Mbhongo I
The Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims uses the name Manala-Mbhongo (also written Manala-Mbongo) for the line it found the kingship of the amaNdebele resorts under. The name appears to be built on Mbhongo I, though the commission does not say so. In the determination on the Mabena dispute Mbhongo I is described by the respondent as the son of Buti (also called Mbhedlengane) by Buti’s wife NaMsiza, called Trompie, who was of the left-hand house (ikhohlo). Buti’s senior wife, Nakgoma, was of the right-hand house (ubunene) and her son was the heir Nyumba.
The regency
When Nyumba died in 1905 his only son, Mbulawa, was a minor. The respondent’s account says the royal family first appointed Mkhutshwa (Saul), from Silamba’s third house, as regent for a few months. Then Mbhongo I took over, after an episode told in the account in which, as a boy herding cattle, he chased birds whose wings gave off sparks of fire and caught two that could not be cooked. The royal men understood the sign, he was covered with a royal blanket and then initiated, and he led the regiment called Ikungu Emnyama in 1906. Mkhutshwa is quoted, in the commission’s translation, as handing over the kingship with the words “my brother’s son, take what belongs to your family”. The commission records this as the respondent’s version, and notes that the claimant instead says Mbhongo was fathered by another son of Silamba, Marhokolodi, and was chosen as regent only because he was of the royal family, albeit a small house with no right to reign.
Makhosonke I and William Mbhongo II
When Mbulawa died in 1941 without a child, the respondent says the kingship passed to the second house of Buti, that of Mbhongo I, and Makhosonke I, Mbhongo I’s son, ascended in 1941. The commission records that he died in 1947 and that his son William Mbhongo II was a minor, so Thukani, a son of Libangeni, was appointed regent. After Thukani’s death in 1960 the respondent says the courts ruled for the Mbhongo line and installed William Mbhongo II (the text writes “Mbhongo I” at this point, which appears to be a slip). He conducted initiation schools, the respondent says, in 1963, 1967, 1971 and 1974, and died late in 1974. His brother, named in the text as Mbhedlengane (a name the text also gives for Buti), then served as regent for Makhosonke II until 1986, when Makhosonke II ascended; he has reigned since then, according to the record.
What the commission decided
The commission found that Mbhongo I was a son of Buti, applying the presumption that a child born in wedlock is the husband’s child, and that Buti’s second, left-hand house became the next qualifying house when Mbulawa died without a child, under the custom that the children of the left-hand house become children of the senior house. It concluded that the house of Mbhongo I, the house of Makhosonke II, “is the rightful lineage to hold the position of king of aManala and amaNdebele as a whole”, and dismissed the rival claim. It had earlier found, in its other determinations, that the kingship of the amaNdebele as a whole resorts under the Manala-Mbhongo lineage and that Ndzundza-Mabhoko is not a kingship: see our Manala and Ndzundza pages.
This is a contested succession. The claimant’s side disputes the genealogy, and the commission itself judged both genealogies “probably as reliable as oral history can be”. We have not read any court judgment or any later response, and we have not verified who holds the position now.
Izithakazelo and totem
We have not found a published Mbhongo praise text or a confirmed totem, so we are not printing either. If you belong to the Manala royal house and recite its praises, we would like to record them, with your permission and credited to you.
Sources and further reading
- Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims: Determination on the kingship dispute of amaNdebele between Johannes Dlize Mabena and Mbulawa Enock Mabena (Makhosonke II) (pp. 437 to 470 of the PDF)
Do you belong to the Manala royal house? Tell us your praises and what elders say about the history, and we will add it, credited to you. Share what you know or WhatsApp 065 138 8213.