adminWHILE the BaTonga were pushing further west the white colonists were meanwhile engaging in all sorts of intrigues to deal with the Ndebele State which was seen as a serious obstacle to Cecil John Rhodes’ grand imperial dream of establishing a British sphere of influence stretching from the Cape to Cairo. Initially, it had been Rhodes’ idea to head straight towards the Ndebele State and risk possible military confrontation. However, when one of his men under the influence of alcohol exposed the plan Rhodes decided to abandon the plan and chose a circuitous route into Mashonaland.
Instead, his men were going to move from Motoutse River, cross the Tuli River and enter Zimbabwe. The route took them to Masvingo which they named after their Queen Victoria. From there they proceeded to Fort Charter, now Chivhu. The settlement was named after the charter that Rhodes obtained from Queen Victoria for his British South Africa Company which then became the British South Africa Chartered Company.
Finally, the invaders settled near Harare Kopje and named their final destination after the British Prime Minister Salisbury. The British flag, the Union Jack, was hoisted without incident on 12 September 1890. It was a matter of time before the neighbouring Ndebele State was attacked and destroyed. All manner of excuses were crafted to provoke the Ndebele into war. Rhodes and his confidante Dr Leander Starr Jameson exchanged Biblical verses as part communicating messages of readiness to pounce on the Ndebele State.
Of importance to this article, however, is the fact that the migrating BaTonga had by then settled in what would become the window of escape for the fleeing Ndebele monarch following the routing of his crack regiment Imbizo at Gadade (the Battle of Mbembesi) on 2 November 1893. The BaTonga had, upon leaving Mhandamabwe in Chivi, split into two distinct groups. While one of the groups chose a more north-westerly route the other headed in the direction that King Lobengula would choose. But that was after Chief Nganza’s brother led a splinter group and followed a different route.
As pointed out last week we shall pursue the migration of these two groups before looking at the remaining group’s encounter with King Lobengula. Let us begin with the group that broke away from the one led by Chief Nganza. The group was led by Nganza’s brother Siampondo. The area where Chief Nganza settled was characterised by the presence of baobab trees, mabuyu in Chitonga. As a result the area came to be referred to as Mabuyukanganza, Chief Nganza’s baobab area.
From Mabuyukanganza Chief Nganza’s brother led a group that went in a westerly direction till it got to Ngamo. From there it proceeded to Kazungula where it crossed the mighty Kasambabezi (Zambezi) River. Across the Zambezi River the group came across the BaTonga under Chief Mukuni. The migrating group was told there was no room for them where they could settle. The group then went further in search of a place where they could settle far away from Chief Mukuni’s people. Finally, they got a place where they settled and named it Siampondo after their leader.
This and the other groups are seemingly connected through the person of Kaleya. All the groups have a legendary Kaleya woman figure who features prominently in their folklore. Among Chief Nganza’s people Kaleya is known to be the daughter of Sikalite who was a sibling of Nganza, Siampondo and Siangoma. Sikalite’s son Kabwe was to become chief after the disappearance of his uncle Chief Nganza. As events unfolded he did not become the next chief
If we take Chief Nganza’s group to be the first, that of Chief Siampondo becomes the second. We now turn to the third and last group of the BaTonga migrating from Mhandamabwe in Chivi. From Chivi the second group whose leader is not identified went in a northwesterly direction and got to Mvuma. The group continued in the same direction till it got to Kwekwe. From Kwekwe it proceeded in the same direction and migrated till it got to Zhombe.
There the group settled near the source of a small river known as Lutope (meaning mud in Chitonga) a tributary of the Kwekwe River. At Chenjiri there is evidence of an old settlement where the group tarried for a while. Beyond Chenjiri the group went on but this time as two separate groups. One of the two groups is today found under Chief Siamunchembu in Gokwe North. This chieftainship is related to the Pashu chieftainship in Binga.
The other group gave rise to the Siamupa chieftainship and is related to the Siampondo group across the Zambezi River. Both the Siamupa and Siamunchembu groups did not cross the Zambezi River. Both share the Kaleya legend with the group under Chief Nganza.
There were several other groups of the BaTonga who were not part of the three groups that we have mentioned above. These BaTonga were settled close to the Zambezi River. The groups are generally referred to as the Valley Tonga while the Nganza and related groups are the Plateau Tonga. Included in the Valley Tonga are the following chieftainships: Siansali, Binga, Siachilaba, Saba (among his BaTonga are some who originally belonged to the Plateau BaTonga), Siansengwe, Sinakatenge, Sinamwenda and Dobola.
During the days of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland some of the Valley Tonga were relocated to the plateau as the waters of the Kariba Dam began to rise, in the process flooding the areas that they had regarded as home. There was resistance to the forced movement. Chief Siachilaba refused to move to the plateau. Like Chief Siachilaba, Chief Sinansengwe also refused to move to the plateau. Chief Dobola hived off from Chief Saba and in order to accommodate him in the plateau part of Chief Pashu’s area was given to him.
We now turn to the Nganza lineage whose history is entangled with that of King Lobengula. After Chief Nganza’s unknown fate his sister Sikalite was ipso facto the leader of the group. As a woman she could not become chief. The BaTonga were a matrilineal but patriarchal people. Five years after Chief Nganza was removed from his subjects his sister Sikalite summoned the people to deliberate over their condition of leaderlessness.
According to the succession rules of the matrilineal BaTonga Sikalite’s son Kabwe was supposed to take over. Unfortunately, at the time Kabwe was a minor. A regent was sought to take charge of the group. Sikalite decided to appoint one of Chief Nganza’ surviving sons. Chief Nganza had married one woman by the name of Junimomba whose son Kakole was not Nganza’s son. Kakole had been sired by a man from a different BaNyai/BaLozwi tribe that was moving through Chief Nganza’s country en route to Nambyaland in the west.
Junimomba was pregnant and her condition encumbered her own movement and that of the group. It was then decided that she remain behind among the BaTonga to allow her to give birth. Later she would be sent for so that she rejoined her own people, the BaNambya of Chief Dendelende Sawanga.
Online Reporter