WHY IS THE  NAME ‘MPEZENI’ A WRONG ONE?

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WHY IS THE  NAME ‘MPEZENI’ A WRONG ONE?

By  Gumbi Kaziguda Jele

Over the past 7 decades or so, the name ‘Mpezeni’ has been a popular one among the Zambian mainstream media. Most of us have grown up knowing this name as the correct name for the amaNgoni Nation’s leader. But you see, the name has actually evolved over time. Depending on the early writers of Ngoni history, different versions exist of the name.



However, none of the earlier Ngoni historians ever tried to understand the meaning of this name. Worse more, no one ever thought the name was not confined to Zambia alone. Ignoring this aspect entailed people spelling the name based on how they heard the locals spell it. Over time, we got stuck with ‘Mpezeni’.

When Ngonis began to write their own books, mostly after 1975, they also began this task of trying to understand the meaning of the name. And by then, ‘MPEZENI’ was the popular version. So they assumed the name is of Nyanja/Chewa origins and interpreted it to mean ‘FIND HIM’. However, when further pressed to explain the historical root of this name which meant, ‘Find Him’, they rushed to refer to the 1898 British-Angoni war.


This was a big mistake! Again what was ignored was the fact that the name had been in use and even documented decades before the 1898 war. The new breed of Zambian journalists, the political face and historians still continued to use this wrong name of the Ngoni King. So what is the correct spelling and what is its historical foundation?



The correct name is in fact MPHEZENI from the verb UKUPHEZA meaning to ‘leave off’ or ‘discontinue’. The name has its roots in the flying heir incident of 1826 when most family members of his mother were killed and their village burnt to the ground by the group led by Induna Gwaza Sithole.



Ndunakulu, Soseya MaNxumalo miraculously escaped after the regiment found her pregnant and they refused to kill the seed of the King. When she gave birth in June 1827, the baby was rightly named MPHEZENI in remembrance of the same 1826 incident.



The young Prince Mphezeni would be hidden in the vilage of Lowengweni for close to three years and his father only knew he had a son after three years. After growing up and settling in the present day Chipata area, the now King Mphezeni decided to name his new capital as LOWENGWENI (the word has since been corrupted to Luangeni) in respect of the village where he was born and that harbored him for three years.


Once we mispell his name, we take away its historical significance and meaning. Its due to such misspellings that we now have comical narratives that the name is of Chewa origin when we all know all of King Zwangendabas sons had Nguni names as they were born when Ngonis still spoke their tongue.

3 COMMENTS

  1. You are a liar my friend . The language the so called Ngonis speak it Nsenga Mixed with Chewa. The Ngonis where diluted. The reason we use Nyanja/Chewa as OFFICIAL LOCAL LANGUAGE AMONG THE 7 LANGUAGES.

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