Following the conquest of the eastern highlands, these areas were perceived as inferior to Shambaai (Shambaa heartland) and less deserving of effective governance.

The missionary Johannes Krapf, who traveled through the region in the mid-nineteenth century, observed this sentiment, noting that the Shambaa, as the original inhabitants of the kingdom, viewed themselves as free individuals and treated the Bondei, who were considered "Shenzi" (those living east of the Luengera Valley), harshly, akin to slaves.

Consequently, wealth quickly concentrated in the central areas, with the tribute collected from commoners at the fringes primarily benefiting those in the core of the kingdom.

Notably, acts of armed resistance against Kimweri's rule by the Bondei had begun as early as 1852, indicating a growing discontent and desire for autonomy.

[4] However, due to rampant slave raiding after the weakening of the Kilindi, some Zigua migrants also became the Bondei people for protection escaping to Magila.

[5] The insurgents were Bondei people, who lived in the plains east of Usambara and were subdued and incorporated into the Shambaa kingdom around the beginning of the nineteenth century.

The Bondei, who had previously been stateless, reaped personal benefits from allegiance to a monarch who could resolve otherwise insurmountable internal problems, but they did not gain much from the state.

[6] Bondei elders were unable to choose a jumbe Mkuu twice more between the wars, in 1930 and 1934, and were forced to accept the government's candidacy of persons with Kilindi ties.