The 'Zulu' (
South African English and
isiZulu: '''amaZulu''') are a South African ethnic group of an estimated 17-22 million people who live mainly in the province of
KwaZulu-Natal,
South Africa. The Zulu form South Africa's largest single ethnic group. Small numbers also live in
Zimbabwe,
Zambia, and
Mozambique. Their language,
isiZulu, is a
Bantu language; more specifically, part of the
Nguni subgroup. The Zulu Kingdom played a major role in
South African History during the 19th and 20th centuries. Under
apartheid, Zulu people were classed as
second-class citizens and suffered from state sanctioned discrimination. Today, they are the most numerous ethnic group in South Africa, and have equal rights along with all other citizens.
History
Origins
The Zulu were originally a minor clan in what is today Northern
KwaZulu-Natal, founded ca.
1709 by
Zulu kaNtombhela. In the Zulu language, ''Zulu'' means ''heaven'', or ''sky''. At that time, the area was occupied by many large
Nguni tribes and clans (also called ''isizwe''=nation, people or "isibongo"=clan). Nguni tribes had migrated down Africa's east coast over thousands of years, probably arriving in what is now South Africa in about the year A.D.
800.
Kingdom
The rise of the Zulu kingdom under Shaka
Shaka Zulu was the
illegitimate son of
Senzangakona, chief of the Zulus. He was born ''circa''
1787. He and his mother,
Nandi, were exiled by Senzangakona, and found refuge in the
Mthethwa. Shaka fought as a warrior under
Dingiswayo, chief of the Mthethwa. When Senzangakona died, Dingiswayo helped Shaka claim his place as chief of the Zulu Kingdom.
The bloody ascendancy of Dingane
Shaka was succeeded by
Dingane, his half brother, who conspired with
Mhlangana, another half-brother, to murder him. Following this assassination, Dingane murdered Mhlangana, and took over the throne. One of his first royal acts was to execute all of his royal kin. In the years that followed, he also executed many past supporters of Shaka in order to secure his position. One exception to these purges was
Mpande, another half-brother, who was considered too weak to be a threat at the time.
Clashes with the Voortrekkers and the ascendancy of Mpande
In October
1837, the
Voortrekker leader
Piet Retief visited Dingane at his royal kraal to negotiate a land deal for the voortrekkers. In November, about 1,000 Voortrekker wagons began descending the
Drakensberg mountains from the
Orange Free State into what is now
KwaZulu-Natal.
Dingane asked that Retief and his party retrieve some cattle stolen from him by a local chief. This Retief and his men did, returning on
February 3 1838. The next day, a treaty was signed, wherein Dingane ceded all the land south of the
Tugela River to the
Mzimvubu River to the Voortrekkers. Celebrations followed. On
February 6, at the end of the celebrations, Retief's party were invited to a dance, and asked to leave their weapons behind. At the peak of the dance, Dingane leapt to his feet and yelled ''"Bambani abathakathi!"'' (
isiZulu for "Seize the wizards"). Retief and his men were overpowered, taken to the nearby hill kwaMatiwane, and executed. Some believe that they were killed for withholding some of the cattle they recovered, but it is likely that the deal was a ploy to overpower the Voortrekkers. Dingane's army then attacked and massacred a group of 500 Voortrekker men, women and children camped nearby. The site of this massacre is today called
Weenen, (Dutch for "to weep").
The remaining Voortrekkers elected a new leader,
Andries Pretorius, and Dingane suffered a crushing defeat at the
Battle of Blood River on
December 16 1838, when he attacked a group of 470 Voortrekker settlers led by Pretorius.
Following his defeat, Dingane burned his royal household and fled north. Mpande, the half-brother who had been spared from Dingane's purges, defected with 17,000 followers, and, together with Pretorius and the Voortrekkers, went to war with Dingane. Dingane was assassinated near the modern
Swaziland border. Mpande then took over rulership of the Zulu nation.
Succession of Cetshwayo
Following the campaign against Dingane, in
1839 the Voortrekkers, under Pretorius, formed the
Boer republic of
Natalia, south of the Thukela, and west of the
British settlement of Port Natal (now
Durban). Mpande and Pretorius maintained peaceful relations. However, in
1842, war broke out between the British and the Boers, resulting in the British annexation of Natalia. Mpande shifted his allegiance to the British, and remained on good terms with them.
In
1843, Mpande ordered a purge of perceived dissidents within his kingdom. This resulted in numerous deaths, and the fleeing of thousands of refugees into neighbouring areas (including the British-controlled
Natal). Many of these refugees fled with cattle. Mpande began raiding the surrounding areas, culminating in the invasion of
Swaziland in
1852. However, the British pressured him into withdrawing, which he did shortly.
At this time, a battle for the succession broke out between two of Mpande's sons,
Cetshwayo and
Mbuyazi. This culminated in
1856 with a battle that left Mbuyazi dead. Cetshwayo then set about usurping his father's authority. In
1872, Mpande died of old age, and Cetshwayo took over rulership.
Fall of the kingdom
Anglo-Zulu War
Main articles: Anglo-Zulu War
On
December 11,
1878, agents of the British delivered an ultimatum to 14 chiefs representing Cetshwayo. The terms of the ultimatum were unacceptable to Cetshwayo. British forces crossed the Thukela river at the end of December
1878. The war took place in
1879. Early in the war, the Zulus defeated the British at the
Battle of Isandlwana on
January 22, but were severely defeated later that day at
Rorke's Drift. The war ended in Zulu defeat at the
Battle of Ulundi on
July 4.
Division and the death of Cetshwayo
Cetshwayo was captured a month after his defeat, and then exiled to
Cape Town. The British passed rule of the Zulu kingdom onto 13 "kinglets", each with his own subkingdom. Conflict soon erupted between these subkingdoms, and in
1882, Cetshwayo was allowed to visit England. He had audiences with
Queen Victoria, and other famous personages, before being allowed to return to Zululand, to be reinstated as king.
In
1883, Cetshwayo was put in place as king over a buffer reserve territory, much reduced from his original kingdom. Later that year, however, Cetshwayo was attacked at Ulundi by
Zibhebhu, one of the 13 kinglets, supported by Boer mercenaries. Cetshwayo was wounded and fled. Cetshwayo died in February
1884, possibly poisoned. His son,
Dinuzulu, then 15, inherited the throne.
Dinuzulu and the Boer mercenaries
In order to fight back against Zibhebhu, Dinuzulu recruited Boer mercenaries of his own, promising them land in return for their aid. These mercenaries called themselves "Dinuzulu's Volunteers", and were led by
Louis Botha. Dinuzulu's Volunteers defeated Zibhebhu in
1884, and duly demanded their land. They were granted about half of Zululand individually as farms, and formed an independent republic. This alarmed the British, who then annexed Zululand in
1887. Dinuzulu became involved in later conflicts with rivals. In
1906 Dinuzulu was accused of being behind the
Bambatha Rebellion. He was arrested and put on trial by the British for "high treason and public violence". In
1909, he was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment on
St Helena island. When the Union of South Africa was formed, Louis Botha became its first prime minister, and he arranged for his old ally Dinuzulu to live in exile on a farm in the Transvaal, where Dinuzulu died in
1913.
Dinuzulu's son
Solomon kaDinuzulu was never recognized by South African authorities as the Zulu king, only as a local chief, but he was increasingly regarded as king by chiefs, by political intellectuals such as
John Langalibalele Dube and by ordinary Zulu people. In
1923, Solomon founded the organization Inkatha YaKwaZulu to promote his royal claims, which became moribund and then was revived in the 1970s by
Mangosuthu Buthelezi, chief minister of the KwaZulu bantustan. In December
1951, Solomon's son
Cyprian Bhekuzulu kaSolomon was officially recognized as the Paramount Chief of the Zulu people, but real power over ordinary Zulu people lay with white South African officials working through local chiefs who could be removed from office for failure to cooperate.
Apartheid years
The KwaZulu homeland
Main articles: KwaZulu
Under
apartheid, the
homeland of
KwaZulu (''Kwa'' meaning ''place of'') was created for Zulu people. In
1970, the
Bantu Homeland Citizenship Act provided that all Zulus would become citizens of KwaZulu, losing their South African citizenship. KwaZulu consisted of a large number of disconnected pieces of land, in what is now KwaZulu-Natal. Hundreds of thousands of Zulu people living on privately owned "black spots" outside of KwaZulu were dispossessed and forcibly moved to
bantustans - worse land previously reserved for whites contiguous to existing areas of KwaZulu - in the name of "consolidation." By
1993, approximately 5.2 million Zulu people lived in KwaZulu, and approximately 2 million lived in the rest of South Africa. The
Chief Minister of KwaZulu, from its creation in
1970 (as Zululand) was Chief
Mangosuthu Buthelezi. In
1994, KwaZulu was joined with the province of Natal, to form modern KwaZulu-Natal.
Inkatha
Main articles: Inkatha Freedom Party
In
1975, Buthelezi revived the Inkatha YaKwaZulu, predecessor of the
Inkatha Freedom Party. This organization was nominally a protest movement against apartheid, but held more conservative views than the
ANC. For example, Inkatha was opposed to the armed struggle, and to sanctions against South Africa. Inkatha was initially on good terms with the ANC, but the two organizations came into increasing conflict beginning in
1979 in the aftermath of the
Soweto Uprising.
Because its stances were more in accordance with the apartheid government's views, Inkatha was the only mass organization recognized as being representative of the views of black South Africans by the apartheid government (the
ANC and other movements were banned). In the last years of apartheid, this acceptance extended to the covert provision of funds and guerilla warfare training to Inkatha by the government. Yet unlike the leaders of the
Transkei,
Ciskei,
Bophuthatswana and
Venda bantustans, Buthelezi never accepted the pseudo-independence offered under the policy of Separate Development, despite strong pressure from the ruling white government.
Political violence
From
1985, members of opposing protest movements in what is now KwaZulu-Natal began engaging in bloody armed clashes, with combatants armed with
AK-47's. This political violence occurred primarily between Inkatha and ANC members, and included atrocities committed by both sides. It was believed to be frequently instigated by a branch of the apartheid government's security forces, which became known as the "third force". The violence continued through the 1980s, and escalated in the 1990s in the build up to the first national elections in
1994.
The modern Zulu population
The modern Zulu population is fairly evenly distributed in both urban and rural areas. Although KwaZulu-Natal is still their heartland, large numbers have been attracted to the relative economic prosperity of Gauteng province. Indeed,
isiZulu is the most widely spoken home language in the province, followed by
Sesotho. IsiZulu is also widely spoken in rural and small-town Mpumalanga province.
Zulus also play an important part in South African politics. Mangosuthu Buthelezi served a term as one of two
Deputy Presidents in the government of national unity which came into power in
1994, when reduction of civil conflict between ANC and IFP followers was a key national issue. Within the ANC, both the immediate past (
Jacob Zuma) and current (
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka)
Deputy President of the country have been Zulu, in part to bolster the ANC's claim to be a pan-ethnic national party and refute IFP claims that it was primarily a
Xhosa party.
Zulu music
The singing styles of the Zulu people and their
Nguni heritage are worthy of special mention. As in much of Africa, music is highly regarded, enabling the communication of emotions and situations which could not be explained by talking. Zulu music incorporates rhythm, melody and harmony — the latter is usually dominant and known as "
isigubudu" (which can be translated as converging horns on a beast, with tips touching the animal, a spiralling inward that reflects inner feelings).
Maskanda and
Mbaqanga are other Zulu music genres. Notable Maskandi musicians include
Phuzekhemisi and
Mfazomnyama.
Zulu music has also been carried worldwide, often by white musicians using Zulu backing singers, or performing songs by Zulu composers. A famous example of the former is
Paul Simon. Examples of the latter are the song "
Wimoweh" and several tunes on the first non-cassette album by
Bow Wow Wow. In the case of both Bow Wow Wow and to a lesser extent "Wimoweh", the original Zulu musicians went largely unidentified and uncompensated by the white musicians. The song "Wimoweh" is used in the Disney animated film ''
The Lion King''; the Zulu language is also sung in the opening song of the film, "
Circle of Life".
The famous South African
Johnny Clegg also took Zulu music to the world but as an original composers within various genres. The internationally successful Zulu group
Ladysmith Black Mambazo are among the artists who have made Zulu musical traditions known throughout the world. After contributing to
Paul Simon's ''
Graceland'' album, they have toured the world with numerous stars and received two
Grammy Awards.
Language
Main articles: Zulu language
The language of the Zulu people is
Zulu or ''isiZulu'', a
Bantu language; more specifically, part of the
Nguni subgroup. Zulu is the most widely spoken language in South Africa, with more than half of the South African population able to understand it (Ethnologue 2005). Many Zulu people also speak
English,
Portuguese,
Shangaan,
Sesotho and others from among
South Africa's 11 official languages.
Religion
Zulu people can be
Christians (whether
Roman Catholics or
Protestants in Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, or part-Christian, part-Traditionalist in Zimbabwe) or pure Traditionalist.
Zulu religion includes belief in a creator God (Nkulunkulu), who is above interacting in day-to-day human affairs. It is possible to appeal to the spirit world only by invoking the ancestors (amaDlozi) through divination processes. As such, the diviner, who is almost always a woman, plays an important part in the daily lives of the Zulu people. It is believed that all bad things, including death, are the result of evil sorcery or offended spirits. No misfortune is ever seen as the result of natural causes. Another important aspect of Zulu religion is cleanliness. Separate utensils and plates were used for different foods, and bathing often occurred up to three times a day. Going
barefoot has always been a traditional sign of Zulu spirituality and strength. Christianity had difficulty gaining a foothold among the Zulu people, and when it did it was in a syncretic fashion. Isaiah Shembe, considered the Zulu
Messiah, presented a form of Christianity (the
Nazareth Baptist Church) which incorporated traditional customs.
[2]
See also
★
Anglo-Zulu War
★
Inkatha Freedom Party
★
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
★
Nguni
★
Shaka Zulu
★
Zulu Civil War
★
List of Zulu kings
★
List of Zulu first names
★
Nguni stick fighting
★
Abahlali baseMjondolo
★
Zulu language
★
South African Translators' Institute
★
Nazareth Baptist Church - Shembe
External links
★
Afropop Worldwide's public radio program on Zulu Music, "The Zulu Factor"
★
Zulu Music, BBC semi-post-colonial style,
RealPlayer file.
★
People of Africa, Zulu marriage explained
★
An article on Piet Retief, including his interactions with Dingane
★
History section of the official page for the Zululand region
★
Human Rights Watch report on KwaZulu, just prior to the 1994 elections. - This includes detailed, well-referenced sections on recent Zulu history.
References
1. South Africa grows to 44.8 million, on the site southafrica.info published for the International Marketing Council of South Africa, dated 9 July 2003, retrieved 4 March 2005.
2. Art & Life in Africa Online - Zulu
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