Hlophe in the Swazi record
The Hlophe were one of the groups the early Ngwane (Dlamini-led) state absorbed in the south. Bonner says Tigodvo, the Hlophe chief the Ngwane incorporated at this time, is remembered in praise as someone who fought for two kings, Langa and Zwide (p. 23), and that the Ndwandwe had broken the resistance of the Hlophe of Tigodvo before the Ngwane absorbed them (p. 36). Wikipedia’s article on the Swazi people names the Hlophe among the 17 founding clans.
What the books say
Bonner’s notes cite his interviews with the Hlophe informants Tigodvo Hlophe and Loncayi Hlophe in 1970 (pp. 245 to 246). A passage in his account also mentions a “Hlophe of Mabhongane” who favoured accepting a Zulu invitation to the Swazi king, confident that no harm would come to him (p. 49). Whether that Hlophe belongs to the same line as Tigodvo is not clear.
Sources and cautions
This page summarises two scholarly histories of the Swazi kingdom: Philip Bonner’s Kings, Commoners and Concessionaires (read from SAHO’s scanned PDF by OCR; page numbers below are PDF pages), and D. Hugh Gillis’s The Kingdom of Swaziland: Studies in Political History (read from SAHO’s scanned PDF by OCR; page numbers below are PDF pages). We found no other source on the Hlophe chiefdom in these books beyond brief mentions.
We read these two books only through machine OCR of a scanned copy, so names and dates may contain OCR errors, and we have not checked them against the printed pages or against the other histories they cite (Matsebula, Bryant, Kuper, Stuart’s archive). Both books rely heavily on oral evidence collected in the 1970s from clan informants, and they present contested episodes from a particular scholarly point of view.
Izithakazelo and totem
We are printing no Hlophe praises or totem because none has been confirmed. If you belong to the Hlophe and recite your izithakazelo, we would like to record them, with your permission and credited to you.
Sources and further reading
- Philip Bonner: Kings, Commoners and Concessionaires (SAHO scan)
- D. Hugh Gillis: The Kingdom of Swaziland: Studies in Political History (SAHO scan)
- Wikipedia: Swazi people (clan lists)
Do you belong to the Hlophe? 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.