By Thomas Sibanda – Mzala Tom
It cannot be ignored that the Ndwandwe influence may have played a major role in the installation of Crown Prince Nkulumane as King. Many Ndwandwe people joined King Mzilikazi after the fall of their kingdom.
Being born of Ndwandwe King Zwide’s daughter Queen Mwaka, Crown Prince Nkulumane was greatly influenced by his mother as he was said to have lived with her at King Zwide’s capital. Crown Prince Nkulumane’s mother is said to have played a very pivotal role in the installation of her son as King.
To support the Ndwandwe conspiracy theory, it is not a coincidence that the chiefs who supported Crown Princes Nkulumane’s installation had strong links with the Ndwandwe dominated Amnyama and Amakhanda military regiments.
It is, therefore, likely that pre-existing clan and tribal interests, which had no traditional links with the Khumalo Ntungwa were simply taking advantage of an apparently favourable situation which would salvage the Ndwandwe from the humiliation of being ruled by the Khumalos, their despised former vassals, at the peak of the reign of King Zwide
This may explain why King Mzilikazi was ruthless to the extent of ordering the execution of Prince Nkulumane’s mother and her Mafu-Masuku Ndwandwe allies. Prince Lobhengula’s mother, Queen Fulatha Tshabalala was also killed as well. This resulted in Queen Loziba Thebe becoming the most senior wife.
Some have even suggested that the naming of Prince Nkulumane’s capital as Gibixhegu was in fact a mockery of King Mzilikazi, implying that the young Prince Nkulumane had dethroned his father, caricaturing King Mzilikazi as a weak, old man. This is because Gibixhegu means – kill/dethrone the old man.
The people who were likely to gain from Nkulumane’s continued kingship were the Ndwandwe faction. For example, elite regiments of a sub-section of Amnyama commanded by Mbiko Masuku, an extremely ambitious man with close Ndwandwe connections. It will be remembered that Chief Madlenya Masuku joined King Mzilikazi with an organised regiment of Izimpangela.
This regiment was purged for its part in the installation of Crown Prince Nkulumane as a King. Another Amnyama regiment, called Induba, was also said to have been present when Crown Prince Nkulumane was coronated as King.
Chief Tshukisa Mafu, the leader of Induba regiment an affiliate of Amnyama sometime before 1870, is said to have been of the same lineage as a man named Dolo Mafu who was executed with Gundwane. Tshukisa Mafu was also a brother of Dambisamahubo Mafu, of the Godlwayo regiment of Amnyama division, who was sentenced to death in 1840, but escaped to the east where another Ndwandwe refuge under Soshangane had become established.
Both the personal and political aspirations of these men and the regiments they led depended on Crown Prince Nkulumane’s firm hold of the throne. This may explain, as will be discussed later in the book, how Chief Mbiko Masuku, the son of Madlenya and the predominantly Ndwandwe Zwangendaba regiment was opposed to Prince Lobhengula’s ascension to the throne, asserting that Prince Nkulumane was in exile and had to resume his kingship after the death of King Mzilikazi.
