King Mageba kaGumede (c. 1667c. 1745) was an early king of the

Zulu Kingdom The Zulu Kingdom ( ; ), sometimes referred to as the Zulu Empire, was a monarchy in Southern Africa. During the 1810s, Shaka established a standing army that consolidated rival clans and built a large following which ruled a wide expanse of So ...

. Mageba is said to have succeeded his twin brother King Phunga as leader of the Zulu clan on Phunga's death in about 1727. (This succession between close brothers is reflected by references in Zulu

praise poetry A panegyric ( or ) is a formal public speech or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing. The original panegyrics were speeches delivered at public events in ancient Athens. Etymology The word originated as a compound of - 'a ...

such as ''Zulu ka Phunga no Mageba!'' (''Zulus, children of Phunga and Mageba!'') Mageba had at least two sons: Ndaba, who succeeded him, and Mpangazitha. Mpangazitha married his

cousin A cousin is a relative who is the child of a parent's sibling; this is more specifically referred to as a first cousin. A parent of a first cousin is an aunt or uncle. More generally, in the kinship system used in the English-speaking world, ...

, and it is from this marriage that the Mbatha clan as well as the Mageza clan descends.

In popular culture

Mageba is mentioned in the 1981

Juluka Juluka was a South African band formed by Johnny Clegg and Sipho Mchunu. means "sweat" in Zulu, and was the name of a bull owned by Mchunu. The band was closely associated with the mass movement against apartheid. History At the age of 14 ...

song "Impi" about the decisive

Battle of Isandlwana The Battle of Isandlwana (alternative spelling: Isandhlwana) on 22 January 1879 was the first major encounter in the Anglo-Zulu War between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Eleven days after the British invaded the Zulu Kingdom, Zululand ...

against British colonial forces.

External links

Official South African Government language portal: Zulu royal lineage

References

1660s births 1740s deaths Zulu kings South African animists 18th-century Zulu people 18th-century monarchs in Africa {{Africa-royal-stub fr:Chefs des Zoulous avant 1816