Online Reporter
Mzala Tom
Lotshe Hlabangana was one of King Lobhengula’s trusted advisors and friend. He grew up with Lobhengula and they were in the Amawaba regiment together as young men.
Because of his friendship and proximity to the King, Lotshe became very influential and powerful in King Lobhengula’s Government as his chief advisor and prime minister. His influence was similar to that of Chief Mncumbatha Khumalo in King Mzilikazi’s Government.
In his political career, Lotshe attracted a lot of enemies and admirers alike. Some members of umphakathi tried to eliminate him in 1880 through trumped up charges of witchcraft. However, they were unsuccessful and Lotshe lived to see another inxwala ceremony!
Had they been successful, Lotshe would have been executed. In the Ndebele state, witchcraft was a capital offence punishable by death. It was in the same level as treason!
Lobhengula sent his envoys to the Queen after signing the Rudd Concession in October 1888. There was deception from his trusted friends like Reverend Charles Helm. Helm had misled Lobhengula on the contents of the Rudd Concession.
Lobhengula’s envoys were chiefs Bhabhanyana Masuku and Mtshede Ndiweni. They left for London in November 1888 via Pretoria, and then boarded a train from Kimberly to Cape Town. From Cape Town they sailed to London. (Some historians say it was Lotshe and not Mtshede).
King Lobhengula feared that the tide of colonialism was about to engulf his kingdom. Sending envoys to the Queen was a last ditch attempt to perhaps test if indeed the British wanted to bring down his kingdom.
On the advice of Lotshe, the king had signed the Rudd Concession though he had preferred his words to be binding without signing any documentation. Lotshe also advised the king in private to have his kingdom a British protectorate under the Queen because of her might.
The return of the two chiefs from London coincided with a drought that ravaged the Ndebele kingdom between 1888/89. The fraud of the Rudd Concession took centre stage with the king angry at Rudd and his friend Rev Helm for their deception. There was upheaval among the elite.
The radical wing of umphakathi advocated for the total expulsion of whites out of the Ndebele state, including the missionaries who were now hated because of the deception of Rev Helm.
It is at this point that Lotshe’s name took centre stage. Rumours of his corrupt conduct and acceptance of bribes to influence the king to sign the Rudd Concession spread like veld fire.
The king could not ignore the murmurings any longer. Lotshe had to be summoned by the king to clear his name before umphakathi. The king had hoped that the matter would be resolved amicably.
Lotshe denied the bribery and collusion allegations before the king’s council. He challenged the accusers to bring evidence, to prove that indeed he was bribed by Rudd. No evidence of bribery and collusion was presented. It was all hearsay and exaggerations.
Some hard liners in umphakathi then accused Lotshe of advocating for the Ndebele kingdom to be a British protectorate. Lotshe affirmed his position and reiterated that the Ndebele could not defeat the whites but were better off a British protectorate like BaTswana.
This did not go down well with the hard liners in umphakathi, who took his views as treasonous. Lotshe also denied that he misled the king into signing the Rudd Concession. He argued that he, like the king, believed that the document contained what the parties had verbally agreed!
There was tension in the council with many shouting Ungumthengisi! You are a traitor! Makabulawe! The king was pressured by the overwhelming majority of umphakathi and gave in to their demands to order the execution of his friend, Lotshe.
With a heavy heart, the king pronounced Lotshe guilty as charged. In September 1889, a detachment of the iMbizo regiment executed Lotshe and all those suspected of supporting and or sympathising with him. It is said that the king was haunted by the execution of his friend.
King Lobengula lived to regret his decision to order the execution of Lotshe. It is said that he regretfully remarked: “Yek’ uLotshe!”/“Lotshe’s advice has been vindicated” the day he crossed the Zambezi river to seek refuge from his cousin Mpezeni Jele in Eastern Zambia!
derick.khumalo