By Howell Chin’ono
Why was Shaka killed by his family?
When Shaka Zulu’s mother, Nandi, died in 1827, he was devastated and responded with extreme measures that plunged the Zulu kingdom into chaos. Overwhelmed by grief, Shaka commanded a year of mourning in which no crops were to be planted, no milk was to be drunk, and no celebrations were allowed.
He ordered that anyone who showed insufficient sorrow be executed, and even cows that were nursing calves were killed so that all living beings could share in the mourning.
Marriages and pregnancies were also banned, with couples who defied the order put to death. This period of mourning crippled the nation, causing hunger and despair, and it marked the beginning of Shaka’s decline, as his once-loyal followers began to view him as unstable, a perception that would soon lead to his assassination.
During the mourning period after Nandi’s death, Shaka Zulu also banned all sexual relations across the kingdom. He declared that no man or woman should engage in intimacy, arguing that pleasure was an insult to his mother’s memory. Anyone caught disobeying this command faced execution.
Shaka Zulu was assassinated in 1828 by his half-brothers Dingane and Mhlangana, with the help of his bodyguard Mbopha ka Sithayi. The killing took place at his royal homestead, KwaDukuza.
By that time, Shaka’s erratic behaviour following his mother Nandi’s death, including harsh decrees, mass killings, and excessive mourning rituals, had made him deeply unpopular among his subjects and close allies.
The conspirators planned the assassination carefully. On the day of the murder, they reportedly approached Shaka under the pretence of delivering routine messages. Mbopha struck the first blow, stabbing him with an assegai, and Dingane and Mhlangana followed, finishing him off. According to oral accounts, Shaka’s last words were a warning to his killers: “You will think you are kings, but you will be devoured by the white men.”
There was no grand funeral, no period of mourning. He was buried in an unmarked grave, nobody knows where he was buried.