African Queens: Scrolla.Africa is showcasing the lives of seven African queens from across history whose remarkable lives went on to shape the world today.
How big is the impact made by a woman that upon her death, her son orders that anyone who is deemed to be insufficiently grief-stricken must be executed?
It is very hard core but these were the lengths the great King Shaka was driven to when his mother, Princess Nandi Bhebe, died.
Nandi’s story is filled with hardships and rejection. She was born around the year 1760 in Melmoth, KwaZulu-Natal to a chief of the Elangeni.
As a young woman she fell pregnant out of wedlock. The father, King Senzangakhona, was summoned by Nandi’s family to announce the child, but he denied her pregnancy, claiming instead that she had a stomach ache caused by the ishaki beetle.
A few months later a little Zulu prince was born. And Nandi cheekily named him after the beetle as a clap back to Senzangakhona and his family.
(You know, in the same way your parents laugh behind your back and call your child “study” or “matric” after you fell pregnant when you swore to them you were out late studying for matric exams.)
She demanded 55 head of cattle as damages for the pregnancy and Senzangakhona paid to not cause a war with Nandi’s people. Needless to say her relationship with her in-laws couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start. Nandi had to endure abuse and ridicule including being called loose for falling pregnant out of wedlock.
Her marriage fell apart and she was forced to return to her people and leave her son behind.
It proved so dangerous for Shaka to live with his father’s people that his uncle smuggled him away to his mother for fear of his life. This proved to be no safer; in the coming years Nandi was forced to protect her son from assassination attempts, famine and enemies who would relish the chance to kill the son of Senzangakhona.
Later, Nandi went to seek refuge with the Qwabe people where she met Gendeyana, with whom she got married and had a son. Her stay was once again filled with danger and heartache and so she fled to live amongst the Mthethwa people led by Chief Dingiswayo.
Through all the hardships of being a single mother on the run, whilst facing famine and enemies in every direction, Nandi taught her son to be a good leader, encouraging negotiation before violence and helping to shape the great king he would become.
May we remember that without Princess Nandi Bhebhe, there would be no King Shaka.
Without her protection and influence over his life as a young man, the dangers that followed him would surely have robbed the world of the King Shaka story.
Image source: afroculture.net
