Mpande's - University of Zululand Institutional Repository

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ABSTRACT
King Mpande Ka Senzangakhona was the third in successIOn III the
dynasty of "martial" Zulu potentates whose military valour transformed
small clans into a single powerful nation. The evolvement ofthe ideal of
nationhood among the Zulu people ruled by Mpande had its origin in the
praises ofhis father Senzangakhona Ka lama.
When the specialist declaimer of praises said that, "a cord of destiny let
us weave, 0 Menzi scion of lama, That to universes beyond the reach of
spirit-forms, we may ascend"', he was indicating that Zulus were people
whose destiny was to traverse the universe and transform the human
being into a conscious citizen of the cosmic order (in South-east Africa).
King Shaka, Mpande's half-brother, adopted the ideal of this court-poet
as the main inspiration of the revolution which he led after the death of
Senzangakhona. It was the ideological blueprint on which he built the
Zulu nation.
Born in about 1798 Mpande was the son of Senzangakhona and queen
Songiya of the Hlabisa clan. The Zulu lineage largely begotten by
Dingizwe: "Zulus were welded together by spear and blood", ef. Sowetan, 16 January
1984, pA.