Gama in the Swazi record
The name Gama appears in these books for two different things. First, Bonner lists the Gama with the Mncina “at Mdimba” among the Sotho groups of central Swaziland when Sobhuza arrived (p. 41). Second, the books quote and cite a man called John Gama, a loyalist of the Shepstone family and an Edendale (Natal) retainer, who was in Swaziland in the 1880s and gave oral evidence recorded in 1898 (Bonner pp. 194, 244; Gillis pp. 79, 102, 127). We have no source linking the two.
What the books say
Bonner says two of Sir Theophilus Shepstone’s Edendale retainers, John Gama and Stephen Mini, were already in Swaziland before Mbandzeni asked the Shepstones for help, and that they may have been briefed by their patron to suggest the idea (p. 194). Gillis says Gama sided with Shepstone in a dispute about an organic proclamation, and gave the Shepstones’ version of a conspiracy and killings at the capital in the 1880s (pp. 79, 102, 127). The books also cite Gama’s account to James Stuart in December 1898 for aspects of Swazi history (Bonner pp. 47, 244). Because Gama’s interests as a Shepstone partisan are plain in these passages, we treat his evidence as one side.
Sources and cautions
This page summarises two scholarly histories of the Swazi kingdom: Philip Bonner’s Kings, Commoners and Concessionaires (read from SAHO’s scanned PDF by OCR; page numbers below are PDF pages), and D. Hugh Gillis’s The Kingdom of Swaziland: Studies in Political History (read from SAHO’s scanned PDF by OCR; page numbers below are PDF pages). The surname Gama is common, and we claim no link between surname-holders and the Mdzimba chiefdom or the Edendale man.
We read these two books only through machine OCR of a scanned copy, so names and dates may contain OCR errors, and we have not checked them against the printed pages or against the other histories they cite (Matsebula, Bryant, Kuper, Stuart’s archive). Both books rely heavily on oral evidence collected in the 1970s from clan informants, and they present contested episodes from a particular scholarly point of view.
Izithakazelo and totem
We are printing no Gama praises or totem because none has been confirmed. If you belong to the Gama and recite your izithakazelo, we would like to record them, with your permission and credited to you.
Sources and further reading
- Philip Bonner: Kings, Commoners and Concessionaires (SAHO scan)
- D. Hugh Gillis: The Kingdom of Swaziland: Studies in Political History (SAHO scan)
- Wikipedia: Swazi people (clan lists)
Do you belong to the Gama? 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.