Mpande's - University of Zululand Institutional Repository

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battle encounter with the Ndwandwe.'9 Shaka replaced Dingiswayo's heir
with his own appointee, resulting in numbers of Mthethwa leaving the
Zulu kingdom. so Tradition also record that many important Mthethwa
individuals joined Shaka, from which it can be inferred that an even larger
segment ofthe polity probably transferred direct allegiance to the Zulu."
One of Shaka's greatest trials of strength was the conquest of the
Buthelezi clan under the leadership of Phungashe." His first conquest,
however, was the Qwabe clan under Phakathwayo. Zulu was a younger
brother ofQwabe, and the Zulus were consequently far less in number and
importance than the Qwabes. Tradition depict the Qwabe chief,
Phakathwayo, as a particular rival of Shaka. 53 He scorned the numerically
inferior Zulu forces and insulted the person ofthe Zulu king as:
49
so
"
52
"The little Nguni who wears as a
penis-cover the fruit-shell used for
snuff-boxes. Where did he get an
impi from? Is the impi from upcountry
like the rain? It is nothing but
a little string of beads that doesn't
c. Webb and 1. Wright (Eds): James Stuart Archives ofrecorded oral evidence relating
to the histOry ofthe Zulu and neighbouring peoples, Vol. I, p. 200.
K.C., Stuart Papers, File 65, otebook 4, Evidence ofNhlekele, 10 October 1903, p. 8;
K.C., Stuart Papers, File 53, ''The life ofTsbaka", by Stuart, Fynn, Diary, p. 13; 1.SA,
Vol. 2, Evidence ofMahasbahasha, 8 May 1910, p. 107.
K.C., Stuart Papers, File 65, otebook 4, Evidence ofNhlekele, p. 16; J.SA, Vol. I,
Evidence ofJantshi and Ndukwana, 16 February 1903, p. 200; J-S.A., Vol. 3, Evidence
ofNdukwana contained in the testimony ofMlando, 9 August 1902, p. 162.
C. Webb and 1. Wrigbt (Eds): James Stuart Archives of recorded oral evidence relating
to the histOry ofthe Zulu and neighbouring peoples, Vol. 4, pp. 277, 285, 292.
T. Cope: Izibonl!o - Zulu praise poems,·p. 83; C.S.1. Nyembezi: Izibonl!o Zamakbosi,
p.38.