The Sunday News
OF late, there have been events that highlighted application of symbolism. One event relates to the Pupu Battle that took place on the early morning of 4 December 1893. Several Ndebele regiments took part in the epic battle where the Ndebele soldiers came out victorious. While the Ndebele soldiers died in their hundreds, they never relented.
All the 34 white soldiers under the command of Major Allan Wilson from the Fort Victoria contingent perished. Their remains were left exposed to the scorching African sun after the drenching rains that fell during the bitter encounter. James Dawson from KoBulawayo was the first white person to get to the site in early January 1894.
On the stem of a mopane tree, he inscribed these words, “To Brave Men.” The trunk has since found its way into the Natural History Museum in Bulawayo. However, the bones, under instructions from Cecil John Rhodes, were transferred to the Great Zimbabwe Monument where they were interred within the Great Enclosure.
That was not to be the final resting place for the bones of men that were blinded by what they considered imminent glory following the capture or killing of King Lobengula.
Rhodes harboured the idea of creating a place for “those deserving well of their country.” That site was the Malindandzimu sacred hill within the Matobo Hills.
A colossal monument was constructed in honour of the beleaguered Allan Wilson, Party. Some of the men were honoured beyond the monument. For example, in Bulawayo, one of the streets was named after Captain Borrow who was among the dead.
On the other hand, the fallen Ndebele soldiers were not named and that remains the case to this day. Mass graves are said to exist within the battle site. Sadly, those whose ancestors died during the Battle of Pupu have not submitted the names of the Ndebele war dead.
How befitting it would have been if, during the unveiling of the revamped Pupu Monument on 21 March 2024, President
Mnangagwa unveiled a Roll of Honour depicting the names and regiments of those deserving the honour for resisting occupation and defending their King who, though both the State and the Nation had collapsed, did manage to protect the Commander-in-Chief, King Lobengula.
This article is not about the conduct and outcomes of the Pupu Battle on that fateful morning. That is a different story for another day after our visit to the final resting palce of the King in Chipata, Zambia.
The article is concerned more with symbolism as one of several spiritual tools that came into play during the war and, in some way, the conduct of the battle. We shall deal with two aspects that depict the application of symbolism.
I have argued that in the past no African war in the pre-colonial and right to the colonials wars themselves were fought without spiritual interventions. Africans invoked the assistance of their ancestors in fighting wars. Interventions were not confined to the wars alone, but pervaded all spectrums of a people’ lives.
The other dimension and application of symbolism will refer to the participation of non-Ndebele traditional doctors one of whom was Mbengo, in some quarters known as Muvengo. The man was the great grandfather of President Mnangagwa.
Let us begin with the first one and see how spiritual intervention was invoked and applied. It seems to me that the King was somehow saved through the intervention of supernatural forces when the conduct of the war is scrutinised.
Following the outcome of the Gadade Battle on 1 November 1893, also known as the Mbembesi Battle, the King had limited options available to avoid capture by the white forces bent on destroying the Ndebele State and Nation in order to have unbridled access to the natural resources, in particular the minerals but also ranching and agricultural land.
The east was not an option as whites had occupied that part of the country. Their occupation extended from Fort Tuli through Fort Victoria, Fort Charter and Fort Salisbury. The King sought to join his kith and kin. In the east, there were the Shangani of King Sotshangane. The Gaza (Gasa) State enjoyed good relations with the Ndebele State.
The route that would have taken him to those relatives of his was thus cut off. The people advising the King toyed with the idea of moving into the Matobo Hills that promised shelter to the Ndebele. Indeed, in the 1896 encounters (Imfazo II), the Ndebele sought refuge among the hills following their routing in the north after the British reinforced the few beleaguered British forces that engaged the Ndebele fighters.
To the west, Bechuanaland had become a British Protectorate. In essence, therefore, the King had one option-seeking refuge among the Ngoni (Nguni) of King Mpezeni I in Chipata and Lundazi areas of today’s Eastern Province of Zambia. The Ngoni, like the Ndebele and the Shangani, had hived off from the Nguni of South Africa. One of King Lobengula’s sons was named Mpezeni.
He was among the three sons that were dispatched to the Cape to ensure that none of them would serve as a rallying point for the revival of the Ndebele State and Nation. King Zwangendaba’s successor to the Ngoni throne was Mpezeni I.
The King had to face the treacherous Zambezi River to get to the people that were his kith and kin. Of course, all along the people had been told the King disappeared, “inkosi yanyamalala.” My book, “The Battle of Pupu,” does deal with the fate of the King.
Following our visit to King Mpezeni I’s country last week there is no more conjecture about the fate of the King.
A book will be written to give some detailed account of the fate of the King and it is not different from what I narrated in the “Battle of Pupu” book.
Major Patrick Forbes led pursuit of the King. The Party went through Shiloh (eTshayile), south of Inyathi Mission. They crossed the Bubi and Lupane rivers and were close to the Shangani River.
The King at that point was just a few days ahead. Oral testimony gives an account of how the minds of the party members were influenced by the ritual interventions of traditional doctors that the King made use of. The Party felt military and food items that they were carrying as encumbrances.
They were overburdened. Instead of them proceeding to capture the King, they decided to return to Shiloh where they rid themselves of extra baggage. After that, they resumed the pursuit. The King and his followers were meanwhile moving ahead.
On the evening of 2 December, they got to the Shangani River.
Oral testimony tells of what happened at that point. Through some old a narrative is advanced that, the King disappeared after heavy rains fell. Further, the narrative tells how Doctor Dakamela Ncube and other traditional doctors initiated the process that symbolically led to the formation of rain-bearing clouds.
A bonfire was made. Ritual medicines had already been prepared. A black cow was identified and slaughtered. From its carcass, the veil of fat, idanga lining the stomach, ulusu, was obtained. Ritual cloud-creating medicines were spread on the blanket of fat. Thick black smoke issued and rose to the heavens. The rains began pounding the area, including the upper reaches of the Shangani River.
In no time, the river became a raging flood. The delayed Major Patrick Forbes Party arrived at the time when darkness began to envelop the area. However, at that point the river was still fordable. The King and his soldiers and followers were already across.
The rivalry between Major Patrick Forbes and Major Allan Wilson came into play. Major Wilson was the more experienced in taking part in African wars. He was thus dissatisfied with the appointment of Major Forbes as Party leader and was keen to outsmart him and get all the glory.
He took with him a group of men and risked their lives. When they crossed, they did not take with them the Maxim gun that Engineer Hiram Maxim of America had invented. Its efficacy had been tested at the Battle of Gadade. It was that new weapon, a machine gun that decided the outcome of the war. The raging Shangani River neutralised the Maxim gun through its exclusion.
As a result, the Allan Wilson Party became vulnerable. Their ammunition was limited. The decisive gun was missing. The battle was won but the war had already been lost. The song that still does its rounds today refers to the symbolic ritual intervention.
Kudala kwakungenje,
Umhlab’ uyaphenduka,
Kwakububus’ uMambo loMzilikazi,
Sawela uTshangane, saguqa ngamadolo,
Inkos’ uLobengula yasinyamalala.
The key line is the kneeling down by the Shangani River. That suggests the process of requesting for blessings from the ancestors and the Ndebele did not stand in front of adults. That was more the case when ancestors were revered.
Let us now refer to the name and word uMbengo, umbengo that was used in relation to President Mnangagwa’s great grandfather. Umbengo relates to a long and continuous strip of fresh meat carved from the carcass of a cow.
The unbroken strip represents, symbolises and expresses unity. It is a unit rather than broken pieces. The latter would represent disunity. When King Mzilikazi arrived in this country, he sought the assistance of local traditional doctors. This was done in order to counter witchcraft that his own Nguni doctors would not cope with indigenous ritual formulations. Local traditional doctors were accordingly roped in.
Many of them came from the tributary state, including chiefdoms such as Nhema, Bere, and Chivi. For example, the people referred to as Mufiri went to join the Ndebele armies and in a way, died on behalf of their people. Some of these people have their descendants in Shurugwi. They served on the Ndebele armies.
Silobi, or Chrovi was one such traditional doctor who came from Chief Chivi’s territory and went to serve at the royal town of King Mzilikazi known as Mhlahlandlela. Today the name and place survive within the Matobo Hills in Matobo District, just beyond the BICC’s Matopo Mission. Mbengo was one such man that came to Matabeleland to serve, like Chirovi (Silobi), in the royal town during the time of King Mzilikazi.
Mbengo was one such and his memory has lasted because the incumbent President is descended from him. Mbengo took part in the Pupu Battle on 4 December 1893. Vice-President Chiwenga referred to Mbengo during the commissioning of the Pupu Monument. However, what is not readily known is the symbolic significance of umbengo.
The long piece of meat symbolized unity and was roasted and presented to the Ndebele soldiers going out on a raid.
The long piece, umbengo, was then thrown up and when it came down the soldiers were supposed to hold and bite off a piece of the long strip in such a manner that it did not touch the ground.
In essence, what they were consuming was shared unity amongst them. That is what was known as the spirit of umfelandawonye, amalalandawonye or the spirit of imbumba, or the esprit de corps.
