicines to the new King. Maphuthaza represented the Khumalos and gave that assurance to the Tshabalala clan-the mothers of he who would soon become King.
To demonstrate the link with the last King, the Crown Prince’s party proceeded to Mhlahlandlela, the last capital town that had been King Mzilikazi kaMatshobana’s seat of power. A gift was presented to Lobengula to facilitate his entry into Mhlahlandlela. A white ox was presented to him. The colour was of course significant- a colour that played a catalytic role in a process.
We need to appreciate that we are, to a very large extent, relying on accounts written by the Reverend Thomas Morgan Thomas of the London Missionary Society(LMS) who, after quarrelling with fellow English missionaries at Inyathi Mission, established his own mission station at Tshayile.
This author drew on that source for his book titled, “Traditional Ceremonies of AmaNdebele”, published in 2001 by Mambo Press of Gweru.
