Born 4 years after Shaka kaSenzangakhona (that’s why it’s easier to call him Shaka Zulu) was assassinated by his half-brother Dingane, Cetshwayo was to be involved in a familial conflict of his own, with fatal consequences.
Cetshwayo, widely regarded as the last king of the kingdom Shaka violently formed, was born at a time when the Zulu kingdom was in decline. Shaka’s half-brother, Mpande, his father, had taken the throne from Dingane with the help of Boers, and Zululand was going through a period of relative tranquil.
Mpande’s collaboration with the Boers and British meant that the Zulus were left to their own devices, unfettered by the colonialists that had been staking claims on Zululand. Things got so peaceful that the king had to organize a raid on the Swazis so that he could train his military commanders, including his sons.
Matters of ascension were a headache for the king, given that he had 6 sons who could all take the throne. The king in his wisdom chose to side with Mbulazi Gqoza and in so doing alienate Cetshwayo.
These family politics took the dimensions of a civil war, and in 1856 Cetshwayo and the uSuthu, his followers, faced off with Mbulazi and his iziGqoza. Cetshwayo’s 20 000 men were ruthless against the 7000 izGqoza, and their 3000 accompanying wives and children.
That there is the bloody beginning of his rule, which started with him being regent to the king until 1873, when he was coronated a year after the death of his father.
That is when he set about restructuring the kingdom from its state of complacency to the efficient fighting machine that it had been during Shaka’s reign.
He reestablished the old regiments, and started new one, in the end coming up with 50, 000 soldiers divided into 26 regiments that were dispersed all through Zululand. Because they were on peaceful terms with Britain, their army did not engage in any raids, due to the influence of the local colonial administrator. However, disciplined was retained to the Shaka days, when death was the punishment for most offences and soldiers obeyed without question the instructions of the commanders.
Things would have been all placid were it not for the arrival in 1877 of Sir Bartle Frere, who saw independent states like Zululand as a threat to the annexation of all South African lands so that they would fall under the domain of the British Monarchy.
Following a cross border raid by Zulu warriors into the Natal protectorate, a series of impossible demands were set as ultimatums, and war was inevitable between Britain and Zululand. For instance, the ultimatum demanded that Cetshwayo disband his army within 30 days, pay a 500 cattle fine and allow a British citizen within their territory.
The Anglo-Zulu War started in 1879, and while Cetshwayo recorded resounding victories in the first conflicts, most notably the Battle at Isandlawana and Rorcke’s Drift, much of the rest of the war was disastrous, as the advanced weaponry proved more effective than the traditional spears and shields the Zulus armed themselves with.
Cetshwayo was captured fleeing from his capital and was immediately exiled to the Cape Colony.
Here, he languished for three years before managing to secure an audience with the monarch in order to have his kingdom back. That much was agreed, but the fact of the matter is that he colonial officers never paid it any attention meant that it was never going to be addressed.
He was finally given a small portion of his former country, but even that was fraught with civil discontent, and he was soon running away from more troubles. He sought refuge at the Natal reserve, where he died of a suspected heart failure.
That was 1884, and while an heir to the throne existed, the independent Zulu kingdom had effectively died.
By Matengo Chwanya
Sources: Samilitary history, Sahistory, Ijebu, Britishbattles
Africa Global News Publication
