Located just outside King Shaka’s royal kraal KwaBulawayo, the site is traditionally identified with a kei apple tree (Dovyalis caffra) that became a symbolic locus of royal discipline. Oral accounts relate that Shaka used this place to execute individuals who had displeased him or who had failed to meet the expectations of loyalty and bravery that underpinned the Zulu military system. The name Isihlahla Samagwala itself derives from a dramatic episode in which an unsuccessful impi (army) returned to the royal settlement after failing in its campaign.