Ndebele people (Zimbabwe)
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| Ndebele (Zimbabwe) | |
|---|---|
 ZAPU election badge c1980, showing Joshua Nkomo in traditional Ndebele head-dress. |
|
| Total population | 1.5 million (2001 est. 1) |
| Regions with significant populations | Zimbabwe: 1.5 million
(2001 est.[1]) |
| Language | Sindebele |
| Religion | Christian |
| Related ethnic groups | Nguni, Zulu |
- This article relates to the Ndebele people of Zimbabwe. For other uses of the term, please see Ndebele.
The Matabele are a branch of the Zulus who split from King Shaka in the early 1820s under the leadership of Mzilikazi, a former general in Shaka's army. They are now more commonly known as the Ndebele or amaNdebele (and were commonly known as the Amandebele when under British rule[2]). They, however, more appropriately call themselves 'amaHlabeZulu', which means 'stabbers of Zulu'. This name is derived from their violent schism from the Greater Zulu.
During a turbulent period of African history known as the Mfecane, Mzilikazi and his followers, initially numbering about 500 people, moved west towards the area near the present-day city of Tshwane (Pretoria), where they founded a settlement called Mhlahlandlela (a name which lives on in the modern-day Bulawayo suburb, Malindela). Here they came into contact with the Tswana people, who are credited with giving this band of Zulus the name "Matabele". Tabele comes from tebela which means 'to chase away'.
They then moved northwards in 1834 into present-day Zimbabwe where they battled with the Shona, eventually carving out a home now called Matabeleland and encompassing the west and south-west region of the country. In the course of the migration, large numbers of conquered local clans and individuals were absorbed into the Matabele nation, adopting the Sindebele language but enjoying a lower social status than that of members of the original clans from the Zulu kingdom.
Lobengula assumed power after the death of his father, Mzilikazi, in 1868, and Mlimo assumed the role as spiritual leader of the Matabele. Cecil Rhodes negotiated a territorial treaty with Lobengula, known as the Rudd Concession of 1888, which permitted British mining and colonization of Matabele lands between the Limpopo and Zambezi rivers, and prohibited all Boer settlement in the region. As part of the agreement, British agreed to pay Lobengula 100 pounds a month, as well as 1,000 rifles, 10,000 rounds of ammunition, and a riverboat. Rhodes then formed British South Africa Company in 1889 and led the Pioneer Column, an army of five hundred, north into Mashonaland, taking over Fort Victoria (present-day Masvingo) and establishing Fort Salisbury (present-day Harare). Lobengula had hoped that the Rudd Concession would cut down on other Europeans entering his land, but as these white settlers moved in, the British South Africa Company setup its own government, made its own laws, and set its sights for more mineral rights and more territorial consessions.
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[edit] First Matabele War
In November, 1893, events came to a head. Lobengula sent warriors down to Masvingo to attack the Shona who were causing trouble for both the Matabele and the British. Lobengula's warriors were instructed not to kill any white people, but they did steal a lot and were pretty brutal in their treatment of the Shona. During this confrontation between Matabele and Shona, a fight broke out between British and Matabele and thus began the First Matabele War. Hopeing for a quick victory, Leander Starr Jameson sent his British forces to attack the Matabele capital Bulawayo and capture Lobengula. But rather than fight, Lobengula burned down Bulawayo and fled with a few of his elite warriors. The British moved into the remains of Bulawayo, establishing their base, and then sent out patrols to find Lobengula. The most famous of these the patrols, the Shangani Patrol, did not find Lobengula, only to be trapped and killed by the fierce Matabele warriors.
The British soldiers were vastly outnumbered throughout the war, but their superior armaments, most notably the Maxim gun, proved to be too much for the Matabele warriors. In an attempt to reach a peace accord with the British, a band of Lobengula's warriors brought a large sum of gold to two British soldiers to be delivered to their superiors. The two soldiers instead decided to keep the gold for themselves and the incident went undiscoved for many months. The fate of King Lobengula has never been fully resolved, with many theories explaining his demise. War came to an end soon thereafter.
[edit] Second Matabele War
In March 1896, the Matabele again revolted against the authority of the British South Africa Company in what is now celebrated in Zimbabwe as the First War of Independence, but is better known in most of the world as the Second Matabele War. Mlimo, the Matabele spiritual leader, is credited with formenting much of the anger that led to this confrontation. An estimated 50,000 Matabele retreated into their stronghold of the Matobo Hills near Bulawayo which became the scene of the fiercest fighting against the white settler patrols, which were led by their legendary military figures such as Burnham, Baden-Powell, and Selous. Hundreds of white settlers and uncounted Matabele and Shona were killed over the next year and a half. The Matabele military defiance ended only when Burnham found and assassinated Mlimo. Upon learning of Mlimo's death, Cecil Rhodes boldly walked unarmed into the Matabele stronghold the persuaded the impi to lay down their arms. This final uprising thus ended on October 1897 and Matabeleland and Mashonaland would later be renamed Rhodesia.
Rhodes decreed in his will that he was to be buried in Matobo Hills, so when he died in the Cape in 1902 his body came up by train and wagon to Bulawayo. His burial was attended by Matabele chiefs, who asked that the firing party should not discharge their rifles as this would disturb the spirits. Then, for the first and probably the only time, they gave the white man the Matabele royal salute "Bayete". Rhodes is buried along side Jameson and the 34 white soldiers killed in the Shangani Patrol.
In recent years, the population of the Ndebele in Zimbabwe has been diminishing, primarily due to the Gukurahundi, a genocide that was carried out by the Zimbabwean government on the Ndebele. Other causes are migration to other countries, especially South Africa in search of jobs, after-effects of the Gukurahundi, and the economic crisis that has gripped Zimbabwe since 2000.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Ethnologue report: Zimbabwe
- ^ Official Yearbook of the Colony of Southern Rhodesia, 1924
[edit] References
- Scouting on Two Continents, by Major Frederick Russell Burnham, D.S.O.. LC call number: DT775 .B8 1926. (1926)
- Migrant Kingdom: Mzilikazi's Ndebele in South Africa, by R. Kent Rasmussen (1978)
- Mzilikazi of the Ndebele, by R. Kent Rasmussen (1977)
- Historical Dictionary of Zimbabwe, by Steven C. Rubert and R. Kent Rasmussen (3rd ed., 2001)
