Zwide

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King Zwide or Nkosi ZWIDE kaLanga (1758 - 1825) was the chief of the Ndwandwe clan from about 1805 to around 1820.^[1]

King Zwide was the son of Langa KaXaba, a Ndwandwe Chieftain. He was ambitious in expanding Ndwandwe supremacy and was a prominent rival chieftain to Chief Dingiswayo of the Mtethwa and his famous general and protégé, King Shaka of the Zulu Kingdom.

Around the time Zwide became Chief, the Ndwandwe were growing in military power. Legend has it that Zwide's mother, the Great She-Elephant Queen Ntombazi was a Sangoma (witchdoctor), who performed evil magic. Zwide, like Shaka sought to expand his borders, and in 1818 he had destroyed the power of the Mtethwa Kingdom, after he had Chief Dingiswayo killed.

He also destroyed and overran the neighbouring Khumalo Kingdom and executing their King Matshobana KaMangete, however Matshobana's son and heir Mzilikazi escaped from the Ndwandwe and sought refuge with Shaka who had also reformed the remnant Mthethwa clan under his rule.

Zwide knowing this planned to destroy the Zulu Empire in order to secure Ndwandwe domination of Zululand. However in 1820, he led his army into battle against the Zulu at the Battle of the Mhlatuze River. Unfortunately for Zwide, his forces were crossing halfway across the Mhlatuze River when the Zulu forces attacked, the Ndwandwe army was scattered and Zwide was possibly killed in the battle.

After King Zwide's death, the Zulus marched to the Ndwandwe capital attacking it and taking the Ndwandwe by surprise. The Zulu victory was the beginning of the Mfecane or the scattering, Zwide's generals fled north, establishing their own Kingdoms, such as the Gaza Kingdom formed by General Soshangane.