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6. The restored Lozi kingdom 1864-85
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6 Therestored Lozi kingdom1864-85 Oursisalandof blood; kingsandchiefssucceedeachotherhere l likeshadows,theyareneverallowedtogrowold. Thesewordswereaddressed tothepioneermissionary François Coillard in January 1885, by Mulena Mukwae Maibiba of Nalolo. Mukwae Maibiba was looking back over twenty years of political strife, which had produced three successful attempts to overthrow the ruler; Maibiba herself, and her brother Tatila Akufuna in the north, had succeeded to the kingship following a rebellion against Lubosi Lewanikawhohad fledasanexiletoMashi. Whatlaybehind thispersistentpoliticalinstabilityintherestored Lozi kingdom? Internally it would appear that there was a combined struggle for predominance and control among at least five distinct factions. Three of these sprang out of immigrant groups; first the Mambunda , who had settled in Bulozi in the early nineteenth century or had established connections with the Lozi during the Lozi exile in Nyengo and at Lukwakwa; then the Makololo and associated Kololo-orientated Lozi; and finally the assimilated Tonga elements of the Sesheke district and the Lozi elements ready to side with them. The Lozi of the valley were also divided, geographically and politically, in terms of the tension between the Nalolo or Mboela section and the central kingship to the north, and ideologically by thestruggle between the traditionalistelementswhich looked back to the pre-Makololo Lozi State as their model and those who were F. Coillard, OntheThresholdofCentralAfrica,1897.p. 171. 1 99 prepared to accept the post-Kololo political structures. It would be normal to assume that internal feuding would be moderated by external threats, and undoubtedly the problem inherited from the Makololo of Matebele attacks from the south helped to produce some sense of Lozi unity. But the second threat, that from Lukwakwa in the north, was more serious, for it dangerously exacerbatedtheinternalstruggleforpower. Lukwakwa proved notonlyasourceof continuous plotsagainst the Lozi State, butalsoa refuge for malcontents from thevalley. The Lozi return to power in thevalleydid not mean thatall the factional differences which had led to their easy defeat by the Makololo were resolved. One branch of the royal family at Lukwakwa, with a predominantlyMbunda following, refused tothrow in theirlotwith the rest of the Lozi who undertook to overthrow the Makololo. Among those who stayed behind at Lukwakwa were Imbua and his children Maibiba Kaunda, and Masheke. Imbua, whooriginally had gone to Nyengo, had moved to Lukwakwa and succeeded Sipopa therewhenthelatteraccepted theinvitationtoassumethekingship in the valley. Other members of the royal family at Lukwakwa included Namiluko, a son of Mulambwa, and his son Sikufele. Namiluko and Sikufele became the founders of the dynasty that 2 ruled Lukwakwauntilthetwentiethcentury. Aclosestudyof all theseforces, particularlytheinternal ones, is necessary for a proper understanding of Lozi history for the rest of the nineteenth century. The struggle that was going on was of vital importance to the State in thateachgroupstood foradifferent form of stateorganisationandstructure. The traditionalist Lozi group sought a revival of Lozi institutions , particularly a kingship deriving its sanctions from its relationship with the ancestor spirits as expressed through the cult of the royal graves and from the divine descent of the kings from 3 Nyambe,theHighGod,throughMbuyuand Mwambwa. The supernatural basis of Lozi kingship had been greatly impaired by the Kololo occupation of thevalley. The royalist groups in exile could not visit their shrines in the valley, yet the traditional Synopsisof historyof Sikufeledynasty. KabompoDistrictNotebook,pp. 169ff. K.T.V. I (N.A.Z.). Mutumba Mainga, 'A History of Lozi Religion, to the end of the Nineteenth Century', The Historical Study of African Religion, ed. T.O. Ranger and I.N. Kimambo, Heinemann, London 1972. Bulozi under the Luyana Kings 2 3 100 [35.175.212.5] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 03:18 GMT) The restored Lozi kingdom 1864-85 Lozi State structure could not be maintained without the free and effective operation of the ancestral cult. It was the belief in the descentfrom Mbuyu thatdefinedand limited thecontestantstothe succession. Moreover, theancestralcultelevated thekingshipabove the ordinary people including even the aristocracy. It freed the reigning king from much damaging criticism since disasters and misfortunes were not attributed to his mistakes but to the wrath of the ancestors or of Nyambe. Only the king, through his ancestral spirits, could propitiate Nyambe on behalf of the nation as a whole. Finally, most institutions and all official titles in the State derived their justification and their claim to recognition from the acts of a particularkingof thepast. The royalist Lozi groups in exile had understood theirdilemma verywellasattemptsweremadesecretlytogainaccesstosomeof the 4 royal shrines. However, with the defeat of the Makololo it became possible to effect a complete restoration of the traditional cult centredontheroyalgraves. The Mbunda, on the other hand, stood for a...