Umkhosi Wezintaba ('The Regiment of the Hills'), 'Umkosi we Seneneem' ('The Regiment of Gaolbirds'), 'Abas'etsheni' ('The People of the Stone'), the 'Nongoloza' and the 'Ninevites' were simultaneously criminal gangs and

resistance movements A resistance movement is an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to withstand the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability. It may seek to achieve its objectives ...

formed by African men in South Africa between 1890 and 1920.

Umkosi Wezintaba (The Regiment of the Hills), 1812–1899

Nongoloza (born Mzuzephi Mathebula) also known as Jan Note, a Zulu man from Natal, worked for two criminals based on the

Witwatersrand The Witwatersrand () (locally the Rand or, less commonly, the Reef) is a , north-facing scarp in South Africa. It consists of a hard, erosion-resistant quartzite metamorphic rock, over which several north-flowing rivers form waterfalls, which ...

, Tyson and McDonald, assisting them with robbing passenger coaches or carts carrying miners' wages. Upon leaving his employers, Note sought out the area's Zulu-speaking thieves and criminals, eventually becoming their leader. Historian Charles van Onselen notes that although Umkosi Wezintaba mainly committed anti-social crimes, the organisation also worked to avenge perceived injustice against its members.

Abas'etsheni (The People of the Stone) and Nongoloza, 1902–1906

The Ninevites, 1906–1920

The Ninevites were formed by Mzuzephi 'Nongoloza' Mathebula. Nongoloza was the alias adopted by the young Zulu migrant, who had suffered injustice from his past and longed to break away from it to establish a new era. The Ninevites were a

gang A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collective ...

consisting of other young South African outlaws searching for sources of income through various

criminal activities In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in C ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

. The group of

bandits Banditry is a type of organized crime committed by outlaws typically involving the threat or use of violence. A person who engages in banditry is known as a bandit and primarily commits crimes such as extortion, robbery, and murder, either as an ...

grew across South Africa, and for almost two decades the gang dominated. By 1920 the Ninevites were crushed (Nongoloza was sentenced to prison for attempted murder in 1900).

Sexuality

Nongoloza ordered his troops to abstain from physical contact with females, instead ordering older men of marriageable status within the regiment to take on younger males of the gang as boy wives. Nongoloza testified in 1912 that the practice of ''hlabonga'' had "always existed. Even when we were free on the hills south of Johannesburg some of us had women and others had young men for sexual purposes." According to Zackie Achmat, Nongoloza did not justify the existence of taking on boy wives based on venereal diseases or tradition, but in terms of sexual desire.Homosexualities
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References

;Footnotes ;Sources *http://www.wepapers.com/Papers/75510/Nongoloza's_Children_-_Western_Cape_Prison_Gangs_During_And_After_Apartheid_.pdf *http://www.bigwebsites.co.za/joburg/content/view/2049/168

Umkosi Wezintaba (The Regiment of the Hills), 1812–1899

Abas'etsheni (The People of the Stone) and Nongoloza, 1902–1906

The Ninevites, 1906–1920

Sexuality

See also

References