iNkosi uMzilikazi - King Mzilikazi

Before we tell you about King Mzilikazi It is important to understand a little bit of His background and our connection to the ZULU Kingdom of Shaka Zulu. So let's begin with a little bit of background information about King Shaka .

Historians have called him "Black Caesar" and compared his military skills with Alexander the Great, and there is no doubt that the history of southern Africa would have been very different had Shaka not lived.

 
Shaka Zulu: a statue in South Africa and a contemporary sketch of the king.

The man who founded the Zulu nation was born around 1787 and was murdered by his half-brother, Dingaan, in 1828 near the banks of the Thukela (Tugela) River. In his 41 years, he united the northern Nguni people - known today as the Zulus - and set the tribal boundaries of the Xhosa, Sotho and Swazi nations.

Many stories have been told of the Zulus and the tribes that grew from them including the Shangaan and Matabele, and because we had no written language most accounts were logged by explorers, hunters and missionaries and we will forever be grateful to them for putting our record in print.

But we also have a spoken version of history, handed down by grandparents, uncles, aunts and elders to wide-eyed children sitting by the fire at night. There under the open sky, tales are told without interruption, except from the animals and birds that call to each other in the dark.

There, in the forests and clearings, our history has been passed from one generation to the next. Now, with the glow of your computer screen on this website in place of the fire, let us share it once more with each other and with new friends from Africa and around the world.

Shaka changed the nature of warfare by inventing a short stabbing spear to replace the long throwing assegais. This meant that his soldiers could attack and not lose their weapons. And he established battalions and companies similar to those used in modern armies, even though at the time there had been no contact with western explorers.

One of these military units was headed by Shaka's friend and most gifted general, Mzilikazi Khumalo, son of Matshobana.

Mzilikazi, king of the Matabele, with his royal attendants.

NOW - Mzilikazi was only three years younger than Shaka, and had become widely respected within the kingdom for his daring raids on rival tribes.

In 1823, Shaka sent Mzilikazi on a punitive expedition against another chief. The general was successful, but on his way back, he sent a message asking whether he could keep some of the cattle, slaves and women captured in the raid, and retire to an area west of Zululand to see out his days.

The law was clear: all spoils of war belonged to the king and the very impudence of asking was enough for Mzilikazi and his family to be executed.

Sensing danger, the Khumalo army turned north and settled first at a spot near the modern town of Bethal, 150 kilometres south of Johannesburg, which they named Phumuleni or "The Resting Place."

Some say Shaka sent an army in persuit, others say he let the Khumalos go, perhaps an indication of his love for Mzilikazi. Either way, rains were good, the soil was rich, and the exiles prospered.

As their herds grew, the new king worried that Shaka would hear of their good fortune and grow jealous, so he moved his people to where Pretoria now stands, then to Brits, and finally to a site on the Groot Marico River near Botswana.

Over the next decade, Mzilikazi and his warriors came to dominate the entire northern region of South Africa, destroying local kingdoms and pushing others like the Shangaan, Venda, Pedi and Tswana off the best land.

Their rivals named them amaNdebele, "the people of tall shields" and a nation was born.

The Roman empire became great because, on conquering another country, they would incorporate those who surrendered to create an ever-greater force. And this is how the Matabele built their numbers.

Men and women of working age who would not submit to the new order were taken as slaves. Shaka was, without doubt, the biggest slave-owner in the history of southern Africa and Mzilikazi became a close rival. This may be difficult to understand in our modern world, but it was in line the great empires of West and East Africa, the Incas of South America and even China.

In lands damaged by war, and cattle driven off by the victors, anyone left behind would starve. Instead, they were either brought into the winning tribe, or kept as slaves who would, in time, be assimilated. And children of these workers were full citizens at birth.

Zulu is a rich language, but as more villages and settlements fell to the Matabele, their languages enriched our own so that, now, isiNdebele has a greater number of words than Zulu, along with variations of pitch and tone. In South Africa, a Zulu will spot a Matabele as soon as hears the person talk.

By 1830, the area ruled by the House of Khumalo covered modern-day Gauteng and much of the Free State, Mpumalanga, Limpopo Province and even part of North West.

Zulu traditions were maintained. Young men were all in regiments and were forbidden to marry without permission of the king.

The Matabele and Zulu traditions continue to this day in ceremonies for special events.

From the age of seven or eight, boys were tasked to herd livestock, and spent their leisure time fighting with sticks and talking of the day when they would be old enough to join the army.

By 12, a boy could drive cattle for 10 hours, walking barefoot over stones and thorns without cutting his feet.

The Matabele could count, but they had no starting point of time like our BC and AD positioned around the birth of Christ. Instead, the years were numbered in relation to various events. For example, someone was said to have been born two seasons before the flood or eight years after the great fire or at the time when lightening killed 14 cattle on a hilltop. As a result, few could be sure just how old they were.

Boys tended to work and play in groups based on age, but when it came time to join a regiment, each teenager would stand naked in front of the unit commander. If the recruit looked as if he was close to manhood, he was allowed to proceed. If he appeared to still be in the early stages of puberty, he had to wait another year.

Women had roles depending on their age, and there was a strict code of respect and discipline. Planting, cooking, harvest, collecting wild fruits and maintaining the home were all important duties along with the most treasured role of raising children.

Like Solomon in the Bible, Mzilikazi was expected to sit in judgement over squabbles between his subjects. First, an issue would go before the induna or chief. If nothing was resolved, the king held court and his word was final.

By this time, the first white missionaries and explorers had entered the region and, provided they asked permission to pass, all were welcome to call on the king.

Among his regular visitors were Robert Moffat who had set up a mission at Kuruman in the northern Cape, and his son-in-law, David Livingstone. French and American missionaries asked permission to settle in the area and, under the king's protection, were not only kept safe, but came to be looked on as friends. Dr Moffat, especially, became so close that the king referred to him as, "my special guest". Moffat was fluent in Zulu and the two men would sit up all night talking politics, while the missionary tried in vain to convert his host to the Church.

 
Robert Moffat (left) spoke fluent Zulu and was a close friend of the king, as was his son-in-law, David Livingstone (right).

Throughout the year, there were feastdays and celebrations: the first rains, first fruits on the trees, birth of the impala antelope in the wild around December, flooding of the rivers, harvest of crops, the coming of snow.

At every event, women would sing, warriors would dance and the nation came together in unity, reaffirming itself before the ancestral spirits and to every member of the tribe as a people united by language, culture, tradition and loyalty to the king and to each other.

The Matabele were here to stay.

But Africa was changing. The great Shaka had been assassinated and King Dingaan heard exaggerated reports about the wealth of Mzilikazi whose cattle were so numerous, they stretched over plains, into the mountains and on through neighbouring valleys, almost without end.

A series of droughts had cut the Zulu herd, and Dingaan sent his armies north to raid the Matabele.

Almost a thousand kilometres away in the Eastern Cape, the new British rulers were sailing their ships from England, laden with farmers, tradesmen and their families who, it was hoped, would develop the area around Port Elizabeth and East London.

The Dutch, who had been in the Cape since 1652, were not happy with the British influx and in 1834 large numbers packed their wagons and headed north in what became known as the Great Trek.

In covered wagons, the Voortrekkers (Dutch = first travelers) pushed north to escape British rule.

In 1835, these pioneers, forefathers of today's Afrikaners, crossed the Vaal River and established themselves less than 100 kilometres from the Matabele. Unlike earlier travellers, they refused to seek permission from the king, and war was inevitable.

In August 1836, a Matabele patrol killed an Afrikaans hunting party. The whites retaliated and Mzilikazi sent his army in response.

War came on 16 October at the Battle of Vegkop in northern Free State. The Voortrekkers placed 50 wagons in a circle and held off more than 4 000 warriors with their guns, only to see the Matabele withdraw with most of their cattle and nearly 50 000 sheep.

Not long after, Dingaan's army made a surprise raid on the Matabele and while Mzilikazi's forces were regrouping, the Trekkers attacked.

The tribe responded by burning their settlements and pushing north across the Limpopo.

A great number of books have been written about the battles between the Afrikaners, Zulus and Matabele, and the Voortrekker Monument near Pretoria has an excellent display and a well-balanced account of the war, laid out in models, maps and wallcharts.

Of the many stories that came from this history, there is one that runs rich in Matabele legend, even though we are never likely to know the truth.

During the battles of August 1836, the warriors raided the wagons of Barend Liebenberg.

Liebenberg was a difficult man who argued constantly with the other Trekkers and, as a result, he had pitched camp with his family and servants some distance away. The Matabele overran the position and slaughtered the entire party, except for three children -- two girls and a boy -- who were taken back as a gift for Mzilikazi.

The king was angry, saying he did not regard children as prisoners of war and wanted them returned to the Trekkers. But with the conflict reaching its height this was not possible and, when the tribe went north, they took the children with them.

For years, travellers to Matabeleland spoke of seeing a number of whites who seemed to be part of the tribe. A young man -- possibly the Liebenberg boy -- had a senior position in one of the regiments and a teenage girl had taken on the role of nursemaid to Mzilikazi's youngest son, Lobengula.

In our own folk takes, it's said that the trust Lobengula would eventually place in the British may have come from being raised by a white woman.

As they moved north, the Matabele army split, a tactic often used when they feared that an enemy may be following.

In this case, however, the two patrols became separated, with one under command of the king and the other led by his son, Nkulumana who had been named after Robert Moffat's mission at Kuruman. There is no letter "R" in the isiNdebele language, and this was how the word sounded to their ears.

Mzilikazi pushed into the land of the Tswana people, then turned east about 80 kilometres from the Zambezi River. Nkulumana marched across the Limpopo and settled near the Matobo Hills.

A year passed and there was no word from Mzilikazi. In September 1839, as winter gave way to spring, custom demanded that the new settlement should celebrate ncwala or the ceremony of first fruits, but a king had to be present before the event could take place.

Believing that Mzilikazi had died in the desert, the tribe placed Nkulumana on the throne.

Not far from Hwange National Park, news reached Mzilikazi that he had been replaced. He called his followers together and they marched south, reuniting with his sons early in 1840.

Nkulumana sent a party to meet his father, and the king, learning that they really had thought him dead, forgave the treason. Until, that is, he asked what great sorrow and mourning had filled the land on news of his death.

But, exhausted from their journey, the settlers had not held the usual ceremonies on the loss of a king. Mzilikazi was angrier than ever and he had Nkulumana and all the other sons and their advisors taken to a nearby hill and executed.

Today that mountain is known as Ntabazinduna or the hill of chiefs.

Only the youngest son, Lobengula, was spared when his white nursemaid hid him in the Matobo mountains.

The death of so many from the royal house gave rise to a fresh name for the site they had chosen as the Matabele's new home, and it was christened, "the place of great killing," which in our language translates as Bulawayo.

The next 50 years became a time we look back on as the greatest period in Matabele history.

King Mzilikazi ruled wisely and grew in his people's affection. Unlike Shaka who had seen several attempts on his life before being murdered by his brother, Mzilikazi lived in peace and, from around the world, traders, hunters and explorers came to Bulawayo.

The Voortrekkers settled in our old lands, creating two countries which they called the South African Republic (ZAR or Transvaal) and the Orange Free State.

Having met the Matabele in battle, they made no effort to cross the Limpopo and in the ZAR, President Paul Kruger established diplomatic relations with Matabeleland.

History told well must be the truth, and we would have to accept that to the north and west, the Matabele were not always good neighbours.

We raided the Tswana people for cattle and the great great grandfather of current Botswana president, Ian Khama, shot at Mzilikazi who carried the bullet in his body for the rest of his life.

The remainder of what is now Zimbabwe was mostly occupied by the Shona, a tribe that originated in eastern Congo and moved down Africa over a period of more than 800 years until around 1200 AD they crossed the Zambezi River and colonised much of modern Zimbabwe. The Shona are related to the Venda people in South Africa and the Ndau of central Mozambique.

For 100 000 years or more, one people occupied central and southern Africa. The Bushmen or San grew no crops and kept no cattle, but hunted game and gathered wild fruits. They lived in caves where they drew their life in pictures on the wall and this art - some of the oldest in the world - can still be seen today.

For 100 000 years, only the Bushmen or San occupied hinterland of southern Africa where their art can still be seen in caves where they lived.

The Shona brought with them cattle and a great skill in growing crops. The San saw cows as just another animal to be hunted, and conflict broke out between the two until the Shona exterminated the Bushmen completely, driving the last of their number into Botswana.

Around 1500AD, the Shona built the Rozvi kingdom near Masvingo and the headquarters now form the national monument of Great Zimbabwe.

They traded with merchants from the Middle East and possibly even China, selling gold, silver and slaves in exchange for beads and fabric.

The Shona Rozvi kingdom of Great Zimbabwe. The ruins are now a major tourist site.

The Matabele sent raiding parties into Mashonaland, taking cattle and eventually imposing a tax on the Shona who had little military tradition and were unable to resist the warrior nation.

Conquering the neighbours was a common event in history throughout Africa, and in Europe, Asia and South America. It established the world's great nations including Russia, China, India, Germany, France and Britain, and was seen as a normal part of foreign policy. And it was this policy of expansion that saw first Portugal, then Britain, Germany, Spain and Belgium taking chunks of Africa as colonies from which they would draw minerals, timber and, in some cases, slaves.

Mzilikazi died on 9 September, 1868 and was succeeded by his son, Lobengula.