Nandi died of dysentry on the 10th October 1827. On hearing of her death, Shaka went into his hut and put on his war regalia. The Zulu king stood before the hut of the mother who had borne him forty years before. Shaka then broke out into frantic yells of anguish. The cries of the king were a signal for the whole crowd of perhaps fifteen thousand people to break into an uproar of wailing and screaming. On Shakaís orders, several people were executed on the spot, and a general massacre broke out. While tradition demanded that certain servants and attendants would have expected to be wounded or killed on the death of a person of Nandiís stature, it seems that the event became a cloak for many people to settle old scores while assuring the king they shared his grief. No less than seven thousand people died during the holocaust.
According to tradition, no food was to be taken on the day of death, or even before the burial, which was planned for the third day after the event. The whole nation was ordered to undergo a three month period of mourning. During this period no crops were to be planted, and milk was to be poured onto the ground. There was to be no sexual intercourse, and any woman found pregnant was to be killed, together with husband and families. So strict were the instructions kept on the production and consumption of food, that starvation threatened.
Eventually, reflecting the national mood, a brave man by the name of Gala, son of Nodade of the Biyela clan, confronted the king directly. Screwing up his courage after the long journey to the capital, Gala strode into the royal presence. Marching up to the fence of the isigodlo at KwaBulawayo , he bellowed over the stakes at the king of the Nations discontent.
Conscious of the spreading discontent, the startled king roused himself and roared his reply, criticising his senior advisers for not warning him sooner of the popular will, and rewarding the courageous Gala with two head of cattle!
In such fashion did Shaka reward bravery. Whether the voice of Gala was the deciding factor in the kingís subsequent decision to terminate the mourning period, or the realisation by Shaka that army numbers would suffer as a result of the prohibition on intercourse, as Melapi ka Magaye asserts, remains uncertain.
