Did the Ngoni Ancestors Fight for Zwide or Shaka?

What the James Stuart Archive, Ngoni oral traditions and early Portuguese records reveal about the world from which the Ngoni migrations began.

When the ancestors of the Ngoni left their southern homeland in the early nineteenth century, whose side had they been on? Were they soldiers of Zwide kaLanga, ruler of the Ndwandwe, or did some serve under Shaka kaSenzangakhona, the emerging Zulu king? For generations the answer has often been reduced to a simple story: Shaka defeated Zwide, and the Ngoni fled north. The historical evidence is more interesting—and less tidy.

1. Zwangendaba: an officer of Zwide, according to Ngoni tradition

One of the most revealing accounts is W. H. J. Rangeley's “Inkosi Mtwalo of Northern Ngoniland in Nyasaland”, preserved on NgoniPeople.com. Rangeley explicitly distinguishes the information given by Ngoni narrators from what he took from A. T. Bryant's Olden Times in Zululand and Natal.

Bryant described Zwangendaba (also written Zwangendawa) as a man of relatively ordinary status in his homeland. Rangeley reported that the Ngoni agreed he came from humble origins but maintained that he rose to become a general in Zwide's army. They also recalled that Zwide gave him two daughters in marriage, suggesting a relationship with the Ndwandwe ruling house.

This is an important piece of historical memory. It places Zwangendaba's rise inside the military and political world of the Ndwandwe, rather than depicting him as an outsider who suddenly appeared during the migrations. But it is oral testimony, recorded later: no contemporary military roll has been identified that verifies his exact title or rank.

2. What southern Nguni informants remembered about the war

The James Stuart Archive of Recorded Oral Evidence Relating to the History of the Zulu and Neighbouring Peoples, edited by C. de B. Webb and J. B. Wright, preserves historical testimony collected from African informants around the turn of the twentieth century.

Historian John Wright's article “Socwatsha kaPhaphu, James Stuart, and their conversations on the past, 1897–1922” identifies Bovu kaNomabhuqabhuqa, Makhobosi, Mzuzu kaNkathaza and Xawana as sources of anecdotes about the wars between the Ndwandwe and Zulu in the late 1810s. Their information passed through Socwatsha kaPhaphu, one of Stuart's most important interlocutors.

These are not four independently checked quotations reproduced here from the original Stuart notebooks. Rather, Wright's research establishes that memories of these wars circulated among identifiable southern Nguni narrators and were subsequently recorded. The existence of these named voices matters: Ngoni memories of the Ndwandwe kingdom can be placed alongside southern Nguni memories of the same era, not merely beside later textbook versions of Shaka's career.

Wright also recounts how Socwatsha's father, Phaphu, belonged to a community whose history was profoundly affected by the expansion of Shaka's kingdom. Some Ngcobo chiefs were killed; people were displaced or incorporated into new political arrangements. The upheavals thus involved more than a two-sided battle between famous kings. They transformed the lives and loyalties of multiple Nguni communities.

3. Did serving Zwide mean that the Ngoni were enemies of the Zulu?

Not necessarily in the simple modern sense. Zwide's Ndwandwe and Shaka's Zulu were competing political formations, each drawing people from a wider landscape of chiefdoms, kinship networks, alliances and military followings. The political identity of a nineteenth-century soldier cannot always be reduced to a fixed ethnic label.

Rangeley's account supports a Ndwandwe connection for Zwangendaba. It does not follow that all the people who later became Ngoni had fought in exactly the same army or held the same political allegiance before migrating. The Ngoni communities that emerged farther north included the descendants of followers, dependants and people incorporated along the way.

It is also important to distinguish the Jele Ngoni of Zwangendaba from the Maseko Ngoni. Their histories overlap but are not identical. One should not automatically apply an assertion about Zwangendaba's service under Zwide to Ngwana Maseko or to every other leader of a northward-moving Nguni group.

4. The strongest near-contemporary evidence comes from Mozambique

Gerhard Liesegang's study, “Nguni Migrations Between Delagoa Bay and the Zambezi, 1821–1839”, reproduced on NgoniPeople.com, compares later oral histories with Portuguese records and British naval observations from the 1820s and 1830s.

Liesegang reports that observers near Lourenço Marques encountered the separate followings of Soshangane and Zwangendaba in 1822. These groups were associated with the fragmentation of Ndwandwe power. The observations suggest that the two leaders had distinct centres of authority even when some oral accounts describe them as being together.

This evidence is vital for the historical sequence. Whatever Zwangendaba's precise office before the Ndwandwe defeat, his following was identifiable in the region of southern Mozambique soon afterward. He was not simply a character first encountered in traditions from Malawi many decades later.

However, there is a limit: contemporary observers did not produce a comprehensive list of the migrants' earlier military allegiances. Such records therefore support the presence and movements of Zwangendaba's group more securely than they establish which specific battles he fought against Shaka.

5. Was every battle in the migration story really fought by Zwangendaba?

Here Liesegang offers an especially important warning. Later accounts sometimes confused Zwangendaba Jele with Nxaba Msane, another northern-moving Nguni leader. He argues that a battle frequently described as one between Soshangane and Zwangendaba near the Save was more likely a later confrontation between Soshangane and Nxaba.

In Liesegang's reconstruction, Zwangendaba had already crossed the Zambezi by the time of the later fighting farther south. This does not mean that Zwangendaba and Soshangane were never rivals or that all Ngoni accounts are mistaken. It means that the identification, location and chronology of particular battles need to be tested separately.

The Maseko traditions introduce still another perspective. Liesegang describes accounts in which Ngwana Maseko's followers encountered Zwangendaba's people and later formed links with Nxaba. These accounts remind us that the northern migrations were not one united Ngoni march; they involved several mobile, sometimes rival, political communities.

6. What about the tradition that the Maseko left Shaka's army?

Traditions linking the Maseko departure to Shaka, Mzilikazi or the southern wars deserve careful treatment, but they should not be treated as a settled single event without examining the sources behind each version. The material checked for this article does not independently establish that Ngwana Maseko personally served as a commander in Shaka's army.

That is a productive subject for another investigation: compare specific Maseko accounts recorded in Malawi with early testimony about the Khumalo, Mzilikazi and the political breakaways from Shaka's kingdom. In the meantime, evidence for Zwangendaba's Ndwandwe allegiance should not be presented as proof of the Maseko's allegiance.

7. Why the distinction matters

Historical claim	What the evidence supports	What remains uncertain
Zwangendaba rose in Zwide's army	Explicitly preserved as Ngoni oral tradition by Rangeley	His exact contemporary rank and campaigns
Southern Nguni remembered Ndwandwe–Zulu wars	John Wright identifies named informants whose accounts reached Socwatsha and Stuart	Whether any of these specific stories names Zwangendaba
Zwangendaba and Soshangane moved into Mozambique	Contemporary observations and later source criticism discussed by Liesegang	The exact moment and circumstances of their separation
All later Ngoni ancestors fought for the same king	Not demonstrated	Different groups' military and political histories
Ngwana Maseko personally served Shaka	Not verified from the sources checked here	Needs comparison against specific early Maseko and southern Nguni testimony

Conclusion: Not simply refugees from Shaka

The history of the Ngoni migration is richer than the familiar image of people fleeing north from a single conquering king. The Ngoni account collected by Rangeley locates Zwangendaba in Zwide's military world. Southern Nguni testimony associated with the James Stuart Archive preserves the wider upheavals of the Ndwandwe–Zulu wars. Contemporary records examined by Liesegang help us follow the subsequent movements of distinct Nguni groups beyond their southern homeland.

The answer to the question in our title is therefore not a simple choice between Zwide and Shaka. For Zwangendaba, the strongest tradition examined here points to Zwide. For the wider ancestry of today's Ngoni, one must allow for different leaders, shifting alliances and the incorporation of new communities along the migration routes.

These distinctions do not weaken Ngoni history. They make it possible to tell it with greater accuracy—and to hear the different African voices through which that history has survived.

---

Sources and further reading

1. W. H. J. Rangeley, “Inkosi Mtwalo of Northern Ngoniland in Nyasaland”, NgoniPeople.com. Source for Zwangendaba's reported rank in Zwide's army and marriage alliance.
2. Gerhard Liesegang, “Nguni Migrations Between Delagoa Bay and the Zambezi, 1821–1839”, African Historical Studies 3(2), 1970, pp. 317–337. Source for the migration chronology and the distinction between Zwangendaba and Nxaba.
3. John Wright, “Socwatsha kaPhaphu, James Stuart, and their conversations on the past, 1897–1922”, Kronos 41, 2015. Source identifying the named narrators of Ndwandwe–Zulu war anecdotes.
4. C. de B. Webb and J. B. Wright (editors), The James Stuart Archive of Recorded Oral Evidence Relating to the History of the Zulu and Neighbouring Peoples. Volume III front matter (1982). The full relevant Ndwandwe war testimonies have not been checked directly for this article.
5. A. T. Bryant, Olden Times in Zululand and Natal (1929), discussed critically in Rangeley's account.

Related NgoniPeople.com reading: A Note on the Jele Ngoni Paramountcy | Praise Poems of the Maseko and Jele Ngoni

Editorial note: This article compares documented oral histories and historical scholarship. It does not claim to quote directly from unpublished Stuart notebooks or to establish Zwangendaba's precise military office from contemporary records.

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Before the Great Ngoni Migration: Forgotten Testimonies About Zwide, Soshangane and the Ndwandwe Royal House

Exploring the James Stuart Archive and what southern Nguni oral traditions reveal about the origins of the Ngoni people of Malawi.

Who was Soshangane in relation to Zwide? Was the founder of the Gaza kingdom a brother, nephew or more distant relative of the powerful Ndwandwe ruler? And what might these relationships tell us about the political world in which Zwangendaba, remembered by the Jele Ngoni as a great ancestor, first rose to prominence?

The answers are not straightforward. Three accounts attributed to African informants recorded by James Stuart preserve different genealogies of Soshangane. Their differences deserve examination, not concealment.

Before the migration: Zwide's Ndwandwe kingdom

Before Shaka's Zulu kingdom achieved dominance, the southeast African region was home to a number of competing powers, including the Mthethwa associated with Dingiswayo and the Ndwandwe ruled by Zwide kaLanga. The wars and political upheavals of the early nineteenth century helped send several Nguni-speaking groups northwards. These included the followers of Soshangane, Zwangendaba, Nxaba Msane and Ngwana Maseko, although their movements and political fortunes were different.

This is why the history of the Ngoni of Malawi cannot be understood only by beginning with the crossing of the Zambezi. Its roots reach further south into the contested world of the Ndwandwe kingdom.

What is the James Stuart Archive?

James Stuart, an official in colonial Natal, collected extensive oral testimony on the history and customs of the Zulu and neighbouring communities around the turn of the twentieth century. The resulting papers were edited and published as The James Stuart Archive of Recorded Oral Evidence Relating to the History of the Zulu and Neighbouring Peoples by Colin de B. Webb and John B. Wright.

Crucially, the traditions belong to the African informants who supplied them, not to Stuart alone. They also concern an earlier period and are thus not always eyewitness accounts. The following genealogies are reproduced as summaries found in scholarly notes citing the published Stuart volumes (PDF, printed p. 152); the cited pages of the complete original testimonies have not yet been independently checked for this article.

Three informants, three genealogies

1. Bikwayo kaNoziwawa

The version attributed to Bikwayo traces Soshangane's ancestors backwards:

Soshangane → Zikode → Ndwandwe → Nyamande

Here Ndwandwe appears as an ancestor's name as well as the familiar name of a people or political formation. This suggests why historical names require care: names of ancestors, clans and political groupings may overlap. Reported source: Stuart Archive, Vol. I, p. 64; genealogical notes.

2. Luzipo kaNomageje

The account attributed to Luzipo describes Langa as the father of both Zikode and Zwide, and Zikode as the father of Soshangane.

Langa → Zikode → Soshangane
Langa → Zwide

If understood literally, Zwide would be Soshangane's paternal uncle, not his brother. This is a significant difference from accounts that present them as belonging to the same generation. Reported source: Stuart Archive, Vol. I, p. 354; genealogical notes.

3. Mbovu kaMtshumayeli

Mbovu's account places Soshangane in a descent line through Zikode to Malusi. It also identifies Zwide, son of Langa, as a grandson of Malusi. This places both men within a wider related ancestral network, without establishing from the summary alone exactly how Zikode and Langa were related. Calling the rulers first cousins would therefore go beyond what the available summary securely establishes. Reported source: Stuart Archive, Vol. III, p. 45; genealogical notes.

The three accounts compared

Informant	Reported genealogy	Implication
Bikwayo	Soshangane → Zikode → Ndwandwe → Nyamande	Ancestral line including Ndwandwe
Luzipo	Zwide and Zikode sons of Langa; Soshangane son of Zikode	Zwide would be Soshangane's uncle
Mbovu	Both connected through Malusi	Related branches, precise relationship uncertain

Why might the genealogies differ?

Oral accounts could reflect different family memories, the political identities of informants, or changes across generations of transmission. A genealogy might preserve biological descent, but could also reflect the remembered status of a royal house or a wider lineage. These possibilities do not prove that any informant was mistaken or dishonest. They show why it is unsafe to impose a single uncontested family tree on a complex historical past.

Where does Zwangendaba fit?

W. H. J. Rangeley's account Inkosi Mtwalo of Northern Ngoniland in Nyasaland offers a useful contrast between Ngoni oral tradition and A. T. Bryant's interpretation. Bryant described Zwangendaba as a man of comparatively modest standing in his homeland. The Ngoni account agreed he was not highly born, but insisted that he rose to become a general of Zwide's army. Rangeley also reported the Ngoni tradition that Zwide gave two daughters to Zwangendaba in marriage.

The tradition is historically important because it describes how Zwangendaba was remembered by his descendants: as a figure who achieved status through military leadership and political ties. Yet it remains a recorded tradition, not contemporary documentation of his precise rank.

Soshangane and Zwangendaba on the move

Gerhard Liesegang's study, Nguni Migrations Between Delagoa Bay and the Zambezi, 1821–1839, places the traditions alongside nineteenth-century Portuguese and British evidence. British visitors encountered Soshangane's group in October 1822 and Zwangendaba's in November 1822 near the Delagoa Bay region. This evidence suggests they maintained distinct centres of authority even when later oral accounts portrayed them as being together.

Later, Soshangane established the Gaza state in Mozambique, whereas Zwangendaba's followers moved further north and crossed the Zambezi. Liesegang cautioned that some reported battles involving Zwangendaba may be confused with conflicts involving Nxaba Msane. The four migrating histories—Soshangane, Zwangendaba, Nxaba and Ngwana Maseko—must therefore not be merged into one.

Why this matters for the Ngoni of Malawi

The evidence suggests that the Ngoni migrations emerged from a much broader political world of military service, royal households, shifting alliances and competing chiefly traditions. The Jele and Maseko communities took different routes and preserved different memories, while retaining meaningful links to southern Nguni cultural practices. Readers interested in the survival of these traditions can compare Margaret Read’s Tradition and Prestige Among the Ngoni and her Praise Poems of the Maseko and Jele Ngoni, both reproduced on NgoniPeople.com.

The Stuart testimonies do not finally resolve the genealogical relationship between Zwide and Soshangane. Their value lies in preserving multiple African voices whose histories can be compared with traditions recorded further north and with documents nearer the events.

Conclusion

The history of the Ngoni did not begin when Zwangendaba crossed the Zambezi. It began in an older southern Nguni world whose politics and family traditions continued to shape the communities that migrated north. The disagreements among Bikwayo, Luzipo and Mbovu are not inconveniences to erase; they are clues about the complexity of that world. A comparable reminder that Ngoni royal history contains competing family traditions is found in J. M. Winterbottom’s A Note on the Jele Ngoni Paramountcy, which discusses the claims of Mpezeni and Umbelwa.

Related reading on NgoniPeople.com

For readers wishing to explore the background further, these articles already published on this site are particularly relevant:

• Inkosi Mtwalo of Northern Ngoniland in Nyasaland — Ngoni testimony about Zwangendaba’s status and his relationship with Zwide.
• Nguni Migrations Between Delagoa Bay and the Zambezi, 1821–1839 — Documentary evidence for the movements of Soshangane, Zwangendaba, Nxaba and the Maseko.
• A Note on the Jele Ngoni Paramountcy — Competing memories of royal succession within the Jele Ngoni.
• Tradition and Prestige Among the Ngoni — Margaret Read’s account of Ngoni political and cultural institutions.
• Praise Poems of the Maseko and Jele Ngoni — Oral evidence of royal memories preserved in poetry.
• Songs of the Ngoni People — Ngoni song traditions and their links to southern Nguni languages.

References and further reading

The links below lead to the original website reproductions and a scholarly PDF documenting the three reported Stuart genealogies. They are not direct digitised facsimiles of the three published Stuart pages.

1. James Stuart Archive collection guide, University of Cape Town.
2. Webb, C. de B., and J. B. Wright (eds.), The James Stuart Archive of Recorded Oral Evidence Relating to the History of the Zulu and Neighbouring Peoples, Vol. I (1976), pp. 64 and 354; Vol. III (1982), p. 45. The genealogies cited above are reported in scholarly annotations (PDF, p. 152), which should be checked against the original volumes.
3. W. H. J. Rangeley, “Inkosi Mtwalo of Northern Ngoniland in Nyasaland”, reproduced on NgoniPeople.com.
4. Gerhard Liesegang, “Nguni Migrations Between Delagoa Bay and the Zambezi, 1821–1839”, African Historical Studies, 3(2), 1970, 317–337.
5. Margaret Read, The Ngoni of Nyasaland (1956); and “Tradition and Prestige Among the Ngoni” (1936), reproduced on NgoniPeople.com.
6. A. T. Bryant, Olden Times in Zululand and Natal (1929).
7. Margaret Read, “Praise Poems of the Maseko and Jele Ngoni”, excerpt from Songs of the Ngoni People, reproduced on NgoniPeople.com.
8. Margaret Read, “Songs of the Ngoni People (Lullabies, Umsindo and Mthimba Songs)”, reproduced on NgoniPeople.com.
9. J. M. Winterbottom, “A Note on the Jele Ngoni Paramountcy” (1937), reproduced on NgoniPeople.com.

Research note: The genealogical passages of the printed James Stuart Archive have not been directly collated with the scholarly annotations. This article presents the accounts as reported historical testimonies, not definitive family trees.

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Izithakazelo zamaNgoni : Ngoni Clan Praises, Ancestral Names and Their English Meanings

Izithakazelo zamaNgoni: Clan Praises, Ancestral Names and English Meanings

A historical research collection covering Ngoni clans in Malawi and related Nguni traditions in southern Africa

Among the Ngoni, clan praises carry ancestral names, images, remembered places and inherited identities. Their forms vary across Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa and Eswatini. The names collected here are a starting point for research, not a definitive register for every family bearing the same surname.

Important: Each original-language line below is a short excerpt from a linked published source. The English text provides a cautious explanation, not a certified word-for-word translation of an entire praise poem. Most sources are modern regional collections rather than recordings from Malawi. Readers are encouraged to compare these examples with the versions recited by their own elders.

What is an isithakazelo?

An isithakazelo is a form of clan praise or respectful ancestral address. It is not exactly the same as an isibongo (a longer praise poem, particularly for chiefs) or an isigiyo (a warrior’s dance cry). Margaret Read described these distinctions in her work on Ngoni song traditions. Repeated names often identify forebears rather than have a simple English dictionary equivalent.

Documented and related clan-praise extracts

1. Maseko

Ngcamane; Khubonye kaNdlovu

English explanation: Ngcamane is an ancestral invocation; Khubonye kaNdlovu means Khubonye, descendant of Ndlovu. A fuller praise invokes elephants grazing at home for want of herders.

Source status: Regional Nguni/Swati collection; verify Ntcheu lineage.

Read the published version and its variants

2. Gama

Gama; Mlangeni

English explanation: Invokes the Gama name and Mlangeni, a related praise or lineage designation. The recorded longer form includes images of a dusty leather skirt and people of Swazi identity.

Source status: Swati-linked regional tradition.

Read the published version and its variants

3. Mngomezulu

Dlakadla; Zombizwe; Nkabanhle

English explanation: These are chiefly names or inherited praise epithets rather than safely translatable everyday words. The longer praise uses the image of a mother nursing a child across the Ngwavuma River.

Source status: Regional tradition; branch identification needed.

Read the published version and its variants

4. Sibande / Nsibande

Mdlanyoka; Goje; Phangelakhulu

English explanation: Mdlanyoka suggests “eater of snakes” in a literal reading; Goje and Phangelakhulu require oral explanation as ancestral praises. Nsibande is the form on the source page.

Source status: Spelling and identity need confirmation.

Read the published version and its variants

5. Sitole / Sithole

Jobe; Mondise; Maphitha

English explanation: Names of celebrated forebears; the longer verses feature images of heat, sparks, iron and migration. These are names rather than sentences to translate literally.

Source status: South African Sithole version; compare Malawi Sitole.

Read the published version and its variants

6. Msimang / Msimango

Thabizolo; Nonkosi; Mlotshwa

English explanation: Praise names. A longer regional tradition refers to a person descending by basket, an image that needs clan-specific oral interpretation. NgoniPeople.com separately records Msimang as Simango in Malawi.

Source status: Compare NgoniPeople.com version.

Read the published version and its variants

7. Nkomo

Yengwayo; Mageza; Vezi

English explanation: Mostly ancestral epithets. Nkomo literally means cattle or cow; the listed epithets should not be guessed into English personal meanings.

Source status: Short regional record; variants exist.

Read the published version and its variants

8. Nyati / Nyathi

Mgwaba; Bhense; Nyathi emnyama

English explanation: Nyathi means buffalo; “Nyathi emnyama” means black buffalo. The longer praise imagines a black buffalo that may become white, resembling its maternal family.

Source status: Possible orthographic variant; confirm same clan.

Read the published version and its variants

9. Maziya

Maziya; Gembe; Mkhabela

English explanation: These names appear in a Sibeko praise tradition. Their appearance there is not sufficient proof that every Maziya family uses the complete Sibeko poem.

Source status: Cross-reference only, not verified Maziya text.

Read the published version and its variants

10. Magagula

Magagula; Ntenga; Duma

English explanation: Magagula occurs in a Mthombeni praise set, whose imagery features crossing a sea that only high-flying swallows can traverse. The reference is not a standalone Magagula clan praise.

Source status: Cross-reference only.

Read the published version and its variants

11. Malinga

Nongombili; Msimbikati

English explanation: A community-contributed version invokes these as lineage or praise names. Other contributors disagree about the relationship between Malinga and Ndlovu traditions.

Source status: Community variants; disputed links.

Read the published version and its variants

12. Ndlovu

Gatsheni; Boya benyathi

English explanation: Gatsheni is an ancestral praise; “Boya benyathi” literally means buffalo hair or hide. Its imagery is metaphorical and should not be mistaken for a literal genealogy.

Source status: Regional tradition.

Read the published version and its variants

13. Zulu

Ndabezitha; Wena kaPhunga noMageba

English explanation: Ndabezitha is a respectful royal salutation; Wena kaPhunga noMageba addresses descendants of Phunga and Mageba.

Source status: Zulu royal lineage, not all families named Zulu.

Read the published version and its variants

14. Mlangeni

Magasela; Sidwaba siluthuli

English explanation: Magasela is a recorded praise name; “Sidwaba siluthuli” evokes a dust-covered traditional leather skirt. Gama traditions also invoke Mlangeni.

Source status: Cross-regional version.

Read the published version and its variants

15. Nkambule / Khambule

Mzilankatha; Mlotshwa

English explanation: These are inherited praises. A reported longer tradition links the family to migration toward Swaziland; it is a tradition to investigate, not conclusive proof of a particular migration.

Source status: Spelling and branch vary.

Read the published version and its variants

16. Ngwenya

Mntimande; Mabuya bengasabuyi

English explanation: Ngwenya means crocodile. “Mabuya bengasabuyi” can be read as people who return when no return was expected.

Source status: Regional tradition.

Read the published version and its variants

17. Ndlela

Ndlela kaSompisi; Godide

English explanation: Ndlela means path or way; the first phrase names Ndlela as Sompisi’s descendant. Godide is a praise name requiring lineage context.

Source status: Regional tradition.

Read the published version and its variants

18. Dube

Dube kaBayisa; Khushwayo

English explanation: Dube means zebra; “kaBayisa” indicates descent from Bayisa. Khushwayo is an ancestral praise name.

Source status: Regional tradition.

Read the published version and its variants

19. Manyoni

Mlotshwa; Mtuse; Choboza

English explanation: Names and epithets in a regional Manyoni tradition; literal English meanings for the individual ancestors are not established.

Source status: Regional tradition.

Read the published version and its variants

The Jere/Jele question

The Jere or Jele royal line is central to the history of the M’mbelwa Ngoni of Mzimba. This post does not publish a supposed definitive Jere izithakazelo because the accessible modern sources do not yet establish one secure, clan-specific text. A neighbouring surname or a Gumbi praise must not simply be assigned to the M’mbelwa dynasty.

Names still in need of confirmed texts

Magaseni, Mashabana, Nqumayo, Pahla, Thole, Magwagwa, Ngozo, Ziphondo, Gwati, Nzunga, Phungwako, Ndumba, Mauya, Likhuleni, Maile, Mhlambi, Nhlane, Gausi, Buyeni, Mgabi, Malunga, Ndau, Puti, Nkosi, Ngwana, Tabete, Magininda, Nhlahla, Ngqongwana and Manokera are among the names from the wider historical clan list needing stronger clan-specific evidence. A name’s absence here does not mean its people have no praises.

Why the versions differ

Migration, marriage, political alliances, language contact and changes in spelling all affect how clans recite and record praise names. In a few cases a name is found inside another family’s poem. This may indicate a shared memory, but it does not by itself prove identical ancestry. Online clan-praise collections are useful leads, especially where relatives add variants, yet should be checked against recorded oral histories and academic accounts.

Invitation to Ngoni families

Do you know the praises of your clan as recited in Mzimba, Ntcheu, Dedza or elsewhere? A useful contribution would include the clan name and spelling, the exact verses in isiNgoni or another original language, the elder or family who recited them, the locality, and the meaning explained by the family. This would help preserve the words without confusing separate traditions.

References and further reading

Margaret Read, “Praise Poems of the Maseko and Jele Ngoni” (reproduced at NgoniPeople.com); “Izithakazelo of Nguni Clans,” NgoniPeople.com; individual iAfrika and izithakazelo.blog sources linked under each clan. The historical classification of clans is associated with G. T. Nurse, Clanship in Central Malawi (1978).

Editorial note: This is a modern research post, not an original nineteenth-century transcription. Source-specific wording and interpretations are separately identified above.

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Echoes Across Southern Africa: Comparing Ngoni Songs with Ancient Nguni Traditions — A Critical Reassessment of Margaret Read’s 1937 Translations

 

Echoes Across Southern Africa: Ngoni Songs Compared with Zulu and Xhosa Traditions

A source-based comparison of Margaret Read’s 1937 Ngoni collection with independently documented songs and praises in other Nguni languages.

When Margaret Read recorded Ngoni songs in Nyasaland, she wondered whether songs brought north in the nineteenth century might survive among descendants who had long lived apart from their southern homeland. The best way to explore that question is not to translate every Ngoni song into modern isiZulu and call it a match. It is to place Read’s actual texts beside independently recorded isiZulu, isiXhosa and other Nguni compositions—and say precisely what they share.

A note on evidence: “Close wording” means distinctive words or phrases resemble one another; “shared genre” means songs or recitations serve a similar role; “thematic parallel” does not imply the tunes or texts are historically the same. The examples below are not all equally old. Zulu izibongo are praise recitations rather than ordinary strophic songs; they are included because Read herself compared those traditions.

1. Hushing a child: Ngoni Binda mntanami and a recorded Zulu lullaby

Ngoni — Margaret Read (1937)

Binda mntanami
Eya eya
Binda mntanami

Read: “Hush my child ... Never mind, never mind.”

Read, Section I.A, lullaby no. 1.

isiZulu — lullaby cited by Dhlomo (1947)

Thula, thula, thula, mntanami
Ukhalelani na?

Sense: “Be still, my child; why are you crying?”

Quoted in Ruth Finnegan, Oral Literature in Africa, chapter on children’s songs (citing Dhlomo 1947).

What a Zulu speaker might notice. Mntanami (“my child”) is unmistakably shared, and both songs rely on repeated soothing imperatives. Binda should not simply be overwritten with thula: the Ngoni verb as Read heard it deserves local linguistic investigation. These are two documented lullabies with overlapping wording and function, not proof of a single inherited melody. Read’s “Never mind” captures reassurance but cannot convey the actual sound of the refrain.

Reviewing Read’s translation: Read’s “Hush my child” is sensible, but binda should not automatically be rendered as standard isiZulu thula. Her “Never mind” for eya eya assigns a semantic meaning to what may chiefly be a soothing vocal refrain. Preferred English presentation: “Quiet, my child; eya, eya [soothing refrain].” The further words about gossip and harvesting should be translated separately, not treated as part of a simple hush formula.

2. Another lullaby: Ngoni domestic reassurance and an isiXhosa Thula sana

Ngoni — Read

Binda mntanami
Eya eya

The song combines soothing sounds with additional lines about a person gossiping and the work of reaping maize.

isiXhosa — Thula Thula Sana (documented modern performance)

Thula sana
Thul’ umam’ uzobuya ekuseni

Sense: “Quiet, baby; mother will return in the morning.”

Xhosa Kids, recorded/uploaded 2020; this dates the source used here, not the age of the song.

Comparison. Both use repetitions of a calming instruction followed by domestic imagery. The isiXhosa version explicitly promises a parent’s return; Read’s Ngoni song also contains commentary on relationships within the household. We cannot assume the same historical date for either version. What survives across these examples is a shared Nguni way of making nursery song part of ordinary family conversation.

Reviewing Read’s translation: There is no established error in Read’s “Hush my child.” The isiXhosa song is an independent thematic parallel, not evidence that Read misunderstood the Ngoni text. The important distinction is that the Ngoni lullaby adds teasing or social commentary, whereas this Xhosa lyric promises the mother’s return.

3. The cattle are going: Ngoni war song and a famous isiXhosa phrase

Ngoni — Zemuka inkomo magwala-ndini

Zemuka inkomo magwala-ndini
Naziya zemuka magwala-ndini
Ubujaha buphelile na?

Read: Cattle are running off; the men are called cowards and asked whether their young manhood is finished.

Read, Section II.C, war song no. 8.

isiXhosa — Zemk’ Inkomo Magwalandini

Zemk’ Inkomo Magwalandini

Sense: “There go the cattle, you cowards!”

Title of W. B. Rubusana’s Xhosa literary anthology, first published in 1906 and enlarged in 1911—not verified here as a separate song.

Why this is extraordinary. Unlike a loose thematic comparison, this is nearly the same memorable phrase: the animals leave while the audience is castigated as cowards. In Read’s Ngoni example the situation is a war taunt, reportedly sung by women to rouse the men. In the Xhosa anthology title, the cattle can function metaphorically as heritage or cultural wealth slipping away. Because one item is a song and the other is a book title, this is a remarkable phrase parallel—not yet proof that a particular Xhosa war song crossed the continent with the Ngoni. Read’s word “cowards” is accurate but the vocative magwala-ndini has a biting public-shaming force.

Reviewing Read’s translation: Read correctly recognizes both the escaping cattle and the accusation of cowardice. A more idiomatic and emotionally direct rendering is: “The cattle are getting away, you cowards! There they go, you cowards! Has your courage as young men deserted you?” Here magwala-ndini is a sharp, contemptuous address; ubujaha can suggest young manhood and its expected courage, rather than merely an age category. Her wording is not wrong; its rhetorical force is understated.

4. Praising a chief with dazzling images: Zwangendaba and Shaka

Ngoni — Izibongo zikaZwangendaba

UZwangendaba omnyama ngamabomu ...

Read’s longer praise describes shining wings, blood, clearing obstacles, and Zwangendaba’s crossing of the Zambezi.

Read, Section II.B, praises of Zwangendaba kaHlatshwayo.

isiZulu — Izibongo zikaShaka

UNodumehlezi kaMenzi
USishaka kasishayeki

Sense: A formidable ruler whose power or renown is expressed through concentrated praise-names.

Traditional praises in edited Zulu collections; also quoted in UNISA African Languages study materials.

Comparison. These are not matching lines: the relationship is in the literary technique. Both praise-poets compress a ruler’s biography into paradox, genealogy, strong verbal images and remembered achievements. Read’s translation offers clues but sometimes makes metaphor sound unusually literal. An isiZulu listener might expect an image to carry several meanings at once—glory, danger, criticism or humor. Read also recorded apparently sarcastic elements in praise poems, an observation worth preserving rather than dismissing.

Reviewing Read’s translation: Read’s “whose intention it is to be black” for omnyama ngamabomu makes an idiomatic expression overly literal. Ngamabomu is naturally heard in isiZulu as “deliberately/on purpose,” so a closer phrasing is “Zwangendaba, dark by deliberate choice, who denies that daylight has come.” This is still metaphorical; whether it alludes to complexion, defiance, personal character, or an inherited praise-name cannot be decided from the English alone. Elsewhere in the praise, Read explicitly admits that ukudabuka might mean “originate from” or “break away from”; for migration history those senses must remain alternatives, not be silently collapsed into one.

5. Hearing Shaka from different sides of history

Ngoni — historical migration song

Ngilele ngingalalanga

Read records the singer as unable to sleep and identifies an accompanying line about Shaka scattering people into the forests.

Read, Section I.B, umsindo song no. 6.

isiZulu — Shaka’s royal praises

UDlungwana kaNdaba
UDlungwana woMbelebele

Shaka is evoked through a praise-name emphasizing ferocity and royal lineage.

Traditional izibongo zikaShaka, recorded in multiple versions.

Comparison. Both traditions remember the same southern political landscape, yet from different positions. The Ngoni composition voices unease and disruption; Zulu royal praises put Shaka’s greatness at the center. It would be misleading to suggest that this is the same song. It is instead a rare chance to read two historically connected perspectives side by side.

Reviewing Read’s translation: Read’s “Though I lie down I cannot sleep” for ngilele ngingalalanga is essentially accurate. A natural rendering is “I lie down, but sleep will not come.” The line powerfully expresses distress, and the historical verses associate that distress with Shaka’s campaigns. It would be unjustified to claim the verb itself proves fear of Shaka; the context supplies that interpretation.

6. When everyone gathers against us: a marriage song or a war lament?

Ngoni — Zizwe zonke zimemelene thina

Zizwe zonke
Zimemelene thina
Siyakulwa sithini?
Siyakulimemaphi?

Read’s wording: “All the nations are called together against us ... How shall we fight? Whence shall we summon help?”

Read, Section I.B, umsindo song no. 4. The journal spelling is uneven; lines are lightly normalized here for reading.

Comparative Nguni song-language

The song’s own vocabulary is strikingly close to isiZulu: izizwe (peoples/nations), ukulwa (to fight), and ukumema (to summon/invite).

Documented parallel: Zulu and other Nguni military praises frequently use the imagery of enemies and collective confrontation; no independently attested identical lyric is asserted here.

Correcting the interpretation, not forcing the text. Read says the song was explained locally as a lament about tensions in polygynous households, and notes that ministers later used it when criticizing polygyny. That is valuable evidence of its performance history, but it does not make the military words a straightforward allegory. Preferred reading: “All the peoples have rallied against us. How are we to fight? Where shall we call for help?” Its immediate imagery is military and collective. It may have been adapted to domestic troubles, or listeners may have heard both meanings. Neither an original battlefield setting nor an original marriage setting is conclusively established.

7. Earth that is never satisfied: a song of mortality

Ngoni — Umhlaba kawunoni

Umhlaba kawunoni
Uqed' amakhosi-khosi
Siyakufel' emhlabeni na?

Read: “The earth does not get fat. It makes an end of the chiefs. Shall we all die on the earth?”

Read, Section I.C, mthimba song no. 8.

Wider Nguni oral-poetic comparison

The underlying vocabulary is familiar in isiZulu: umhlaba (earth), ukunona (to become fat, grow rich or full), amakhosi (chiefs), ukufa (to die).

Zulu izibongo likewise answer human mortality by keeping the names and deeds of deceased rulers in public memory. This is a thematic comparison, not a claim of matching verses.

Translation refinement: Read’s literal “the earth does not get fat” is a sound starting point and preserves the metaphor. In context, however, the earth is imagined as never filled or satisfied however many it consumes. A more evocative translation is: “The earth is never satisfied; it takes even the chiefs. Must we all die and go into the earth?” The last line is a rhetorical lament, not a request for factual information. The local poetic explanation should accompany—not replace—the literal image.

8. The bride leaves home: the emotion behind mthimba

Ngoni — wedding song

... yobaba ungidele

Read’s interpretation: The singer is lost or wandering because her father has given her up.

Read, Section I.C, marriage song no. 1. The reproduced fragment has uncertain 1937 spelling.

Zulu and other Nguni wedding song tradition

Traditions of umthimba, the bridal party, include expressions of departure, family ties and transition into a new household.

Evidence status: shared wedding genre and sentiment; a matching separately published lyric has not been verified for this particular verse.

Translation caution: In isiZulu, ukungidela can convey “to give me up,” “forsake me,” or “let me go,” with painful emotional force. Read’s “my father has given me up” therefore makes sense, but “my father has let me go / abandoned me” better leaves open the bride’s feeling of rejection. Her “I shall wander to the wild country” may be an expression of estrangement from familiar kin rather than literal travel into wilderness. Because the old printed line is difficult to read, this is a cautious clarification, not a definitive retranscription.

9. Where further Nguni song matches are still needed

Read also printed striking Ngoni texts for mthimba (marriage), inqwala (ritual renewal), and mourning. They are ideal candidates for comparison with documented wedding songs and ritual repertoires in isiZulu, siSwati, isiNdebele and isiXhosa. But a general similarity between two ceremonies does not justify inventing an accompanying lyric. For example, Ngoni inqwala and emaSwati incwala are an important cultural parallel; a responsible word-for-word song comparison must first identify a reliably recorded siSwati text.

10. Revisiting Margaret Read: what she understood, and what deserves a second hearing

Read deserves credit for recording and comparing songs while acknowledging difficulties of transcription and translation. Her strongest observation may be that some war songs persisted in both the Jere and Maseko Ngoni communities. She also heard that a song could be sung on different occasions, acquiring new uses over time.

At the same time, a modern comparison suggests three cautions. First, a literal translation does not always preserve the force of a form such as magwala-ndini. Second, songs using war language should not automatically be interpreted as allegories about domestic jealousy, even when singers later apply them to married life. Third, Ngoni lyrics should not automatically be respelled into modern isiZulu: distinct regional forms and local understandings matter.

Most importantly, the Ngoni should not be described simply as “Zulu abroad.” Their repertoire belongs to the broader southern Nguni world, and their oral traditions also commemorate generations of new experiences north of the Zambezi.

Conclusion

Side-by-side comparison reveals both continuity and change. The lullabies share the intimate language of comforting children. The war song and Xhosa book title share an unusually distinctive cry about disappearing cattle and cowardice. The praise poetry shares a highly developed art of creating historical memory through dense verbal images. These are different kinds of evidence; none should be flattened into a claim that every song had one common origin.

The next task for Ngoni and southern Nguni researchers is to record living performers, preserve full lyrics and melodies, and annotate what singers themselves say the words mean. That is the best way to distinguish borrowed songs, shared older inheritances, and striking expressions that developed independently.

Sources and listening

1. Margaret Read, “Songs of the Ngoni People,” Bantu Studies 11:1 (1937), 1–35. Original publication.
2. Ruth Finnegan, Oral Literature in Africa, chapter “Children’s Songs and Rhymes,” citing Dhlomo (1947) on the Zulu lullaby. Read the study.
3. Xhosa Kids, “Thula Thula Sana,” isiXhosa lullaby performance (2020). Listen.
4. W. B. Rubusana, Zemk’ Inkomo Magwalandini, 1906 / second edition 1911. Discussed in scholarship on Xhosa print literature: SOAS study.
5. James Stuart and A. T. Cope (eds.), Izibongo: Zulu Praise-Poems (1968). Bibliographic details.
6. Zulu praises of Shaka, with translation and notes. Comparative text.

Editorial note: Short quoted excerpts are used for comparison. Read’s 1937 spellings and the later printed Zulu/Xhosa texts may differ from present-day pronunciation and local oral variants. Song texts, literary titles and praise recitations are identified separately.

Language note: Revised English interpretations are editorial readings based on Nguni lexical and contextual parallels. They are not asserted as authenticated translations by native-speaking Ngoni custodians. Where only a thematic parallel is available, it has not been represented as a separately documented matching song.

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