THE HOUSE AND ZULU POLITICAL-STRUCTURE IN THE 19TH-CENTURY

The rise of the Zulu power in the early nineteenth century has convent ionally been treated as the outstanding example of a contemporary sout hern African process of 'state-formation', which was associated with r evolutionary social changes. This paper advances an alternative view, that there were strong continuities with established forms of chieftai ncy in the region, and in particular that the Zulu political system wa s based on a traditional, pan-Nguni homestead form of organization. Th e Zulu homestead was divided into right and left sections, each with i ts own identity and destiny. This opposition was mapped into the layou t of ordinary homesteads and royal settlements. It was carried through into the organization of regiments. The homestead and its segments pr ovided both the geographical and the structural nodes of the society. The developmental cycle of the homestead ideally followed a set patter n, creating a fresh alignment of units in each generation. The points of segmentation were provided by the 'houses', constituted for each ma jor wife and her designated heir. Each of these houses represented the impact, within the homestead, of relationships sealed by marriage wit h outside groups, whose leaders threw their weight behind particular f actions in the political processes within the family.