The Qwabe (amaQwabe) are one of the oldest Nguni royal houses in KwaZulu-Natal, and by most genealogies the senior branch of the House of Malandela – the same ancestral line that produced the Zulu royal house itself. Understanding the Qwabe is, in a real sense, understanding the family the Zulu kingdom grew out of.
Origins
Oral genealogy traces the Qwabe to Qwabe, the eldest son of Malandela and his wife Nozidiya (also recorded as Nozinja) of the Zungu clan. When Malandela died, Qwabe – as the firstborn – moved away to build his own homestead and lead his own following, while his younger brother Zulu remained behind at their father’s original homestead with a smaller group. Over time “Zulu” became the name of the clan, and later the kingdom, that grew from that younger house; “Qwabe” remained the name of the senior line descended from the elder brother.
The story is not free of dispute. One retelling, discussed by University of Cape Town humanities researchers under the title “Qwabe and Zulu: true story or crafted myth,” centres on an inheritance quarrel – over their mother’s cattle – between the two brothers, and different tellers assign the roles of firstborn and youngest differently depending on which house is telling the story. A Qwabe heritage organisation, UBumbano LwamaQwabe, goes further and argues that Qwabe identity predates the Zulu kingdom by centuries and should not be collapsed into “Zulu” at all, since Zulu identity as a unifying political label only became dominant from Shaka’s reign in the early 1800s. That is an advocacy position rather than settled academic history, but it reflects something real: before Shaka’s conquests, Qwabe was a significant and independent chiefdom in its own right, not a subgroup of anyone.
Izithakazelo zakwaQwabe
The one specific praise detail we have been able to source is a correction asserted by UBumbano LwamaQwabe: that the correct royal praise-address for the house of Qwabe is Mpangazitha, not Ndabezitha (the address more commonly associated with the Zulu royal house). We have not been able to independently confirm the fuller izithakazelo sequence recited for Qwabe families from a written source, and wording is known to vary by family and region in any case.
If your family recites the Qwabe praises, we would like to record them accurately here – please get in touch using the details below.
Totem and related clans
As with most Nguni clans, Qwabe identity is carried through the isibongo and its praises rather than a single strict animal totem. The amaQwabe are closely linked by common descent to the Makhanya clan and, through Malandela, to the Zulu royal house itself – the three are often described as branches of one family tree rather than unrelated clans that happened to become neighbours.
Geography
Qwabe chiefdoms have historically been concentrated along the KwaZulu-Natal coast and lower Thukela region, with the amaQwabe counted among the oldest-established Nguni polities in the area well before the Zulu kingdom’s rise.
Notable people named Qwabe
- Zakhele Qwabe – South African diplomat.
- Ntokozo Qwabe – activist and academic, known for student-movement organising.
Sources and further reading
- University of Cape Town Humanities, “Qwabe and Zulu: true story or crafted myth“
- Dictionary of South African English, entry for “Qwabe”
- Wikipedia, “Qwabe” – treat the specific founding date given here with caution, it is not independently sourced
If anything here does not match what your family recites, or you can help us confirm the fuller izithakazelo, please let us know via our contact page or WhatsApp 065 138 8213.