Chaka by Thomas Mofolo

First published: 1925 (English translation, 1931)

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Historical realism

Time of plot: Nineteenth century

Locale: Lesotho (Zululand), Africa

Principal characters

• Chaka, a warlord and tribal king
• Senzangakhona, his father
• Nandi, his mother
• Isanusi, a sorcerer
• Dingiswayo, a neighboring tribal king
• Ndlebe and Malunga, agents of Isanusi
• Zwide, a neighboring tribal king
• Noliwa, Chaka’s favorite wife
• Nongogo, favorite and faithful servant to Chaka

The Story:

Senzangakhona, the tribal king, is without male children. He decides to marry again so that he can have a male offspring for the kingship. He is attracted to Nandi and, overcome by her beauty, takes her when they are not yet married, in violation of tribal law. She becomes pregnant, whereupon the two are married secretly. Chaka is born. The other wives are jealous of Nandi and her son Chaka, and they threaten to expose Senzangakhona for impregnating Nandi before marriage. In the meantime, other male heirs to the throne are born.

Senzangakhona banishes Nandi and Chaka to another village. At first, he sends them cattle and sheep to help, but when this is discovered by his wives he is forced to discontinue the presents. Chaka grows up lonely—an outcast from his father and from the other young boys, who torment him as an outsider. He learns early to fight and to seek and take vengeance.

Chaka’s courage and boldness grow, as does his strength. He performs deeds of heroism that make him a favorite in the village rather than an outcast. He kills a lion that was terrorizing the people. Later, he kills a hyena as it dragged a girl away.

While bathing in the river, Chaka is visited by an ominous snake. The event foretells that Chaka is destined to greatness. His mother, having witnessed the event, tries to visit a sorcerer, but it is learned that the woman died after arranging for Chaka and Nandi to consult her own master in sorcery, Isanusi.

Chaka becomes the most likely successor to the tribal kingship, and a dispute arises with Mfokanzana, the chosen heir. Chaka is forced to flee the village after his father, Senzangakhona, arrives and orders Chaka killed.

Upon fleeing the village, Chaka meets the sorcerer Isanusi, who likes the young man and promises him that if he will obey in all things that he will one day inherit his father’s kingship, which is rightfully his by birth. Chaka agrees. Isanusi makes several different kinds of medicine with which he strengthens Chaka and his resolve.

Chaka, who previously told his mother all things, does not report to her about his meeting with Isanusi. Chaka then, following Isanusi’s instructions in all things, goes to the kingship of Dingiswayo, where he quickly becomes a hero and king’s favorite by killing a madman. He helps Dingiswayo in battle, immediately becoming by far the best warrior in the tribe. Chaka likes warfare and determines that he wants to fight a war that has no end. Ndlebe and Malunga, sinister agents of Isanusi, appear mysteriously to assist Chaka in all things. Chaka lies to Dingiswayo about their origins, claiming that they are childhood friends. The two possess supernatural gifts that help Chaka in all things, particularly war, marriage, and tribal politics. Chaka falls in love with Noliwa, Dingiswayo’s daughter, but he is afraid to take up the matter with the king. With the help of the two agents of evil, Ndlebe and Malunga, the marriage is eventually made. Noliwa is to be Chaka’s favorite wife.

Senzangakhona dies, whereupon his son Mfokanzana claims the throne. Following the instructions of Ndlebe and Malunga, Chaka fights Mfokanzana and kills him, whereupon Chaka is installed as his father’s successor. An old enemy of Dingiswayo, Zwide (king of a neighboring tribe), makes war against Dingiswayo and kills him. Chaka, after conquering Zwide, then becomes the new king of Dingiswayo’s and Zwide’s territories as well as that of his father.

Chaka, now with three kingships to his name, makes numerous reforms in his new, combined kingdom. His innovations assure that his warriors are the most fierce and feared in all of Africa. Chaka is visited by Isanusi, who promises him that he can become even more powerful and that he can control more land than he could ever see or people than he could ever visit—all if Chaka continues to follow Isanusi’s orders. Chaka, lustful for power, agrees.

Chaka turns into a tyrant. He kills his own men without discretion, often killing even the most faithful of his own warriors for inconsequential reasons. The people come to fear him totally and want a new leader. Chaka responds by becoming more and more fierce, tyrannical, and arbitrary in controlling his growing kingdoms.

Chaka continues to follow Isanusi’s instructions exactly. When he is told to make medicine for his warriors with blood from his son, he does so. When he is told to make more medicine with blood from his wife Noliwa, he kills her. Finally, Isanusi gives him the order to kill his mother Nandi, and Chaka carries out that command as well. Each time he acquires more land and people, becoming the greatest leader in all of African history.

Finally, Chaka becomes sick. In his illness he has numerous dreams in which he is visited by the ghosts of those he killed, particularly family members. When his own men come into his quarters with spears to stab him, he does not resist. He accepts his death with stoicism.

Bibliography

Ayivor, Kwame. “Thomas Mopoku Mofolo’s ’Inverted Epic Hero’: A Reading of Mofolo’s Chaka as an African Epic Folktale.” Research in African Literatures 28, no. 1 (Spring, 1997): 49. Examines how Mofolo used the oral epic tradition to subvert traditional ideas of African heroism.

Dathorne, O. R. The Black Mind: A History of African Literature. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1974. Discusses Chaka as a product of tradition and African oral history. Argues that the work is more than the mere debunking of myth about the Zulu leader.

Gerard, Albert S. Four African Literatures: Xhosa, Sotho, Zulu, Amharic. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971. Gerard discusses Chaka within the context of Mofolo’s Christian beliefs. Provides biographical information about Mofolo.

Hofmeyr, Isabel. “Portable Landscapes: Thomas Mofolo and John Bunyan in the Broad and the Narrow Way.” In Disputed Territories: Land, Culture, and Identity in Settler Societies, edited by David Trigger and Gareth Griffiths. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2003. Describes how Mofolo’s first novel, Moeti oa Bochabela (1907; The Traveler of the East, 1934), draws on evangelical images of the Broad and Narrow Way and on Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678, 1684). Provides an understanding of how Mofolo’s religious beliefs influenced his work.

Ikonne, Chidi. “Thomas Mofolo’s Narrator.” In Aspects of South African Literature, edited by Christopher Heywood. London: Heinemann, 1976. Ikonne’s criticism deals primarily with narrative techniques in the novel; he finds a “double narrative” running throughout.

Kunene, Daniel P. Thomas Mofolo and the Emergence of Written Sesotho Prose. Johannesburg: Ravan Press, 1989. Kunene, who has translated Chaka, provides a detailed history of Mofolo’s manuscript of the novel and the historical forces that influenced Mofolo’s writings.

Kunene, Mazisi. Emperor Shaka the Great: A Zulu Epic. London: Heinemann, 1979. Written as a narrative in poetry, this poem details biographical elements and stands in contrast to the novel.

Wauthier, Claude. The Literature and Thought of Modern Africa: A Survey. Translated by Shirley Kay. New York: Praeger, 1964. Discusses the historical figure, Shaka, in the light of Mofolo’s literary creation. Gives particular attention to paganism in the novel and to the character of Isanusi.