Mdushane
Wikipedia’s article on Mdushane (ImiDushane) describes him as a Xhosa prince and military leader, the founder of the Imidushane subgroup and “the eldest son of Prince Ndlambe”, born about 1785 to Ndlambe and his first wife Nojaka. It says that after Ndlambe divorced Nojaka, Mdushane was raised by his uncle Cebo, who adopted him and named him heir of the Right Hand House of Rharhabe. The article carries notices for unreliable sources and possible original research, so we mark it as one account. See Ndlambe.
Amalinde and Grahamstown
The article says Mdushane commanded the amaNdlambe forces against Ngqika’s army, led by Maqoma, at Amalinde in October 1818, and credits him with a tactic that drew Maqoma’s men into a flanking attack and a heavy defeat for Ngqika (the Amalinde article on Wikipedia instead says there was no clear victor). It says that after Colonel Brereton’s forces seized cattle in December 1818, about 6,000 men attacked Grahamstown in April 1819 with Mdushane as commander-in-chief and the prophet Makhanda leading one section, and that the garrison of about 300 repelled them.
Succession and death
It says Ndlambe died in February 1828, that Mdushane succeeded him and fell ill and died in May 1829 at his great place near the Dube stream, a tributary of the Keiskamma, that his successor was his minor son Qasana, and that after his death the Imidushane and amaNdlambe declined and split into smaller groups.
What we have not read
The article cites Hazel Crampton’s The Sunburnt Queen (2004), Peires’s The House of Phalo and The Dead Will Arise, Bennie’s Imibengo, Soga’s The South-Eastern Bantu, Stephen Kay (1834) and Samuel Young (1842); we have read none of them. We found no Imidushane account of their history.
Izithakazelo and totem
We found no recorded praises or totem for Mdushane or the Imidushane, so we are printing none. If you belong to the Imidushane and want your history recorded here, with your permission and credited to you, we would like to hear from you.
Sources and further reading
- Wikipedia: Mdushane (flagged for unreliable sources and possible original research)
- Wikipedia: Battle of Amalinde
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