Career
Marriage Mkabayi singlehandedly courted Mthaniya for her father Jama who was aging without having a successor. She did this without her father’s knowledge and when he found out he said: "Nenzengakhona", which means "you have done accordingly." Mthaniya’s first son was named Senzangakhona – "we have done accordingly", after his sister’s efforts to find her father a successor. Mkabayi was a twin and Zulu custom dictated that one of the twins be sacrificed to evade bad luck that would result in the death of one of the parents.
Jama refused to kill one of his girls and broke a known tradition.
His name is derived from the Zulu word meaning "he of the stern countenance".