Isibongo · isiNdebele (Southern Ndebele)
Mabhena (Southern)
Also spelled Mabhena, Mabena, Mbuduma, Pofu.
- PeopleamaNdebele (Southern)
- Grouping Manala house - royal surname
- Surnames recorded Mabhena, Mabena
- Places recorded Gauteng, Pretoria, Wallmannsthal, KoMjekejeke, Witbank, Mgibe, Heidelberg, Makerana
- Branch Southern
Your Family's Praise Belongs Here
This clan has a praise. It is not on this page yet, and that is our doing, not anything about your family or the praise itself. If the people at home still say it, you can put the true one here.
Why It Is Not Here Yet
The rendering that was read: iAfrika (community directory, uncredited contributors), iAfrika - isiNdebele section, category 'Umlando neenanazelo' (history and clan praises), including Umlando wamaNdebel…, 2025 (post dates), iafrika.org — https://iafrika.org/nr/category/umlando-neenanazelo/ (Iinanazelo zakwa Mabhena (Mbuduma); opening lines only)
A praise belongs to the families who recite it, not to whoever wrote it down. A isiNdebele (Southern Ndebele)-speaking family that still holds this one holds the better version of it, and can put that version on this page.
Written down by families and by the people who recorded them.
About This Record
What Was Written Down
Van Vuuren names Mabhena as the ruling clan of the Manala, the royal lineage being Somlokothwa Mabhena. Manala is the elder son of Musi's great wife and the customary heir; the Nhlapo Commission (2010) and a 2017 High Court ruling recognised the Manala king Makhosoke II as senior, per Wikipedia. iAfrika's history page records that the Manala later split into three recognised authorities - Manala kaSilamba/Mbhongo, Manala kaMgibe and Manala kaMakerana - with Mbhongo treated as senior, and gives Mbuduma and Pofu as praise sub-lineages. The Manala settled on Berlin Mission land at Wallmannsthal in 1873 and took no part in the 1883 war. Recorded from the sources named on this entry; the wording here is Sibaya's own.
Families Tell This Differently
Families who carry this name tell parts of it differently. Each way it has been told is below.
Where This Comes From
- Written down by
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- iAfrika (community directory, uncredited contributors), iAfrika - isiNdebele section, category 'Umlando neenanazelo' (history and clan praises), including Umlando wamaNdebel…, 2025 (post dates), iafrika.org — https://iafrika.org/nr/category/umlando-neenanazelo/
- iAfrika (community directory, uncredited contributors), iAfrika - isiNdebele section, category 'Umlando neenanazelo' (history and clan praises), including Umlando wamaNdebel…, 2025 (post dates), iafrika.org — https://iafrika.org/nr/category/umlando-neenanazelo/ (Iinanazelo zakwa Mabhena (Mbuduma)
- Chris J. van Vuuren, Ndebele (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, vol. 9, Africa and the Middle East), 1995, G. K. Hall / Macmillan; read via encyclopedia.com — https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/ndebele-0
- Wikipedia contributors, Southern Ndebele people, read 2026-09-05, Wikimedia Foundation — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Ndebele_people
- iAfrika (community directory, uncredited contributors), iAfrika - isiNdebele section, category 'Umlando neenanazelo' (history and clan praises), including Umlando wamaNdebel…, 2025 (post dates), iafrika.org — https://iafrika.org/nr/category/umlando-neenanazelo/ (Iinanazelo zakwa Mabhena (Mbuduma); opening lines only)
Are You Mabhena (Southern)?
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If Your Family Holds More Of This
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