Chronicle Editor
Phathisa Nyathi
It was clear to King Lobengula and his close military advisors that the route to follow was due north. The route to the east was sealed off. The colonists were everywhere in that direction. The south was not an option either as there were hostile Afrikaners in that direction. The west was equally no option as Bechuanaland (Botswana) had become a British Protectorate. To the north the King set off. The whites who arrived at KoBulawayo on 4 November 1893 had their minds on capturing the King. For some it was a trophy to seek and boost their military egos.
A pursuing party was hastily put together and began on the fateful hunt for the Ndebele King. The Ndebele soldiers under Mtshana Khumalo were masters at military decoy. The pursuers of the King were guided by tracks cleared through the bush to allow the movement of ox-wagons. At times a false route was cleared and the royal salute chanted loudly in order to derail the pursuers. In the meantime the King would be moving on and gaining ground ahead of the white soldiers keen to capture him as they did with King Cetshwayo of the Zulu.
It was this mastery of military decoy that was applied to create the impression that after the Battle at Pupu the King died and was buried in a cave at Pashu’s country. Many fell for the ruse and measures were taken to convince the unsuspecting persons that indeed the grave was that of a Ndebele King. The funerary items placed on the grave were those known to belong to the Ndebele monarch, including the parts of horse saddle and diamonds. In the meantime the King proceeded through Tongaland and crossed the mighty Zambezi River to seek refuge among his relatives at Chipata in Zambia. Some of the descendants of King Zwangendaba Jele had settled close to the present day border between Zambia and Malawi.
After the pursuing party had come back from Shiloh they were hot on the heels of the Ndebele King. Many soldiers who had not seen battle at Gadade raced to catch up and go beyond the white soldiers. They were keen to get combat instructions from the military commanders led by Mtshana Khumalo. Unbeknown to the pursuers they were being hemmed in virtually from all sides. The King himself was protected like a queen bee. Some scouts were travelling ahead of his party to reconnoiter the way and advise the route the King was to take. Others followed behind clearing the way. It was a combined effort to save the King.
The pursuers were about to catch up with the king. They got to settlements of the previous day with fires still smouldering. At one such settlement a seemingly harmless young boy was deliberately positioned so as to be identified by the white soldiers. His brief was to give confusing intelligence and in the process delay the pursuit. At nightfall on 3 November 1893 the King crossed the Shangani River. The pursuers were less than 12 hours behind. Oral traditions have it that it was the famous isanuse, one Dakamela Ncube from Babambeni Village, who saved the day for the King. In collaboration with other spiritual persons, they concocted a formula that caused the rain to fall. A black beast was slaughtered and the fat covering its stomach(idanga) was, together with medicines, placed on hot embers. A thick dark smoke issued and rose to the heavens. Overnight the Shangani River became a raging torrent.
By the time the Major Patrick Forbes Patrol got to the southern bank of the Shangani River it had been transformed into a blanket, a shield for the King who was hastily moving northwards. Trophy hunting got the better of the white pursuers. A party was set up under the command of Major Allan Wilson to cross the raging river and spend the night watching over the King in the hope it was going to attack at first light. In the meantime Commander Mtshana Khumalo and colleagues had read the situation and appraised themselves of possible danger to the King and themselves. Some soldiers were retained on the southern side of the river to keep a watchful eye on the Major Patrick Forbes party which had remained on that side. It was this patrol that had the deadly maxim gun, isigwagwagwa. In essence Major Allan Wilson led a patrol across the river when they did not have access to the lethal weapon that had given them the upper hand at Gadade and also at Shangani in the previous month.
The Ndebele solders were armed with an assortment of weapons, both traditional and exotic. They had their traditional spears: inzala, umdikadika(isijula, ijozi) and usiba, the spear with a long handle and relies on aerodynamics for forward propulsion. In addition to this type of arsenal they had received some Martini Henry rifles and some few Enfields. They got to possess them as part of fulfillment of the 1conditions of 1888 Rudd Concession.
It was Mtshana Khumalo’s military genius that came into play to neutralize the Major Patrick Forbes patrol with the maxim gun. The river kept check on it as it continued raging throughout the night. At the same time another contingent of Ndebele soldiers was positioned on the northern side of the Shangani River bank. The Ndebele commanders knew the vulnerability of the Forbes party when it sought to ford a river, more so the one that was in flood. Of course throughout the night there were movements of white soldiers in both directions. The rains did not stop falling throughout the night. It was a boggy ground, very dark night and overall unwelcoming terrain. That was the situation that the Major Allan Wilson Patrol had to endure in their drive to capture the Ndebele King. The fires were visible ahead of them. There was all the evidence that the King was not very far. Mtshana Khumalo threw another section of the army around the Allan Wilson party. The two were bidding for dawn when the attack was going to start. The Ndebele were accustomed to launching early morning raids on targeted enemies.
This was a third concentration of the Ndebele soldiers, and comprised in the main of Ingubo under Fusi Khanye. What a pity the Covid-19 has denied this writer access to the archives of both the Chronicle and Sunday News and also the national Archives of Zimbabwe(NAZ). Readers are advised to read the article in the Chronicle issues of the month of March 1962 for an appreciation of which regiments were deployed where, including Imbizo, Ihlathi, Isiziba and Insukamini, inter alia.
Further on there was the fourth concentration which provided cover to the royal party. King Lobengula had started off early in the morning and was fully briefed on the disposition of enemy soldiers and deployment of his own to counter the military threat. At day break the first shots rang out. It was a full encounter with all the ferocity one can imagine. Assured that the battle was going to give him temporary reprieve, the King moved on and took some respite near a lead tree, Emtswirini where he had some breakfast of cold meat.
In the meantime more and more Ndebele soldiers were trooping in large numbers to reinforce those on the southern bank. Maqhekeni Sithole, Commander of Igabha was a senior commander on that side. In typical Ndebele combat strategy, the Ndebele soldiers, personally commanded by Mtshana Khumalo sought to encircle the white soldiers who continued firing with some of them beginning to run out of ammunition. There were no reinforcement to come to their rescue. The beleaguered Major Patrick Forbes party on the southern bank of the Shangani River could clearly hear the sound from the guns of their colleagues. There was nothing they could do. The river, in collaboration with Ndebele military strategy, denied them any possible move in support of their beleaguered colleagues.
As the day wore on, the sounds from Wilson’s party began fading. The Ndebele enjoyed superiority of sheer numbers, application of sound military and combat strategies and the intervention of nature and super nature. In addition there was the determination to protect the King and the State at all costs.
Some sources indicate the engagement went on till about mid-day. By that time the Wilson Patrol members were running out of ammunition.
Their horses had either been speared or shot at and lay dead. Some of the white soldiers were taking cover behind the carcasses of horses.
Collected narratives seem to indicate that the white soldiers began singing their national anthem-the British national anthem. Major Allan Wilson, it is acknowledge by Ndebele oral sources was speared lifeless by Mdilizelwa Fuyana, the son of Maphisa who was chief of Isizinda Regiment/Village. For years his role in that encounter had remained a closely guarded secret. By 1912 he led his people from Centenary to the Tshatshane Reserve where still live to this day. All the 34 soldiers under the command of Major Allan Wilson Patrol perished.
One commentator writing about that fateful day said only a bird, by flying straight up, would have survived. Major Wilson did not command birds. Hundreds of Ndebele soldiers equally lay dead-in defence of King and State. There were no burials for them. White corpses lay there too till the arrival in January of 1894 of James Dawson who buried the corpses and made an inscription on the trunk of a mopane tree: “To Brave Men.” The trunk with the instruction is kept at the Natural History Museum in Bulawayo. On the instructions of Cecil John Rhodes the remains of the Allan Wilson Party were exhumed and interred at Great Zimbabwe and ultimately on a monument on Malindandzimu, a sacred hill in the Matobo National Park.
The same honour was not given to the victors. To this day their names are not known, but exist at family levels. With the honour bestowed on Mtshana Khumalo it is hoped something will be done on that front. Mtshana Khumalo was not alone in dealing that deadly blow to the colonial forces. Mtshana Khumalo is remembered today through a chieftainship at Inyathi which goes by his name. Lucas Mtshana Khumalo is the incumbent chief since 1972. A school in Bulawayo’s Nkulumane Township is named after the illustrious Commander Mtshana Khumalo. Through his military genius and prowess one hopes a sharper spotlight will be thrown on the military exploits of the Ndebele and their determination to forestall colonial penetration.
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