 His father had been one of Shaka's contemporaries.In fact Shaka had never managed to defeat the amaChube people, of which Zokufa was chief, but the small clan shrewdly allied itself with Shaka's Zulu kingdom.As a boy, Sigananda was a mat-bearer for Shaka, and under Dingane he served in a military regiment known as the uMkhulutshane ibutho.