Shilubane in the sources
Shilubane is the form we use for a name that Junod’s 1912 ethnography writes Shiluvane: the name of a chief of the Nkuna, of a Swiss mission station and plain near Leydsdorp, and of a succession that was fought over after his death. Wikipedia separately gives Shilubana as part of the name of the first woman installed as hosi of the Valoyi. We have no source that says how the two are related.
What the sources say
Shiluvane the Nkuna chief. Junod’s list of Nkuna chiefs reads Nkuna, Shitlhelane, Rinono, Kulalen, Nwarinyekana, Muhlari, Ribye-ra-ku-tika, Shiluvane, Muhlaba (vol. I, the list of clan chiefs, about p. 21). In his account of why chieftainship disputes arise, he tells how Madyubane, a child heir of the elder branch, was passed over: his elder sister Tibatiba told Shiluvane to take the elephant tusk belonging to the Nkuna royal family and reign in the child’s place, and Shiluvane, Junod says, sold the tusk and bought wives, beads and clothing for himself (pp. 24 to 25).
The contest after him. When Shiluvane died, Junod writes, four men claimed the chieftainship: Mapsakomo, a younger brother of the legal heir; Mbokota, the heir’s son; and Muhlaba and Muholo, sons of Shiluvane. The great counsellor Shikhibane said he had heard Shiluvane say he wanted Muhlaba, the warriors took Muhlaba to his residence in a march, and the Pedi queen Magayibia of the Nyarin clan said she too had heard it. The dispute was settled when Captain Dahl, then the Transvaal’s Native Commissioner for Zoutpansberg, confirmed Muhlaba. Junod met Mbokota, who still complained bitterly and had set up a separate circumcision school (p. 24).
His son Mankhelu and the station. Junod says his best Northern informant was Mankhelu, an elder son of Shiluvane, “the late chief of the Nkuna clan”, who had been prince-regent for many years and was a celebrated rain-maker; the mission station Junod worked at, near Leydsdorp, was called Shiluvane, and he describes the Shiluvane plain, with the Mamotswiri mountain behind it (preface; the plates and chapters on childhood and initiation). See Nkuna.
The Valoyi chieftaincy. Wikipedia says that Tinyiko Nwamitwa-Shilubana, installed in 2008 after the Constitutional Court ruled in her favour as the first woman to become hosi of the Valoyi, married into the Nkuna and Shilubane royal family. We have not found a source on how the Shilubane relate to the Valoyi royal house, so the earlier note in our planning list linking Shilubane to the Nwamitwa line is not confirmed. See Nwamitwa for the Valoyi chieftaincy and the court case.
Cautions
The spellings Shiluvane (Junod’s Swiss orthography), Shilubane and Shilubana are variants, and we do not claim that every family using one of them descends from the Nkuna chief. Junod tells the succession story as a general lesson about chieftainship and from the loser’s complaint, and his dates for these events are not given. We have not read the Constitutional Court’s judgment. The Nkuna and the Valoyi are separate groups and our other pages say so. We name living people only as the court record and Wikipedia do.
Izithakazelo and totem
We found no Shilubane praise poem or totem. If you belong to this family, we would like to record its praises and history, with your permission and credited to you.
Sources and further reading
- Henri A. Junod, The Life of a South African Tribe, vol. I, The Social Life (Neuchâtel: Attinger, 1912); Internet Archive scan, read in its machine-read text
- Wikipedia: Tsonga people (its clan and notable-people lists have no inline citations)
Do you belong to the Shilubane? 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.