Ngcamphalala in the sources
Bonner names the Ngcamphalala among the clans that stayed behind in the Shiselweni region when the early Ngwane king Sobhuza fled north, and later among the chiefdoms that kept their own chiefs inside the Swazi state.
What the sources say
Shiselweni. Bonner writes that “the vast majority of Sobhuza’s supporters had stayed behind at Shiselweni, the Mamba, the Ngcamphalala and the Khumalo being cases in point”, while Sobhuza fled with only a few hundred men under Ndwandwe attack (p. 27).
A chiefdom inside the state. In a note on chiefdoms that were incorporated rather than destroyed, Bonner lists “the Mamba, Ngcamphalala, Nsibande, Mdluli, Ndlela, Kunene, Shiba, Hlophe, Mndzebele, Nxumalo, Khumalo, Simelane and several Dlamini chiefdoms”, citing Kuper’s An African Aristocracy (pp. 57–8).
Oral sources. One of Bonner’s interviewees was a Majibhini Ngcamphalala, interviewed on 18 June 1970 at Ngcamphalaleni in Swaziland, whose interview is cited in the notes to Bonner’s early chapter.
Cautions
Bonner mentions the Ngcamphalala only in these passing ways; he gives no origin story, chiefly line or praise for them. We have not seen Kuper’s book. We searched the full text of Bryant (1929), Soga (1930) and Bonner (1983) under the spellings given here and under likely variants; absence from these books says nothing about whether the family is old or important, only that these three sources are silent.
Izithakazelo and totem
We found no Ngcamphalala praise poem or totem in the sources read. If you belong to this clan and recite your praises, we would like to record them, with your permission and credited to you.
Sources and further reading
- Philip Bonner, Kings, Commoners and Concessionaires: the evolution and dissolution of the nineteenth-century Swazi state (Cambridge University Press, 1983); read by OCR from a scanned copy, printed page numbers given
Do you belong to the Ngcamphalala? Tell us your izithakazelo and what elders say about the family’s history, and we will add it, credited to you. Share what you know or WhatsApp 065 138 8213.