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Age-grade groupings of various sorts were common in the Bantu tribal culture of the day, and indeed are still important in much of Africa.

Age grades were responsible for a variety of activities, from guarding the camp, to cattle herding, to certain rituals and ceremonies.

It was customary in Zulu culture for young men to provide limited service to their local chiefs until they were married and recognised as official householders.

Shaka manipulated this system, transferring the customary service period from the regional clan leaders to himself, strengthening his personal hegemony.

Such groupings on the basis of age, did not constitute a permanent, paid military in the modern Western sense, nevertheless they did provide a stable basis for sustained armed mobilisation, much more so than ad hoc tribal levies or war parties.