Mamba in the Swazi record
The Mamba were an influential chiefdom of the Swazi region. Gillis says that when early Dlamini-line brothers separated, one returned north-west towards the Ngwavuma river and founded the Mamba chiefdom (PDF p. 28), and Bonner says the Mamba occupied the transition zone between the middleveld and lowveld around Mbelebeleni and were not fully subdued during the Ndwandwe attacks on Sobhuza’s people (p. 39). Wikipedia’s article on the Swazi people, which our listing used, names the Mamba among the 17 founding clans.
What the books say
Both books name a Mamba chief, Maloyi. Bonner says Maloyi refused to accept the claims of Magwegwe, a relative who tried to take over the Ngwane while Sobhuza was away, and that after the Ndwandwe were beaten in 1819 he sent an expedition north to bring Sobhuza back (pp. 39 to 40). Gillis tells it the same way: Maloyi sent a mission to persuade Sobhuza to reclaim his chieftainship, and with Mamba help he overcame his brother’s claims (p. 32).
On Sobhuza’s return Gillis says the Mamba chiefdom’s independence was acknowledged and confirmed, and Bonner says it was granted ritual and military privileges that the Mamba retain to this day: Maloyi could raise his own regiments, give sanctuary to refugees from Sobhuza, and hold a version of the first-fruits ceremony, which would have been treason for anyone else, so that the Mamba became in effect a state within the state (p. 40). Bonner also reports Mamba historians saying the Ndwandwe king Zwide tried to retreat into Mamba territory and was driven back (p. 40), a claim he says he cannot settle.
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). Both books cite unpublished Mamba accounts: Gillis lists R. S. Mamba’s “A History of the Mamba Kingdom” and B. B. Sikhondze’s “The Birth of the Mamba Clan in Swaziland” (1985) (p. 193), and Bonner interviewed Mamba informants at Ka-Mamba in 1970. We have read neither of those accounts.
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 Mamba praises or totem because none has been confirmed. If you belong to the Mamba 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 Mamba? 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.