Amangwe revive kingdom in Zimbabwe

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Plumtree — The Amangwe clan — which is spread across Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, eSwatini and South Africa — has moved a gear up to revive the Amangwe kingdom that was disrupted by the rise of the Zulu state under King Tshaka.

Plumtree — The Amangwe clan — which is spread across Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, eSwatini and South Africa — has moved a gear up to revive the Amangwe kingdom that was disrupted by the rise of the Zulu state under King Tshaka.

BY NQOBANI NDLOVU

The clan that uses predominantly the Ndiweni, Mbambo and Zwane surnames, found a home in Matabeleland South after fleeing the 1830s disturbances that characterised the rise of Tshaka — a period known as Mfecane.

They are found in Mangwe, Plumtree.

Mfecane, a word that means “crushing”, refers to a period of political disruption and population migration in Southern Africa, which occurred during the 1820s and 1830s.

Euro-centric historians regard the Mfecane as the result of aggressive nation-building by the Zulu under the rule of Tshaka and the Ndebele under King Mzilikazi. The impact of the Mfecane extended far beyond South Africa.

People fled from Tshaka’s armies to as far away as Zimbabwe, Botswana, in Zambia, Mozambique and Swaziland, now known as eSwatini.

King Ntshosho Zwane II of the Amangwe clan based in South Africa recently jetted into Zimbabwe to meet Matabeleland traditional leaders and his subjects at Macingwane in Mangwe as part of moves to revive the Amangwe Kingdom disrupted by Mfecane.

King Ntshosho Zwane II, who was installed in 2000, reunited with his Zimbabwean subjects that had been separated from the Amangwe line in the 1830s in 2012.

He was accompanied by a seven-member South African delegation, while eSwatini was represented by Princess MaDlamini from the royal Swazi family and her team.

“We have started this process, and there is no going back until we achieve what we have gathered here for.

“The revival of the Amangwe nation is in the spirit of ensuring that we preserve the Amangwe culture, traditions and customs for generations to come,” said Ntshosho Zwane II in his address to traditional leaders and his subjects at Chief Wasi’s homestead in Macingwane.

“We gathered here on June 16 in 2012, and six years down the line, we must be asking ourselves what have we achieved as the Amangwe clan in so far as Amangwe nation-building is concerned.”

Matabeleland chiefs who were present include Wasi, Bidi, Felix Nhlanhlayamangwe, Khayisa Ndiweni, Mafu and Vezi Maduna Mafu.

The Standard heard chiefs Nyangazonke, Nkalakatha, and Mphini could not make it.

Ntshosho Zwane II also had meetings with Chief Vezu Maduna Mafu from Insiza to incorporate the Mafu clan into the Amangwe Kingdom prior to the Saturday event. The Mafu clan in South Africa has always been part of the Amangwe clan.

“We are happy to announce that the Mafu clan has agreed through Vezi Maduna Mafu to be integrated into the Amangwe clan.

“We are happy that there is agreement among us on Amangwe nation-building,” Khayisa Ndiweni told the gathering.

Ntshosho Zwane II also presided over the Amangwe cultural celebrations called Umgubho that were held under the theme “Stretching Cultural Practice (Ubuntu) for Economic Emancipation”.

According to the spokesperson of the Amangwe cultural grouping in Zimbabwe, Lungisani Ndiweni, Umgubho is an annual event hosted by King Ntshosho Zwane II.

The main Umgubho event is held at Ntshenteka, Amangwe’s ancestral home in Vryheid, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa.

In Zimbabwe, the celebrations started in 2011.

“It is an annual event hosted by the King of the Amangwe nation-building. The actual host of the event is the King.

“The King will be meeting his Amangwe clan/nation to celebrate culture, the whole idea being to ensure the stability and growth of the Amangwe nation,” Ndiweni told The Standard.

Ndiweni said the Amangwe from various countries also meet every September in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, for an event he said could be described as the clan’s annual pilgrimage.

“We also now have a place in Ntabazinduna where we hope to build our own Amangwe cultural village to document our history for future generations.

“We were allocated the land by Chief Khayisa following a meeting he had with our King on Sunday in Ntabazinduna.

“We hope that this will inspire other clans to take their cultures with the same seriousness so that the respective cultures and history is not lost.

“It must be preserved,” Ndiweni added.

The Amangwe nation-building ceremony follows the drama that accompanied the planned coronation of King Lobengula’s heir, Bulelani Lobengula Khumalo.

The government and the High Court argued there is no law in the country allowing the establishment of a monarchy, before advising those in favour of the revival of the Ndebele Kingdom to lobby relevant government arms for the establishment of such.

The late paramount chief Khayisa Ndiweni was an ardent proponent for the revival of the Ndebele Kingdom that was destroyed by a British Pioneer Column led by Cecil John Rhodes in 1893. King Lobengula was the last Ndebele King.

Analysts and political parties hailed the Amangwe clan on their nation building efforts as necessary to allow the clan to enjoy their cultural freedoms and traditions.

“It is an important thing for the Amangwe clan to revive their culture as Africans are identified not about their skin colour, but their cultural behaviours.

“We are Africans, from different clans, our past is important,” Mbuso Fuzwayo, the Ibhetshu LikaZulu pressure group co-ordinator, said.

Zapu spokesperson Iphithule Maphosa argued “the rush by groupings to individually preserve and restore their nations is mainly as a result of failure by the current government of Zanu PF to build a nation out of Zimbabwe”.

“In 1980, we anticipated an emergence of a rainbow nation in Zimbabwe, a rainbow nation that would have been pillared on inclusivity, equality and equity.

“However, all these hopes were in vain as Zanu PF, with former president Robert Mugabe at the helm, embarked on a divisive policy where ethnic superiority took centre stage on determining who was more Zimbabwean than the other, a policy that polarised our people,” Maphosa said.

He added: “Zapu supports the efforts of the Amangwe people to preserve their nation.

“They, like the Ndebeles, realise that no person other than themselves can build their nationhood since the government of Zimbabwe is preoccupied with power retention at all cost, even when it means polarising the citizens to achieve that.”