Princess Zibuyile Hadebe: Championing Tradition, Autonomy, and Inclusive Development in South Africa
Princess Zibuyile’s vision for an independent banking system reflects a desire for autonomy and self-determination within indigenous communities, demonstrating a commitment to building legacies rather than merely seeking political favor. Her perspective on education underscores the importance of recognizing diverse talents and promoting holistic development, fostering a society where individuals can thrive authentically.
The Royal Lineage
Q. May Your Royal Highness please introduce herself?
I am Princess Zibuyile Zamalubi Hadebe. I am a direct descendant of King Langalibalele, the first, who was imprisoned on Robben Island by the British, as a political prisoner. Currently, we have King Langalibalele II in Escort in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. And mind you, I say KwaZulu, and then there’s Natal, so we are in the Natal region, which is in the midlands in KwaZulu-Natal. Natal being a colony that was colonized by the British. My father, His Majesty Langalibalele II is sitting on the throne for 50 years this year in September. We are praying that God keeps him. We’ll also be celebrating 48 years of his marriage to Queen Phumaphi Dlamini Hadebe. The King and Queen were married in 1976, May 15. So this year, we’ve got a lot of celebrations, lots to celebrate, the gift of life. We are grateful to still have him.
*Prince Sondezi Hadebe is the Crown Prince and sibling to the Princess Zibuyile.
Ancient Origins and Resilience
Q. What historical significance does the lineage of King Langalibalele hold within the context of KwaZulu-Natal, particularly regarding the colonial history of Natal and its impact on your family’s legacy?
AmaHlubi are a part of the Nguni tribes, being a product of the downward migration from the DRC. Our kingdom dates back to the 1300s. You can trace our direct kingships from the 1300s, right from our founding father King Khebi. We were a very strong tribe with many talents or gifts from God. But our leaders were known to have special powers in rainmaking.We are also an agricultural tribe. Most of our strong points were agriculture due to the fact that we have lots of land. Even before King Nguni was colonized by the British, Amalubi were known to be farmers.
The tragedy happened in 1873 when the British issued a proclamation that said this nation must cease to exist. They took King Nguni, they took his land, they took his livestock and the homes were burned down. His people were displaced. Hence why you find us scattered all over in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, as far as Zimbabwe, and other neighbouring countries. We even have some in Lesotho. They go under different tribes, but they still know that they are Amalubi.
The name Mthetwa is really prominent, that is the official name of King Nguni. He was known for his powers as well, among them Rainmaking. He was able to germinate sorghum. He could take it in his hand and the seed comes to life. A story in history is also related that I remember hearing it from my current king. King Langalibalele I while he was being taken on a ship or boat from Cape Town across to Robben Island, the boat wouldn’t start. But because he wanted this suffering to be over, he told his ancestors “let them just take me across”. He then told one of his praise singers to start singing praises and asking that the boat start so that they can cross over. That was when the British realized this man had certain powers. There’s a lot of literature written about him. He had many gifts.
*February 9, 1874. Langalibalele, chief of the AmaHlubi Bantu tribe, became one of the first black activists to be banished to Robben Island for refusing to register firearms. He killed British colonial troops who were trying to arrest him for it.
Post-Colonial Struggles and Traditional Leadership
Q. How has the historical legacy of King Langalibalele I influenced the cultural identity and territorial presence of your family, particularly in the regions of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, despite not being formally recognized by the South African government?
We might have never recovered from there. Even until today, we still are, we know that we were and still are a kingship though we are not recognized by the South African government. We have over 30 traditional leaders scattered all over, mainly in the Eastern Cape that pay allegiance to the current King. When you go to Cape Town, there’s a township called Walanga Township. King Langalibalele I after being released from Robben Island was placed under house arrest in what is today known as Pinelands. That township called Walanga Township is Langanbalile Township. Obviously, the man had skill as well. He had over 40 wives some he left in the Western Cape because when he was imprisoned, he traveled with some of his sons. They also had wives and hence why you find Amahlubi Hadebes as well in the Western Cape. Nonetheless, we are still here in KZN in the region of Escort. We have lots of land. We have a rich heritage.
*The Hlubi people are still contesting for the official recognition of their kingship and nation by South African government
Challenges and Aspirations for the Future
Q. How do traditional authorities and leadership contribute to the preservation of cultural identity and societal values, particularly in contrast to the challenges faced in contemporary politics and governance? Does the modern-day society have space for traditional authorities or traditional leadership?
That weaves into their role as well. Without traditional leadership, we are lost. As a human being, your identity stems from that. It doesn’t stem from any political party. Just you being a certain surname, you can then trace it back and say I belong to this clan and therefore I am of this nation. Without traditional leaders, the true core of a human being or a black person’s identity would be lost. Are we relevant? Yes, we are. I think you would also look at current affairs. I don’t want to say messed up, but how much we are struggling with politics and so forth. If traditional leadership, if all power was to be taken back by the original owners of the power, which are kings, chiefs and so forth, I think we would be able to restore law and order.
Because we are custodians of culture, of value systems that make up what it is to be within a good society. Respect. Ubuntu. Those are qualities that are taught within royal institutions. That is my view. If royals were to come together and not be interrupted or affected by politics and current affairs and just go back to the drawing board and say we are custodians of these people and whether they make it or not make it. Some part of it we have a role to play spiritually, economically, even in the teachings. The teachings from royalty are not the same as teachings that you would get maybe at school or in certain institutions. So yes, we are relevant.
Financing for Development, and the Political System
Q. How does the aspiration for autonomy, such as establishing a tribal bank, align with the role of traditional leadership in fostering development and preserving cultural heritage?
We would like to have our own bank. We would like to be able to say a certain tribe, AmaHlubi, requires a certain form of development and we don’t have to go to entities that require you to downplay who you are just to get approval. It’s better to actually access such help from people at the same level as you because you understand the struggles your people go through. The unfortunate part that has happened is that as I speak in South Africa, for any development you have to go through politicians and the role of traditional leadership has been reduced to just going to charity events and so forth. But the rolling out of development is done by, obviously, I know we’re in the Republic of South Africa and there’s politics, there’s political parties, there’s government and so forth but wouldn’t it just be lovely to be able to give your people development without having to first go through those politicians and be independent?
Because remember as custodians of these people and custodians of land, yes we’re not going to rob them, we are going to do a thorough job because we are building a legacy here. We’re not wanting votes, we are building legacies, we are building a future. So I’m not going to say we want tar road, we want certain areas tarred and then downplay the whole quality of the road because if I do that it means I’m downplaying and robbing myself because the land belongs to the kings and the people belong to the kings and if you destroy it you are destroying your own. If we do development it’s not to get votes or to get popular it is because we are building legacies.
Young People and Skills Development
Q. How can traditional leadership play a pivotal role in guiding young people towards careers and skills that resonate with their true calling and personal fulfillment, rather than conforming to societal pressures or family expectations?
So moving forward I would really want to see skills development. I was listening to another clip saying you know this thing of pressure for our young people to say in school that not everyone can be a doctor, not everyone can be an accountant, some need to be just farmers, some just need to be maybe certain skills that you will not get from going to school. I know that education is key yes but so is trying to direct our young people towards skills that will add value.
You take a child you say go to varsity go and become a chartered accountant and that’s not the true calling of the child you see what are you doing you’re creating depression you’re creating a very depressed nation because now I was forced into this profession because my auntie was seen to be driving these fancy cars because she was a chartered accountant. Let us go back to things that are useful, things that are relevant, and things that make us happy you understand because I know if you are in a profession or in an environment that God has called you to, you will thrive and you will add so much more value than when you’re placed. You know this thing of being placed, I was placed in this university because I had to do this because my grandfather had to do this or my auntie has to.
Let us place according to God’s calling and where does that stem from? That stems and goes back to us royals. The teachings during our cultural events? What are we teaching our young people? Are we putting pressure on them? The world already has and places pressure on our young people but they need to find us as a safe alternative, a safe place where they can be themselves no fake. Where you can be yourself to say but I don’t like these subjects I’m not a science person could I possibly take arts and culture at school or could I possibly take agriculture as a subject at school.Then that’s how you build a happy and productive society.It also feeds into that bank then now financing all these educational programs for that society. So it’s like creating a whole ecosystem.
Army Training and Building Discipline
Q. How can traditional institutions implement programs to instill discipline and cultivate a sense of responsibility in young people?
There are also other institutions like the army. Young people lack discipline some need to finish matric and then go to join the army just to get a bit of discipline. Some need to man up before they approach anything in life. Man up a bit before you you think whether you want to be a doctor or a pilot or you want to go into farming. I think such programs would really help us and our youth. Rigorous cultural programs that create an individual who is a productive member of society, positive contributor positive contributor into society. We don’t want to be raising depressed individuals who feel constantly like they’re under pressure. You need to raise young people who feel guided by you, not pressurized by you or pressurized by certain systems.
Government Policies for Freedom of Expression and Promotion of Cultural Diversity
Q. How have government policies in South Africa contributed to the promotion and celebration of cultural diversity, and what challenges still exist in fully embracing and respecting traditional practices and identities, particularly within educational institutions or other social spheres where cultural biases may persist?
South Africa is in a better place when it comes to tradition and cultural diversity. There was intentionality after independence and so forth, to incorporate the traditional authorities or royal families. You saw that growing up, you witnessed the policies that governments did for that to be ingrained.So I grew up in Eswatini. It has a very strong culture. I mean there’s no question about it. The way they dress, you can wear your traditional gear and go to work there’s nothing embarrassing about it in Eswatini. In South Africa as well we’ve got diverse cultures that’s why we’ve got 11 official languages, and we are given the platform to celebrate and be who we are. Even though we (AmaHlubi) are not officially recognized, I must be fair and say we are also given a platform to celebrate who we are. We celebrate our kings, celebrate our heritage, celebrate our culture.
Government policies assisted to make that happen by allowing freedom of expression, it’s even it’s a right. Freedom to celebrate your culture, South Africa allows for that, it’s your right as a nation to be able to celebrate. So it has never been something that was embarrassing or anything. You understand you can wear traditional outfits and now they even have programs where on Fridays they say every young person or on heritage day come to school dressed in your full traditional outfit. I know in certain schools they’ll say today you need to come cook what a certain clan or certain tribe eats and dress up as such.
So we are blessed to have a country or laws within the country that promote freedom of expression and say you’ve got a right to your own culture and practices.We are blessed to have such diversity. Diverse but we are all still African. Where our young people are embarrassed it’s where certain things are forced down your throat. For example, I went to a christian school and at some point I couldn’t even wear my traditional outfit. Because it was looked upon as if it’s demonic. It was like Jesus doesn’t advocate for you to wear a traditional outfit because it means you are practicing witchcraft.
