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Legends From The Royal Graves of Barotseland : Namanda
Namanda is the resting place, sitino, for Yeta I, the third
Litunga. Namanda means graveyard or graves. Yeta was popularly
known as Imuseta (ya-Musa), meaning Yeta the kindhearted.He
was also known as Yeta Twamona. (One explanation of this
nickname Twamona is that because of his opposition to Mboo's hunting
sprees, Yeta fell out of favour with Mboo and shifted up north to a
new village called Twamona - we are watching (you) - though a
distance way I can still see what is happening!)
He
was kind to both man and animal, he would order a young animal
removed from its mother returned and small fish thrown back into the
river “uyu no kwata no ibutu umusheke u ku yoya” his people
said of him approvingly. Unfortunately he died, apparently from
contrition, immediately after ordering the death of his Ngambela!
Circumstances leading to this sad turn of events are unclear.
The story of Namanda is that as a result of petty jealousies and
threats from senior wives of Yeta, one young beautiful wife, who
apparently was more than successful in catching the bull’s eye,
absconded from the palace occasioning a manhunt for her. Two of the
Litunga’s stewards on the trail spotted a man hunting tortoisse
within the area, who in turn directed them to a spot where he had
observed something suspicious in the tall grass. It turned out to
be the young queen who was then taken back to the palace and the
king. Relieved and happy, the king physically inspected the fateful
spot and directed that a mound be built on the site to serve as his
sitino and that this young “no-one-but-you” would also be buried
there - a great honour that is greatly appreciated by her
descendants.
From this incident the official titles of the n’omboti and headman
for this sitino have been derived. The n’omboti is named
Imonamute meaning “one who was seen by the hunter”. The headman
is named Katuhu, a dimunitive of situhu, cruelty. It
was the cruelty of the senior wives which led to the escape of the
young queen .
There was recognition for the two stewards, both being promoted and
given additional responsibility. One was posted to Luena north of
Mongu to guard the route that the Luvale invaders used ( it was for
the same reason that more than a century later Mulambwa stationed
the newly arrived Mbunda people of Mwene Chiyengele in the area at
Nakalomo). This Kabila is the ancestor of the Induna Kabilamwandi
in Kaoma recently reported murdered by Angolan refugees!
The other steward, was posted to Mwenyi area where his descendants
can be found across the Kalabo Boma. He was to hold fort
controlling the crossing point on the Luanginga wadding off Andonyi
invaders from Angola. (It may be pointed that Yeta’s capital,
Mwandi had been a control point against the Andonyi invaders). He is
the ancestor of Mwanamwalye Namusunga posted to Sesheke by Litunga
Ngombala giving rise to the current saying ‘Sisheke sa
Mwanamwalye Namusunga’.
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October 2004