Gwebu in the sources
The Gwebu appear in Bonner’s study of the Swazi state only as a clan whose chiefdom he says he knows nothing about, and as a family name among his informants.
What the sources say
The author’s admission. In a note to his discussion of Swazi expansion he writes: “I possess no information on the Bhembe or Gwebu chiefdoms” (notes to pp. 80–85, printed p. 253).
Informants. Bonner’s notes record interviews with a Dubingoma Gwebu (at Mvembili, 3 June 1970, in a group) and a Zwane Gwebu (at Helehele, 8 December 1973), so members of the family were among those whose oral accounts he collected; he does not summarise a Gwebu clan history.
Cautions
There is no Gwebu clan narrative in the sources we read. The two interviews are cited in notes and we have not seen the transcripts. We searched the full text of Bryant (1929), Soga (1930) and Bonner (1983) under the spellings given here and under likely variants; absence from these books says nothing about whether the family is old or important, only that these three sources are silent.
Izithakazelo and totem
We found no Gwebu praise poem or totem. If you belong to this clan, we would like to record your family’s own account, credited to you.
Sources and further reading
- Philip Bonner, Kings, Commoners and Concessionaires: the evolution and dissolution of the nineteenth-century Swazi state (Cambridge University Press, 1983); read by OCR from a scanned copy, printed page numbers given
Do you belong to the Gwebu? 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.