…origins of the Ndebele Kingdom
After fighting and winning expansionist wars in and around the Transvaal, a joint force of Boers, Tswana, Griqua and other tribal forces eventually defeated King Mzilikazi in 1837 and forced him to escape north across the Limpopo River and across the Venda territory into the Changamire Empire, writes Dr Felix Muchemwa in his book The Struggle for Land in Zimbabwe (1890 – 2010) that The Patriot is serialising.

EARLY in 1694, Changamire Dombo’s military powers were felt in the Manyika Kingdom when he destroyed the Portuguese fair at Macequece (Vila Manica).
The campaign extended Changamire Dombo’s powers to the kingdoms of Barwe and Uteve, thus confining the Portuguese to the coastal hinterland and along the Zambezi River up to Tete and Zumbo.
A Mwenemutapa Empire, thenceforth called the ‘Changamire Empire’, under the Togwa Dynasty, was thus established by Changamire Dombo from 1694 and the Portuguese found that even when metropolitan Portugal was mobilised, they could not regain control of the situation in the new Changamire/Mwenemutapa Empire.
They thus remained confined to the Zambezi Valley and the coastal hinterland where they became increasingly dependent upon the ‘Prazo system.’
However, despite its proven military prowess, the Changamire/Mwenemutapa Empire continued predominantly as an agriculturally-based empire producing cattle, tobacco, groundnuts, millet, rapoko and cotton for machira.
Changamire Dombo died in 1696, but his conquests survived him.
The Empire enjoyed relative peace and prosperity for nearly a century and a half, until invaded by Zwangendaba and Maseko of the Gaza Nguni around 1835 during the Mfecane, which was an upheaval among the Nguni kingdoms of South Africa.
The origins of the Ndebele Kingdom
The Mfecane were the inter and intra-tribal upheavals among the South African Nguni pastoralists directly caused by the scarcity of land as a result of the massive land expropriation from Zulus, Xhosas, Sotho-Tswanas, Griquas and many other tribes in the Eastern Cape, Zululand, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal as British and Boer pastoralists expanded northwards from the Cape Colony.
In Zululand, some of those caught up in the feuding between Shaka and his cousin Zwide escaped north, crossing the Limpopo into the Changamire/Mwenemutapa Empire.
These included Zwangendaba and his cousin Maseko who were forced into Mozambique as refugees from the Mfecane conflict between Shaka and Zwide in 1818-1820.
The main force of Zwangendaba and part of the Maseko Nguni invaded the Changamire Empire, cutting through the Kingdom of Uteve and Butua to Changamire’s capital, Ntabazikamambo.
After inflicting a great deal of damage by capturing grain and cattle, they were driven off by Changamire Chirisamhuru’s forces and proceeded north where Zwangendaba’s forces crossed the Zambezi River near Zumbo and Maseko crossed near Tete, both advancing into Malawi, to have some of their forces ending up in Tanzania.
Meanwhile, Nyamazana, a Nguni woman commander, and her forces who had remained behind, killed Changamire Chirisamhuru and occupied Ntabazikamambo.
Around 1821, back in Zululand, at the outset of the Mfecane, Mzilikazi, son of Matshobana, a member of the same Khumalo Zulu royal family of Zwide and Shaka had also gotten entangled in the family feud between the two and managed to escape with only 200 men, women and children.
He crossed the Drakensburg Mountains into the Sotho-Tswana-controlled Transvaal territory in the same year, 1821.
After fighting and winning expansionist wars in and around the Transvaal, a joint force of Boers, Tswana, Griqua and other tribal forces had eventually defeated him in 1837 and forced him to escape north across the Limpopo River and across the Venda territory into the Changamire Empire.
The intention had been to continue north across the Zambezi, but the prevalence of tsetse flies in the Zambezi Valley forced him back into Changamire’s territory where, by 1838, he had settled west of the Mbembesi River (Beach: 1974) and established the Ndebele Kingdom with its heartland around Bulawayo on the highveld.
To the west and north, the kingdom extended from the Upper Nata and Gwai Valleys to the middle reaches of the Mbembesi and upper Bubi Valleys.
To the east, the Shangani River formed an ill-defined boundary where cattle grazed.
The Matopo Hills lay within the heartland, with cattle grazing beyond the hills to the south.
The tributaries of the kingdom were the Kalanga in the north, the Venda and Tswana in the south, the Birwa and Dumbuseya in the south and south-west.
The Ndebele Kingdom and Mashonaland
At this juncture, it is important to note that when the Rozvi Mambo, Chirisamhuru, was killed at Ntabazikamambo during the Nguni incursions, the Changamire state was not destroyed.
The late Rozvi Mambo’s son and successor, Tohwechipi, escaped to the eastern part of Zimbabwe and, for some reason, Mzilikazi made no attempt to invade the central part of the Changamire Empire. (Beach, 1974: p.636)
Instead, he married Nyamazana (who had killed Changamire Chirisamhuru and occupied Ntabazikamambo earlier on) and thereafter espoused a policy of co-operation with the Rozvi under which he requested the Rozvi Mambo, Tohwechipi, to return from exile.
Tohwechipi initially returned, but soon broke away. (Beach, 1974: p.640)
It appears that Mzilikazi had tried and failed to get the Rozvi Mambo (Tohwechipi) to anoint him (Mzilikazi) King of Mashonaland and ipso facto, King of Zimbabwe.
After refusing Mzilikazi’s request, Tohwechipi moved into Njanja which was dominated by two Hera rulers, Mutekedza and Nyashanu, plus, chiefs Maromo, Mashava and Gambiza in the rapidly expanding Njanja Confederacy where the Shona people had advanced in the development of agricultural implements, hoes, picks and axes in a manner that translated the region to not only the granary of the Zimbabwean Highveld but was also the food basket for most parts of the country. (Beach, 1969: p. 40)
On the whole, it translated to greater attachment to their land and the African land tenure system.
The confederacy chiefs not only accepted the Rozvi Mambo, Tohwechipi, but also let him (and his cousins of the Mutinhima Houses) reside in the most central part of the Confederacy, the central hills of Bedza and Mavangwe range, between Nyashanu and Gambiza, for easy defence against Ndebele raids.
Thus, from the 1860s, the Bedza and Mavangwe hills in Njanja became the land of the Rozvi Mambo who was the anointer and appointer of chiefs, paramount chiefs and kings in Zimbabwe.
However, it must be pointed out that while all chiefs, paramount chiefs and kings in Mashonaland acknowledged that role and supremacy of the Rozvi Mambo, he never exercised any direct administrative control over them.
His role was simply to anoint and appoint such chiefs and kings. (Beach, 1974:pp.640-43)