The Sunday News
Pathisa Nyathi
A SMALL pot takes after the bigger pot. This is a literal rendition of a Ndebele proverb that justifies retention of a chieftainship to a particular lineage. Like father like son, we could say it in the English language. What we are saying in essence is that the institution of chiefs is hereditary. In the case of the Ndebele people succession followed the law of primogeniture where the eldest qualifying son succeeded his father. We shall deal with the specifics of succession later.
Among the Kalanga and Shona people the idea of succession, in terms of retaining chieftainship to a particular lineage was expressed through their decorative symbols such as the dentelle, the checked/chessboard, chevron and herringbone. The seemingly disparate decorative symbols were in fact, variations of the same symbol, essentially a circle which carries the idea of immortality, infinity, endlessness, imperishability, fertility and continuity. What the African craftsperson sought to achieve was variety, and as a result, the decorative symbols appeared to be different.
In essence they were exactly the same albeit displaying variation in execution and design. In all of them the message that they carried was identical — the message of continuity at the levels of both the ruling lineage and the community.
Among the Ndebele people these decorative symbols also featured especially the chevron motif which was/is featured on ilala baskets, sleeping and sitting mats, headrests, and other artefacts. It should be appreciated though that an important idea was expressed in more ways than one. Indeed, the idea of continuity was equally expressed in symbolic terms when a chef was buried. The chief’s death was symbolised as the falling down of a tree. The chief’s successor was publicly paraded to the mourners through his role during the burial.
One would expect that in the burial rituals continuity would be expressed. This indeed happened to be the case. The succeeding son held a spear whose metallic blade was partly driven into the ground. The succeeding son stood up facing his father who, in the olden days, was made to sit with his legs and arms folded, hence the expression, useye kogoqwanyawo: he has gone to the land of those with folded legs. Symbolically, the emerging picture was one of continuity. The incumbent chief had fallen, while his successor had risen.
The spear pushed the imagery even further. The dead chief held a spear which he used in battle. In the fallen state, the chief could no longer hold the spear high. Instead, his former role was being assumed, or taken over by his son and successor. The deceased chief lay deep in the grave and the spear tapped his power from the grave in the ground through the blade that was stuck into the ground. Power symbolically flowed from the man now in the ground/soil up the shaft to the standing successor’s body. The idea of passing on the baton, albeit from father to son in a vertical manner (primogeniture) was enshrined in the burial rituals and symbolism.
Soon after burial the spear shaft was broken and thrown on to the filled circular grave of the deceased chief as part of the funerary items. The blade was carefully kept till the time when umbuyiso, bringing home of the spirit, was conducted. A new spear shaft was made and the blade attached to it. Once again, this was a case of continuity operationalised. The spear was once again complete and resurrected or regenerated. These are words that encapsulate the idea of continuity. The spear was given to the new chief whose installation symbolised rebirth and regeneration of the chiefly lineage.
As pointed out already the chief sat on the throne (a royal stool placed on the skin of a leopard). The spear was the symbol of power and defence of both the family/lineage members and the subjects of the chief. It was always emphasised that the subjects that the new chief inherited belonged to his late father. He never referred to the people as his people, but his father’s people (abantu bakababa). By so referring to the subjects, he tends to respect them in deference to his late father and former chief.
The leopard is associated with high office through its dignified manner, awe and majesty. It was not every man who donned the leopard skin. Chiefs were allowed to wear leopard skins on their waists. Only the king wore it over his shoulders and his back. Dress marked off a person’s standing in society. Ordinary people wore skins of animals such as jackals and genets. The chief was thus wedged between the king and the ordinary people, a status expressed through regalia.
Isitshingo songs were hailed in honour of the ancestral spirits. The office of chief was a spiritual one. The lyric of one song, sung during the installation of chief was taught us by Msongelwayizizwe Khumalo before the installation of Chief Vuyani Nyangazonke Ndiweni:
Saze sayibek’ ingqiza bo_(leader)
Ho-o zhi ziyomuka lomoya (the rest)
Sayibek’ ingqiza thina,
Ho-o zhi ziyomuka lomoya,
Thina siphuma le koGasa bo,
Ho-o zhi ziyomuka lomoya!
The new chief’s installation was described as ukugcotshwa, literally to apply fat on the body of chief. This was in reference to the fat-based medicinal formulations that were smeared over the body of the new chief. These were medicinal formulations calculated to impart dignity, respect and awe to the person of chief. As we saw in the previous article one such ingredient was isikhwehlela sebhubesi/ibhonga lesilwane. When the chief spoke, which he did sparingly as a strategy to avoid familiarity to his father’s people, it was akin to a lion roaring, both terrifying and scary. The chiefly staff (intonga yobuduna) was handed down from father to son, though rarely from father to his younger brother.
After a new chief was installed he was showered with gifts by his late father’s subjects. This consisted in the main of livestock donations ranging from cattle to chickens. The position of chief made him a rich individual, only below the king himself. He received cattle brought back after raids and thus qualified to marry royal princesses. A chief parted with large herds as amalobolo for the royal princesses. At the same time the king married daughters of prominent chiefs for whom large herds were paid as amalobolo by the king. In essence therefore, future chiefs were sons of daughters of chiefs and king’s nephews.
The final question that we need to deal with relates to ownership of land. Land belonged to the founding king who conquered it from the earlier inhabitants. In some cases it could have been virgin land that he occupied before any other people. Over time that land belonged to the ancestors and incumbents held it in trust for the founding fathers and their progeny. Land ownership thus had a spiritual dimension to it. The Ndebele people though did not make this idea as obvious as among the Shona where the ancestral spirit took precedence over the incumbent chief. It was a question of whom between the spirit medium and the incumbent chief was closer to the founding ancestor. The spirit medium was closer and thus called the tune.
