Mbokane Chieftancy
Background: The Mbokane Kingdom or Chieftaincy dates back to the founding of the Swati nation. The Mbokane clan was one of the 17 founding clans of the Kingdom of Swaziland, now Eswatini. At least since olden days, King of Swaziland's senior advisers were from the Mbokane clan. The first known senior Chief of the Mbokane clan was Chief Gadlela Mbokane. He was the senior Chief and adviser to iNgwenyama King Dlamini III. Dlamini III was a king or iNgwenyama of the Swazi people and he led them approximately between 1720 until 1744. King Dlamini III was the father to Ngwane III, the first King of modern Swaziland. Chief Manzini Mbokane was one of the senior advisers to King Mbandzeni. Mbandzeni (also known as Dlamini IV, Umbandine, [2] Umbandeen [3]) (1855-1889) was the King of Swaziland from 1872 until 1889. Chief Manzini Mbokane's granddaughter was also married to Prince Mbilini waMswati. Prince Mbilini waMswati was a Swazi prince and son of Mswati II.
Mbokane chieftaincy History: There are those who say the Mbokane clan has some linkages to East Africa, but not much has been written about those linkages, except that a Nguni group that migrated southwards along the eastern littoral from East Africa, settled on the shores of Maputo Bay in the late 1400s under the leadership of Dlamini, from whom the Dlamini Clan took their name (Swaziland National Trust Commission Undated; Beemer 1937, 55, 56), that group included the Mbokane clan. A lot, though, has been written about the Mbokane clan within the Eswatini history. According to Eswatini historians, the Mbokane chieftaincy started in the pre-1700s in the now Sishweleni region of Eswatini, and gained popularity specifically around 1745, with the Swazi settlers who were led at the time by King Dlamini III. It is said that there are 17 clans that founded the bakaNgwane or Swati nations, and the Mbokane clan was one of them, led by the Dlamini clan. Taking from the history of the Mbokane serving the Swati Kingdom, King Dlamini III's senior advisor was then Prime Minister of Eswatini or Senior Chief Gadlela Mbokane. King Dlamini led the bakaNgwane people between 1720 and 1744, working with his then Prime Minister or Senior Advisor, Chief Gadlela Mbokane. Not much is known about the history of Chief Gadlela Mbokane except that, due to his position within the Swazi kingdom, he was also one of the earliest leaders of the Mbokane clan, and he was the Chief of the Mbokane people, and was related somehow to Chief Sukumbili Mbokane. It is said that the Mbokane Chiefdom originated in Nshishelweni sokuqala or current Sishweleni I under the guidance of Chief Mbokane. The communities who were under the Mbokane Chiefdom and inkhundla of Eswatini who later were placed under the Mtsambana are KaMbhoke, Bhanganoma, Ekwendzeni, Magele, Gama, Mavuso and Gwegwe.
In the years between 1740 and 1868, there is another Mbokane Chief who was a senior adviser to another Swazi King. According to Swati historians, when King Mbandzeni ascended the throne, he appointed Chief Manzini Mbokane as his Senior Adviser or Prime Minister. Chief Manzini Mbokane was one of the sons of Chief Gadlela Mbokane, from the third house, because Chief Gadlela had a few wives. It is said that Chief Manzini Mbokane, as the prime minister, was the leader of the King's Advisory Council, which later became the Liqoqo or the Supreme Council, which was the most powerful traditional advisory body. It is even thought that Chief Manzini Mbokane's father might have been the founder or initiator of the Liqoqo council. Therefore, if this is true, it could indicate that the Mbokane chieftaincy was one of the most powerful chieftaincies within the Swazi Kingdom. The Mbokane Chieftaincy even had blood relations to the Swazi Kingdom, because, according to Swazi historians, Chief Gadlela Mbokane's granddaughter married one of the sons of Mswati II, Prince Mbilini.
The Mbokane chieftaincy’s strength and power within the Swazi kingdom was also felt when, on the 18th December 1889, after Mbandzeni’s death, the Swazi Government, represented by the Queen Regent Tibati Nkambule and the Swazi Council, made a proclamation appointing Sir Theophilus Shepstone, Chief Ntengu Mbokane and two other South African Republic and Britain officers and a provisional council to oversee administration of the kaNgwane nation, today Eswatini, especially in relations to the concession and affairs of European residents of the country. During the concessions, some of the King's senior chiefs, like Chief Ntengu Mbokane, got permission to relocate to farms towards the Lubombo region, in the modern-day city of Nsoko, who later returned during the rule of Ngwane V. The Swazi historians further chronicled the role of the Mbokane Chiefs within the Swazi kingdom through the role of Chief Sukumbili Mbokane, who was one of the governors trusted by King Mavuso II. Chief Sukumbili Mbokane was given the governorship of Nshishelweni settlements, but Chief Sukumbili's son, Lahaha Mbokane, was also one of the governors of the royal kraal together with Mahagane Hlophe. It is said that the power of the Mbokane chieftaincy within the Swazi kingdom was reduced or ended after the appointment of Ngwane V as the King to replace the late King Mbandzeni. It is alleged that King Ngwane was not happy with his senior advisors and the role of the advisory council or later what was called Liqoqo so much so that he allegedly killed his advisors Mbaba Nsibandze, Chief Mbokane and two of his aides. This led to him being charged with a crime and exiled, but he later returned to rule after the Transvaal administration handed over the affairs of Swaziland due to the Anglo Boer war of 1899.
References
BEEMER, H 1937 "The Development of the Military Organization in Swaziland", Journal of the International African Institute , 10(1), January, [www] http://www.jstor.org/stable/1155846 [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010). BONNER, P 1978 "Factions and Fissions: Transvaal/Swazi Politics in the Mid-Nineteenth Century", Journal of African History, 19(2), [www] http://www.jstor.org/stable/181600 [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010). BOOTH, AR 1983 Swaziland : Tradition and Change in a Southern African Kingdom, Boulder, New York, 1983. DELIUS, P & COPE, R 2006 "Hard Fought Frontiers: Mpumalanga 1845-1883" IN Delius, P (ed) Mpumalanga: Reclaiming the past, defining the future, [www] http://www.docstoc.com/docs/8511162/MpumalangaReclaiming-the-past-defining-the-future [PDF document, opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010). FORRESTER, R 2005 "Outline archaeological chronology" IN Swaziland National Trust Commission, [www] http://www.sntc.org.sz/cultural/archsd.asp [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010). KUPER, H 1963 The Swazi : a South African kingdom, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York. MACMILLAN, H 1989 "A Nation Divided? The Swazi in Swaziland and the Transvaal, 1865-1986" IN Vail, L (ed) The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa, University Of California Press, [www] http://www.escholarship.org/editions/view?docId=ft158004rs& chunk.id=d0e7328&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e7328&brand=eschol [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010). SWAZILAND NATIONAL TRUST COMMISSION UNDATED "Cultural Resources - Swazi History", [www] http://www.sntc.org.sz/cultural/history.asp [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).
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