Hadebe in the Hlubi royal story
This page follows the history of the amaHlubi presented to the Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims by the Hlubi royal house, in its determination on the amaHlubi kingship claim. In that account the amaHlubi were once known as the amaNgelengele, amaMpembe or imiHuhu, and are of eMbo or amaLala origin. They say they moved south into what is now KwaZulu-Natal in the thirteenth century and to the uMzinyathi region around 1650.
The commission records that the name changed to amaHlubi after Ncobo kaMthimkhulu I married a daughter of a Bhele leader named Hlubi and died without a male heir. Hadebe, a prince of the right-hand house, raised seed on his brother’s behalf. The account says Hadebe was made regent and entered a union of ukungena (the levirate custom) with Ncobo’s widow, called Lama Hlubi, the great wife, and that Dlomo was born of that union and succeeded. A dispute followed between the house of Hadebe and the great house. The descendants adopted a neutral name, LamaHlubi, “the nation of the daughter of Hlubi”, and later dropped the prefix and were known as amaHlubi, as the Hadebe house did too. The commission records this as the royal house’s own version of events.
Hadebe and Radebe
Our Hlubi overview gives the royal line as Mthimkhulu, Ncobo, Hadebe, Dlomo, Mdodolo and Bhungane, which matches the commission’s order of Ncobo, then Hadebe, then Dlomo. Our Radebe page reports a 1908 chief list that puts Radebe sixth in the line, before Ngcobo and Dhlomo, so the order of Ncobo and Hadebe or Radebe differs between the two sources. The commission’s text also names the claimant of the Hlubi kingship as Muziwenkosi Johannes Radebe, Langalibalele II (see our Langalibalele page). We have not found a source that states outright that Hadebe and Radebe are the same name, though the sources fit together that way. The Hadebe surname is also common among the Zulu.
Izithakazelo and totem
We have not found a published Hadebe praise text or a confirmed totem, so we are not printing either. If your family recites the Hadebe or Hlubi praises, we would like to record them, with your permission and credited to you.
Sources and further reading
- Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims: Determination on the amaHlubi kingship claim (the account on pp. 511 to 523 of the PDF)
This is the royal house’s own account, as recorded by the commission, and we have not checked it independently. The Hlubi overview cites S.B. Hadebe’s 1992 dissertation on the amaHlubi in the izibongo of their kings, which we have not read.
Do you carry the Hadebe or Radebe name? 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.