Mpande's - University of Zululand Institutional Repository

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the final solution as to what the people of the time thought of the
king.' Praise -poems were at once a form of history in which the
world view of the rulers was expressed, and a vehicle for the
expression of social disaffection' They were at the same time the
chronicles of individual lives, of both rulers and commoners, for
praises were not confined to the scions of royal houses. The linguist,
White argued that praise-poems:
" ... are the record ofpower, a catalogue
of success. On behalf of those who
maintain and manipulate and
occasionally usurp authority, they lay
claim to legitimacy. They are not, in the
last resort, important as a form of
entertainment, and opportunity for
performance; they are the annals of the
ruling group. "9
The object ofpraise-poems in the case ofthe heroes (amaqhawe), was
to inspire and infuse the army with wrath. Krige, an ethnographer,
observed:
"When a warrior giya's (dances) the
spectators shout out his praises, and in a
military life like that ofthe Zulu's, where
praises had to be won by brave deed in
battle, these praises led to great
emulation. They were an encouragement,
S.C.L. Nyembezi: "Historical background 10 the izibongo ofthe Zulu military age."
African Studies, Vol. 7, p.174. .
K.c., Stuart Papers, file 58, Notebook 17, Evidence of Mtshapi, 11 May 1918, p.17.
L.White: "Power and the Praise Poem", p.4; J.S.A., Vol. 4, Evidence ofMtshapi,
10 May 1918, p.95.