Still keen to establish the LMS among the Ndebele: Rev Robert Moffat undertakes second journey to meet King Mzilikazi Khumalo

Cultural Heritage

Pathisa Nyathi NDEBELE Settlement in the Magaliesberg area faced serious challenges which prompted King Mzilikazi Khumalo to abandon the area. Among the factors that came to play a part towards the move was the ascension of King Dingane Zulu to the Zulu throne following the assassination of King Tshaka Zulu in 1828. King Dingane Zulu sent armies as far as the Magaliesberg ostensibly to recover cattle that King Mzilikazi Khumalo had failed to surrender to King Tshaka.

The Griqua, in alliance with the Sotho-Tswana groups piled more pressure on the Ndebele to a point where removal was the only option available to them if the state was to survive. The direction of movement was westerly to increase the gap between the new Ndebele settlements and the Zulu. At the same time, they had to avoid moving towards areas where Sotshangane Nxumalo and Zwangendaba Jele had headed.

Venturing in a westerly direction meant, in essence, the Ndebele were moving into areas where the Sotho/Tswana dominated. While incorporation and assimilation of the Sotho/Tswana would boost the population of the Ndebele, good for military and economic reasons, the process of acculturation ensured survival of the Ndebele nation, the Sotho/Tswana incorporates posed a cultural threat to the state, one of twin threats that we referred to earlier.

Further, the area to which they ventured already had the presence of missionaries, though not the London Missionary Society (LMS) whose most northerly outstation at the time was Kuruman among the Bathlaping people of Chief Mahura the son of Molehabangwe. Relations with these missionaries would indicate whether King Mzilikazi Khumalo really sought to adopt Christianity or his affection for Reverend Robert Moffat was for some ulterior motive. Reverend Moffat who maintained a daily record of his journey into the interior recorded that Lemue and Rolland ran a mission station at Mosega among the Bahurutshe.

Among the Tswana groups that the Ndebele were to interact with, engage in war or incorporate were the Bahurutshi, Barolong, Bangwaketse, Bangwato, Bagkatla, Bakwena, inter alia. The core Nguni social group, Abezansi, responded to Tswana cultural threat by ensuring the latter, who by this time greatly outnumbered the Nguni, were relegated to a lower social class, Abenhla. The terms Abezansi and Abenhla carried both geographical and social meanings. The core Nguni group that left KwaZulu-Natal domiciled in the southern part, ezansi. Abenhla on the other hand lived north of the Nguni. The term enhla means north. It was the social meaning that carried greater cultural implications, as a strategy to preserve Nguni culture, language and traditions. The strategy worked as Nguni culture, though minimally altered by incorporated ethnic groups, did survive.

Reverend Moffat of the LMS, despite his knowledge of the existence of other Christian denominations in areas where the Ndebele lived, he still sought to maintain cordial relations with the Ndebele, in particular the monarch, King Mzilikazi Khumalo. After his debut visit of 1829, he planned yet another visit to the king in the winter of 1835. As indicated above, Reverend Moffat kept a diary during his journeys. In 1835 he was writing accounts of his experiences to Mary Moffat, his wife who did not accompany him on his second trip to meet with King Mzilikazi Khumalo. His diaries constituted volumes, titled ‘‘The Matabele Journals of Robert Moffat’’. Volume One covers the period 1829 to 1854. As we shall see later, the latter year was when he undertook yet another visit to the Ndebele king when he and his people were settled in south western Zimbabwe, close to present day Bulawayo.

On this journey Reverend Moffat was accompanied by Dr Andrew Smith and his party who sought the good offices of Reverend Moffat to gain access into the interior where they were on an expedition to collect specimens of both flora and fauna. As a result, their party travelled in a long convoy of 12 ox wagons. Dr Smith’s objective was to go beyond the Ndebele settlements and get to the Vaal River as part of their Geographical Association expedition.

Reverend Moffat saw himself as a peace maker to the warring ethnic groups. Some of King Mzilikazi Khumalo’s oxen had fallen into the hands of one of the Tswana groups. Perhaps as a way of endearing himself to the monarch among whose people he sought to plant Christianity, Reverend Moffat approached the Tswana chief seeking the release of the oxen and deliver them to King Mzilikazi Khumalo. He also sought to make peace among warring Batswana.

The Tswana groups that found themselves being swamped by the incoming Ndebele either fled or were incorporated. Even those who lived beyond the nuclear area were attacked and brought, kicking and screaming, into the Ndebele State. Soon they would proudly associate with the Ndebele and espoused Ndebele culture. As part of securing the Ndebele State, there was created a buffer zone where scorched earth policy was applied. Cattle outposts were found in this area. Marching through this vast expanse of land with limited food provisions proved treacherous.

King Mzilikazi Khumalo initially lived at Mosega, not far from the headwaters of the Marico (Mariqua) River. Apparently, this is where he found a mission station and relocated further to the north-east in order to maintain some distance between him and the missionaries who ultimately abandoned the station for the land of King Moshoeshoe of the Basotho. The writings of the Reverend Moffat do throw some light on the names of important men among the Ndebele at the time. The names have to be deciphered for them to be intelligible.

The Reverend Moffat states that Umnombate was the greatest man after the monarch. The corruption to the name is relatively easy to circumvent. The man he is referring to is Mncumbatha Khumalo the son of Kholo kaManzamnyama. He was the king’s confidante and handled the State’s foreign relations. At one time he was sent to the Cape to confer with Governor Benjamin D’ Urban to foster cordial relations between the two states. Mncumbatha Khumalo, then a fairly young man played an important role in the interregnum following the demise of his master King Mzilikazi Khumalo. He managed the affairs of the state and negotiated the transition to the new political order under King Lobengula Khumalo who ascended the throne in January 1870.

One important military commander that Reverend Moffat identifies was Kalepe. The distorted name, once again, is easy to figure out. It is that of Mkhaliphi Khumalo who belonged to the UMzinyathi Village. The leader of UMzinyathi, Majijili Gwebu was, by that time, advanced in age and Mkhaliphi Khumalo had literally taken over leadership of UMzinyathi the leading village within the Amnyama Angankomo section. Mkhaliphi Khumalo would, while the Ndebele lived in the Marico area, engage incoming Afrikaners/Boers under Piet Uys and Andries Hendriek Potgieter ( uNdaleka) at Vegkop in 1836.

Reverend Moffat writes, “Tuna Kalepe left us in the evening of yesterday to visit Moselekatse, in order to receive instruction respecting us, and of course, to report on what he had seen and heard”(pp 66). Tuna is Setswana word for big and referred to chief. It is a term that has stuck to this day and is not found among the Nguni where a chief is referred to as inkosi.

The district of Mosega that King Mzilikazi abandoned for Igabha was under the command of the man the Reverend Moffat calls Kabalangta. Clearly he is referring to Gwabalanda Mathe, uMhlangandlovu who took charge of Amhlophe. He, like Mncumbatha, continued to play a prominent part in the affairs of the Ndebele State.