Mandlakazi

{{Short description|Zulu clan}}

{{For|the town and district in Mozambique|Manjacaze|Manjacaze District}}

The Mandlakazi are a Zulu clan in KwaZulu-Natal and formerly in Zululand. They started out as allies of Shaka as he founded the Zulu nation. The Mandlakazi derived wealth not only from cattle but from an extensive trade network that extended from northern Zululand north and east to Delagoa Bay in Mozambique.{{Cite book|last1=Knight |first1=Ian |last2=Greaves |first2=Adrian |year=2007 |title=The Who's who of the Anglo-Zulu War: The Colonials and the Zulus |location=Barnsley, England |publisher=Pen & Sword Military |page=231 |isbn=978-1-78159-731-6 }}

The leader of the Mandlakazi was an inkosi (chief), and the position generally passed from father to son. Ndaba was the first known Mandlakazi inkosi and he was followed by his son Jama, who was Shaka's grandfather.{{Cite book|last=Stuart |first=James |year=1976 |editor-last=de B Webb |editor-first=Colin |title=The James Stuart Archive of Recorded Oral Evidence Relating to the History of the Zulu and Neighbouring Peoples |location=Pietermaritzburg |publisher=University of Natal Press |volume=2 |page=220 |isbn=978-0-86980-189-5 }} Jama's son Senzangakhona fathered Shaka, and his son Sojiyisa was the inkosi of the Mandlakazi who befriended his young nephew Shaka.{{harvnb|Knight|Greaves |2007|page=230}} Sojiyisa's son, Maphitha was the inkosi of the Mandlakazi until 1872,{{Cite book|last=Laband |first=John |year=2018 |title=The Eight Zulu Kings: From Shaka to Goodwill Zwelithini |location=Johannesburg, South Africa |publisher=Jonathan Ball Publishers |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=88fnDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT219&lpg=PT219 219] |isbn=978-1-86842-838-0 }} having been given, by Shaka, suzerainty over the former Ndwandwe territory in northeastern Zululand.{{harvnb|Laband|2018|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=88fnDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT173 173]}} Although as early at 1856, during the Second Zulu Civil War, Maphitha's son Zibhenhu came to the favorable attention of Cetshwayo.{{harvnb|Knight|Greaves |2007|page=[https://www.google.com/books/edition/Who_s_Who_in_the_Zulu_War_1879_The_Colon/u7TNDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PT185 185]}} In 1872 Zibhebhu kaMaphitha succeeded to inKosi of the Mandlakazi people. He was confirmed as inKosi in 1879 by General Wolseley after the Anglo-Zulu War.{{Cite dictionary|last=Laband |first=John |year=2009 |title=Zululand, 1st Partition of (1879) |dictionary=Historical Dictionary of the Zulu Wars |location=Lanham, Maryland |publisher=Scarecrow Press |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Pnf1BC_XORoC&pg=PA319&lpg=PA319 319–320] |isbn=978-0-8108-6078-0}}

Zibhenhu and the Mandlakazi were decisively defeated on 5 June 1884 by the combined forces of King Dinuzulu and the Boers at the Battle of Ghost Mountain (Battle of Tshaneni). Although Zibhenhu survived the battle, the survivors and their women and children were exiled to the "Reserve Territory" around Eshowe and the Mandlakazi ceased to be a viable force.{{Cite book|last=Greaves |first=Adrian |year=2013 |title=The Tribe That Washed Its Spears: The Zulus at War |location=Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England |publisher=Pen & Sword Military |page=[https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Tribe_That_Washed_Its_Spears/HJX9AwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=RA1-PT117 117] |isbn=978-1-84884-841-2 }}{{Cite book|last=Guy |first=Jeff |year=1994 |title=The Destruction of the Zulu Kingdom: The Civil War in Zululand, 1879-1884 |location=Pietermaritzburg |publisher=University Of Natal Press |page=226 |isbn=978-0-86980-892-4 }} Originally published in 1979 in London by Longman.