Tembe Tribal Authority

Last updated

The Tembe Tribal Authority (also called KwaNgwanase) is a traditional governance structure of the Tembe people, based in the northern KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa, near the border with Mozambique. The Tembe are a Nguni-speaking ethnic group whose ancestral territory historically extended from the coastal areas around Delagoa Bay (present-day Maputo Bay) inland toward the lower Lubombo Mountains. [1]

Tembe Tribal Authority
Tribal council
CountrySouth Africa
Province KwaZulu-Natal
DistrictUMkhanyakude
Government
 • TypeTraditional council
 • ChiefInkosi Tembe

The name for the royal place, KwaNgwanase, refers to Inkosi Ngwanase Tembe, who emerged as a dominant chief within the Tembe lineage during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries following a succession dispute with his nephew Prince Makhuza Tembe, who ruled a parallel chiefdom. [2]

The Tembe people were historically powerful throughout the ivory trade period along the southeastern African coast, engaging with Portuguese, Dutch and later British merchants in the 1700s - exchanging ivory and (sometimes slaves) for glass beads, brass and cloth. Wealth from ivory allowed Tembe chiefs to consolidate and cling into regional power and influence neighbouring chiefdoms. [3] [4]

Historical scholarship indicates that the inland Tembe communities, originally administered by Prince Makhuza, were later incorporated under the chiefly jurisdiction of Prince Ngwanase after colonial authorities endorsed Ngwanase as the legitimate Tembe ruler during the succession disputes of 1886–1894, resulting in “the land and people which was originally ruled by Makhuza” being placed under Ngwanase’s authority, the modern Tembe Tribal Authority. [5]

The Tembe Tribal Authority continues the chiefly lineage of the Tembe Kingdom under South Africa’s formal traditional leadership system. [6] The tribal authority administers land, resolves disputes and maintains cultural and social traditions within the Manguzi jurisdiction. [6]

The Tembe Tribal Authority co-established Tembe Elephant Park in partnership with Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife in 1983, providing communal land for the reserve and continuing to act as a key traditional stakeholder in its management and conservation mandate. [7]

References

  1. ↑ Lummis, Trevor (1996). "The Colonial State and the Rise to Dominance of Ngwanase, 1896-1928" (PDF). Phambo Seminar Papers. Retrieved 11 November 2025.
  2. ↑ Dingani, M. (2006). "The Colonial State and the Rise to Dominance of Ngwanase, 1896–1928." University of KwaZulu-Natal.
  3. ↑ Mathebula, Mandla (2017). "Some notes on the early history of the Tembe, 1280 AD–1800 AD". New Contree. 78: 42–59. Retrieved 11 November 2025.
  4. ↑ Kloppers, Roelie J. (2003). The History and Representation of the History of the Mabudu-Tembe (MA thesis). University of Stellenbosch. Retrieved 11 November 2025.
  5. ↑ Mthethwa, Dingani. 2002. The Mobilization of History and the Tembe Chieftaincy in Maputaland: 1896–1997 MA thesis, University of Natal.
  6. 1 2 Peace Parks Foundation. "Tembe Elephant Park" . Retrieved 11 November 2025.
  7. ↑ "Tembe Elephant Park". Tembe Elephant Park Official Site. Retrieved 10 November 2025.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.