Lobengula
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| Lobengula Kumalo | |
| King of Matabeleland (also encompassed Mashonaland) | |
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| Reign | September 1868 - January 1894 |
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| Coronation | 1869 |
| Born | ca. 1845 |
| Birthplace | Matabeleland |
| Died | ca. January 1894 |
| Place of death | ca. 70 km south of the Zambesi river in Matabeleland. |
| Predecessor | Mzilikazi (a.k.a., Mosilikatze; Umsaingaas) (Father) |
| Mpezeni, Ngotsha (a sister of Lozigeyi Dhlodhlo), et.al. | |
| Successor | None |
| Consort | Lozigeyi (1st royal wife), Lomalongwe (2nd royal wife) |
| Issue | Mpezeni (royal son) born in Bulawayo ca. 1880 and died at Somerset Hospital on 9 December 1899 of pleurisy, Njube (royal son), Nguboyenja (royal son) sent to Cape Town after death of Lobengula and buried at Entumbane near to Mzilikazi, Sidojiwa born at Nsindeni ca. 1888 (royal son) and died 13 July 1960 (buried at Entumbane near to Mzilikazi), and at least one daughter |
| Royal House | House of Kumalo; Ndebele people |
| Father | Mzilikazi Kumalo, first king of the Ndebele people |
| Mother | Princess of the Swazi House of Sobhuza I., an "inferior" wife of Mzilikazi |
Lobengula Kumalo (1845-1894) was the second and last king of the Ndebele people, usually pronounced Matabele in English (or, linguistically more correctly, the nDebele). Both names, in the siNdebele language, mean "The people of the long shields", a reference to the Matabele warriors' use of the Zulu shield and spear.
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[edit] Birthright
Mzilikazi (a.k.a., Umsaingaas), the first king of the Matabele nation, died in 1868 and the throne was to go Nkulumani, son of the king and his royal wife. But the young chief was mysteriously missing and this led the izinduna, or chiefs, to give the crown to Lobengula, another of Mzilikazi's sons but from an inferior wife. Several impis (i.e., regiments) disputed Lobengula's assent and the question was ultimately decided by the arbitration of the assegai, with Lobengula and his impis crushing the rebels. Lobengula's courage in this battle led to his unanimous selection as king.
<Lobengula's real name is King Jando Lopengule Kumalo. The Europeans found it difficult to pronounce the name Lopengule so they decided to call him Lobengula. He was a big, powerful, tall man with a soft voice who was well loved by his people but loathed by foreign tribes. He had well over 20 wives,some say in the region of 100. His father, Mzilikazi, had around 200 wives. It is said he weighed about 19 stone and he was a fine warrior though not on the same level with his father, Mzilikazi, who was commander in chief of King Tshaka's zulu army. Life under Lobengula was relaxed and not as strict as that under Mzilikazi, though the Ndebeles never stopped their habit of raiding their neighbours. <ref:gchinyemba=Molest The Natives>./
[edit] Coronation
The coronation of Lobengula took place at uMhlanhlandlela, one of the principal military towns. The Matabele nation assembled in the form of a large semicircle, performed a war dance, and declared their willingness to fight and die for Lobengula. A great number of cattle were slaughtered and the choicest meats were offered to Mlimo, the Matabele spiritual leader, and to the dead Mzilikazi. Great quantities of millet beer were also consumed.
About 10,000 Matabele warriors in full war costume attended the crowning of Lobengula. Their costumes consisted of a head-dress and short cape made of black ostrich feathers, a kilt made of leopard or other skins and ornamented with the tails of white cattle. Around their arms they wore similar tails and around their ankles they wore rings of brass and other metals. Their weapons consisted of one or more long spears for throwing and a short stabbing-spear or assegai (the principal weapon of the Zulu). For defense, they carried large oval shields of ox-hide, either black, white, red, or speckled according to the impi (regiment) they belonged to.
— Lobengula[1]
Lobengula was a tall and heavily-built man said to weigh more than 20 stones. By the time he was in his 40s, his diet of traditional millet beer and beef had caused him to be obese according to European visitors. Early in his reign he had few encounters with white men (although a Christian mission station was set up at Inyati in 1859), but this changed when gold was discovered on the Rand within the boundaries of the South African Republic in 1886. Lobengula had granted Sir John Swinburne the right to search for gold and other minerals on a tract of land in the extreme south-west of Matabeleland between the Shashi and Ramaquiban rivers in about 1870, in what became known as the Tati Concession, however, it wasn't until about 1890 that any significant mining in the area commenced. Lobengula had been tolerant of the white settlers who came to Matabeleland and Mashonaland and he would even go so far as to punish those of his tribe who would unjustly harm the whites. But he was wary about negotiation with outsiders and when a British team came in 1888 to try to persuade him to grant them the right to dig for minerals in additional parts of his territory, the negotiations took many months. Lobengula only gave his agreement to Cecil Rhodes when the king's friend, Dr. Leander Starr Jameson who had treated Lobengula for gout once before, secured money and weaponry for the Matabele in addition to a pledge that any people who came to dig would be considered as living in his Kingdom. As part of this agreement, and at the insistence of the British, neither the Boer nor the Portuguese would be permitted to settle or gain concessions in Matabeleland. The 25-year Rudd Concession was signed by Lobengula on October 3, 1888 and by Queen Victoria on October 20, 1889.
[edit] Matabele war
It soon became obvious that Lobengula had been duped and that the British team really intended to colonise his territory. The First Matabele War began in November 1893 and the British South Africa Company's use of the Maxim gun led to devastating losses for the Matabele warriors. As early as December 1893, it was reported that Lobengula had been very sick, but his death sometime in early 1894 was kept a secret for many months and the cause of his death remains inconclusive. The earliest accounts state it was smallpox, later it was diagnosed as dysentery, and some accounts mention poison, although this seems unlikely. Mlimo was assassinated by Frederick Russell Burnham, the American Scout working for Rhodes, and by October 1897, the white colonists had successfully settled in much of the territory known later as Rhodesia and Matabeleland was no more.
It has always been thought that King Lobengula died in 1894 but nobody knows where he went. When Lobengula went into hiding in 1893,after seeing much of his army and kingdom perishing he decided not to return. Cecil Rhodes waited for many months to hear from Lobengula but did not receive any news. In the end,fearing that Lobengula might be organising another tribe, Rhodes decided to spread word that the King had died. Because he could shape and influence public opinion through his media empire, Rhodes spread rumours that Lobengula had given up and committed suicide by poisoning himself. It was then reported he had dysentery. There were even columns that suggested the King had told all his comrades to "go and join Rhodes now,He will take care of you,i am powerless. Do everything he wants. He's your king now". This did work in Rhodes' favour, because most of the Ndebele people believed that Lobengula had died simply because their king was nowhere to be found. His hiding in exile proved to be the final nail in the coffin, so Rhodes convinced them to put their weapons down and surrender ,which the Ndebele did. Not much was written or said about Lobengula's burial except that he was buried by his top commanders and close relatives. However, the few selected Ndebeles (handpicked by Rhodes himself) who were present at this "burial" say they were forced to attend and confirm to the everyone that the body was indeed of the King .They also claimed that the body couldn't possibly be of the King's because it was not as tall as him.Fearing a future Ndebele uprise,Rhodes decided to take Lobengula's eldest children away from Bulwayo to have them educated in Capetown. If you go to Bulawayo and ask any Ndebele today about Lobengula, they would say to you ,"Inkosi yanyamalala", which means "The King disappeared". >ref:gchinyemba=Molest The Natives>./
[edit] Background
The Matabele were related to the Zulu and fled north during the reign of Shaka following the mfecane ("the crushing") or difaqane ("the scattering"). Shaka's general Mzilikazi led his followers away from Zulu/Mthethwa territory after a falling out. They settled in what is now the south-western part of Zimbabwe, although claiming the sovereignty of a much wider area.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Neil Parsons: A New History of Southern Africa. Second Edition. Macmillan Press, London, 1993.
[edit] General references
- History of Rhodesia, by Howard Hensman (1900)
- Scouting on Two Continents, by Major Frederick Russell Burnham, D.S.O. LC call number: DT775 .B8 1926. (1926)
- The Zulus and Matabele, Warrior Nations, by Glen Lyndon Dodds, (Arms and Armour Press, 1998)
[edit] External links
- Texts of the Moffat Treaty and Rudd Concession, signed by Lobengula, which gave Britain and the British South Africa Company rights over his land
- full-text of History of Rhodesia, by Howard Hensman (1900)
- History of Lobengula: Last King of the Matebele
- LOBENGULA IN A TRAP.; Not Believed that the Matabele King Can Escape. New York Times, November 3, 1893
- The Skull of Lobengula
