Centuries after the founder of the Zulu Empire was murdered by his half-brothers, his last words became the sword of Damocles that cursed Africa.

When Shaka ka Senzangakhona, Zulu king, was stabbed by Dingane and Mhlangana at kwaDukuza (in what has become South Africa) on September 24, 1828, the first of the two killers assumed the throne. His decision to defy Shaka’s dying words were to take on a prophetic magnitude, spreading across the continent like a curse.

A Zulu Chief The Bridge MAG. Image

“Are you stabbing me to take over and rule the empire? It is too late. It is ‘Oumlougoum’: White people who will come up from the sea to rule the Zulu nation”

Nevertheless, it is believed the truest rendition of his words come from another of Shaka’s half-brothers, Mkebeni kaDabulamanzi, “Are you stabbing me, kings of the earth? You will come to an end by killing one another.”

Since Shaka’s half-brothers planted the first seeds of sin and betrayal centuries ago, the ugly tree of hatred has flourished and grown strong with hostility, surviving generations and civilisations.

This is how, from Steve Beko to Patrice Lumumba and Laurent desire Khabila, via Thoma Sankara, Africans have repeatedly betrayed and contribute to the killing of their most progressive leaders.

The term Sword of Damocles metaphor could arguably be used to explain the precarious situation and ever-present misfortune of Africa, the world’s richest continent in mineral resources.

First coined by the Roman politician and philosopher…