By Zulumathabo Zulu © 2017
As a result of my severe illness, I did not update this blog. That is a sad chapter in the history of these sacred pages of the ancestors. I plan to make amends on that. While making a good recovery, I had ample time to look into the past for inspiration like the great Sankofa bird that returns to the past to fetch what it had forgotten.
The Mighty King Shaka
In this case, I am taking a page from the great metallurgist and engineer Ngonyama ka Mbonambi during the golden years of the mighty King Shaka. Ngonyama and his people specialized in transforming ore into metal and thus were responsible for producing weapons and other sacred metal artifacts in the powerful kingdom of Zululand.
Without further ado, take a listen and be inspired via the podcast below:
Madisebo University 
Where did the zulus get their iron. The reason i am asking this question. It is because, it has been established that the Sotho~Tswana had a monopoly in metals and mining. This was demonstrated by archeological , oral history and eye witness accounts of early travellers in the interior of RSA. My quesion is where did the zulu get their metals or learn how to work with metals. It has been established that The Tonga and tribes from the coast travelled to the interior to aquire metals.
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Dear Boroa!
The resources of time and space do not allow for me to expantiate on the matter. In a few lines let me make the following points.
The knowledge of metallurgy was acquired through the knowledge of the cosmos. Unlike the Europenas who require instruments to detect metals on the ground, the Zulus, like other Africans, acquired metallurgic knowledge long before the Europeans and that was via cosmic knowledge.
Southern Africa boasts the oldest mine on the planet wherein the African metallurgists mined letsoku (ochre) and tshepe/insimbi (iron). The ethnic group that possessed the cosmic knowledge of metallurgy among the Zulu people are known as Mbonambi and their King Metallurgist was Ngongama. When King Shaka needed to design the new spear, he was referred to the great metallurgist Ngonyama.
You need to get my scholarly paper African Metallurgy: Engineering and the Cleansing Rituals.
Raboka dikgomo le manamane! Sabonga izinkomo namankonyana! To venerate the sacrosanct cows of the ancestors! Thokoza Makhosi!
Zulumathabo Zulu.
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