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The King and the Honeybirds

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The King and the Honeybirds The King and the Honeybirds. Cyprian Bhekuzulu kaSolomon, Zulu nationalism and the implementation of the Bantu Authorities System in Zululand, 1948-1957. Cyprian Bhekuzulu and his horse. (Photograph courtesy of the Campbell Collections, University of KwaZulu-Natal.) Anna Kolberg Buverud. Hovedfagsoppgave, IAKH, Universitetet i Oslo, vår 2007. Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......................................................................................................................................... 3 ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................................................................................. 5 GLOSSARY ........................................................................................................................................................... 5 LIST OF ZULU KINGS ............................................................................................................................................ 6 PART ONE............................................................................................................................................................ 7 THE UNKNOWN KING .......................................................................................................................................... 8 The aim of the thesis...................................................................................................................................... 11 Reconstructing the past................................................................................................................................. 14 Written primary sources................................................................................................................................16 Interviews...................................................................................................................................................... 17 The past in the present .................................................................................................................................. 19 Black tribal king – questionable terms in a sensitive language sphere ........................................................ 20 ABANTWANA KA ZULU ...................................................................................................................................... 22 Before the king .............................................................................................................................................. 22 The stamping of the thorns............................................................................................................................ 26 The swallows arrive ...................................................................................................................................... 28 PART TWO......................................................................................................................................................... 31 THE LION’S PRIDE ............................................................................................................................................. 32 Cyprian’s early years.................................................................................................................................... 33 The elevation of Mshiyeni ............................................................................................................................. 36 The Usuthu succession dispute ..................................................................................................................... 38 Waiting to ascend.......................................................................................................................................... 42 NEW RULERS, NEW RULES ................................................................................................................................46 The apartheid ideology ................................................................................................................................. 47 Organizing Zulu rule..................................................................................................................................... 49 Family affairs................................................................................................................................................ 53 The politics of separate development............................................................................................................ 55 Return of the King......................................................................................................................................... 58 THE CONCEPT OF SUBORDINATE PARAMOUNTCY .............................................................................................. 62 Recreating chieftaincy................................................................................................................................... 63 Inkatha Revival? ........................................................................................................................................... 64 The meeting at Umgeni Court....................................................................................................................... 67 The concept of subordinate paramountcy..................................................................................................... 69 ‘HAMBA KAHLE’ IN THE 1950S.......................................................................................................................... 72 The Defiance Campaign................................................................................................................................73 Royal relations .............................................................................................................................................. 77 Governmental concerns ................................................................................................................................80 Shaka revisited .............................................................................................................................................. 83 Meeting at the Native Affairs Department .................................................................................................... 88 KING OR PAWN? ................................................................................................................................................ 92 The Mona meeting......................................................................................................................................... 92 Family matters - MaJali................................................................................................................................94 Cyprian accepts the Bantu Authorities system.............................................................................................. 96 ‘THE PATH OF PEACE AND PROGRESS’............................................................................................................... 98 The role of kings and chiefs .......................................................................................................................... 99 The views of the royal family ...................................................................................................................... 101 Reactions to Cyprian’s acceptance of the Bantu Authorities system .......................................................... 104 ‘The path of peace and progress’ ............................................................................................................... 106 PART THREE................................................................................................................................................... 109 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................................................ 110 MAP OF NATAL AND ZULULAND...................................................................................................................... 115 2 Acknowledgements A king to myself! Or so it felt, when I realised that one Zulu king had been neglected by historians as well as the general South African public. As might have been expected by the more experienced researcher, the paucity of literature was less of a thrill as I embarked on my research. My attempts to survey this terra blanca of South African history would certainly have stranded were it not for the help and guidance I have received from the following people: In a class of his own is the Minister of Home Affairs between 1994 and 2004, Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi, who managed to fit an interview with me into his already overbooked agenda. His personal knowledge of the late king as his cousin, friend and closest advisor was invaluable to my research. Shenge Ndabezitha Sokwalisa Mlibaka Mnandi- kaMundi Phungula Mlambo: I thank you! Mr Nils Otte of Eshowe, a former magistrate of Nongoma and Mahlabathini, Mr S Bourquin of Durban, previously the Director of Bantu Administration in Durban, and Bishop Gunnar Lislerud of Oslo, who as a missionary worked close to the Zulu royal house, all generously shared their experiences with the king and the Zulu people in the 1950s. I am grateful to the academic and administrative staff at universities and colleges in South Africa and Norway who have spurred me on. Professor Jeff
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