#inkhathi

A Mamma Zulu is either your biological mother or a female role model but in the role of Mamma Zulu, she is your Teacher. And your Makhoti, when you are still a child and at home, being the property of your mother. This is not meant In a child labour kind of a way but in the sense that African's respect the next person's property and do not bring any harm or allow any harm to come to someone's property: be it children, Nguni, wives or personal effects.

In the time of the 7 Sovereign Kingdoms of eSwati - as Africa was named, 300 years ago, before colonization took hold - Zulu women kept their children indoors and only allowed their children outside, under the supervision of their mother or eldest sister or retired Inkhathi grandfather, when illness or birthing kids stopped the mother from taking charge of the water fetching every morning, at sunrise-ish, from the river.

First thing in the morning (or in the afternoon, in the days of Inkhatha warriors who did a dusk-to-dawn imali (running or/and training) of the grounds - that was really a lion patrol - as the lions had become overpopulated and were jumping kazi walls and pawing away at the mud-and-grass kraal (or homestead) until a hole, big enough to jump through, had been made.

Many people, lost their lives, IN KAZI, IN THEIR KRAAL, due to lion attacks and so, the problem had gotten out of hand. Imali or patrol at night (when lions hunt) was the solution.

These lion attacks were also how Umkhonto weSizwe was formed. As a formation of long spear throwers and marksmen, they imali'd alongside training, spenzaring weSizwe (or Initiates, who were still warriors in training) protecting them and spearing lions that knocked over a running (in the spenza line) Sizwe and tried to drag him away, into the bush. The lions would drag live prey to their associates and together, they would eat you. Alive.

White or Siberian Tigers had been mixed with Serengeti lions, either purposefully or as the result of an imported, abandoned tiger. Because of this, they did not know the 7 Sovereign Kingdoms rules and regulations that Serengeti lions were quite used to. They left Inkazi people alone but especially, weSizwe, people in animal skin regalia and kids with their mother's (made by Mamma) Imali headbands on. Even the crocodile didn't attack Imali headband wearing children and women.

In kazi (or village) when the men left kazi with weapons - in lion-free times, for a xlash on Shona Panzi; the battle grounds - at night, to go patrol, the children were allowed to keep watch for their fathers and brothers until they returned. This was facilitated by NuuGuu (in this role, as the storyteller) at his or her kahgle or big fireplace or pit. There, NuuGuu would tell wide-eyed children and their accompanying mothers stories of the past like how the giraffe got his carved out toenails: of course NuuGuu had needed to boil a concoction of glue to press skins against wooden shields and had found that donkey hoof cuttings were not strong enough. NuuGuu's fireside friend, the Mchocho or wild dog had informed NuuGuu of the giraffe hoof's usefulness. And so on and so on.

When one was born, it was normally a NuuGuu or a midwife, who would cut the umbilical cord only after the placenta had been birthed and only after the umbilical cord stopped throbbing. This last bit of blood, oxygen and vitamins and minerals is very healthy and often people cut the umbilical cord too soon. By waiting for the placenta, the umbical cord can be cut long - to be wrapped around the waist of the infant and wrapped around itself to secure. This is called Nkulu Mthondo.

Whilst, today, Mthondo means penis, in those days it meant crocodile and was actually a celebration of our Mcholo or Majola/Majolo/Mcholo clan's crocodile training that had protected many of our people from hostile forces by using Mcholo (croc) as a bit of a security escort and fear-inducer.

Nkulu Mthondo is also the awareness of that Rite of Passage, which allows one to avoid horrible deaths, like ones in which one is eaten by a crocodile. It is a Ritual of Muti, really. The second baby Rite of Passage is Indlozi, which is the removing of the foreskin on the second day, after birth. This causes, at the moment of death of the person for Mchwechwes (a birth pack of Mchochos), the Makhosi: baboetie or baboza (the baboon) or a variety of animals have been reported to take a Zonke or even an Inkhathi, or King, to indlela, where they have escaped death or have reincarnated without experiencing death. A kind of like what Buddhists believ: the soul hovering above the body, taking on the Path of Enlightenment or should I say, finishing it, as only Gurus can leave the body, in such a way and return and return in the same incarnation, just in a different time, AND going indlela to inform the property office of eSwati that you are back. The Ancestors (Siko) will enable the return of your Nguni, animal skins, scrives (ivory calligraphy pens), pip-moving boards - like chess but only for Kings, territories granted and most important, one's nkandla.

So, if you love your baby, Nkulu Mthondo him or her.

When this dried umbilical cord falls off, those biological remains are shaped in a circle by wrapping with dryish goat or cow intestines, twine or today, thread would do. That, the mother will wrap with either material, put it inside a kind of piping like a hosepipe, just smaller, and then cover and decorate with the nkandla design or colours.

Each Imali headband is different and in the case of a mother who has gone-to-herd-her-father's-Nguni - a polite way of saying someone passed away, the eldest sister, grandmother or NuuGuu can make the Imali headband.

Although that means they are responsible for the child's teaching and instructing and defending the child to any dangers, angry adults or strangers, even other children, re: the child's actions and especially, to the Council of Elders or Inyambezi, if the complaint is taken that far.

This is why it is important, even if a child goes beyond the nkandla's kraal, without his or her mother, that he or she wears their Imali headband. This is because, even the animals of Nkulukulu know to leave a child alone that wears an Imali headband, ie. crocodiles at the river, lone stray wild animals etc. Also, passing elders or other mothers will not criticize you directly. They will note your Imali headband and go to your mother's kraal and take the two shells and knock them against one another - the equivalent of a door knocker or doorbell.

Upon hearing that sound, some mothers start counting their children, nervously.

The fact is, before becoming a man and before marrying, only your mother, who made you an Imali headband, can defend you to warriors, strangers, Kings, Elder Councils etc. If a comaint is made against you, before you leave home or go for Initiation, she still has time and grace to instruct you.

However, after marrying or becoming a man, whilst the mother will always have the right to defend them, in a Council or during an informal argument, if people speak badly of you, as the Mamma Zulu of that, your child, you are held morally responsible for not instructing your child better and it goes without saying, even the Ancestors can punish you with no more children, as a result. The Mamma Zulu's reputation can be ruined by a misbehaving adult child.

The tobelas or umqobothi brewers will laugh and gossip about you and NkosigaNkosi's wife will ignore you or fault-find you, upon every meeting.

So, the Imali headband, is transformed into a Umqhele (a headband of lion skin worn by an Inkhathi or warrior) made with the original Nkulu Mthondo, that became the Mamma Zulu Imali headband.

If one becomes a king, the injeli is also made with the Mamma Zulu Imali headband, except this one is covered with Lumsindo (or leopard) hair.

I think this Unkoo and Babba (Nkosin' yam) is the Unkoo of Comrade JZ and has on the one side of the family, Ancestry that were Sovereigns of Pondo (land).