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The Development of the Military Organization in Swaziland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 August 2012

Hilda Beemer
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Extract

When Europeans came into contact with the Swazi, it was inevitable that, since the two cultures had not the same institutions, beliefs and practices, one and the same situation was criticized from different social viewpoints and judged from different standards of value. Even when certain actions were similarly classified, each milieu gave them its own distinct emphasis or pattern, while similar values were embodied in and maintained by very different institutions. Immediate practical considerations and the political theory varying with place and time determined to what extent the dominant culture controlled the development of the traditional African life. I have chosen to analyse the way in which the military organization of the, Swazi, one of the basic factors in the traditional culture, has reacted under that small arc of Western civilization which has impinged on the lives of the natives in the Protectorate.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , January 1937 , pp. 55 - 74
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1937

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References

page 55 note 1 Cf. , Bryant, Olden Times in Zululand and Natal, p. 320.Google Scholar

page 55 note 2 Last eight generations of Swazi kings—Ndungunye or Zikodze, end of 18th century, begat Somhlolo, Ngwane III or Sobuza, begat Mswati Wangwane, Mavuso, First Swazi King in the Mdimba area, died 1868, begat Ludonga (died n i youth), died in 1874, in whose place was appointed Mbandzeni Dlamini, died 1889, who begat Bunu, Ngwane IV, died 1899, who begat Sobuza II, Mona.

page 59 note 1 South African Law Journal, vol. xliii (1926), PP. 431–8.Google Scholar

page 60 note 1 Since it is still observable, in the present situation, I will use throughout the present tense. In a later section it will be clear what is active in practice and what is simply remembered.

page 61 note 1 The population of the present queen mother's village (Lobamba) was 265, that of Sobuza II (Izita) 137, and that of the former queen mother (Zombode) 70, in October 1934. The population varies with the season.

page 61 note 2 The Zulu once attacked the Swazi in their Mdimba hiding-place, but as each Zulu brave tried to come in through the narrow opening he was stabbed. In despair the Zulu tried to smoke their enemy out by lighting large fires at the entrances. But in the large and labyrinthine corridors of stone, with an occasional small outlet to the open air, some of the smoke escaped.

page 61 note 3 Indlunkulu is usually applied to the actual hut of the chief woman of a village.

page 65 note 1 Lamgangeni, chief wife of Mswati, had the motherless Mbandzeni chosen in place of her own son Ludonga, but even so there was serious friction and eventually she was killed in the Kopolo mountains near Mbabane by his regiments.

page 68 note 1 The nucleus of the Emasotsha regiment were ‘tidzibi’ to the older Balondoloze regiment.

page 69 note 1 For example, Ingazini is a small area whose men form an ordinary local contingent. It mobilizes at Embekelweni, royal village of late King Mbandini. When the summons came to build up the cattle kraal for the rulers, in 1934, the men of Ingazini first came to Embekelweni, and were then called the local contingent of Embekelweni (likanza, lembekelweni) in the general rally, though Ingazini retained its separate identity among the other local contingents of Embekelweni.

page 73 note 1 The present Emasotsha, when they considered themselves mature, built huts for themselves behind the Emagavu, who were few in number and very much older. The Emasotsha were later told to join them and go into their enclosure. They adopted their uniform and the two are often regarded as one.