Bhungane
Wikipedia’s article on Bhungane II kaNtsele (also Bhungan’omakhulukhulu, born Mlotsha) calls him a king of the amaHlubi regarded as a gifted medicine-man and rainmaker, and the father of Mthimkhulu II and grandfather of Langalibalele I. It gives his reign as 1760 to 1800 in the text and 1760 to 1801 in the infobox, with death in 1801 or 1802 at KwaBahlokazi. The Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims spells the name Bungane. The article is tagged as needing more citations; its list of Hlubi kings, without inline citations, gives the same 1760 to 1800 span and lists his father as Ntsele.
His realm
Citing Ayliff and Whiteside’s 1912 History of the AbaMbo, the article says his realm stretched from the uMzinyathi, bordering the Pongola in the north, to the Thukela in the south, with the capital at eNgolozini and a royal residence, KwaMagoloza, at Alcockspruit near Newcastle (citing James Stuart’s recording of the testimony of Mabonsa kaSidhlayi). The Commission describes the Hlubi land as including, among other places, Newcastle, Utrecht, Dundee, Nquthu, Ladysmith, Colenso and Estcourt; see Hadebe.
Godongwana and Dingiswayo
The best-known episode, in the article and in the Commission’s account, is that the fugitive prince Godongwana, later Dingiswayo of the Mthethwa, took refuge with Bhungane. The Commission says he fled the spear of his father Jobe, that Bhungane made him an induna, and that this shows the Hlubi and Zulu lived peacefully together in Shaka’s reign; the Commission, with that evidence, argues that the Hlubi were spared in Shaka’s conquests. The Wikipedia article adds that Bhungane gave him the “medicine of kingship”, which helped legitimise his rule, and that he later left and defeated his brother Mawewe. We have not found those details in another source. See Mthethwa.
Sons
The Commission says Mpangazitha was one of the three sons of Bungane, and Wikipedia’s Hlubi king list places Bhungane II as the father of the line that leads to Mthimkhulu II. See Mpangazitha.
What we have not read
We have not read Ayliff and Whiteside, the Stuart archive, Wright and Manson’s The Hlubi Chiefdom (1983), Ndawo’s Iziduko zama-Hlubi (1939) or Colenso’s 1875 book, which Wikipedia lists. The king list’s earlier names and dates (it begins at 1230) are from oral and genealogy sources and we do not rely on them.
Izithakazelo and totem
We found no recorded praises or totem for Bhungane, so we are printing none. If you belong to the Hlubi royal house and recite its izibongo, we would like to record them, with your permission and credited to you.
Sources and further reading
- Wikipedia: Bhungane II (needs more citations)
- Wikipedia: Hlubi Kings
- Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims: Determination on the amaHlubi kingship claim (pp. 503 to 533 of the PDF)
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