What's on Mthoko's mind?

I live in KZN, where the heartland of so-called Nguni people (i. e. Ndebele, Zulu, Swati, Hlubi, Lala, Phuthi, Mzizi, Nhlangwini/Dlamini, Mfengu, Xhosa, Mpondo, Tembu, Ngwane, Nguni, Bhaca & Mbo) is said to be a.k.a. Embo. Through recent research, we find that archaeologists carbon date some artefacts of ancient people that lived in these Nguni areas & find that they are much older than the 200 AD that is often said to be the arrival of Nguni people to their present territory. Adding to the fact that most Nguni people alive today have some San DNA bolsters the belief that the Nguni way of life could be much older than we originally thought.  The Lebombo Bone & Sibudu Cave. The Lebombo bone is said to be one of the oldest mathematical artefacts in the world dating to 30 000 BC according to archaeologists. Sibudu Cave was said to be inhabited 40 000 years ago already. We find that in Swazi history that there were tribes that were found inhabiting Swazi territory before ...

Personally, I don't mind the "exodus" of black Americans to Africa. I feel all people have the right to go where they want to be most. Growing up, I'd think black Americans were a lot better than us here in South Africa & in time grew disillusioned & realised they were just as miseducated & persecuted as us black people in South Africa.  In truth, only a handful of people from South Africa's indigenous people were taken in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The few that were taken were maybe taken to the Netherlands, maybe Suriname & maybe England. I doubt that there were any slaves from southern Africa taken to the New World excepting a few Tsonga / Chopi taken to Brazil, Uruguay & greater South America & maybe the Caribbean. The overwhelming majority of slaves from the Americas descend from people on the west African coast (i. e. Kingdom of Congo, Cameroon, Angola, Nigeria, Ghana, Benin etc.). Those that went to South America were mostly from...

Every Kwatuan state: Acholi  Adal Sultānat  Agikuyu  Al-Kufrah  Al-Magrib  Asanteman  As-Sultānat As-Zarqa  Attakhoe Aussa Sultānat  Azande  Bagirimi Sultānat  Baherero  Bahr El Ghazal  Bakomo  Balozi  Bamum  Banyarwanda Barqah Sultānat  Basongye  Benin  Biaka  Bobangi  Botswana  Brakna Imārat  Bubi  Buganga  Bula  Chinet  Chinguetti  Chokwe  Cochokhoe  Dahomey  Damagaram Sultānat  Dan  Dār Banda  Dār Fertit  Dār Fur Dār Runga  Eswatini Ewondo  Fazzan Sultānat  Fouta Jalon  Fouta Tooro Gaza  Gbaya  Geledi Sultānat  Gonakhoe  Gonja  Guro  Hafsid Khilāfat  Hamasien  Hesse Khoe Hiraab Sultānat  Hlubiland  Ixam San  Kabadougou  Kano Imārat  Katanga  Katsina Imārat  Kel Ahaggar  Kel Aïr Kel Ajjer  Kel Gress  Khomani ...

If there's history to be learnt at school, it's the history I'm about to write below because we seldom hear of anything other than King Shaka in our history. We forget that there were empires & chiefdoms he worked with during his time & that existed before his time. Who he perhaps borrowed the concept of his Zulu state from. Because we often do think that King Shaka sprang out of nowhere & what he was doing was unsual. But we don't think "Yes, his deeds were unusual but were maybe not uncommon." Because when we look further into our history, we find that the ancient King Dlamini himself was said to have united the Swazi nation in a similar way to King Shaka & further into the Zulu clan's history, King Munguni united the Qwabes, Mbathas, Ndwandwes, Gumedes & people of the original Zulu kaMalandela as amaNguni. So today I have decided to shed a little light with what I've learned from various historical sources including maps, books, ...

If man had power to change the mistakes of history, what would he be? It is not a fallacy to want to change our histories but an urge to correct what is out of place Justice is justice without men, & many see best to let things be It is feeling shame of that we could not control & not accepting fate which is the real disgrace "To err is human, to forgive divine " History only repeats itself because men repeat it Man asks, "What am I if I cannot control what is mine?" Death is the great cleanser isn't it? For when we are dead, we become faultless in time The path of ghosts should be observed & glory-seekers be alert & amend it Those who long for an era are likely to be as the people of that time Dead & remembered After they have committed the same follies of that time It is better being at peace & forgotten than a legend in hell For, alone in your fate is where you will dwell Mthoko M. Mpofana 

Quiet often, I feel like the negativity spotlight is unfairly on Africa. It sometimes feels like we did something wrong by just being African. We always complain about colonisation as if it's something that couldn't be solved in a decade. But, for a moment, let's take the spotlight off of Mother Africa & see how other indigenous peoples around the world faired after being colonised.  ASIA : Asia faired the best after being colonised by European entities, they came out of colonization so well that many far-east Asian countries managed to reach European-level development. Europe & Asia have always shared historic ties so their development should come as no surprise but south Asia has faired the worst with some regions still experiencing ethnic wars, ethnic persecutions & poverty.  AUSTRALASIA :  Australia, New Zealand, Polynesia, Melanasia, Papua New Guinea were all home to melanated people because they lived closer to the equator. The islands faired...

I'm not very traditional, I'm more straightforward & basic & often disregard cultural nuances so this history of the Mpofana tribe is going to be as direct & concise as possible.  Growing up, I grew up knowing that the clan praises or izithakazelo of the Mpofana are "Zulu" & "Ntombela", I never questioned that.  What I know now for sure is that there's a lot more that's hidden in history. What I keep seeing being repeated from various sources is that the Mpofana were part of the Amazizi (or AmaTiti) tribe. I now know that in the midlands & perhaps further north, up to the northwestern parts of KZN, they use the greeting "MaZizi okuhlala", perhaps alluding to the fact that the Mpofana as well as other Amazizi tribes were among the original tribes to settle in present-day KZN from 200 AD onwards & the "Dlamini" praise or greeting was used among all Dlamini tribes i. e. the Amahlubi, Amazizi (Mtiti), Hlangwini...

As we all know, South Africa is a country made up of different tribes of different origins. I've seen many claims online that South Africa's tribes are of common origin & can assure you that they are simply not. The very language structure of South Africa's major tribes resembles tribes & nations outside of South Africa more than tribes within South Africa. I've seen people trying to force a Sotho association with Zulu people, these are two seperate distinct people with their own systems, language, cultures & ancestors. As Mthoko Mpofana, I can assure you all that NOTHING of my heritage & my DNA is of Sotho or Tswana origin. I am more than content with not being Sotho or Tswana. I have seen people associate Xhosa people with Zulu people. AGAIN, these are two seperate people with DISTINCT  languages & share very little in culture. Xhosa & Zulu have separate ancestors & ways of doing things. In fact, Tsonga & Ndebele are closer to Zulu than...

I'm an ardent believer in conventional age-old wisdom but as times change, I think some practices have lost their context & have become near useless.  Two examples being; " Ithemba alibulali"  & "Rather a living dog than a dead lion".  Ithemba alibulali in my native language simply means "Hope does not kill". This saying comes from a time when the world was still novel & people believed  & anything was possible. In today's age of atheism & nullist beliefs where humanity already knows everything, nothing is new. There is no need for hope, just ability. In fact, from my point of view, it is better to have lost all hope & build from there than build on a dream. With no faith in anything, you can build with things that are proven to work. When you still have hope & believe in things "working out for the best", you leave yourself exposed to the elements. When you have no hope & believe that things inherently s...

Alright, I seem overly concerned with the well-being of people I don't know in America for unknown reasons today. In particular, their lack of knowledge of their origins. It makes no sense, I know. But I went out of my way to search some distinctly African traits in black Americans (African Americans) to measure how deep the disconnect really is. Sure, these people were deliberately sold into slavery by Africans & African chiefs but I'm sentimental & still feel they should be connected to Africa somehow (if they so wish).  AFRICAN vs NOT AFRICAN.   I've seen a lot of Americans claim that black American music is from Africa & have to say samba from Brazil is the only African-type music in the Americas that I identify as African. Blues, rhythm & blues, hip hop & jazz are just not that distinctly African, so even if they are made by people of African descent, they've become too alienated from the African identity to be classified as African. Some claim...

I often read news on the internet on how people are elected & how many people in South Africa cannot vote or simply choose not to vote & I have mentioned before on how I believe democracy is flawed because of corrupt practices but perhaps they are going about things the wrong way by letting literally anyone vote. There was even a movie made about this where a simpleton who couldn't give a damn about anyone had to vote because the election was at a tie & this poor man had the vote to determine a political position.   In the original democracy only select highly-educated & enlightened members of society could vote & I believe it may be better for democracy to return to it's original form. In our case in Africa, chiefs could elect a land's president or prime minister. This would allow for people who know about governance & are born as leaders to elect someone to lead the land.

This conjectural flag of Zululand was said to have been from 1884 to 1897 by Roberto Breschi. The main reason it would have a problem in use is that it looks suspiciou sly similar to the flag of Lithuania .  This is the flag of the KwaZulu Bantustan during Apartheid (from 1 February 1977 to 27 April 1994).  Flag of King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhek'uZulu created in 1999. Flag of Zulu state by I. Y. I. L. E. (Inhlangano Yokugqugquzela Izwe LakwaZulu Elizimele)  Flag of KZN Independence political party.  Conjectural flags of a Zulu state under various forms of government from Deviant Art. N.B. The Z maritime flag is not the official flag of the Zulu people.

Common bananas, chickens, Chinese rice & corn all came from southeast Asia, China & the Americas respectively. They arrived in Africa around the same time of the European colonisation of Africa in the sixteenth & seventeenth centuries AD but we definitely had our alternative fruits & cereals that we either planted or found in the wild on the continent.  This is a list of foods Africans are said to have eaten in 1500 BC: • Fish  • Cattle & milk  • Fonio & black fonio (A type of rice) • Guinea rice  • Yam  • Ensete & noog (i. e. Ethiopian banana & niger seeds) • Teff (a grain/cereal of Ethiopia) • Groundnuts  • Sorghum  • Pearl/Bulrush millet  • Finger millet  African cuisine  

If you read some of my blogs, you'll notice that I study history a lot. I was searching for old currencies used in South Africa one day a few years back & discovered something which was called by indigenous people of KZN as "ukhence" or "inkence" . To this day, a colloquial word for money by indigenous people is "inkence". This currency was said to be so popular among indigenous people that it infiltrated popular culture of the time viz. "Wangishaya ngokhence."  Officially called Stratchan & co. token coins , it was likely the first mainstream currency used by indigenous people other than cattle, tools, weapons & crops even though it was said to be minted in England.  Examples of Strachan & co. token coins & coin denominations. They claim the hole was so indigenous people could wear it with beads but maybe it was also for the practical purpose of saving metal to make the coins.  The Str...

Machel died in a suspicious plane crash in October 1986, while Sankara was assassinated in October 1987.  I feel like if I were president, this is what my government would have to wear to show they're serious about making the country great.  Remembering Sankara on TALKS WITH MTHOKO .

Upon my ponderings, I find several similarities in history & often wonder if these are reincarnations or simply people that were inspired by each other. We know Julius Caesar was inspired by Alexander the Great in his forming of the Roman Empire but there are similarities of two other figures in history that when observed really are quite similar, these are the stories of Adolf Hitler & Napoleon Bonaparte:  1) Both come from obscurity in that, they were said to not have been as wealthy as their peers;  2) They both sought power;  3) They both had similar nationalist-socialist principles in governance even though Napoleon initially was an anti-French Italian & Hitler was a pro-German Austrian.  You would think that this is the same person just different times in history. Their political systems bring me to my primary thoughts upon conceiving this blog: The original Illuminati   (not the fictional, satanic, celebrity Illuminati)  wanted to overth...