IN the closing of the 18th Century, around the area now known as Kwazulu Natal, were warlike groups that became this way after abandoning the sacred ritual of male circumcision.
Male circumcision was practiced by many Nguni groups and the priests were called Abalala.
These Nguni groups replaced the circumcision ritual with military training because attacks among blacks increased as the white settlers chased more and more of them away from their land.
A lineage called Mthethwa was headed by a king whose son, Gondongwana, had falied to depose his father after an attempted coup which he organised with one of his siblings.
He fled to a people called Hlubi and changed his name to Dingiswayo while in exile.
He remained there until 1810 when he returned after hearing that his father had passed away.
He found one of his younger siblings ruling the kingdom, thus he speedily put him away and became the Mthethwa King.
A related clan, which was relatively smaller but had likewise abandoned male circumcision for age-regiment military training, was called Zulu.
The Zulu King was called Senzangakona and had conceived a son by a young woman named Nandi. Nandi was not legally married to the king and such a conception out of wedlock was unacceptable in those times.
Nandi was rejected and went to her own people with her son who she named Shaka.
Life was tough for Shaka but this made him grow up into a strong and fearless young man.
At 16 he moved to the village of the Mthethwa people and by age 23, he had begun fighting in Dingiswayo’s army.
Dingiswayo took a liking to Shaka because of his skills at war and his loyalty.
When Senzangakona, Shaka’s father, passed away, Dingiswayo ensured that Shaka succeeded him as leader of the Zulu clan at age 29.
Together the Mthethwa and Zulu became a strong group, with Shaka protecting them from rival groups such as the Ndwandwe.
Shaka’s popularity grew and the fighters loved him because he entered into battle alongside them and brought innovative ways of fighting.
In 1818, Dingiswayo was killed by Zwide, the Ndwandwe king, and Shaka was next in line for the throne.
The following year, Zwide mobilised an army of 18 000 men to squash Shaka’s army.
Shaka moved away all the women, children, food and livestock from their villages and retreated into the wilderness.
Anything that remained of value was burnt. Zwide’s men ravaged the villages but found nothing, not even food to eat.
When they had become visibly weary and commenced to retreat, Shaka’s soldiers attacked Zwide’s forces and defeated them in a sound victory with minimal casualties.
Zwide was displaced and his kraal destroyed.
His army commander, Soshangane, fled to the coast of Mozambique and founded the Shangane nation which re-instituted the rite of male circumcision.
Shaka now ruled over the Ndwandwe people besides the Zulu, Mthethwa and other neighboring peoples.
With time they all began speaking one language, practicing one culture and collectively identifying themselves as Zulu people.
The successive displacement and massacring of numerous groups that took place during this period, in this area were called Mfecane or Lifaqare.
These wars were a result of efforts by displaced kings who tried to compensate for their lost land and authority by invading another people.
When Shaka defeated Zwide, a domino or ripple effect resulted and Zwide attacked the people of Matiwane after fleeing to their land for survival.
Shaka followed after Zwide in 1822 and attacked the Matiwane people, who in turn attacked the Hlubi. The Hlubi drove out and robbed the Tlokwa people. Matiwane also began pillaging the Suthu people.
Shaka was getting infamous for his love of bloodshed and in 1821, one of his military commanders called Mzilikazi rebelled against Shaka and fled with much booty that he was supposed to hand over to the king.
In 1822 Mzilikazi invaded the Suthu under Mashoeshoe and massacred many of them.
Mzilikazi kidnapped young Suthu people and incorporated them into his army.
The situation was so terrible that some of the Suthu were forced into cannibalism, eating dead human flesh after being plundered and succumbing to hunger. This was a taboo and the Suthu people were traumatised.
The mixed-race Griqua took advantage of the situation and invaded the Suthu too.
However, the Griqua were given to drunkenness and Mashoeshoe managed to steal away their axes, horses and guns which they had acquired from the whites.
With these advanced weapons, Mashoeshoe’s nation was well defended and he paid tribute to Mzilikazi until the latter eventually fled from Shaka’s men who had pursued him.
The Suthu remained strong because of their weaponry which discouraged whites from attacking them and this explains why Lesotho remained an independent nation within the land.
Shaka was eventually killed by his brother Dingaan because he had become excessively tyrannical.
Shaka was unsuspectingly stabbed in his kraal, but before he died he said that the people were going to suffer at the hands of the white men who they would not be able to defeat now that he was gone.
The whites had made contact with Shaka but had not dared to invade his kingdom until after his death. They limited their involvement to trading and through this, Shaka had acquired a horse which he rode occasionally.
Indeed when the Boers found out that the fearsome Shaka had been killed, they began to make advances on Zululand.