THE MEANING OF MTHENGULENI AND ITS HISTORY.
The songs of the Mphezeni Angoni Nation immortalize a place called eMthenguleni. The impis emotionally sing about this land which is about 25 kilometers from the city of Chipata. In fact, every last February, the buzzword among the Ngonis is Mthenguleni. So why is this so? What is eMthenguleni and why is the place a ‘sacred sanctuary’ for the Mphezeni Ngonis?
To answer this question, effectively, one needs to go back in time.
So the story begins from the infamous flying hair incident. To recap, Zwangendaba had demanded beer from the wives of Ekuveleleni(Emveyeweni) meaning place of prominence- owing to the fact that this was the Queen Mothers village. So this was the village of the Ndwandwe sisters, Loziwawa and Soseya.
When the beer was presented to the King, behold there was flying hair which in those days was interpreted as a sign of witchcraft. A simple interpretation was that the wives of Emveyeyeni village wanted to kill the King. Incensed, Zwangendaba ordered that the village of Emveyeyeni and all its inhabitants be wiped of the surface of the earth.
The execution group was led by Gwaza Thole. When they arrived in the village of Emveyeyeni, they found Queen Soseya to have been pregnant. Thus, Gwaza instructed his men to carry out the order of the King but he spared the pregnant Soseya and hide her. He forbade his men against telling the King what had happened.
Gwaza returned to the King to give a report that he had carried out the task. He even gave the large portion of the cattle and other livestock from the village to the King. For three years, Zwangendaba was kept in the dark. But they say lies have short legs. Zwangendaba soon got wind of the the information that he had a son in the house of Princess Soseya. He was overjoyed and instructed that Ekuveleleni be rebuilt. Ekuveleleni was rebuilt indeed and got its new name of eMthenguleni from the verb UKUTHUNGULA meaning to REBUILD!