Controversial Identity Of Shaka Zulu: Beloved Military Genius And Horrible Mass Murderer

Shaka can be accused of being both a mass murderer and military genius due to the fact that he was chased from his homeland because of the embarrassment caused by his illegitimate birth. He had lived with Dingiswayo from a young boy. He received military training in the Izicwe army, and showed extreme bravery.

When going into battles, he had an uncontrollable desire to kill. In the wars in Southern Zululand he was recognized as a hero in Dingiswayo’s army. When his father Senzangaknona died he should have been next in line to be Zulu chief but he was denied a right to the throne because he was an illegitimate child. His half-brother Ngwadi was announced the chief of the Zulu tribe. This made Shaka angry and so he plotted the assassination of the chief and took over as chief of the the Zulu.

Shaka Zulu started to control the strategy of his army he had now gained, this Kraal was now to be called Bulawayo which meant “the place of killing”. He designed long-bladed stabbing spears, and a short spear called the Iklwa. They were ordered to conquer or die fighting. In Ndwandwe country chief Zwide, son of mother Ntombazi, who he was very close to, was watching Dingiswayo’s achievements very closely at the time, when Ntombazi demanded chief Dingiswayo’s head. The old woman was a collector of chief’s heads.

Zwide’s forces was nothing compared to the Mthethwa tribe and so instead of going to war with them he decided to set a trap in which they would capture Dingiswayo. When reports of there being attacks on the Mthethwa tribe, Dingiswayo immediately led his people to the country of Zwide while ordering Shaka and his tribe to meet them on the hill of Nongoma. Dingiswayo then strolled to the top of the hill to spy on his enemy. Here scouts of Zwide captured him and took him to the headquarters were Zwide would be. They killed Dingiswayo and removed his head to Ntombazi’s request. Dingiswayo had been assassinated.

Hearing about Dingiswayo’s death Shaka immediately assumed leadership of Mthethwa. He began to take over surrounding chiefdoms, adding their forces to his in which he would build a new kingdom he could rule. Shaka’s first rule was the conquering of Ndwandwe. When Zwide, leader of Ndwandwe heard about this he decided to shatter his new rival. After Zwide’s defeat in his first expedition due to the control and strategies of the Zulu led by Shaka Zulu, Zwide now sent his army for the second time in 1818 into the Zululand. This time Shaka wore out his invaders by making it seem as if he was drawing Zwide’s forces into his territory. When he successfully captured the invaders he flung his regiments on them and defeated them at the Mhlathuze River. Ndwandwe were defeated. In 1826 for the third time under Zwide they again fought the Zulu but were defeated. Majority of these people fled to Shaka, he was able to enforce his new combat methods on them. Shaka Zulu’s great strategies and fighting skills had finally defeated Ndwandwe.

Once Shaka was in power he began to re-structure his forces according to ideas he developed as a warrior under Dingiswayo. Having proved the advantages of the new tactics used during the defeat of Ndwandwe, Shaka armed his warriors with short-handled stabbing spears and trained them to be in close contact to their opponents when fighting. Shaka built up his forces which soon became the terror of the land. Shaka banned the wearing of Sandals to toughen his warriors feet when they would run barefoot over rough thorny ground, which would greater their strength. Shaka’s war cry was, “victory or death”. Wrong doings were punished by death, Shaka never married, and any woman found pregnant by him were put to death. His wars were accompanied by great slaughter and caused many migrations. It was estimated that during his reign Shaka caused the death of more than a million people.

Shaka’s wars between 1818 and 1828 contributed too many forced migrations such as Mfecane and Difaqane. Old chiefdoms vanished and new ones were created.Shaka was a cruel tyrant man. He had men executed with a nod of his head this being due to the fact that his mother died in October 1827.Many people were put to death during the mourning ceremonies because they didn’t show enough grief. He also sent his armies out to force surrounding chiefdoms to grieve.

Taking advantage of the absence of his armies, Shaka Zulu was killed by his bodyguard Mbopha and his half-brothers Dingane and Mhlangana when they stabbed Shaka near his military barracks at Dukuza, on 22 September 1828.As Shaka was dying he called out to his brother Dingane : “Hey brother ! You kill me, thinking you will rule, but the swallows will do that”. He meant the white people, because they made their houses out of mud, like the swallows. They kept on stabbing him. Shaka’s last words were: “are you stabbing me, kings of the earth? You will come to an end through killing one another.” They buried his body in a grain-pit nearby. Shaka having died without an Heir to his throne, meant Dingane could take his place. Shaka’s words before his death haunted him, and Dingane was now wary of white people. This proved Shaka was both a mass murderer and military genius.