The Bhaca (amaBhaca) are a Nguni people of the southern KwaZulu-Natal / northern Eastern Cape border, centred on Mount Frere – KwaBhaca – and the surrounding Alfred Nzo district. The name is usually explained from ukubhaca, “to hide” or “to take cover,” recalling the nation’s origins as a refuge group during the wars of the early nineteenth century.
Origins
The Bhaca were formed in the 1820s from fragments of the Zelemu (Wushe) and other Nguni chiefdoms broken up during the Mfecane. Their founding king, Madzikane kaKhalimeshe, gathered these refugees into a fighting community in the broken country south of the Drakensberg, where the terrain favoured defence. Madzikane was killed in battle around 1830.
Ncapayi and the mid-century wars
Madzikane’s son Ncapayi led the Bhaca through a turbulent period of raiding and shifting alliances involving the Mpondo, the Thembu, the Wesleyan missions and the Cape Colony. Ncapayi was killed in a clash with the Mpondo under Faku in 1845. The Bhaca then divided into two main chiefdoms – one under Makawula (Madzikane’s line) and one under Diko – a split that is still reflected in Bhaca traditional leadership.
Language and identity
isiBhaca is a Nguni variety with features of both isiZulu and isiXhosa and some vocabulary of its own; speakers generally regard it as distinct, though it is often officially classed with isiXhosa. The Bhaca are known for a vigorous men’s dance, umXhentso, performed with ankle rattles, and for the inkciyo (reed-skirt) tradition among young women. Bhaca identity has been the subject of a long recognition campaign, and the Bhaca kingship was among those examined by the post-1994 commissions on traditional leadership.
Related peoples
The Bhaca are closely tied to the Hlubi, the Ntlangwini, the Zelemu and the wider group of Mfecane-era refuge nations of the region; they also intermarried extensively with the Mpondo and Xhosa. The clan name Madzikane / Khonjwayo and surnames such as Ncapayi belong to this group.
Sources and further reading
- William Beinart, The Political Economy of Pondoland 1860-1930 (1982) – regional context.
- W. D. Hammond-Tooke, The Bhaca Society (1962) – the standard ethnographic study.
- Jeff Peires, The House of Phalo (1981) – the wider Cape Nguni background.
Help us improve this page. If you are of KwaBhaca and can share the royal izibongo of Madzikane’s house, clan praises, or family history, send us a WhatsApp on 065 138 8213 or use our contact page. We credit contributors who wish to be named.