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FEATURE: GENDER AND HISTORY

‘I Shall Need to Use Her to Rule’: The Power of ‘Royal’ Zulu Women in Pre-Colonial Zululand

JENNIFER WEIR University of Western Australia,
Pages 3-23 | Published online: 14 Jan 2009

  • 1990 . inkosikazi 404 – 5 . The women are variously termed in the literature as, queens, princesses, regents, and matriarchs. Inkhosikazi refers to the principal wife of the chief or king (pl. Amakhosikazi), and inkhosazana (pl. amakhosazana) the daughter. Inkhosikazi is also courteously applied to other wives of the chief. See C. Doke, D. Malcolm, J. Sikakana and B. Vilikazi, English-Zulu Zulu-English Dictionary (Johannesburg
  • Fynn , H. 1969 . The Diary of Henry Francis Fynn Edited by: Stuart , J. 30 and D. McK. Malcolm (Pietermaritzburg
  • Gluckman , M . 1963 . “ ‘Rituals of Rebellion in South-East Africa’, in ” . In Order and Rebellion in Tribal Africa 115 London
  • Bradford , H. and Zones , c. 1806–70 . Journal of African History , 37 : 351 – 70 . ’, (1996
  • Hamilton , C. 1985 . 422 – 52 . ‘Ideology, Oral Traditions and the Struggle for Power in the Early Zulu Kingdom’ (MA thesis, University of the Witwatersrand,;S. Hanretta, ‘Women, Marginality and the Zulu State: Women's Institutions and Power in the Early Nineteenth Century’, Journal of African History, 39 (1998), 389–415. This article was not written in response to Hanretta's article, nor is the research in response to Hanretta's. It is part of independent research
  • Hanretta . ‘Women, Marginality and the Zulu State’, 415
  • Walker , C. 1990 . Women and Gender in Southern Africa to 1945 29 Cape Town
  • Shifferd , P. 1996 . Ideology and the Formation of Early States Edited by: Claessen , H. J.M. and Oosten , J. G. 25 – 6 . Leiden ‘Ideological Problems and the Problem of Ideology: Reflections on Integration and Strain in Pre-Colonial West Africa’, in, eds
  • Slater , H. 1976 . ‘Transitions in the Political Economy of South-East Africa’ (DPhil thesis, University of Sussex, 317;M. Gluckman, ‘The Kingdom of the Zulu of South Africa’ in M. Fortes and E.E. Evans-Prichard, eds, African Political Systems (London, 1970), 30–1;J.B. Peires, The House of Phalo (Berkeley, 1982),31, 32, 38;M. Hunter, Reaction to Conquest (London, 1961), 79–83, 270, 317, 352, 389–427;A. Richards, ‘The Bemba Tribe of North-Eastern Rhodesia’, in Fortes and Evans-Prichard, African Political Systems, 83–120;S. Redding, ‘Government Witchcraft: Taxation, the Supernatural, and the Mpondo Revolt in the Transkei, South Africa 1955–1963’, African Affairs, 95 (1996), 555–79;P. Skalnik, ‘Early States in the Voltaic Basin’, in H.J.M. Claessen and P. Skalnik, eds, The Early State (The Hague, 1978), 471
  • Adams , R. 1977 . “ ‘Power in Human Societies: A Synthesis’ ” . In The Anthropology of Power Edited by: Fogelson , R. and Adams , R. 388 – 9 . New York in, eds, (Adams describes the concept of power as ‘the ability of a person or social unit to influence the conduct and decision-making of another through the control over energetic forms in the latter's environment (in the broadest sense of that term)’: ibid., 388. Adams differentiates between independent and dependent power relations. Dependent power is granted, allocated or delegated
  • Adams . ‘Power in Human Societies’, 388
  • Ibid., 388–9
  • Shifferd , P. ‘Ideological Problems and the Problem of Ideology’, 26
  • Webb , C. and Wright , J. 1976–1986 . The James Stuart Archive eds, vols. 1–4 (Pietermaritzburg
  • Hanretta . ‘Women, Marginality and the Zulu State’, 398
  • Hamilton . ‘Ideology, Oral Traditions’, 424;Hanretta, ‘Women, Marginality and the Zulu State’, 398
  • Bezuidenhout , D. and Bird , J. 1888 . The Annals of Natal vol. 1 (Cape Town, 369;A.T. Bryant, Olden Times in Zululand and Natal (London, 1929), 150–2;E. Ellenberger, History of the Basuto (Morija, 1992, reprint of 1912 ed.), 124;D.J. Kotze, ed., Letters of the American Missionaries 1835–1838 (Cape Town 1950), 193 n.;C. Coquery-Vidrovitch, (trans. B. Raps), African Women (Boulder, 1997), 39
  • Moffat , R. 1843 . Missionary Labours and Scenes in Southern Africa, Second Edition 230 (New York
  • Rasmussen , R. 1978 . Migrant Kingdom London (n 53, 186
  • 1804 . Bryant has her as Mokotjo's widow and Sekonyela's mother, but Ellenberger says that Monyalue, Mantatisi's mother, bore a son in called Sekonyela which would make Mantatisi Sekonyela's sister: Ellenberger, History of the Basuto, 42;Bryant, Olden Times, 150
  • Ndukwana . in James Stuart Archive, vol. 4, 361
  • Fuze , M. 1979 . The Black People and Whence They Came Edited by: Cope , T. and Lugg , C. Pietermaritzburg (A. trans.), (62;Bryant, Olden Times, 40
  • Madikane in James Stuart Archive, vol. 2, 49
  • Bryant . Olden Times 41, 45, 46;Fuze, The Black People, 62
  • Bryant . Olden Times 42. If she was born when Jama was 20, for example, she would have been around 34 years of age when he died, and Senzangakona would have been around 24
  • Fuze . The Black People 62
  • Mantshi . in James Stuart Archive, vol. 1, 199
  • Ibid.
  • Fuze . The Black People 72, 97;Jantshi, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 1, 196;Mkehlengana, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 3, 217
  • Jantshi . in James Stuart Archive, vol. 1, 196;Ndukwana, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 4, 346
  • Gardiner . 1966 . Narrative of a Journey to the Zoolu Country in South Africa Cape Town (reprint of 1836 ed.), 222–3
  • Fuze . The Black People 62, 72;Bryant, Olden Times, 45, 46, 669;Jantshi, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 1, 196–9;Mkehlengana, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 3, 217
  • Kirby , P. 1955 . Andrew Smith and Natal 89 Cape Town (Andrew Smith noted her importance and authority when he visited Dingane in 1832
  • Wright , J. and Hamilton , C. 1989 . “ ‘Traditions and Transformations: The Phongolo-Mzimkhulu Region in the Late Eighteenth Century and Early Nineteenth Centuries’ ” . In Natal and Zululand from Earliest Times to 1910: A New History Edited by: Duminy , A. and Guest , B. 66 Pietermaritzburg in, eds
  • Wright , J. 1995 . “ ‘Political Transformations in the Thukela-Mzimkhulu Region in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries’ ” . In The Mfecane Aftermath Edited by: Hamilton , C. 177 Johannesburg in, ed.
  • This is not to suggest that the woman ruled absolutely or to deny that other males may at the same time have been in a position of authority
  • Bryant . Olden Times 46
  • Shifferd , P. ‘Ideological Problems and the Problem of Ideology’, 25–6
  • Maclean , C. Feb. 1855 . Nautical Magazine Feb. , 67 (I am grateful to Julian Cobbing of Rhodes University for this reference
  • Guy , J. 1994 . The Destruction of the Zulu Kingdom 252 Pietermaritzburg
  • Magidigidi . in James Stuart Archive, vol. 2, 91;Baleni, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 1, 28;C. Faye, Zulu References (Pietermaritzburg, 1923), 51;Bryant, Olden Times, 46
  • Coquery-Vidrovitch . African Women 39;Ndukwana, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 4, 278, 327;Madikane, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 2, 57;Bryant, Olden Times, 42–3, 46, 642–3;Mangati, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 2, 216;Gardiner, Narrative of a Journey, 116;Baleni, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 1, 20;Mgidhlana, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 3, 105, 108;Jantshi, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 1, 199;Mmemi, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 3, 248
  • Leslie , D. 1969 . Among the Zulus and Amatongas New York (reprint of 1875 ed.), 70;Ndukwana, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 4, 292
  • Hamilton . ‘Ideology, Oral Traditions’, 340
  • Ndhlovu . in James Stuart Archive, vol. 4, 224, 232;Ndukwana, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 4, 277;Bryant, Olden Times, 181, 642;Guy, Destruction of the Zulu Kingdom, 36;Baleni, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 1, 20;Magidigidi, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 2, 91;Maputwana, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 2, 230
  • Hamilton . ‘Ideology, Oral Traditions’, 365
  • Claessen , H. J.M. and van de Velde , P. 1987 . Early State Dynamics 15 – 16 . Leiden eds
  • Hamilton , C. 1997 . “ ‘Restructuring Within the Zulu Royal House’ ” . In Culture and the Commonplace Edited by: McAlister , P. 106 Johannesburg in, ed.
  • Ndukwana . in James Stuart Archive, vol. 4, 305–6
  • Mgidhlana . in James Stuart Archive, vol.3, 108;Bikwayo, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 1, 69;Mayinga, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 2, 253;Ndukwana, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 4, 290–1
  • Mtshapi . in James Stuart Archive, vol. 4, 77
  • Mpatshana . in James Stuart Archive, vol. 3, 303–5;Mkebeni, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 3, 203;Mtshapi, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 4, n. 83, 101, n. 118, 103;Ndukwana, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 4, 283, 360;Mayinga, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 2, 253
  • Mtshayankomo . in James Stuart Archive, vol. 4, 117, 144
  • Ibid., 117. The numbers in parenthesis appear to refer to the order in which each was praised (see 152) starting with the most recently departed king Dingane
  • Claessen and Van de Velde . Early State Dynamics 15–16
  • Bryant . Olden Times 56;A.T. Bryant, The Zulu People (Pietermaritzburg, 1949), 476–7;Ndukwana, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 4, 373;Baleni, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 1, 40
  • Bryant . Olden Times 56
  • Mabonsa . in James Stuart Archive, vol. 2, 20;Fynn describes Nandi as the ‘patroness’ of the Iziyendane regiment: Fynn, The Diary of Henry Francis Fynn, 124
  • Maclean . June 1853 . Nautical Magazine June , 299
  • Maclean . Jan. 1854 . Nautical Magazine Jan. , (27;E. Krige, The Social System of the Zulus, (Pietermaritzburg, 1965), 172
  • Coquery-Vidrovitch . African Women 37
  • Maclean , Charles . Aug. 1853 . “ an eye witness in Shaka's time, says that the only bodies that were interred were those of great chiefs: Maclean ” . In Nautical Magazine Aug. , 434
  • Fynn . The Diary of Henry Francis Fynn 121;Bryant, Olden Times, 41;N. Isaacs (edited by L. Herrman), Travels and Adventures in Eastern Africa, vol. 1 (Cape Town, 1937, first published 1836), 51
  • Fuze . The Black People 63–4;Jantshi, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 1, 194–5;Lunguza, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 1, 307, 337;Ndukwana, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 4, 292–3, 327;Isaacs, Travels and Adventures, vol. 1, 196;Fynn, The Diary of Henry Francis Fynn, 131–3;Bryant, Olden Times, 608
  • Fynn , H. “ in ” . In Annals of Natal Edited by: Bird , J. vol. 1, 91–3;J. Shooter, The Kafirs of Natal and the Zulu Country (New York, 1969, first published 1857), 242–9;Isaacs, Travels and Adventures, vol. 1, 204
  • Cane . in James Stuart Archive, vol. 1, 77;Gama, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 1, 136;Dinya, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 1, 119;Mayinga, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 2, 249;Bryant, Olden Times, 621–2;Krige, The Social System of the Zulus, 173
  • Krige . The Social System of the Zulus 169
  • Msimanga . in The James Stuart Archive, vol. 4, 41
  • Cohen , R. 1978 . “ ‘State Origins: A Reappraisal’ ” . In The Early State Edited by: Claessen , H. J.M. and Skalnik , P. 64 The Hague in, eds
  • Mkebeni . in James Stuart Archive, vol. 3, 200
  • Mangati . in James Stuart Archive, vol. 2, 206;emphasis added
  • Adams . ‘Power in Human Societies: A Synthesis’, 388–9
  • Celibacy is defined in this article as the absence of formal recognised marriage or child while holding particular office or status
  • Mangati . in James Stuart Archive, vol. 2, 204–5, 216;Bryant, Olden Times, 41–2;H.C. Lugg, A Guide to the Zulu Social System (Durban, 1978), 24
  • Bryant . Olden Times 41
  • Mayinga . in James Stuart Archive, vol. 2, 247
  • Bryant . The Zulu People 482
  • Bryant . Olden Times 46–7;Mmemi, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 3, 259
  • Jantshi . in James Stuart Archive, vol. 1, 199
  • Mtshayankomo . in James Stuart Archive, vol. 4, 144
  • Bryant describes Mnkabayi and Mmamaas ‘old maids’: Bryant, Olden Times, 41
  • Ibid., 636, 607, 637;Gardiner in J. Bird, ed., The Annals of Natal, vol. 1, 302
  • Gluckman , M. 1960 . The Rise of a Zulu Empire . Scientific American , 202 ( 4 ) : 167
  • Mangati . in James Stuart Archive, vol. 2, 216
  • Ndhlovu . in The James Stuart Archive, vol. 4, 198;Mangati, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 2, 216;Mkebeni, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 3, 205;and Magidi, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 2, 80 name Zibizendhlela as a son of Shaka. However, Jantshi, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 1, 176 describes him as a brother. Fuze, The Black People, 60–1
  • Ndhlovu . in James Stuart Archive, vol. 4, 198, 218;Fuze, The Black People, 61
  • Hamilton , C. 1998 . Terrific Majesty 57 Cape Town
  • Mtshayankomo . in James Stuart Archive, vol. 4, 144
  • Mmemi . in James Stuart Archive, vol. 3, 245
  • Maclean . Jan. 1854 . Nautical Magazine Jan. , 26
  • Mmemi . in James Stuart Archive, vol. 3, 266. The editors point out that umsizi is medicine. At a particular point in the First Fruits Ceremony the umsizi is applied to the king, he must then go to a specially treated hut in the isigodhlo. He would be attended by a selected isigodhlo woman and any child conceived during this time is considered to be of inferior rank: James Stuart Archive, vol. 3, 281, n. 99;Jantshi, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 1, 198, 205 n. 62;Ndhlovu, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 4, 217;Bryant, The Zulu People, 519
  • Mmemi . in James Stuart Archive, vol. 3, 266
  • Jantshi . James Stuart Archive vol , 198 in. 1, Fuze, The Black People, 61
  • Mkungu . in James Stuart Archive, vol. 3, 232
  • Maclean . Jan. 1854 . Nautical Magazine Jan. , 26
  • Fynn . The Diary of Henry Francis Fynn 30
  • Archives , Natal . 1853 . File NCP 8/3/1, Proceedings and Report of the Commission Appointed to Inquire Into the Past and Present Stale of the Kafirs in the District of Natal, (13; Madikane, in The James Stuart Archive, vol. 2, 56–7;Magidi, in The James Stuart Archive, vol. 2, 79;Mangati, in The James Stuart Archive, vol. 2, 204–5, 216;Smith, in Bird, The Annals of Natal, vol. 2, 198;Bryant, Olden Times, 43;Ndukwana, in The James Stuart Archive, vol. 4, 332;Fuze, The Black People, 62
  • Mangati . in The James Stuart Archive, vol. 2, 204–5
  • Grout's , L. 1853 . evidence to the Commission Appointed to Inquire into the Past and Present State of the Kafirs in the District of Natal, Natal Government Gazette, no. 221, 1 March
  • Guy . The Destruction of the Zulu Kingdom 13
  • Ibid.
  • Colenso , F. S. and Rees , W. 1958 . Colenso Letters From Natal 108 Pietermaritzburg
  • Most likely his mother Monase, but could have been Mawa his aunt. It is unclear whether the woman involved left at the same time as Mkhungu or not: SPG, D8, Colenso to, 8/8/57 Ekukanyeni. I am grateful to Norman Etherington, University of Western Australia, for this reference
  • Rees , W. Colenso Letters From Natal 108
  • Mtshapi . in James Stuart Archive, vol. 4, 63;Mgidhlana, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 3, 106;Mangati, in James Stuart Archive, vol. 2, 207–8
  • Fuze . The Black People 105
  • Ibid., 105
  • Hamilton , C. 1993 . ‘Authoring Shaka: Models, Metaphors and Historiography’ (PhD thesis, Johns Hopkins University, C. Hamilton, Terrific Majesty, 75–80
  • Bryant . The Zulu People 459–60

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