'He Is My King, but He Is Also My Child': Inkatha, the African National Congress and the Struggle for Control

over Zulu Cultural Symbols Author(s): S. Klopper Reviewed work(s): Source: Oxford Art Journal, Vol. 19, No. 1 (1996), pp. 53-66 Published by: Oxford University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1360651 . Accessed: 20/12/2011 18:57
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'He is my king, but he is also my child': Inkatha, the African National Congress and the Struggle for Control over Zulu Cultural Symbols1

S. KLOPPER

In the lead up to South Africa'sfirstdemocratic election, held in April 1994, the African National Congress (ANC) and Mangosuthu Buthelezi's Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) fought an intense, sometimes violent battle for control over the meaning and ownership of 'Zulu' cultural symbols. Determined to reclaim the history of Zulu speakers for a broad, democratic alliance, the ANC repeatedly challenged the IFP's attempts to mobilize a narrowly-conceived ethnic constituency in the interest of retaining its regional power-base in KwaZulu-Natal. Prior to the election, the IFP's response to this challenge was to renew its claims to control over Zulu king, Goodwill Zwelethini, and to reaffirm its right to shape and define the meanings ascribed both to the present king's twentieth-century forebears, and to the founder of the Zulu kingdom, Shaka kaSazangakhona Zulu. But because Zwelethini felt less dependent on Buthelezi's patronage after the ANC had assumed power, the IFP has found it increasingly difficultto sustain its recent claims to these symbols. The aim of this paper is threefold: in the first section, I trace the recent history of this struggle over the meaning and ownership of 'Zulu' cultural symbols, mainly through a consideration of newspaper reports published in the English-language South African press, including the mass circulation Sunday Timesand the Natal weekly, the SundayTribune; the Mail (subsequently, democratically aligned Weekly the Weekly Mail & Guardian); New Nation, which the has a largely black readership; and various liberal dailies like the Natal Witness, which reported the preelection struggle between the ANC and Inkatha in some depth. I also look at the way 'traditional'dress has been used in these efforts to transform the political arena in KwaZulu-Natal. My discussion of this history is premised on the assumption that political groupings generally communicate important ideas about their perceptions of themselves through their use of cultural symbols. In most cases, these symbols are of course tangible, concrete accretions of the will to influence and direct actual or potential political constituencies. As such, they may include buildings, different forms of dress, flags, even songs; but they also encompass ideas about people, both as individuals and as 'nations'.2 The ANC's campaign to gain votes among Zulu speakers in KwaZulu-Natal is particularly interesting in this
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regard. In the late 1980s in a document entitled, Robben IslandersTake a Frankand Critical Lookat the PoliticalSituationin Natal - The WayForward,3 the organization's then imprisoned Natal leadership pin-pointed the need to transform Inkatha's image of the ANC as 'anti-Zulu, Indian-controlled and Xhosa-led', suggesting that this could best be achieved by questioning received ideas about the history of important Zulu-speaking figureslike Chief Albert Luthuli, formerANC President and recipient of the 1960 Nobel Prize for Peace.4 In the second section of this paper, I trace the recent history of this interest in the political potential of Zulu cultural symbols back to the 1950s. Here, my primary focus is on the unveiling of the Shaka Memorial in Stanger in September 1954, and on the role various constituencies ascribed to the first Zulu king in the struggle for Africa's liberation from colonial domination. Throughout this discussion, I draw attention to the precarious balance between black nationalist aspirations and Zulu ethnic consciousness that underlay the decision to stage that event. As I suggest, this tension between 'Zulu' and broader political concerns could easily lead one to regardthe 1954 unveiling as the culminating event in a series of developments dating back to the 1920s, when the first Inkatha movement was founded by King Solomon, the present Zulu king's grandfather. For, already then, Zulu-speaking intellectuals were involved in attempts at integrating ethnic and panAfrican sentiments, basing many of their ideas on the separatist philosophies of W. E. B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey.5 Ultimately, however, events preceding the 1954 unveiling, in which Buthelezi himself played a prominent role, also proved to be a significant turning point in relations between the ANC and those Zulu-speaking leaders and members of the Zulu royal family who sought to mobilize the support of an ethnically defined constituency. Thus, despite Buthelezi's youthful flirtationwith the ANC - he seems to have become a member of the organization as a student at the University of Fort Hare in 1949 - and his brief attempt at negotiating with exiled leaders like Oliver Tambo after he founded the (second) Inkatha movement in 1975,6 1954 set the stage for his subsequent attempts at controlling the meanings ascribed to 'Zulu' cultural symbols, including various forms of dress.
53

Finally, I look briefly at the breakdown in relations between Buthelezi and King Zwelethini following the ANC's overwhelming victory in the April 1994 election. The fact that this breakdown was precipitated by President Mandela's decision to attend Shaka Day celebrations in September 1994, is clearly very significant; but as I indicate in conclusion, the present struggle for control over the meaning and ownership of Zulu cultural symbols, including King Zwelethini - 'a cultural artefactof a particularkind'7- remains unresolved.

Radicalizing Zulu history

Following Mandela's release from prison in February 1990, the ANC made several concerted effortsto challenge Inkatha's attempts at controlling public perceptions of the political history of the Zulu royal house in the KwaZulu-Natal region. In the course of 1993, for example, the organization decided to arrangea Sonke(meaning 'all of us') Festivalwith the theme 'many cultures - one people' in the hope of mobilizing greater support among Zulu speakers.8 which published The ANC newspaper, Inkululeko, an article to coincide with this event, claimed that Zwelethini's great-grandfather,Dinuzulu, who was a founder member of the organization, had 'refused to be a puppet and chose to suffer so that his people

could be free'.9 Following this festival, the Natal Witness published an article noting that anyone who was present at the event 'could be forgiven for thinking the hundreds of amabutho [warriors]who attended in traditional gear and cultural weapons were Inkatha supporters'. The article pointed out further that the ANC's festival had obviously been organized with the aim of challenging the 'general belief in [this] country and abroad ... that the Inkatha Freedom Party is the only custodian of the customs, traditions and values of Zulu-speakers.... .9 The SonkeFestival was staged to mark the 165th anniversaryof the first Zulu king's death: Shaka was assassinated on 24 September 1828. As such it highlighted the ANC's self-professedaims of transforming popular perceptions not only of itself but also of Zulu history, an aim that was actively reinforced through the presence of 'people's poet', Mzwakhe Mbuli, who stirred the crowd 'into a frenzy as he invoke[d] the memories of the Battle of Isandlwana when Zulu warriors defeated the British colonial army in 1879'.1l Throughout the lead-up to the election, the organization also made sure that rallies addressed by Mandela were attended by former regent to King Goodwill Zwelethini, Prince Israel Mcwayizeni Zulu, and other supporters wearing a spectacular arrayof furs and feathers,'2among them prominent rural leaders like Chief Zibuse Mlaba, now deputy chairperson of the ANC in the

Festivalin KwaZulu-Natal with ANC leader NelsonMandelain thecentre and, to his right,ChiefZibuse Fig. 1. 'Sonke' 1993.Photograph: Mlaba,September Courtesy MbuzeniZulu, the 'Sowetan'. of 54
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KwaZulu-Natal region (Fig. 1). But in a deliberate attempt to underline its theme of 'many cultures one nation' Zulu-speaking veterans from Robben Island, like Jeff Radebe, now Minister of Public Works, wore a combination of furs, feathers and 'Nehru suits' when they attended a fundraising banquet supported mainly by white and Indian members of the organization.13 In a more concrete move, ANC leaders devised a draftproposal of an 'Agreement between the African National Congress and the Royal House of KwaZulu', which they tabled at a summit meeting in early April 1994. In the latter document, the organization affirmed the historical importance of the: Royal House of KwaZulu and their forebearsin the struggleagainst colonialismand apartheidand in the promotionof the nationalobjectiveof an independent, unfragmented,democratic, non-racial and non-sexist SouthAfrica.14 Once in power, it also undertook to ensure the king's right to 'designate a member of the Royal House as His Majesty's Adviser and Assistant on all traditional and customary matters', and to allow him 'to install all chiefs in the Province of KwaZuluNatal'. In return for these concessions, it demanded that the king agree 'actively to promote the rights of all South Africans, irrespective of party political affiliation ...'15 Quite obviously, this draft proposal was drawn up with the intention of driving a wedge between Zwelethini and Buthelezi, the then Chief Minister of KwaZulu, in part by affirmingthe king's right to certain so-called traditional powers, but also by invoking an image of the Zulu royal house as an essentially radical institution that had repeatedly challenged white threats to the independence of KwaZulu-Natal's black communities. Faced with the ANC's persistent attempts at affirming the broader currency of these and other 'Zulu' symbols, Buthelezi's initial response was to introduce a subtle but highly significant shift in his references to the area controlled by him and his 'Zulu' ministers. Towards the end of 1993, he stopped referringto this region, which became a selfgoverning territoryunder the apartheid government in 1971, as KwaZulu. In all his public speeches and interviews he spoke, instead, of the Kingdom of KwaZulu, thus creating the impression of a natural continuity between the recent history of KwaZuluNatal and the independent polity established by Shaka in the early nineteenth century. By doing so, he chose to revivethe claim made by Chief Gumede, the deputy secretary general of Inkatha, who said at the time of the CODESA (Congress for a Democratic South Africa) negotiations in 1992 that 'the Kingdom of KwaZulu was there from time immemorial'.l6 In its sixty year existence from the late 1810s to 1879, the Zulu kingdom never extended beyond present-day Stanger, approximately 100 km north of
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Durban.f7 And throughout its early history it not only excluded its southern neighbours from the benefits of trade, but also required that they pay tribute to the kingdom.18Generally speaking, this tribute took the form of cattle, although demands for the furs and feathers worn on ceremonial occasions were not uncommon.'9 For this reason, the patchwork apartheid structured scattered throughout present-day KwaZulu-Natal and known as KwaZulu, includes large numbers of people who never formed part of the Zulu kingdom. In many instances, these groups spoke dialects distinct from that spoken in the kingdom,20 and most followed practices that differed in important respects from those entrenched by Shaka to the north of the Thukela riverfollowing his meteoric rise to power in the 1820s. This helps to explain why Buthelezi's repeated appeals for Zulu ethnic solidarity, and his recent attempts at effecting a separation from the rest of South Africa by invoking the notion of a primordial 'Zuluness' based on the fictive idea of a common history, has encouraged vociferous opposition not only from the ANC, but also from individual Zuluspeakers. Writing in the Weekly Mail in 1992, Mondli Makhanya suggested that Buthelezi's Inkatha Freedom Party had abused 'Zuluness' to further its narrow political goals, in part by making 'those of us who do not subscribe to their creed feel less Zulu than they do [by] call[ing] us amahlubuka -the prodigal children'.21 And, in February 1994, a 'worried' Zulu sent a letter to the Sunday Times claiming that Inkatha was engaging in 'Zulu jingoism masquerading as a cry for federalism'. S/he went on to say that: There is a murky and ambiguousdistinctionbetween Inkathaand the KwaZulugovernment. The fact is that not all Zulus supportInkatha.Nor do all Zulus believe that the coming electionswill spell doom for the 'Zulu nation'(whatever is).22 that Buthelezi's repeated evocation of the 'Zulu nation' as a nation of rural traditionalists who take pride in acquiring the kind of skin garments commonly worn on ceremonial occasions before the destruction of the Zulu kingdom, has proved equally problematic, for the simple reason that at least some Zulu speakers seem to regard this insistent focus on past practices as nothing short of embarrassing, if not downright insulting. In November 1992, Khaba Mkhize, a journalist working for the Natal Witness, responded to this tendency by claiming that he is not a 'postcard' Zulu. In his second article on this subject, Mkhize concluded with an appeal to fellow Zulu speakers by alluding to the derogatory practice among whites of referringto grown black men and women as 'boys' and 'girls': 'Zulu boy, take heed: don't freeze; break loose from the postcard image ... Take the "zoo"out of Zulu.'23 The contrast between Mkhize's belief that traditionalism should be rejected because, in his view, it 55

serves to stereotype Zulu speakers as backward and uneducated, and the ANC's strategic use of 'traditional' dress in its KwaZulu-Natal election campaign, highlights the extent to which a multitude of contradictory meanings can be and often are attached to the same cultural symbols. In the latter, but probably also in the former case, it is of course Inkatha's tendency to equate the wearing of clothing of this kind with a quintessential notion of 'Zuluness' that is ultimately at stake. Interestingly, this already widely accepted construction witnessed a dramatic re-enactment on the eve of the April 1994 election when a delegation of Zulu dignitaries attended the last session of South Africa's white parliament. Among them was Prince Gideon Zulu. An important member of the royal family who has since been appointed KwaZuluNatal's Minister of Social Welfare, Gideon is often credited with having pressured the king to heed Buthelezi's demands in the course of the 1980s. Like Buthelezi, moreover, he seems to have developed an uncanny ability to attract the interest of the media not only through his attention-grabbingactions, but especially through his extravagantdress.

He is my king, but he is also my child

It was less than three weeks before South Africa's first democratic election that Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi's Inkatha Freedom Party finally agreed to participate in this historic process. In the months prior to Buthelezi's decision to do so, repeated efforts had been made by both local and international negotiators to secure his commitment to the election. But while he eventually joined in the public campaign for votes, Buthelezi continued to distance himself from the proposed government of national unity. Thus, for example, when he addressed a meeting 6 days before the election, he claimed that the IFP would gain enough seats to take its place in the new government, but that it would not become part of this government because 'Our struggle for your freedom has just begun'.24And, on the eve of the election, his closest political associates reaffirmed their commitment to (ethnic) separatism when they attended South Africa's still white parliament dressed in a spectacular array of leopard skins and exotic feathers:they were there to mark the occasion of the tabling of legislation safeguarding the constitutional rights of Zulu king, Goodwill Zwelethini, following the IFP's threat to boycott the election if the government ignored their demands in this regard. The Zulu delegates' choice of clothing caused such a stir that they appeared on the front pages of several daily newspapers, either sitting in the public gallery, or with the House of Parliament (Fig. 2) looming behind them. The most senior member of this group, Prince Gideon Zulu, has supported Buthelezi through many political battles, especially 56

during the 1980s, following the establishment of the United Democratic Front (the internal wing of the African National Congress) in 1983. Prince Gideon, the grandson of Ndabuko Zulu (himself a son of the third Zulu king, Mpande, and who acted as the guardian-adviserto King Cetshwayo's son and successor, Dinuzulu) seems always to be at hand when the cause of Zulu political aspirations are at stake. Dressed in leopard skins and carrying an array of fighting sticks, Prince Gideon was at the forefrontof many confrontations between Buthelezi's Inkatha supporiers and the United Democratic Front prior to the unbanning of the ANC in February 1990,25 leading, recently, to the not unexpected claim that he may have been linked to the 1980s hit-squad activitiesof the KwaZulu police.26Gideon's prominent role in events purportedly celebrating Zulu customs like Shaka Day and the annual Reed Ceris emony, first introduced in 1984,27 also well docuunlike many of mented. Indeed, although, Buthelezi's other close associates, Prince Gideon rarelymakes public statements, he obviously plays a crucial role in sustaining the dramatic visual spectacle used by Inkatha to underline its politics of ethnic exclusivity. When it first became clear that the IFP would in fact be participating in the election, various reasons were given for Buthelezi's last minute decision to do so. The SundayTimessuggested that the then Chief Minister of KwaZulu had succumbed to pressures from Kenyan academic, Prof. Washington Okumu, who is reputed to have warned Buthelezi that the IFP would be obliterated if he continued to resist participating in the electoral process.28In a somewhat differentinterpretationof the events leading up claimed Mail & Guardian to the election, the Weekly Zwelethini had told Buthelezi that King Goodwill that he was considering accepting the ANC's offerto secure and even extend his constitutional rights under the new government of national unity. Outlined in the proposal of an 'Agreement between the ANC and the Royal House of KwaZulu', quoted above, this document had first been brought to public attention following a summit meeting between Inkatha, the Nationalist Partyand the ANC in early April 1994. According to their reporters, matters came to a head on Saturday, 16 April, following a rally in Umlazi, a black township on the outskirts of Durban, at which ANC leader, Nelson Mandela, had led a group of 15 000 people in singing the king's praises. After giving the crowd details of his proposals on the king's future role in the new South Africa, Mandela had spoken of his relationship with Zwelethini's father, the late King Cyprian, claiming of Zwelenthini himself: 'He is my king, but he is also my child',29thereby reaffirmingthe bonds of patronage and mutual dependence that the ANC had first outlined in the draft agreement between it and the royal house of KwaZulu earlier that month. Widespread loyalty to the Zulu king has been severely tested by Buthelezi's control over the
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a at in wearing suit, is Dr Ben Fig. 2. Zulu delegates the Housesof Parliament CapeTown in April 1994.In thecentre, later Science Technology, PrinceGideon and with Minister Arts, Culture, Courtesy of Zulu tohis left.Photograph: Ngubane, of Obed Zilwa, 'TheArgus'.

increasingly controversial House of Traditional Leaders, which seems to consist entirely of Zuluspeaking chiefs loyal to the IFP.30In spite, but more possibly because of this, Mandela's evident conviction that the institution of Zulu kingship provides a powerful focus for the loyalties of rural Zulu speakers, which is crucial to the survivalof the royal family as a political force, and that the king therefore must be given some official recognition, is testimony to the ANC's persistent attempts at forging political links in the interest of securing the future of the new government of national unity. But why and how the support of this rural constituency is revitalized and renewed from one generation to another, is not entirely clear. It obviously depends, at least in part, on the widely-held perception of royalty as the embodiment of continuity. As Malcolm pointed out in the 1930s in referenceto Zwelethini's grandfather, King Solomon kaDinuzulu: The King is the only person who can approachthe nationalancestors,and is the chief medicineman of the nation.He it is who holds the tribe togetherand is the symbolof nationalunity.31 Perhaps more importantly, the strength of this support suggests that successive twentieth-century
ART THE OXFORD JOURNAL 19:1 1996

Zulu kings have played a significant role in bridging the gap between a seemingly glorious past and an increasingly uncertain future. It is essential to acknowledge, however, that the symbolic currency of the Zulu royal family has been sustained, above all, by the often contradictory qualities attributed to the Zulu kingdom's firstruler, Shaka kaSezangakhona. In the early twentieth century, Shaka became a key figure in the struggle against colonial exploitation, not only in South Africa, but throughout the African continent. It is not surprising, therefore, that he also played an important symbolic role when, at the beginning of the 1950s, the ANC and the Zulu royal family responded to the threat posed by the newly-elected apartheid government in distinctly different ways. This is not to suggest that there was a sudden and complete polarization of the political arena. On the contrary, the complex cultural history of this period suggests that the divide between progressive and conservative forces was far less clear then than it is now.

57

The Unveiling of the Shaka Memorial, September 195432 In September1954, a decisionwas made to unveil the ShakaMemorialin whathas sincebeen billedas the firstShakaDay celebration.33 Cyprian,the King fatherof the presentZulu king, arrivedfor the first day of this two day ceremonydressedin a blue serge similarto the uniformthat had been worn by his own father, Solomon kaDinuzulu(Fig.4), on the occasionof the Princeof Wales'visit to Eshowein But 1925.35 on the followingday - as a Durbanbased daily newspaper,the NatalMercury reported - both he and 'morethanthirtyotherseniormembers of the Royal familywore . . . tribaldress,with trappingsof meerkat tails, monkey tails, beaded
tapestries and various kinds of feathers' (Fig. 5).36 uniform with leopard skin trimmings (Fig. 3),34

the who claimsto havechaired meetingin Buthelezi, August 1954at which it was decidedto honourthe founderof the Zulu kingdomthroughthe unveiling claimsthatthiswasthe first of the Shakamemorial,37 that eitherhe or King Cyprianhad everworn time dress.38 Their leatherloin coveringsor 'traditional' were therefore newly made for the amamutsha occasion,althoughthe king'sleopardtoothnecklace

was an heirloom that had once belonged to Prince Gideon Zulu's father, Mnyaiza kaNdabuko. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, many other African societies had also abandoned the tendency to wear Western dress, commonly regarded as a sign of urban sophistication and civilized values in the early twentieth century. Responding to the rhetoric of various independence movements, several West African groups began to adopt multi-coloured caftans and turbans, or what Wass calls 'modal traditional dress',39 while others invented new, hybrid styles in which African forms were transformed almost beyond recognition. Although, in many cases, there was therefore hardly any relationship between these new forms and the African traditions they supposedly invoked, they were obviously developed in a sincere effort to reaffirmindigenous cultural values, and pre-colonial customs and manners. A similar history underlies the Zulu royal family's changing attitude to different forms of dress. No doubt sharing the widespread conviction that Western forms were synonymous with civilized values, King Cyprian's father, Solomon kaDinuzulu, had taken to wearing suits, riding breeches and military uniforms as a young man. And, although he

24 1954. Fromleft to right:Joyce ThokoMajali, herhusband of Fig. 3. The unveiling the ShakaMemorial, September and as whowas installed the Chiefof theButheleziclanin 1957.PhotoBhekuzulu Mangosuthu Buthelezi, King Cyprian Durban. S. B. Bourquin, of graph:Courtesy 58
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with the kaDinzuluat his meeting Fig. 4. King Solomon Princeof Walesin Eshowein 1925.Photograph: Courtesy S. B. Bourquin, Durban. wore leopard skin trimmings on the uniform he commissioned for his meeting with the Prince of Wales in 1925 (Fig. 4), and is said to have worn leopard skin braces on other occasions,40Solomon's reaction against 'traditional' dress was extremely severe.

In keeping with his rejection of forms of this kind, Solomon refused to marrywomen 'who put up their that is, women who wore 'traditional' dress, hair',41 including leather skirts and top-knots - headdresses constructed from their own hair, which was grown and woven into tall cones or cylinders before being coveredwith red ochre. In her biography of his first wife, Christina, Reyher notes that it was known that if any of the king's wives prepared a top-knot, he 'would give orders to break it down instantly and cleanse her hair'.42In 1954, royal women attending the unveiling of the Shaka Memorial in 'traditional' dress consequently had to resort to wearing the detachable, hat-like top-knots that have since become increasingly fashionable among the wives of ordinary homestead heads, most of whom have abandoned the practice of making relatively permanent top-knots from their own hair. To understand why, after almost two generations, the Zulu royal family chose to adopt indigenous forms of dress on this occasion, it is essential to look at the background to the unveiling of the Shaka Memorial. The memorial itself was erected in 1932 at a time when Inkathaya ka Zulu, the original Inkatha movement founded in 1924, had virtually collapsed as a viable political organization following the realization that King Solomon was unlikely to

to Fig. 5. The secondday of the ceremony unveil the Shaka Memorialin 1954. At the centreare King Cyprianand Durban. Courtesy S. B. Bourquin, Buthelei, to his right.Photograph: Mangosuthu of
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59

receive state recognition as king of the Zulu. These set-backs notwithstanding, it has been suggested that Inkatha ka Zulu was conceived with a view to ya inculcating a sense of ethnic pride among all Zulu speakers,43for, according to Cope, the function of this cultural initiative was both to assuage practical political disappointments by celebrating 'Zuluness' and to assert socio-political control by defining the ideological content of an ethnic nationalism to which many Zulu speakers were susceptible.44 The 1954 undertaking to unveil the Shaka Memorial was motivated, at least in part, by a similiar interest in defining the content of Zulu nationalism. But far from being organized against a background of political disappointment, the latter decision was made in the wake of the Nationalist Government's recognition of King Cyprian as Zulu Paramount in 1951, thereby ending the struggle for state acceptance that his fatherhad failed to secure.45 Equally significantly, it was in 1951 that the state began to implement its avowed intention of entrenching racial segregation through the promulgation of the Bantu Authorities Act, a move that appears to have been welcomed among those close to the Zulu royal family, some of whom evidently felt that their own interests might be served by the new
law.46

During the second reading of this Bill, and in keeping with the Nationalist Government's objectives, Verwoerd, the then Minister of Native Affairs, had stressed the role of 'tribal' authorities in taking What this meant, in control of the 'native' reserves.47 was that the Act would extend the scope of effect, chiefs' judicial powers considerably, but also that they would be made answerable to the Native Affairs Department, thereby removing any 'consensual element' in the relationship between them and their communities.48 Verwoerd nevertheless maintained that their authority would be exercised 'according to Native Law and Native custom'.49 In the lead up to the promulgation of this and other segregationist Acts, the ANC organized a National Day of Protest, followed by the Defiance Campaign of 1952. In contrast to this, and despite Buthelezi's subsequent protestationsto the contrary, he and the Zulu royal family seem to have embraced the new status quo with some enthusiasm,50 suggesting that the decision to unveil the Shaka Memorial in1954, and the fact that the king agreed to wear 'traditional' regalia on the second day of this twoday event, may be taken as indicative of a renewed if totally misplaced optimism in the potential for autonomous political action symbolized by the reign of the first Zulu king. Having said that, the context in which this event took place must also acknowledge Shaka's symbolic role in the pan-African nationalist movement that culminated with the granting of independence to As many African states in the early 1960s.51 Worger observes in his exposition of the myths surrounding the firstZulu king, '[flor many Africanshe has been, 60

and remains, a symbol of nascent nationalism'.52 This explains why, in Leopold Senghor's 1956 poem entitled Chaka,the Senegalese writer and poet uses the first Zulu king as a 'metaphor for the modern leader, attempting to hold a new nation-state together'.53Ultimately, however, Senghor's Shaka surpasses any modern leader in stature and skill, for he is - quite significantly,given Africa'sstruggle for independence in the 1950s - also characterizedas a prophetic black Christ who foresaw the emergence of the apartheid state.54 Although Senghor was the prime mover behind the Negritude movement, and, interestingly enough, wrote his poem on Shaka at a time when he was establishing his own political power base in Senegal, he was certainly not alone in underlining the first Zulu king's symbolic importance in what has been characterized as the 'protest against exploitation and acculturation'55in Africa in the 1940s and 1950s. Nor was it only beyond the borders of South Africa that Shaka assumed this status. On the contrary, already in the 1930s, he had inspired several fictionalized histories by educated Zuluspeakers, among them John L. Dube's Insila ka Shaka of 1937. The first president of the South African National Native Congress - later the African National Congress - and a close associate of King Solomon, Dube had played an instrumental role in the construction of the memorial to the founder of the Zulu kingdom.56At least one other study on Shaka dating to the early 1930s - probably the first to underline the growing experience of oppression and discrimination by black South Africans in the early twentieth century - also originated from a member of the ANC. A biography written by the then secretarygeneral of the organization, Mweli Skota, it seeks to revise white perceptions of blacks as politically incompetent.57 In Skota's words: Tshaka was a very busy man, being his own FieldMarshal,Ministerof War, Ministerof ForeignAffairs, PoliticalAgent and King. He was also Administrator, in researchwork.This is indeed a big task for engaged circumstances. any man, evenunderthe most favourable ... Had there been no Tshaka,there might neverhave been a proudZulu nation. Also of interest are R. R. R. Dhlomo's Ushaka (1937), and the now lost play on the founder of the Zulu kingdom, probably written in 1936, by his brother, H. I. E. Dhlomo.58 According to H. I. E. Dhlomo's biographer, it was not until the 1940s, however, that black South African writers began systematically to reassess the history of Shaka and his successors. Responding to the fact that white scholars invariably characterized these leaders as barbaric despots,59 black writers working in this period were increasinglyunwilling to reproduce the often totally condemnatory tone of white histories. In 1947, in an article in a newspaper
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aimed at Zulu speakers, Ilanga laseNatal, Dhlomo criticized these writers, pointing out that: Africanshave their own versionof the epics of the Zulu kings.They maintainthesemen werenot the brutesthey arepaintedto havebeen.They weresanemen fightingin defence of their country, their way of life and their principles.60 It is certainly not coincidental that it was also in 1947 that Dhlomo began writing about other dimensions of the Zulu 'past', including aspects of indigenous forms of material culture that Zuluspeaking Christians had been unwilling to embrace as part of their attempt to reclaim their cultural heritage in the 1920s and 1930s, mainly through the formation of the first Inkatha movement, but also through organizations like the Zulu Society,
founded in 1937.61 Thus, in addition to his reassess-

ment of the life of King Shaka, Dhlomo produced two pieces, also for Ilanga lase Natal, on the social import and symbolic significance of shields and bead work in Zulu society before and after the destruction of the Zulu kingdom in 1879. In the former essay, entitled 'The Shield in Tribal Life', he not only discussed the various contexts in which differenttypes of shields were used, including, for example, those reserved for courting and dancing, but also explored the rich and complex social and symbolic meanings ascribed to them in former times. In conclusion, he pointed out that to understand the significance of artefactsmade from leather, cognizance had to be taken of the ritual importance of cattle since 'the inkomo (pl. izinkomo, cattle) is i.e. a personal or bodily article of the race itself. The shield, therefore, is more than a personal article of the warrior;it is a bodily and even a spiritual article of the tribe'.62Likewise, in his essay entitled 'The Zulu and his Beads', Dhlomo stressed the spiritual and even mystical significance of bead work 'proved by their magical role in folktales'.63 Contrary to Dhlomo's assertion, Zulu-speaking traditionalists do not ascribe any religious significance to beaded garments. But while for this and other reasons, notably his characterization of the shield as a 'spiritual article of the tribe', his account is so romantic as to verge on a perception of precolonial Zulu society as essentially arcadian, it is neverthelessremarkablethat he stroveto reconstruct the historical and social import of various cultural forms at a criticalmoment in the history of Africanist attempts to reclaim the past in the hope of forging a better future. Dhlomo's rehabilitation of Shaka's reputation in particular was not completed until 1954, however. On 25 September, the second day of the unveiling ceremony at which King Cyprian arrivedin a leather loin-covering, he published the firstsection of a twopart essay on the founder of the Zulu kingdom entitled 'Shaka: His Character, Philosophy and Achievements', again in Ilanga laseNatal.64In these
THE

two pieces, the second of which appeared a week later, he praised Shaka as a communalist, nationalist and nation-builder.65 Given this reassessment of Shaka's reputation in South Africa, and of his symbolic role in the movement against colonial domination in Africa as a whole, it is certainly not surprising that when King Cyprian and some of his cousins turned up for the second day of the Shaka celebrations, they affirmed their links to other African societies by wearing fezlike hats - thereby emulating West Africanstyles in addition to their leather loin coverings and beaded tapestries (see Fig. 5). It also helps to explain why, at least according to Buthelezi, the then president of the ANC, Albert Luthuli, donated the largest slaughtering ox for the unveiling on behalf of that organization.66 Whether or not this account of the ANC's involvement in the unveiling of the Shaka Memorial is actually true, it is instructive to note, in this regard, that the ANC's Youth League had, by the late 1940s, 'come to see itself as part of a Pan-African, anticolonial movement ...'. In the League's journal, Afrika!, liberation from colonialism was therefore said to lie 'in the building of powerfulnational movements which, united with progressive forces in the metropolitan countries' would defeat the imperialists.67Also interesting is the ANC's decision to adopt symbols associated with the history of indigenous African communities in the course of the 1950s. Thus, for example, at the Congress of the People in Kliptown in 1955, it honoured three of its leaders, among them Luthuli, by giving them the title, Isitwalandwe wearer of the feathers of the legendary bird, Indwe - said to have been conferred on the bravestwarriorsin the Zulu kingdom.68 Chief Luthuli's own attitude to traditionalismwas informed by similar sentiments. No doubt in part because he believed that African cultures and values were in danger of being undermined,69 wore a fezhe like leopard-skin hat - similar to those worn at the 1954 unveiling of the Shaka Memorial - some bead work, and a leopard-skin necklace when he went to Norway to accept his Nobel Peace Prize in 1961 (Fig. 6). Interestingly too, Luthuli followed H. I. E. Dhlomo's precedent when he argued, in the opening chapter of his autobiography, Let My PeopleGo, that 'Shaka has been much maligned by white South African historians'. According to him, the Zulu ruler's outlook: was that of his day, and when that is takeninto account, and when all that can be said to his discredithas been said, this king of legendary physiqueemergesas a brilliant general,and a rulerof courage,intelligence and ability.70

Cultural weapons
Following the formation of the second Inkatha movement in 1975, some observers were convinced 61

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62

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that Buthelezi had rekindled the precarious balance between black nationalism and Zulu ethnic consciousness that seems to have informed the 1954 unveiling of the Shaka Memorial. Indeed, despite early criticism of the organization, particularly by the Black Consciousness movement,71 Gerhard Mare, a Natal-based sociologist who has since become a vociferous opponent of Inkatha,72argued in 1978that Inkatha aimed to achieve self-realization for all blacks in South Africa.73 Although the history of early relations between Inkatha and the ANC is extremely murky, there is also evidence to suggest that Buthelezi enjoyed the support of the exiled movement as late as 1979.74 This might explain why he appropriated the ANC's colours in March 1976, barely nine months after Inkatha was firstlaunched. Throughout the 1980s, when his stance vis-a-visthe mass democratic movement witnessed a dramatic deterioration, he never questioned the symbolism ascribed to these colours,75but he insisted repeatedly that they did not 'belong' to the ANC.76 Less than a month after Mandela was released from prison, Inkatha nevertheless saw fit to add the colours red and white to its flag 'to avoid confusion'.77 Already in the 1980s, but especially in the lead up to South Africa's first democratic election, Buthelezi also tried repeatedly to affirm the right of 'ethnic' Zulus to 'uphold practices calculated to underline the 'Zulu' nation's right to defend itself against the onslaught of threating outside forces. In May 1990, this claim was extended to include the right of 'Zulus' to carry 'traditional' weapons after then President De Klerk outlawed the carrying of 'dangerous weapons' in regions designated as 'unrest areas',78 decision that encouraged the ANC a to put pressure on him to extend the ban to so-called cultural or 'traditional' weapons.79 Buthelezi's response was to organize an imbizo- billed as an address by the king to the entire Zulu nation on the subject of peace - at Soccer City in Johannesburg. Speaking at this rally, which was attended by 40 000 men carrying assegais, shields and knobkerries, various civil servants from Ulundi and other members of the royal family, including Prince Gideon Zulu,80King Goodwill Zwelethini claimed that 'the call to ban the bearing of cultural weapons was an insult to the manhood of every Zulu',81 thereby establishing a link between the ideas of physical prowess and sexual performance or virility. To the migrant hostel dwellers who attend these meetings, analogies of this kind are very meaningful: in my own experience, these men often voice anxieties concerning their ability to exercise control over the sexual activitiesof their wives, most of whom still live in rural KwaZulu-Natal, where their husbands generally visit them once, and sometimes twice in the course of a single year.82 The debate concerning 'traditional weapons' ultimately culminated in a Supreme court hearing regarding the rights of 'Zulus' to carry 'cultural'
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weapons to political rallies in KwaZulu-Natal. In the lead up to this case, Senzo Mfayela, a central committee member of the Inkatha Freedom Party, lay claim to a perception of Zulu history not dissimilar to that endorsed by the ANC in their election campaign, for he responded to the threat posed by this court action to 'Zulu tradition' by insisting that '[t]he carryingof traditionalweapons [was] seen as a symbol of ... resistance to oppression' during the Anglo-Zulu war of 1879. Clearly sensitive to the ease with which cultural symbols can be and are manipulated for political purposes, Mfayela claimed further that when Chief Albert Luthuli accepted his Nobel Peace Prize wearing a strange arrayof hybrid, neo-traditional forms (Fig. 6), he was 'partially dressed in Zulu traditional clothes, which he wore with his suit', adding that some photographs 'show the past ANC president dressed fully in traditional clothes with a shield and spear. One wonders if he would also not be permitted to carry these if the ANC have (sic) their way'.83 After lengthy litigation, the Natal Supreme Court ruled that a provision in that province's amended Code of Zulu Law, which allowed people to carry dangerous weapons in accordance with custom, was 'void for vagueness'. The then KwaZulu Legislative Assembly MP for Elandskop, David Ntombela, responded to this ruling by reaffirmingthe right of 'Zulus' to carryweapons for 'traditionalZulu usage' because, according to him: It's a differentmatterif these weaponsare carriedto a politicalmeeting,but I don't think anyonecan say that and shields,knobkerries spearscannotbe carriedwhen the amakhosi (chiefs)call an imbizo(meeting)or if the ChiefMinistercalls an imbizo. That'sthe sameas saying thatthe Zulusmustn'thavetheirown king.84 Generally speaking, of course, essentializing statements like these are informed by an insistent denial of the complex, often divided history of Zulu speakers. So much so, that historian, Jeff Guy, has gone so far as to suggest that Inkatha's leaders suffer from what he calls a profound sense of 'historical amnesia'.85Yet it is probably precisely because the rhetoric underlying this 'amnesia' helps to cement many Zulu speakers' sense of group identity in an ever-changing and unpredictable world, that Buthelezi has succeeded in mobilizing this ethnic constituency for his own political purposes in recent years. On the other hand, his highly selective view of the past86seems also to have left him completely unprepared for the fact that King Zwelethini decided to shift his loyalties to the ANC following South Africa's transition to democracy in April 1994. Like so many other moments in the twentiethcentury history of Zulu politics, this particular drama was enacted around the founder of the Zulu kingdom, for it erupted soon after King Goodwill Zwelethini's invitation to President Mandela to attend Shaka Day celebrations in September 1994. 63

When Buthelezi heard of this invitation to Mandela, he objected that he himself had had no prior warning of the king's decision. Possibly in an attempt to diffuse the tension between Zwelethini and his Chief Minister, President Mandela later claimed that it was he who had asked to be present at this ceremony, arguing that his involvement as the leader of South Africa's newly-appointed government of national unity would promote national reconciliation.87Ultimately, though, Mandela was prevented from attending the celebrations because his safety could not be ensured, whereupon the king tried, unsuccessfully, to cancel all 1994 Shaka Day celebrations. Zwelethini spurned Buthelezi's subsequent efforts at reconciliation, chosing instead to follow the advice of royal supportersof the ANC, among them former regent, Prince Mcwayizeni Israel Zulu.88In keeping with this move, Zwelethini also has denied Buthelezi's long-standing claim that his role as an adviser to the king is hereditaryand therefore sanctioned by tradition,89thus reinforcing the recent assertions of Buthelezi's ANC critics, some of whom have implied that he is an imposter.90And, in his New Year message for 1995, in which he described 1994 as a year of 'unprecedented indignity and harassment' for the Zulu royal house, he drew attention to an incident in which he was confronted by a group of demonstrators during a summit meeting with President Mandela at his royal residence a few days prior to the 1994 Shaka day celebrations: invadedand my property My palace was unjustifiably wereheld against ShakaDaycelebrations damaged.King the will of the royalhouse - and this negatedthe prime purpose of culturallyending racial and political divisions.9l

According to him, however, there is a paradox in the charisma political leaders cultivate in the development of these 'master fictions', for: is though[thischarisma] rootedin the senseof beingnear the heartof things,of beingcaughtup in the realmof the
serious ...

appearamong people at some distancefromthe centre, indeedoftenenoughat a ratherenormousdistance,who wantverymuch to be closer.94 The long history of Buthelezi's struggle for control over KwaZulu-Natal - a struggle that has threatened repeatedly to undermine the survivalof South Africa's new democracy95 - serves not only to underline the importance of this assertion, but perhaps more importantly, it highlights the dubious validity of Wilentz's suggestion that since all political orders are governed by 'master fictions', it may in fact be pointless to seek to 'find out where historical rhetoric and historicalreality diverge'.96 situations In where the political stakes are comparatively low, establishing the relationship between fact and fiction, rhetoric and historical reality may well seem irrelevant. But in the case of the ANC's and Inkatha's on-going struggle for control over the meaning of 'Zuluness', recent attempts at exposing the illegitimacy of Buthelezi's cynically expedient historical claims may prove crucial to the survivalof South Africa'snewly-formed government of national unity.

its most flamboyant expressions tend to

Notes
1. I am extremely grateful to Margery Moberly, editor of the Universityof Natal Press, for drawing my attention to the ANC's Sonke(all of us) Festival in KwaZulu-Natal, to Fran Buntman for alerting me to the Takea Frankand Critical Islanders existence of the 1989 document, Robben and to Mfundo in Lookat thePoliticalSituation Natal - The WayForward, Mdingi for his invaluable assistance in locating some of the newspaper articles I cite in this paper. 2. See Anderson's insightful discussion of nation-ness and nationalism as 'cultural artefacts of a particular kind' in B. Anderson, Imagined Communities (Verso, London, 1983),p. 13. Anderson points out that if we are to understand 'nations' properly 'we need to consider carefully how they have come into historical being, in what ways their meanings have changed over time, and why, today, they command such profound emotional legitimacy'. Imagined Communities, 13-14. pp. 3. Although available on request from ANC sources, this document has not been published. It was firstbrought to the attention of the media in November, 1990. For lengthy quotations from it see the Weekly Mail, 23-29 November 1990, p. 16. Situation Lookat thePolitical Takea Frankand Critical 4. Robben Islanders in Natal - The WayForward, 7. p. 5. See N. Cope, To Bind the Nation. SolomonkaDinzulu and Zulu Nationalism 1913-1933 (University of Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg, 1993), pp. 102-3, and Robert A. Hill and GregoryA. Pirio, '"Africafor the Africans": the Garvey movement in South Africa, 1920-1948', in S. Marks and S. Trapido (eds.), ThePolitics Race,ClassandNationalism of SouthAfrica(Longman, London, 1987), pp. 209-53. in 20th Century 6. On this period in Buthelezi's career see, especially, S. Marks, The in of Ambiguities Dependence SouthAfrica (Ravan Press, Johannesburg, 1986). See also E. Hobsbawm, Nations and Nationalism since 1780 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1990), on the politically fluctuating and unstable quality of separatistmovements.

Reinforcing the sentiments expressed in the latter observation, Zwelethini's message included other references to his commitment to 'seeking and practicing reconciliation'. This probably explains why he did not object to the new government's decision to declare Shaka Day - 24 September - a public holiday, henceforth to be known officially, as Heritage Day. By declaring this day a national holiday, the ANC has of course succeeded in re-affirming the entire country's claim to one of the most important symbols in the history of South Africa's struggle against white oppression. But whether the ANC will also succeed in transformingthe institution of Zulu kingship into a progressiveforce capable of reshaping the identities of Inkatha supporting Zulu speakers, remains to be seen. Certainly, it is most unlikely that the king himself, who has never emerged as an independent political force in Zulu politics, will spearhead an attempt at undermining Buthelezi's control in the KwaZulu-Natal region.92 It is worth noting, in conclusion, that Geertz makes the interesting point that all political orders are governed by what he calls 'master fictions'.93 64

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7. See footnote 2 above. 8. See, for example, the WeeklyMail & Guardian,29 October4 November 1993, p. 8. 9. King Dinuzulu was the son of the fourth Zulu king, Cetshwayo, who ruled the Zulu kingdom before its destruction by the British in 1879. Cetshwayo was forced into exile in the Cape, travelling to Britain in the early 1880s, before returning to Zululand. Dinuzulu himself was forced into exile on two different occasions. His first exile followed his arrest during the civil unrest of the 1880s, while his second exile was imposed on him after the so-called Bambatha Rebellion of 1906. For a Rebellion. The 1906- 1908Dishistory of this event see S. Marks, Reluctant turbances Natal (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1970). in 10. Natal Witness,28 September 1993, p 7. 11. WeeklyMail &J Guardian, 1-7 October 1993, p. 9. Since the Zulu army was ultimately defeated by the British in the course of 1879, this battle proved to be the Zulu army's last moment of glory. See J. Guy, The Destruction the Zulu Kingdom(Raven Press, Johanof nesburg, 1979). 12. See, for example, the photograph in the Weekly Mail & Guardian, 30 December 1993-6 January 1994, p. 14. 13. Weekly Mail &f Guardian, October-4 November 1993, p. 8. 29 14. Proposed draft of'Agreement Between the African National Congress and The Royal House of KwaZulu', p. 1. The full text of this proposal was obtained from the ANC Press Centre in Johannesburg. 15. Draft Proposal, pp. 3, 4 and 6. 16. Statement made on the South African Broadcasting Corporation's Agendanews programme, 24 March 1992. 17. In fact, except during the latter years of Shaka's rule in the late 1820s, the Thukela river was the divide between the kingdom and its neighbours to the south. In 1844 this region was annexed by the British government as the Colony of Natal. 18. For a consideration of this history see, especially, J. Wright and C. Hamilton, 'Traditions and Transformations: The PhongolaMzimkulu Region in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries', in A. Duminy and B. Guest (eds.), Natal and Zululand From EarliestTimesto 1910. A New History(University of Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg, 1989), pp. 49-82. 19. C. de B. Webb and J. B. Wright (eds.), TheJames StuartArchive, vol. 4 (University of Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg,1986), p. 8. 20. The language now spoken throughout KwaZulu-Natal was first codified by American missionaries who came to south-east Africa in 1835. See D.J. Kotze (ed.), Letters theAmerican Missionaries 1835-1838 of (The Van Riebeeck Society, Cape Town, 1950), pp. 96 and 123. 21. Weekly Mail, 3-9 April 1992. 22. SundayTimes, 13 February 1994, p. 19. This letter was sent from Umtata in the Transkei, traditionally an ANC stronghold. 23. Mkhize's articles appeared in the Natal Witnesson 7 November and 14 November 1992. 24. CapeTimes,23 April 1994, p. 2. 25. See, for example, the photograph of Prince Gideon in Umlazi, on the outskirts of Durban, in G. Mare and G. Hamilton, An Appetite for Power:Buthelezi'sInkathaand SouthAfrica(Ravan Press, Johannesburg, 1987). 26. By March 1995 there were indications that he might well be arrested for masterminding some of these activities. WeeklyMail & 17-23 March 1995, p. 4 and the British SundayTimes, 11June Guardian, 1995, p. 19. 27. The Reed Ceremony is a Swazi institution involving young girls. According to Booth, by celebrating nubility, it 'emphasizes the traditional role reserved for women: procreation and domesticity', A. R. Booth, Swaziland: Traditionand Changein a Southern AfricanKingdom (Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, 1983), p. 43. For a consideration of invented traditions masquerading as revivals see, especially, E. Hobsbawm and T. Ranger, The Invention Tradition of (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1983). The history of Shaka Day celebrations is dealt with more fully below. 28. SundayTimes,24 April 1994, p. 41. 29. Weekly Mail & Guardian, 22-28 April 1994, p. 3. 30. In March 1995, King Goodwill Zwelethini applied to have the Act which led to the establishment of the House of Traditional Leaders declared 'unconstitutional'. He claimed that he had not been consulted when this body was first proposed and that Buthelezi's attempt to 'summon' him to its inaugural meeting was 'in contravention of tradi-

tional Zulu law and custom'. Weekly Mail & Guardian,17-23 March 1995, p. 4. 31. Introductory article by D. Mck Malcolm, in A. M. DugganCronin, The Bantu Tribesof SouthAfrica, vol. 3, section III: The Zulu (Deighton, Bell and Co., Cambridge, 1938), p. 10. 32. This section is a substantiallyrevised account of the events leading up to the 1954 unveiling which appeared in my article 'Mobilizing Cultural Symbols in Twentieth Century Zululand', in R. Hill, M. Muller and M. Trump (eds.), AfricanStudiesForum,vol. 1 (HSRC Publishers, Pretoria, 1991), pp. 193-226. When I first discussed this event I assumed, for various reasons (see footnote 33 below and Buthelezi's 'Shaka Day Memorial Address', 24 September 1974, which can be obtained from the archives of the University of South Africa)that it had been organized to inaugurate the Shaka Day celebrations that became an annual feature in Buthelezi's politial calendar in the 1970s. 33. This ceremony was organized to unveil the Shaka Memorial erected in Stanger in the early 1930s. Shaka Day celebrations did not become an annual event until the early 1970swhen KwaZulu became an independent governing territory (see footnote 32 above). Although Marks states (The Ambiguities Dependence, 73, footnote 99) that the of p. memorial was unveiled on 1 October 1932, soon after it was completed, the unveiling appears to have been shelved indefinitely when it became apparent that the Shaka Memorial fund still owed the Durban stonemasons who had erected the memorial ?3309. N. Cope, To Bind the Nation, p. 260. 34. Natal Mercury, September 1954. 26 35. According to Buthelezi (Interview,June 1988), the styles of these uniformswere chosen from books on militaryuniforms shown to the king by his Johannesburg tailors. When Solomon died in the early 1930s, he had two tailors in Johannesburg, Mutual Tailors and Outfitters, and Brimson and Rough Specialit6 Outfitters. Natal Archives, Pietermarizburg (NA), Commissioner for Native Affairs(CNC), 84A 58/7/4. 36. Natal Mercury, September 1954. 27 37. Mangosuthu Buthelezi, 'King Shaka Day Memorial Address', 24 September 1974, p. 1. 38. Interview, Buthelezi, June 1988. 39. For a discussion of this development see Betty M. Wass, 'Yoruba Dress in Five Generations of a Lagos Family', in J. Cordwell and R. Schwarz (eds.), The Fabricof Culture (Mouton Publishers, New York, 1979), pp. 331-48. 40. 0. F. Raum, TheSocialFunctions Avoidances Taboos and of amongthe Zulu (Walter De Greyter, Berlin, 1973), p. 270. The association of leopard skin with the institution of kingship has a long and complicated history dating back to the reign of the second Zulu king, Dingane. Although he controlled access to leopard skins, Dingane himself did not wear leopard skin garments. It was only during the reign of King Cetshwayo that kings appear to have adopted the practice of wearing clothing made from skins of this kind. But, like King Solomon, who was sometimes referred to as 'the leopard' or 'the leopard's cub', all nineteenth-century Zulu kings were equated with leopards. Today, the only factor motivating against the acquisition of leopard skin garments by ordinary people is the formidable cost of the skins themselves. The royal family and Buthelezi, who receive gifts of leopard skins from the Natal Parks Board, often wear exceptionally luxurious leopard skin garments. Leopards are still comparatively plentiful, especially in northern Natal where they pose a serious threat to livestock holdings. For both of these reasons, they are not protected by the game regulations of the Natal Parks Board. 41. C. de B. Webb and J. B. Wright (eds.), TheJames StuartArchive, vol. 1 (University of Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg,1976), p. 171. 42. R. H. Reyher, Zulu Woman(Columbia University Press, New York, 1948), p. 161. 43. The memorial itself does not incorporate any reference to 'traditional' Zulu symbols. It is surmounted by a marble urn and is therefore probably best described as a quasi-classical funerary monument. For a photographic reproduction of this curious structure, see Cope, To Bind theNation, p. 248. 44. Cope, To Bind the Nation, p. 258, but see also N. Cope's PhD 1910Thesis, The Zulu RoyalFamily Underthe SouthAfricanGovernment, 1933 (University of Natal, 1985), p. 392. 45. For a discussion of this history, see S. Marks, 'Natal, the Zulu Royal Family and the Ideology of Segregation',Journalof Southern African Studies,vol. 4, no. 2, 1978, pp. 172-94.

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46. Cope makes the interesting point that the political influence of successive Zulu kings 'has remained an important theme in Zulu history throughout the twentieth century. But their political role has become increasingly distanced from the politics of protest, and ever closer to the politics of compromise'. N. Cope, To Bind theNation, p. xv. See also the article by Southall referredto in footnote 71 below. 47. C. M. Tatz, Substance Shadowin SouthAfrica.A Studyin Land and and Franchise PoliticsAffectingAfricans,1910-1960 (University of Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg,1962), p. 150. 48. T. Lodge, Black Poilticsin SouthAfricaSince 1945 (Raven Press, Johannesburg, 1983), p. 266. and 49. Tatz, Shadow Substance, 150. p. 50. In his official biography of Buthelezi, Gatsha Buthelezi: Zulu Statesman (Purnell and Sons, Johannesburg, 1976),p. 46, Temkin argues that Buthelezi was deeply perturbed by the oppressive implications of this legislation, yet he goes on to argue that as 'a traditionalist,Buthelezi welcomed the government's promise to retain chieftainship'. Gatsha Buthelezi,p. 51. In October 1955, Buthelezi and King Cyprian attended a meeting at Mona in the Nongoma district - the area where successive Zulu kings have made their home - to discuss the Act with the Minister of Native Affairs,H. Verwoerd. 51. Although much has been written on Shaka as symbol, thus farnoone seems to have studied the background to the unveiling of the Shaka Memorial, possibly because information on this event is contained in ephemeral sources and has therefore gone unnoticed. See, for example, C. Hamilton's PhD thesis, AuthoringShaka. Models, Metaphorsand Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 1993) and my Historiography comment on Couzens in footnote 65 below. In contrast to Hamilton and Couzens, Paul Forsyth ('The Past in the Service of the Present: The Political Use of History by Chief A. N. M. G. Buthelezi 1951-1991', South African Historical Journal, vol. 26, 1992, pp. 74-92) actually mentions the 1954 event, but only in passing. 52. W. Worger, 'Clothing Dry Bones: The Myth of Shaka', Journalof Studies,Fall, 1979, pp. 145-58. African 53. Worger, 'Clothing Dry Bones', p. 154. 54. Z. Malaba, 'Reconstruction of History: The Case of Shaka'. The MfecaneAftermath.Towardsa New Paradigm.Conference held at the University of the Witwatersrand,6-9 September 1991. Literature 55. J. Bumess, KingShakaof theZulus in African (The Three Continents Press, Washington, 1976), p. xii. 56. Marks, 'Natal, the Zulu Royal Family and the Ideology of Segregation', p. 173. 57. T. D. M. Skota, The African rearly Register,Being an Illustrated NationalBiographical (Who's Who)of BlackFolksin Africa(R. L. Dictionary Esson & Co. Ltd., The Orange Press, Johannesburg, c.1930-1932), pp. 101-3. A 58. T. Couzens, TheNew African. Study theLifeand Work of ofH. I. E. Dhlomo(Ravan Press,Johannesburg, 1985), p. 317. 59. See, for example, A. T. Bryant, OldenTimesin ZululandandNatal (Longmans, Green and Co., London, 1929), p. 648. 60. IlangalaseNatal, 22 February 1947. 61. On the subject of the Zulu Society see, especially, Shula Marks, 'Patriotism,Patriarchyand Purity: Natal and the Politics of Zulu Ethnic Consciousness', in L. Vail (ed.), The Creation Tribalismin Southern of Africa James Currey Ltd., London, 1989), pp. 215-40. 62. IlangalaseNatal, 11 October 1947. 63. IlangalaseNatal, 4 October 1947. 64. IlangalaseNatal, 25 September 1954 and 2 October 1954. 65. It is strange that although Couzens deals with the Shakan revival in the writings of the Dhlomo and others in the 1940s and 1950s he does not appear to realise that Dhlomo's Ilanga laseNatal articles on Shaka coincided with the unveiling of the Shaka Memorial. See Couzens, The New Africa,pp. 241 ff. 66. Temkin, GatshaButhelezi,p. 116. 67. D. Everatt, 'Alliance Politics of a Special Type: The Roots of the ANC/SACP Alliance, 1950-1954', Journal of Southern AfricanStudies, vol. 18, no. 1, March 1991, pp. 19-39. 68. A more complete consideration of the ANC's attitude to traditional forms of dress is contained in A. Proctor and S. Klopper, 'Through the Barrelof the Bead: The Personal and the Political in Beadwork from the Eastern Cape', in E. Bedford (ed.), Ezakwantu.Beadwork from the Eastern Cape (South African National Gallery, Cape Town, 1993), pp. 57-67.

1: 69. G. J. Pillay, Voices Liberation,Volume AlbertLuthuli (HSRC of Publishers, Pretoria, 1993), p. 5. 70. A. Luthuli, Let My PeopleGo. An Autobiography (Collins, London, 1962), p. 17. 71. See, especially, R. Southall, 'Buthelezi, Inkatha and the Politics of Compromise', AfricanAffairs,vol. 80, no. 321, 1981, p. 546 and Marks, TheAmbiguities Dependence, 119. of p. Blood. Politicsand Ethnicityin Born of Warrior 72. G. Mare, Brothers SouthAfrica(Raven Press,Johannesburg, 1992). 73. G. Mare, 'Class Conflict and Ideology among the Petty Bouron geoisie in the "Homelands":Inkatha- A Study'. Conference theHistory in of Opposition SouthAfrica.University of the Witwatersrand, Development Studies Group, 1978. Mare's early interpretationof Inkatha'saims was based in part on a speech Buthelezi made at theJabulani Stadium in Soweto in March, 1976, where he claimed that the movement was 'not peculiarly Zulu or even peculiarly Natal' in spirit, adding that '[b]eyond any divisions which appear to be present in black society, there is a unity based on a deep-rooted nationalism'. M. G. Buthelezi, 'Storm Warnings', Soweto, 14 March 1976 (available from the archives of the University of South Africa). 74. On the subject of this history see, especially, the study on Buthelezi published under the pseudonym of Mzala, and entitled Gatsha Buthelezi.Chiefwith a DoubleAgenda(Zed Books, London, 1988). 75. The ANC adopted the colours green (the land), black (the people) and yellow (South Africa's mineral wealth) in 1925. M. Benson, The in National Congress SouthAfrica AfricanPatriots.The Storyof the African (Faber and Faber, London, 1963), p. 55. 76. In 1978, Buthelezi declared that 'We in Inkatha were the first organisation since the days of the ANC to show the national colours of the black people of this country'. G. Mare and G. Hamilton, An Appetite for Power,p. 141. 77. TheArgus,26 March 1990. 78. Weekly Mail, 24-29 May 1991. 79. The ANC went so far as to threaten to break off constitutional negotiations unless the ban was extended to include weapons like spears StarReview,19 May 1991. and knobkerries.Sunday 80. CapeTimes,27 May 1991. 81. Weekly Mail, 30 May-6 June 1991, p. 16. 82. For a consideration of the far-reachingimpact of these anxieties on male attitudes to female dress codes see my paper, 'You Need Only One Bull to Cover Fifty Cows: Zulu Women and "Traditional"Dress', Politics in and in S. Clingman (ed.), Regions Repertoires. Topics SouthAfrican and Culture (Ravan Press,Johannesburg, 1991), pp. 147-77. StarReview,19 May 1991. 83. Sunday 84. SundayTribune,15 December 1991. 85. Jeff Guy speaking in 1994 at the launch of the republication of his book, The Destruction theZulu Kingdom. of 86. This use of the past is discussed by P. Forsyth in his article, 'The Past in Service of the Present'. See also P. Harries, 'Imagery, Symbolism and Tradition in a South African Bantustan: Mangosuthu Buthelezi, and Inkatha and Zulu History', History Theory, 1993, pp. 105-25, and 32, M. De Haas and P. Zulu, 'Zulu Ethnicity and Federalism: The Case of KwaZulu/Natal', Journalof Southern AfricanStudies,vol. 20, no. 2, 1994, 433-46. pp. 87. Natal Witness,12 September and 13 September 1994. 30 Mail & Guardian, September-6 October 1994. 88. Weekly 17-23 March 1995, p. 4. Mail & Guardian, 89. Weekly 90. See, especially, Mzala's Gatsha Buthelezi. 91. SundayTimes, 1January 1995, p. 4. 92. For an interesting assessment of King Goodwill Zwelethini's past and present role in Zulu politics, see the interviewwith GerhardMare in New Nation, 30 September 1994, p. 7. 93. CliffordGeertz, 'Centres, Kings and Charisma:Reflections on the Symbolics of Power', in S. Wilentz (ed.), The Ritesof Power:Symbolism, Ritualand PoliticssincetheMiddle Ages(Basic Books, Philadelphia, 1985), pp. 13-38. 94. Geertz, 'Centres, Kings and Charisma', p. 31. 95. See, for example, the interview with President Mandela in the SundayTimes,7 May 1995, p. 23 in which he said: 'I cannot continue to fund a provincialgovernmentwhich uses those resourcesto mobilise the community to overthrowthe central government by unlawful means .. .' 96. See S. Wilentz's introductory remarks in TheRitesof Power,p. 8.

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