Mabaso in the sources
The Mabaso appear in Bryant’s history as one of a small Ntungwa-Nguni group in the Nondweni district, grouped with the Kumalo (Mabaso-Kumalo-Koza), whose neighbours the emaNgwaneni were described as akin to them. The entry is short, and we found no detail of the Mabaso’s own history.
What the sources say
Where the sources place them. Bryant’s chronological chart records, for about 1700, that “Mabaso-Komalos” moved to “Nquto” (the Nquthu district) (chart, p. 16). He describes the small eziBisini clan as “closely related to the Mabaso-Kumalo-Koza group of the Nondweni district” (in his chapter on the Bisini and their neighbours), and says the emaNgwaneni clan of Masumpa was “of the Ntungwa-Nguni breed, akin to the neighbouring Mabasos and Kumalos”, living inland from the Lion’s Neck near the Transvaal border (p. 137). In his early-nineteenth-century population table the Mabaso have a ratio of one, about 1,026 people (p. 82).
See also. The Kumalo with whom they are grouped went north under Mzilikazi; see Zulu for the wider setting.
Cautions
This is a thin listing from one source: Bryant’s mentions are of a group, not a narrative, and we found no genealogy, founder, praise poem or totem for the Mabaso in the pages we read. The surname Mabaso today is very widespread and we do not claim these Nondweni families are the origin of every Mabaso. Bryant was a Catholic missionary who collected clan traditions from informants in the early twentieth century; his book is written in a jocular colonial style, uses period terms for Africans that we do not repeat, dates the early generations by a rule of eighteen years to a reign, and often says he is guessing. We give his statements as his, not as settled history.
Izithakazelo and totem
We found no confirmed Mabaso totem or praise poem. If you belong to the Mabaso and recite your praises, we would like to record them, with your permission and credited to you.
Sources and further reading
See also Zulu.
Do you belong to the Mabaso? 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.