Journey to koBulawayo: Perceptions & purposes of the indaba tree at Old Bulawayo

THIS is the penultimate article in the “Journey to koBulawayo.” Soon, we shall be embarking on yet another journey. This time it will be the “African Journey to the Stars,” whose completion may see me hanging the pen after several decades of literary labours. Admittedly, research work at koBulawayo concentrated more on the Royal Enclosure to the near total exclusion of the Peripheral Enclosure within which lived commoners. The Peripheral Enclosure had two palisades of its own; one external and another internal. Between the internal palisade and the Royal Enclosure there was some vast empty zone without much by way of built structures. This was sometimes referred to as Umdango.

Nevertheless, there is between the two palisades a natural feature that equally requires interpretation within the context of Ndebele ideology and cosmology. That is the Indaba Tree, a type of ficus, or Figtree that still exists to this day. However, what we see today are saplings that sprouted after the original tree died. In IsiNdebele the Indaba Tree is known as Intenjane, hence Old Bulawayo was sometimes alternatively known as Entenjaneni. This was in addition to the settlement being called Enyokeni in recognition of a snake-like hill to the east of the town. Of course, the most used name was KoBulawayo, after the earlier name of Gibixhegu.

Apparently, Indaba Trees were found in all towns that served as capital towns throughout the existence of the Ndebele State from about 1840 to 1893. Sadly, we do not know some of the Indaba trees. For example, during King Mzilikazi’s reign only at Mhlahlandlela is his Indaba Tree known-Umgugudu. Yet we do know he had other capital towns such as Emahlokohlokweni and Emhlangeni (Enyathini).

It is to such trees that we now turn to appreciate their purposes in all the royal towns that were established. I suspect it was the whites who called the trees, Indaba Trees. We see the use of the term indaba with reference to the series of palavers, izimbizo that took place within the Matobo Hills in August 1896 when Cecil John Rhodes sought to end the raging conflict known as Imfazo Yamuva or Imfazo II, to the Ndebele.

It is pertinent to note that the said trees were located outside both the Royal Enclosure and the Peripheral Enclosure. There must have been reasons behind that. Every cultural practice has some underpinning belief or thought. Settlement design was not accidental. Sometimes celestial considerations came into play. Even architecture itself was at times informed by the stars, as was the case with Timbuktu in Mali.

It was not all visitors who were allowed into the Royal Enclosure, Isigodlo. There was a strong belief that not all those who sought to commiserate with the King within the Royal Enclosure did so without evil or malicious intentions. There was a possibility that some were coming for reasons to harm the King. Such medicinal concoctions that they introduced into the Royal Enclosure were attached to their feet or sandals. These were then surreptitiously rubbed off so that they remained within the Royal Enclosure to do as instructed.

It is for similar considerations that African traditional doctors expect clients to remove their shoes when they enter their surgeries. People of malevolent intentions may cast a spell on practitioners and their premises. A sacred place may be desecrated through such interventions or rituals are not countered. Even in the Bible, it is recorded that Moses was ordered to remove his sandals when he went up Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. As a result, the King went out of the Royal Enclosure to meet up with some of his visitors under the Indaba Tree.

The Lead tree just beyond the Pupu Battle Site in Lupane is a case to consider. It is said that while fierce fighting was raging to the south of the tree, King Lobengula sat under the tree consuming isikhupha, cold meat. The said huge and old tree bears bullet marks. Whites who got there were beginning to apply elements of the Ancient African Science (AAS). They assumed, by shooting at the tree under which the King rested, that would translate to fatal injury to the King despite the long distance between them and the tree on the one hand, and the King on the other. Spells in the context of AAS work wirelessly.

Today, the tree has assumed some royal aura about it. It has come to symbolize and memorialize the person of King, Ndebele military resistance to colonial entry and spiritual applications. A Mr Ngwenya is the custodians who takes visitors to the tree, Umtswiri and renders some animated narration of the events of 4 December 1893. Mr Khumalo, custodian at the Pupu Shrine does the same with regard to the battle site where a new structure has been built to honour the gallant Ndebele fighters who emerged victorious. Pupu Shrine is just over five kilometres to the south of the Lead Tree. Between the two the story of the strategic military encounters are well covered. The other person who is au fait with those events was the late Cont Mhlanga.

At the same time, Africans posit that there is communication and spiritual linkages between all forms of nature since they all trace their origins to the same Source. Trees may play a pacific role where wrangles and conflict are the order of the day. The envisaged communication is of course wireless and has been so long before Western societies discovered and made use of waves in the electromagnetic spectrum.

Locating Indaba Tree within the Peripheral Enclosure would have been unthinkable on metaphysical grounds. There was/is belief among traditional doctors and ordinary people that a tree under which a King sat acquired some aura that was sought by many. This belief and related practice are borne out by what happened to Umgugudu at the royal town of Mhlahlandlela. Many admired and even envied the aura associated with King Mzilikazi.

In order to acquire some bit of that royal aura, some people went to Mhlahlandlela to debark Umgugudu that served as Indaba Tree. Eventually, the Indaba Tree dried up and died. One can imagine what would have happened to an Indaba Tree if it were located within the Peripheral Enclosure!

Why were palavers held under a tree, any chosen tree to serve as an Indaba Tree? Cases of conflicting individuals taken to the King were in the symbolic sense, hot ones. This is to say there were cases mostly associated with deep conflict. In symbolic terms, conflict is heat. A tree with a cool shade, umthunzi, where the sun’s heat was cut off, there was hope for conflict resolution both at social and physical levels. You should see the connection between this idea and the conflict resolution between two individuals — ukukhumelana umlotha. Of course, at another more literal level, the shade cooled down the court attendees.

The final article will deal with the Central Enclosure, umdango where some social, spiritual, and military ceremonies were conducted. Indaba Tree was located within the Central Enclosure.