Masilela in the Swazi record
Bonner places the Masilela with the Mahlalela, Maziya and Sifundza on a section of the Lubombo, among the Tsonga or partly Tsonga-ised Sotho chiefdoms of the east (PDF p. 42), and lists them among the chiefdoms attacked by Mswati’s forces (p. 97).
What the book says
His fullest passage concerns tribute. When Mswati tried to collect tribute from the Sifundza and Masilela during a drought, Bonner says, the king’s party was intercepted on its way back and stripped of what it had taken. He says tradition holds that Mswati bided his time, probably because he feared the Zulu (Bonner links the events to the drought of 1848), and that once the Zulu threat receded the Masilela were made to pay: they were summoned to a hunt and then surrounded and annihilated by the assembled host (p. 100).
This is a serious allegation made from tradition, as Bonner tells it, and we have no Masilela account of it. See our Sifundza page for the other chiefdom in the same episode.
Sources and cautions
This page summarises Philip Bonner’s Kings, Commoners and Concessionaires (read from SAHO’s scanned PDF by OCR; page numbers are PDF pages). Bonner’s account of the Masilela depends on tradition and on informants outside the clan, and may be disputed by the Masilela themselves.
We read this book 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 oral and archival sources Bonner cites. His chapters rest on oral evidence collected in the 1970s and present contested episodes from a scholarly point of view. We did not find these clans in Gillis’s book.
Izithakazelo and totem
We are printing no Masilela praises or totem because none has been confirmed. If you belong to the Masilela and recite your izithakazelo, we would like to record them, with your permission and credited to you.
Sources and further reading
See also Maziya, Thabede and Dlamini.
Do you belong to the Masilela? 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.