THE ASSASSINATION OF KING : ZULU HISTORY’S DRAMATIC MOMENT by JOHN LABAND Cape Town: Jonathan Ball, 2017. ISBN 9781868428076 (paperback) 226 pages, illustrated, general index, reading list, referenced with endnotes, historical time line, list of characters, glossary of Zulu words

OHN Laband, for many years a ing of books on Shaka and Zulu history, lecturer and professor in the De- such as Hamilton’s Terrific Majesty: The partment of History at the erstwhile Powers of Shaka Zulu and the Limits of J 10 University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg, Historical Invention and Dan Wylie’s is a well-known writer on the history of 2000 Savage Delight: White Myths of the , with his best-known Shaka,11 followed by his 2006 Myth of work probably his 1995 Rope of Sand: Iron: Shaka in History.12 What more, The Rise and Fall of the Zulu Kingdom.1 then, I thought, when asked to review From the 1830s (shortly after Shaka’s Laband’s The Assassination of Shaka, assassination) to today, a considerable could he say about Shaka and his role amount has been written and published in the history of the Zulu Kingdom? on the history of the Zulu kingdom and Laband’s book is unquestionably an its celebrated founder, Shaka kaSenzan- academic history: elegantly written, it is gakhona kaJama. The Diary of Henry meticulously referenced, with an aver- Francis Fynn, eventually published in age of 29 endnotes to each chapter (and 1986,2 has a preface written by Fynn a high of 69 endnotes in Chapter 5). In in about 1833, and Nathaniel Isaacs’s addition to the endnotes, the book has a Travels and Adventures in Eastern general index, a reading list, a historical Africa was first published in 1836.3 time line, a list of historical characters, Other books have followed at regular and a glossary of Zulu terms. While intervals, some of the best-known being the endnotes show how widely Laband Gibson’s 1911 The Story of the Zulus,4 has read to create this work on Shaka’s Bryant’s 1929 (1965) Olden Times in assassination, most of them refer to a Zululand and Natal,5 Bulpin’s 1952 source in The James Stuart Archive, and Shaka’s Country: A Book of Zululand,6 it is clear Laband has gone through the Morris’s 1973 The Washing of the evidence of Stuart’s sources minutely, Spears,7 and Ritter’s 1978 Shaka Zulu.8 seeking out every statement that relates Between 1976 and 2014 six volumes to Shaka’s life, and, of course, his death. of The James Stuart Archive have ap- At the same time Laband’s book peared, with considerable­ detail about unquestionably belongs to the murder the life and times of Shaka, collected mystery genre, placing him squarely in from Zulu oral sources by James Stu- the company of such greats as Agatha art in the early years of the twentieth Christie, Ellery Queen, Mickey Spillane century and made available to modern and Erle Stanley Gardner.13 All the es- scholars by Webb and Wright.9 There sentials of this genre are present: the have even been books about the writ- detective work, the regular releases

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Natalia 48 (2018) Copyright © Natal Society Foundation 2018 Book Reviews of clues for the reader to work on, the assassination’. It is of course impos- presentation of possible suspects (each sible to write an entire book about such given plausibility), and the suspense a single event without putting it into leading up to the main murder. This context, and Laband does this, taking suspense is heightened by ending all fifteen chapters to do so before getting the chapters with cliffhangers. See, for to the actual assassination. A good mur- example, the last two lines of Chapter der mystery has at least two murders, 15, the chapter immediately prior to the and while Shaka can only be murdered one that contains the actual assassina- once, Laband does look – in detail – at tion of Shaka: the attempted assassination of Shaka in There was nothing for it now. Mbopha 1824, four years before he lost his life. and the two abantwana must strike Chapter 1 (‘Stabbed while dancing’) immediately or suffer their own deaths. recounts this attempted assassination and ends with To heighten the suspense, Chapter 15 is headed ‘Are You Not Going To Stab The most urgent question in the minds Him?’ of Shaka, his izikhulu and the general throng throughout all this mourning Indeed, all the chapters in the book uproar must have been: who was have similarly intriguing titles, such behind the assassination attempt? Three as Chapter 5: ‘He who beats but is not possibilities occurred to them. beaten’. After a while, the reader be- comes aware that most of these intrigu- These three possibilities occupy the ing chapter titles are taken from some next three chapters: Chapter 2 (‘A royal quote in the text within the chapter. spear?’), Chapter 3 (‘An Ndwandwe Chapter 11 (‘Splasher of water with spear?’) and Chapter 4 (‘A Qwabe an oxtail’), for example, comes from a spear?’), with Laband leaving it to the Cope translation of a line in the praises reader to sift the evidence and make of Sothobe kaMpangalala, leader of up their own minds as to the guilty Shaka’s delegation to the Cape, and party. The book then proceeds through Chapter 12 (‘Buffalo that stood glaring much of what has already been written with a spear’) is from a Cope translation previously about Shaka by other writers: of a line from Shaka’s own izibongo, his character (was he a nation-building and relates to accompanying his army warrior king or a savage monster?), on their campaign against the Mpondo. his battles with and his eventual Identifying the origin of the chapter conquest of Zwide of the Ndwandwe, titles eventually becomes a kind of a his relationship with the earliest white game for the reader, a sub-mystery as traders at Port Natal, and so on. The it were, in a book that is itself a murder death of his mother Nandi and the mystery. subsequent excessive mourning decreed Laband says in his preface (p. x) that for the nation gets two whole chapters. he does not intend to undertake ‘another There is also detailed treatment of scholarly investigation into the forma- Shaka’s dispatching of a delegation tion of the Zulu kingdom in the reign to establish relations with officials at of King Shaka’. Rather, he says, he is the Cape (and ultimately with King attempting ‘a focused inquiry into a George), not to mention to acquire the single pivotal event in Shaka’s life: his famed Macassar oil to keep his hair

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Natalia 48 (2018) CC-BY-NC cc Natal Society Foundation 2018 Book Reviews permanently dark. Chapter 12 (‘This the conspiracy?’ and once again the is King Chaka’s name’) concludes the testimony of all those who believed lead up to the major event of the book. that was the actual assassin Part IV (‘Are you stabbing me, the king is recorded. of the Earth?’) then follows, although The murder mystery then comes two more anticipatory chapters must to an end with two chapters detailing be gone through before we get to what how Dingane eventually eliminated the title of the book promises: the the opposition to end as the ruler of assassination of King Shaka – Zulu the Zulu kingdom. In a repeat of the history’s dramatic moment. incident several years previously, when The actual dramatic moment is not Shaka arranged the drowning of his at all clear. Laband points out (p. 138) half-brother Sigujana so as to clear the that there are ‘divergent versions as to way for him (Shaka) to take over the what happened next’, and the reader is chieftaincy of the Zulu clan, so too did treated to a full and detailed account of Dingane arrange for his co-conspirator them. First Mbopha is presented as the and brother Mhlangana to be drowned person who actually killed Shaka: while bathing. Laband puts it like this There were those that pinned the (p. 151): major role on Mbopha. Maclean was Dingane’s izibongo recalled the deed convinced that because Mbopha alone in these chilling words: carried a spear he ‘stole behind and Deep river pool at Mavivane, Dingana assass­ inated­ his master’. Despite The pool is silent, and overpowering, the active participation of the two It drowned someone intending to wash abantwana Isaacs had no doubt that it And he vanished, headring and all. was Mbopha who actually ‘speared him to death’. Some oral traditions similarly Laband frequently uses extracts from pointed the finger at Mbopha. Makewu praise poetry (izibongo) to illustrate or related that when Shaka turned his back justify a point, as he does here. While on Mbopha the inceku threw a spear, this unquestionably adds value to the which struck him, while Ndukwana text, there are also certain dangers. Two stated it was Mbopha who ‘actually such can be mentioned here. stabbed’. Likewise, Jantshi declared that it was Mbopha who stabbed Shaka, First, Dingane’s izibongo did not re- though he had the integrity to admit call the drowning of Mhlangana in the that he was not in a position to ‘speak English words given above. Dingane’s accurately on this matter’. imbongi would have bonga’ed him in Zulu, and what Laband has given above Next is Mhlangana – Laband immedi- is an English translation of the original. ately goes on to say: Rycroft and Ngcobo14 have given the Others believed it was Mhlangana who Zulu version as: stabbed first, including Jantshi, thus contradicting his assertion that it was ISizib’ esiseMavivane, Dingana, Mbopha. It was said the brothers agreed ISiziba sinzonzo, sinzonzobele, that Mhlangana would strike first … Siminzis’ umuntu eth’ uyageza, Andrew Smith heard that Mhlangana Waze washona nangesicoco. stabbed his brother twice in the back. In their 1988 The Praises of Dingane: Laband then goes on to ask ‘What Izibongo zikaDingana Rycroft and then of Dingane, who had mastered Ngcobo have combined various oral

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Natalia 48 (2018) CC-BY-NC cc Natal Society Foundation 2018 Book Reviews performances of Dingane’s praises into Cope points out that this stanza refers to one single written version and have the murder by drowning of Shaka’s half- then translated them. They are thus brother Sigujana, an event that Laband mediators between the original words mentions in his second chapter. Zulu of Dingane’s izimbongi and the English izimbongi were known for borrowing version given by Laband. When Laband images and lines – even whole stanzas quotes from the izibongo of Shaka, – from the praises other izimbongi had which he does frequently in this book, composed for other clients. Dingane’s there are even more intermediaries imbongi would have been very aware of between the words of the original the earlier image of the deep pool in the izimbongi who praised Shaka and the Mavivane river, which drowns a person version quoted by Laband: the praises as he is washing, and causes him to in Cope’s 1968 Izibongo: Zulu Praise- sink up to his head-ring. All he needed Poems were collected by James Stuart, to do was add the word ‘Dingana’ to translated by Daniel Malcolm, and then the first line of the stanza, and add edited by Trevor Cope. Occasionally the splendidly alliterative line ‘Isiziba these translations can be queried as esinzonzo, sinzonzobele’. The result is a when Koopman15 questions Cope’s stanza highly appropriate for recording translation of the line Ujojo kathekeli and commenting on the drowning of kanjengamakhafula in the praises of Mhlangana, but it cannot be said that Henry Francis Fynn. Cope gives this these lines were especially composed as ‘Finch that never begged, unlike the for that event. Kaffirs’, but Koopman instead suggests, and substantiates, that the line refers *** to Fynn as ‘the chap who speaks Zulu At the beginning of this review I asked in a zunda style’ (i.e., like the Zulus what more could Laband have to say themselves). This is a completely about Shaka and his life and death different interpretation and shows that had not already been said by the the importance of including the Zulu considerable number of authors who original when quoting from izibongo. have written on this topic. What could Second, Laband suggests that Din- be added that was new? I can only gane’s imbongi specially composed the speak for myself here, and say it was four lines quoted above to refer to the news to me that there were two previous drowning of Mhlangana as plotted by attempts to assassinate Shaka. I did not Dingane. However, if we look at the know that Shaka accompanied his army praises of Shaka, Dingane’s predeces- on the Pondo campaign to ‘wash the sor, we find the lines: spears’ after Nandi’s death, and while Isiziba esiseMavivane sitting on a flat rock near the lower [Dark pool which is in the Mavivane drift of the uMkhomazi River, Dingane, river] Mhlangana and Mbopha ‘decided to Eseminzis’ umuntu eth’ uyageza seize the fleeting opportunity to kill [Which drowns a person as he is him’ (p. 125). Unlike the previous washing] attempt when Shaka was actually Waze washona nagesicoco stabbed, but survived, this ‘fleeting [So that he disappears as far as his head-ring]16 opportunity’ was aborted when ‘an induna of Magaye kaDibandlela …

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Natalia 48 (2018) CC-BY-NC cc Natal Society Foundation 2018 Book Reviews chose that moment to wander in sight 6 Bulpin, T.V. and Tyrrell, B., Shaka’s Country: with his companions’. A Book of Zululand (Cape Town, H.B. Tim- mins, 1952). So in this murder mystery, the first 7 Morris, D., The Washing of the Spears (Lon- ‘almost-murder’ is followed by a sec- don, Cardinal, 1973). ond; and in this second ‘almost-murder’ 8 Ritter, E.A., Shaka Zulu (London and New the characters are introduced who will York, Penguin, 1978). 9 Webb, C.de B. and Wright, J., The James eventually complete the assassination Stuart Archive (Pietermaritzburg: University promised in the title. Agatha Christie of Natal/KwaZulu-Natal Press, 1976–2014). would have loved it. 10 Hamilton, C., Terrific Majesty: The Powers of Shaka Zulu and the Limits of Historical ADRIAN KOOPMAN Invention (Cape Town, David Philip, 1998). 11 Wylie, D., Savage Delight: White Myths of Shaka (Pietermaritzburg, University of Natal NOTES Press, 2000). 1 Laband, J., Rope of Sand: The Rise and Fall of 12 Wylie, D., Myth of Iron: Shaka in History the Zulu Kingdom in the Nineteenth Century (Pietermaritzburg, University of KwaZulu- (Johannesburg, Jonathan Ball, 1995). Natal Press, 2006). 2 Stuart, J., Malcolm, D.McK., Fynn, H.F., The 13 Although in the first line of the preface, Diary of Henry Francis Fynn (Pietermaritz- Laband suggests a comparison with George burg, Shuter and Shooter, 1986). Martin’s Game of Thrones. 3 Isaacs, N. Travels and Adventures in Eastern 14 Rycroft, D.K. and Ngcobo, A.B., The Praises Africa, Descriptive of the Zoolus, Their Man- of Dingana: Izibongo zikaDingana (, ners, Customs, etc. etc. with a Sketch of Natal Killie Campbell Africana Library and Pieter- (London, E. Churton, 1836). maritzburg, University of Natal Press, 1988), 4 Gibson, J.Y., The Story of the Zulus (London p.71. and New York, Longmans, Green, 1911). 15 Koopman, A., ‘Henry Francis Fynn: The 5 Bryant, A.T., Olden Times in Zululand and Long-tailed finch that came from Pondol- Natal; Containing Earlier Political History of and?’, Natalia, 47 (2017), pp. 39–42. the Eastern-Nguni Clans (Cape Town, Struik, 16 Stuart, A. and Cope, A.T., Izibongo: Zulu 1965). Praise-Poems (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1968), pp.114–15.

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Natalia 48 (2018) CC-BY-NC cc Natal Society Foundation 2018