The Zondi chieftaincy
South African History Online’s biography of Chief Bhambatha kaMancinza Zondi (about 1865 to 1906) calls him the son of Chief Macinga of the abakwaZondi chieftaincy, born at Mpanza near Greytown in the Natal Colony, and says his mother, Macinga’s principal wife, was a daughter of Chief Pakade of the Cunu. It says he succeeded his father, and an uncle, at about 25. The Zondi are one of the Zulu chieftaincies of Natal; we have not found a source on how far back the Zondi chieftaincy goes, or on its relation to the Zulu royal house.
Bhambatha and the poll tax
According to SAHO, Bhambatha was respected by his council elders but had repeated legal trouble: fined for cattle theft (a fine his people repaid), in debt to white neighbours, and convicted in 1905 of faction fighting, after which local white residents pressed the Natal government to depose him. After the Natal poll tax was introduced the government suspected him of joining other chiefs opposing it; the Greytown magistrate, J. W. Cross, summoned him; fearing arrest he sent elders in his place; and his headman, Nhlonhlo, openly rejected the tax. It says that faced with a police force under Major W. J. Clark he fled to Zululand on 11 March 1906, was sheltered by King Dinuzulu, who advised him to return to Mpanza, and found on his return that he had been deposed in favour of his uncle Magwabagwaba. He then took refuge in the Nkandla forest, where other chiefs and followers joined him. SAHO’s dated entry says that in April 1906 his followers killed four policemen near Greytown and that he took refuge with Chief Sigananda Shezi.
Mome Gorge and after
SAHO says the rebellion was crushed in June 1906, that on 10 June (other sources say 9 June) Colonel Duncan McKenzie’s militia met the rebels on the Mome stream near Nkandla, that nearly 600 were killed and that Bhambatha’s body was decapitated; resistance continued in the lower Thukela area until July, and about 5,000 were arrested and tried, some receiving life sentences. It reports that a government spy reportedly killed him and that the head displayed publicly was said to be his, but that some followers believed he escaped to Mozambique and died of natural causes around the 1920s; DNA tests on hair found among a Natal officer’s belongings did not settle the question. Wikipedia’s article on the Bambatha Rebellion agrees on the poll tax, the Nkandla guerrilla raids from April 1906, Mome Gorge on 10 June and Chief Meseni’s continuing revolt in the lower Thukela until July, and estimates that 3,000 to 4,000 Zulu died, more than 7,000 were imprisoned and about 4,000 flogged, with 36 colonial soldiers killed; it says the 2006 centenary declared Bambatha a national hero. That article is tagged as lacking reliable references, and one of its sources is flagged as unreliable.
A later chief
Wikipedia has a short article on Mbongeleni Zondi (1969 to 2009), a Zulu chief and regent described as a great-grandson of Bambatha. It is a stub and we say no more about him here.
What we have not read
We have not read Stuart’s 1913 history, Gillings’s 1989 article on the Nkandla operations, or the books the SAHO entry cites (Muller, Giliomee and Mbenga, the Dictionary of South African Biography). We found no Zondi royal-house account, no praise text and no confirmed totem, and we do not know who leads the Zondi today. The name Zondi is also a common surname, and we claim no link between surname-holders and this chieftaincy.
Izithakazelo and totem
We are printing no Zondi praises or totem because none has been confirmed. If you belong to the Zondi and recite your izithakazelo, we would like to record them, with your permission and credited to you.
Sources and further reading
- South African History Online: Chief Bhambatha kaMancinza Zondi
- South African History Online: Chief of the Zondi, Bambata, is killed (10 June 1906)
- Wikipedia: Bambatha Rebellion (tagged)
- Wikipedia: Mbongeleni Zondi (stub)
Do you belong to the Zondi? 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.