[6] It was built by Mswati II as a military post to safeguard eSwatini land against possible invasion by the Bapedi.[7].
The first house of the Embhuleni royal family was built in Tjakastad on the foot of Mkhingoma Mountain[8][9] and one of King Mswati II's wives, Ngodzela Mkhonta, lived.
Few months later Ngodzela was accused of being aware of the sexual misconduct of Ndzinga Jele, another of King Mswati II's wives, with a headman but hid it from the King and was recalled from Embhuleni[10] Another of King Mswati II's wives, Nandzi Khumalo - nicknamed LaMagadlela after her Zulu father Magadlela Khumalo of Mkhondo area - was sent to Embhuleni to replace Ngodzela.
When Mswati II died in 1868, the Swazi royal family sent a delegation to Lamagadlela's home in Mkhondo to ask them to give one of their daughters to bear a male heir for the Embhuleni royal kraal as LaMagadlela only had daughters and her husband was no more.
Maquba was succeeded by his son Prince Mkolishi after he died in 1953[10] During apartheid rule, the Embhuleni royal kraal and King Sobhuza II campaigned unsuccessfully for the present day Mpumalanga to be incorporated into Eswatini, citing the contentious borders put in place by the Scramble of Africa.