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We ar dedicated to enriching the community by celebrating and honoring the legacy of Bhungane. Our mission is to engage, educate, and inspire current and future generations with the wisdom of our ancestors, instilling pride and knowledge in our cultural identity.
The House of Bhungane
Bhungane was the son of Nasele/Ntsele. He was associated with livestock, tilling the land, and the erection of mud huts in the place of the old beehive huts (ungquphantsi). Up to this day, it is common to hear individuals of pure Hlubi stock say “umkhulu Thixo kodwa awunganga-Bhungane” (God is great but He can never be equal to Bhungane).
There are even Hlubi songs that are associated with Bhungane’s wisdom. The words of one such song are as follows: Kwakungenje uBhungan’esaphila (it was not like this while Bhungane was still alive). In other words, things are not what they are supposed to be because Bhungane is no longer alive. Furthermore, the statement is critical of Bhungane’s successors. It implies that they lack the necessary vision and wisdom of rulers; they have failed to continue the good work of Bhungane. It is well known among the Hlubi that King Bhungane was killed by lambs in about 1810. The authenticity of this piece of information is debatable. Many sages who were questioned in the course of the study of Hlubi history maintained that he was already ailing. Because he always counted lambs, it is possible that he died of natural causes, such as heart failure. By the time it came to the notice of the people, lambs were merely jumping over his already dead body. Another version of Bhungane’s death, also credible, is that he was killed by a regiment of a neighboring and hostile ama-Ngwe ethnic group.
The name of this regiment was Lambs (ama- takane). Even today, after puberty ceremonies, the young men are given a regimental name. Names like Leopards (amahlosi), Crocodiles (ingwenya), Lambs (amatakane), etc., are still common. It requires a thorough investigation to reveal the life of Bhungane.
Bhungane married a Swazi princess who brought iimpelesi (guards) with her. The guards were from clans such as the Tshabalala, Shabangu, Msimanga, Zengele, Cindi, Mdlulwa and Ndlela. Today these clans are part of the Hlubi ethnic conglomerate. Bhungane’s heir was Mthimkhulu II, who was killed by the Ngwane chief Matiwane at the height of Shaka’s wars of extermination. Matiwane was eeing across the Lundi (Drakensberg) Mountains.
Mthimkhulu II had many wives. His senior wife, the sister to Somhlolo (Sobuza I ), who begot Ncwane, who begot Tshidi and Ndwamba, the heir to Ndwamba was Mbube, who begot Khulu, who is currently called King Bungane III, who took his name from his forefathers.)
In his second house, Mthimkhulu II, begat Langalibalele, who was released from imprisonment in the castle in Cape Town and con ned to a farmhouse in the sandy flats or Cape Flats (where a township was established in 1927 and called KwaLangalibalele, or KwaLanga as it is known today). Langalibalele begat Siyephu, who begat Mtunzi (the father of Tatazela). This house never left Natal, even at the height of Shaka’s debacle. Today they are in Escourt. They are so mixed with people of North Nguni stock that they di er from their fellow Hlubi elsewhere. They are, however, the most senior among the Hlubi.
In his third house, Mthimkhulu II, begat Duba, who begat Makhiwa, Somcuba, and Pondlimpaka. Today, these are found in Herschel (the Mehlomakulu’s area). The fourth house of Mthimkhulu II produced Ndungunya, who begat Sigebe, Jani, and Lwelweni. From the 5th house of Mthimkhulu II came Ludidi, whose heir was Mtengwane (who begat Xhabadiya, father of Jubele [Joubert]). This house is permanently settled at Qhanqu in the Qumbu District of the Eastern Cape.
The sixth house of Mthimkhulu II produced Mhlambiso, who begat Mtongana, Sigonyela, and Mtyangisane. These are settled at Mathole in Middledrift (Kwa-Mathole).
The sixth house of Mthimkhulu II produced Luthuli. The offspring of Luthuli are scattered; today, some are found along the Inxu River and at Ngxaza in the Lundi District of the Eastern Cape. Descendants of Hlomendlini, who begat Mokhi (father of Victor), are in Herschel. Mgubho’s o ffspring is at Blekana in Herschel and in Matatiele. The seventh house of Mthimkhulu II produced Magadla. Thus, the senior house of Mthimkhulu II consists of:
Ncwane - Langalibalele - Duba - Ndungunya - Ludidi - Mhlambiso - Luthuli - Magadla - Luzipho - Gadlile
The Second House of Bhungane
Bhungane’s heir in the second house was Mpangazitha. This house was directly affected by the Mfecane. Finally, Mpangazitha was killed by Matiwane’s Ngwane forces at Lishwana on the Caledon River. His heir (Sidinana) ed and later returned to Matiwane, hoping to be a vassal chief as many Hlubis were then at the mercy of Matiwane. But Matiwane gave orders that Sidinana should be killed immediately. The historian, Theal (1964:322) reported that it was only in March 1869 (immediately after the conclusion of the Second Treaty of Aliwal North) that the then British governor of the Cape (Sir Phillip Wodehouse) took a number of displaced chiefs with him to Nomansland, east of the Khahlamba (Drakensberg) Mountains. He extended Adam Kok’s boundary from Mzimvubu to the Kinirha River.
This included the whole of Matatiele. Between the Kinirha and Tina Rivers, he settled Zibi (Zendlela), son of Sidinana and grandson of Mpangazitha with Lebenya, without setting a de nite boundary. Between the Tina and Tsitsa (Elands) Rivers he placed Lehana, son of Sikonyela. Up to this day, descendants of Zibi are in Mt Fletcher. Sidinana’s other sons were Ntliziyo and Mqakanya, whose descendants are found near the Ngqwaru Hills in Tembuland. The heir in the second house of Mpangazitha was Siphambo, who begat Mnari and Nkonzo. Mnari’s son was Zwelakhe, who begat Mziwethemba (the father of Manelisi). His descendants are found at Printsu in Mt Fletcher. However, Nkonzo’s o spring are still settled at Pelandaba in Herschel.
The Third House of Bhungane
The heir to the third house of Bhungane was Monakali. His son was Zibi, who begat Fuba. His descendants are found at Ngcwazi in Middledrift. It is related that Fuba had three wives. From the first house came Kunka, who begat Kareni (the father of Spencer). These are still at Ngcwazi in Middle Drift in the Eastern Cape.
The second house of Fuba produced Shadrekhi (Shadrack), who at one stage, taught at the Lovedale Institution. In 1923, he moved from Ngcwazi in Middledrift to the Transvaal as a chief of a heterogeneous people. He died in 1963. Today, his descendants are at Khayakhulu in Rustenburg. His son was Sandi, who never ruled and died in 1961. Sandi’s son, Langa Shadrack Madoda Zibi, B.Com (UFH), only recently assumed chieftainship after his return from exile. Since the death of his grandfather in 1963, his grandmother acted as regent for him.
The Fourth House of Bhungane
The heir in this house was Zingelwakho, whose heir was Maphaphu. Maphaphu begat Lophu (the father of Mcandi, whose descendants are found at Ngxabangu in Tembuland). The second house of Zingelwakho produced Ndondo, who begat Mbulawa. What exactly happened to other houses of Mbulawa is not clear.
However, his heir was Nzimende, who took part of the ethnic group with him to Mbembesi (just outside Bulawayo in present-day Zimbabwe). This occurred in the 1890s. Even today, they still remember their Cape origin. Nzimende left Mbelwana, son of his younger brother. Descendants of Mbelwana are today found in Tsomo in Ndondo’s area (kwesika- Ndondo).
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