The Ndebele kingdom revival storm

In last week's instalment, we learned how Bagedze stole the Kalanga king Tjilibundule's hair strand so that her father Tjilisamhuli's medicine man, Ngomane Gumbo, could perform his magic to neutralise Tjilibundule's charms.

Bagedze was duly escorted back to her marital home where she told her unsuspecting husband that she had been successfully treated with her parents' guidance and advice.

Meanwhile, her father, Nitjasike (also known as Tjilisamhulu) was preparing to attack Tjibundule and seize his land. That occurred sooner than later and Tjilibundule fled from his Khami Hills residence and headed northwards.

Nitjasike's warriors followed his tracks which ended abruptly at the confluence of the Woze (Mguza) and the Gwayi rivers, on a locality with several anthills and mikoho (umkhaya) trees. Oral tradition has it that in the early evening, sounds of people stamping and dogs barking, babies crying and cows mooing, goats bleating and bulls bellowing could be heard coming from underground at that locality, a phenomenon that continued until well after the advent of the Christian missionaries to Inyathi in 1859.

Nitjasike consolidated his rule by putting his sons in effective administrative power at strategic places to secure his empire. To the north was Hwange, to the east he placed Dlembewu, to the east he appointed Ntinhima whose village was at Fumubgwe (Intaba Kayikhonjwa), and to the south was Lukwangwaliba who was sooner than later succeeded by his brother, Tjigadzike after he (Lukwangwaliba was assassinated on orders of the elders who said that a three – to – four – year long drought in his region was caused by his name which was TjiKalanga/Venda for "drought"

Kalanga oral traditionalists differ on whether the name Nitjasike was Tjilisamhulu's original name, or whether he assumed it after he had conquered Tjibundule. Whatever his birth name was, he was in power for a long time during which he fought and defeated an invading army of King Khari of the BaMangwato in 1827.

He had been told by Mwali that Khari would come driving a very large number of cattle, and that he should ambush and kill him, and seize all the cattle.

However, the captured cattle were to be surrendered to Mwali who would then take hers and give some to Tjilisamhulu. But Tjilisamhulu took the entire herd and gave some to his army commander, Tumbale, who had led the attack on Khari.

Mwali's voice was that of a woman and was from a cave at Mavulamatjena (White waters) in the Gomfi (Hovi) River region of the Matopo Hills. The voice repeatedly inquired about her share of the booty, and but both Tjilisamhulu and Tumbale said they would not give any to Mwali, and that if she wanted some cattle, she had better go and fight the BaMangwato and seize some from them.

On two or three occasions Mwali's inquiries were taken to Tjilisamhulu at Manyanga (Entabeni ZikaMambo) by Ntinhima who eventually decided to give Mwali some of his own cattle.

Mwali then, publicly announced that she would send her boys with tails in their front and at their backs and circles on their heads to pierce both Tjilisamhulu and Tumbale like melons.

But as for Ntinhima, she would hide him in the roots of a grass stub so that his enemies could not locate him.

The avaricious Tjilisamhulu and Tumbale took the announcement lightly. However, sooner than later, a band of Swazi warriors was seen at the fallows of Nigobombwe at the same time as a voice was heard four times at Mambo Tjilisamhulu's residence saying: "Towohangana, Tjilisamhulu!" This was said twice and later changed to : "Tahangana, Tjilisamhulu!" The first meant "we shall meet Tjilisamhulu" and the second means "we have met, Tjilisamhulu".

Tjilisamhulu sent two regiments to the locality where the Swazis had been seen. One regiment was commanded by Mazile and the other by Hambale. Mambo Tjilisamhulu did not send Tumbale this time because people were singing praises about Tumbale following his defeat of the BaMangwato.

On arrival at Nigobombgwe's fallows, Mazile and Hambale sent a team to reconnoiter and locate the Swazi warriors. The team soon returned to report that they had located the Swazi camp.

The commanders decided to attack in the very short hours of dawn. But when they went to the spot indicated by their reconnaissance group, they were no Swazis there. An argument developed between the two commanders about whether the reconnoitering boys had actually seen the Swazis.

The argument degenerated into a vicious shouting match involving the two commanders as well as their aide-de-camp, resulting in Mazile's aide-de-camp spearing Hambale, killing him outright, and the aide-de-camp of the murdered commander spearing the other commander also to death.

Word was sent hastily to Mambo Tjilisamhulu who decided to let bygones be bygones by sending Tumbale post haste to go and take over the command of the two regiments.

On arrival, Tumbale found that the Swazi camp had been seen. He sat on an anthill, shouted through a kudu horn he used as a megaphone that his army should rout the Swazis and spare none of them. As for himself, he declared: "Imi ndagala ngoma!" (I'm not moving from where I'm seated).

The battle was the bloodiest the Kalanga army had ever fought under Tumbale's command. It was eyeball to eyeball, vicious encounter; a ding-dong, toe-to-toe tussle that ended with the defeat of Mambo Tjilisamhulu's rag tag warriors by King Somhlolo's better trained and better equipped group.

Tumbale took some poison and died instantly on the anthill. Swazi warriors later found his bloated corpse and speared his tummy, unknowingly fulfilling Mwali's words.

Meanwhile Mambo Tjilisamhulu had received a message that his army had been defeated, and had decided to kill himself and his immediate family members by poisoning pots of beef cooked for primarily that purpose. Some Swazi warriors sent to capture him arrived at the palace some days later to be greeted by the stench of rotting corpses.

Tjilisamhulu's corpse was in a hut with a harpoon on a rafter in the roof. A Swazi warrior speared the bloated corpse with the harpoon which he could not pull out of the body later. Mwali's word was once more fulfilled.

The Swazis then went to Fumubgwe in the Matopo Hills to capture Ntinhima but found him gone. They followed but failed to seize him until he reached a natural fortress, a rocky hill called Ncheka Wakapiyenyika in the Buhera region.

By then, Mzilikazi's Ndebeles were on their way towards this country, the first batch arriving in 1838, and the last group with Mzilikazi himself in 1840. They later tried to follow and capture Ntinhima but were militarily resisted, especially by Tohwechipi, who was Ntinhima's son and heir. They eventually defeated him in 1860 in the Masvingo - Manicaland region.

By that time, Mzilikazi had been ruling Mambo's former area for 20 years, that is if we do not include the two years (1838 to 1839) when he was in the Kazungula and Hwange region following his loss of directions given to him by Dr Robert Moffat. The Ndebele kingship was defeated by Cecil John Rhodes' forces in 1893, some 53 years after Mzilikazi arrival or 55 years after that of the Ndebele vanguard group.

The Mambo Dynasty Trust's objective is that the long Mambo rule should be accorded its obvious historic place in the annals of this country, and that Mambo's traditional lineage's leadership should be recognised and consulted in the national cultural processes. It would appear that in the present attempt to restore the Mzilikazi kingship, the Mambo Dynasty Trust is claiming territorial, demographic, and procedural precedence. It is indeed an interesting phase in Zimbabwe's politico – cultural development that reflects the people's constitutional freedom of association.

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Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu is a retired, Bulawayo – based journalist. He can be contacted on cell 0734 328 136 or through email. sgwakuba@gmail.com