30/03/2024
LOONGO INASHAMWENDA
The woman 'King' of the BaSaala people .
By Kelvin Kachese Cheela
In about the year 1848, a band of Angoni warriors traveling northward away from the Zulu wars, invaded the Saala land killing its Chief Choongo together with his wives. The Angonis got as b***y herds of cattle, Ivory, slaves and a great deal of wealth and left, but some oral traditions suggests that they appointed his niece Loongo Chieftainess before leaving. It also widely accepted that Loongo mothered children Shamwenda her first Child, thats why she is called Inashamwenda (some traditions hold that he was also called Choongo) ,Shachele, Namungo and Kayoba,with one of her temporary husband, NKanya.
Nkanya was a Chewa hunter and prince from Malawi whose brother, Mulubwe, was sent to fetch for him but he also settled and married a beautiful Saala woman at Mweembeshi and fathered a son by the name Muchabi,the father to present day Senior headman Muchabi.
After a humiliating defeat by the Angoni, the country of Saala and its people was at the verge of collapse and divisions rocked its villages. Whether or not Loongo was appointed by the Angoni, the Saala people needed a strong leader to bring them together and Loongo against all odds came to prominence in about 1851.
Loongo was an inspired leader who was also believed to be a Seer and Prophetess of Leza ( a supreme deity of the Bantu). She was also an Amazon Warrior and she herself carried a spear in war and led a body of women fighters as well as men warriors in battle. Such were her powers that even today her legend and fame is still alive through out the Basaala people.
Her first followers were from a place called Shalwabala, where she first lived, but she quickly overran the whole of Basaala area gaining followers and wealth as she progressed.
Loongo inspired confidence in her followers in making them believe that their fate was to be great conquerers and that they should never fear death and that even if they got killed in battle they would be imortal and turn into spirits( mizhimu).
Woman 'King' Loongo made Mugunki, present day Shachele her headquarters where she ruled and dispersed justice with a very firm and severe hand. She was an eloquent speaker and had vast wisdom and a good negotiator and diplomat. It is also said she avoided major wars with Baila and Batonga groups which, had settled much earlier than the Basaala, by diplomatic means.
She lived in a very large hut and was surrounded by a bodyguard of about 50 women warriors ,who fought with her in battle and always slept around her at night. She took as temporal husband any man she fancied but anyone who had sexual in*******se with any of her bodyguard without the Chief's permission was immediately put to death. The heads of her enemies slain during raids and forays were brought to her and skinned, the skulls been hung on a large tree that stood beside her hut.
But in about 1860, came an invasion of the Makololo people under Sebitwane heading west from his defeats in the south. Some traditions hold that this is called the battle of ShiMutemambalo. The Makololo attacked the Basaala, village by village, capturing women and cattle. They turned village against village to weaken the Basaala and returned the spoils like women and cattle to those that helped them conquer subsequent villages. The whole of Basaala country was overrun and the conqering indunas entered the village of Loongo.
She received them with great dignity not even rising from her throne to greet her invaders. Loongo and a few of her people were taken prisoner and the Makololo returned to the Zambezi river taking amongst others her eldest son Shamwenda, her baby son Shachele and another youth, Mukubu.
Tradition holds that Loongo when taken prisoner, performed miracles on the way including browing water from an empty vessel. When she was assigned slave duties like drawing water and grinding meals, Legend has it that Leza would not allow her to be slave so all the water she drew turned to blood and the meals she made turned to water and that water came out of her body and swept all the food she was made to prepare. This story has variations among the Basaala people.
As the prisoners and their es**rt reached a place called Shachambwa Mushanana, on the Kafue river, the captors decided to release Loongo, as they thought she was more trouble than she was worthy. Whatever the cause maybe, but generally believed that she used her magical powers to convince them ,she was allowed to go back with her baby Shachele, a present of two cows and an es**rt to see her safe to her people.
But Shamwenda and Mukubu, uncle to the now headman Mukubu village, were returned by Sebitwane and taken to Balotseland and were later handed over to the King of the Balozi, Lewanika.
On her return, Loongo reorganized her people and ruled them stricly and justly until she died in 1899. It appears she never lost any prestige among her people as result of the Makololo invasion, and it is in no doubt to a wholesome respect to her magical powers that the Makololo made no attempt to exact tribute from her.
Meanwhile, Shamwenda stayed in Balotseland, and legend has it that he grew to be a skilled fighter and was loved by king Lewanika. But as he grew older, his continued requests to go back home earned him the name Shakumbila ( father of beggars).
He would persistently ask in his Saala language 'Nda kumbila kuya' meaning i request to go back home,Saala land.
Finally, upon the news of Loongo's sickness to the point of death , Shamwenda together with other Basaala retained slaves were allowed to go back home.
Three MaLozi indunas were sent to es**rt Shamwenda now Shakumbila. Interestingly these three settled and married among the Basaala; one Limbamina, at Mukubu's village and has two descendants, a woman Kamunenga and a male Limbamina. Another Pulamasanga or Mpolamasanga migrated to a Lenje Village of Kasonkomona and married and had many sons and daughters and the third Shakabulazha settled but died at Shakumbila' s village without descendants.
Shortly after Shakumbila's return Loongo died and was burried with many slaves at Shachele. And Shakumbila inherited the Chieftainess. He was the first to be called by that name and this tradition has survived to date. This is the beginning of the Shakumbila Chiefdom.
I think beyond any doubt this woman 'King' should earn her place in the books of history along side the great women leaders of Africa like the Dahomey Amazons of Benin, Queen Nzinga Mbande of Angola, Queen Nanny, Queen Amina of Nigeria, Nandi of the Zulu and so own.
A Traditional Ceremony is held every year for the Basaala people called
Ikumbi Lya Loongo in honor of the Woman 'King' Loongo.
Next ' Disputes, divisions and unification of the Basaala chiefdom.
Source:
1.Vernon Brelsford
History and Customs of the Basala People
https://www.jstor.org/journal/jroyaanthinstgre
2.Elliot Machinyise -
History of the Bantu Botatwe
Kwame Nkuruma University
3.Oral Traditions : idioms and Customs
The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute is the principal journal of the oldest anthropological organization in the world. It has attracted and inspir...
