House of Khumalo
The House of Khumalo is the reigning royal Family of the former Mthwakazi Kingdom (modern day Matabeleland).
The alliance was uneasy, and the Khumalos sought help from the leader of the Mthethwa kingdom, Dingiswayo, and his protégé Shaka Zulu.
After a personal conflict with Shaka in 1823, Mzilikazi rallied the Khumalos and they left KwaZulu-Natal and moved northward .
Voortrekkers began to arrive in Transvaal in 1836, resulting in several confrontations over the next two years during which Mzilikazi suffered heavy losses.
His successor as the leader of the House of Khumalo and King of the Mthwakazi Kingdom was his son Lobengula kaMzilikazi.
The Mthwakazi nation assembled in the form of a large semicircle, performed a war dance, and declared their willingness to fight and die for Lobengula.
A great number of cattle were slaughtered, and the choicest meats were offered to the Mlimo, the spiritual leader, and to the dead Mzilikazi.
For defence, they carried large oval shields of ox-hide, either black, white, red, or speckled according to the impi (regiment) they belonged to.
Lobengula was a big, powerful, man with a soft voice who was well loved by his people but loathed by foreign tribes.
Lobengula was aware of the greater firepower of European guns so he mistrusted visitors and discouraged them by maintaining border patrols to monitor all travellers' movements south of Matabeleland.
Early in his reign, he had few encounters with white men (although a Christian mission station had been set up at Inyati in 1859), but this changed when gold was discovered on the Witwatersrand within the boundaries of the South African Republic in 1886.
Lobengula gave his agreement to Cecil Rhodes only when his friend, Leander Starr Jameson, a qualified medical doctor, who had once treated Lobengula for gout, proposed to secure money and weaponry for the Matabele in addition to a pledge that any people who came to dig would be considered as living in his kingdom.
As part of this agreement, and at the insistence of the British, neither the Boers nor the Portuguese would be permitted to settle or gain concessions in Matabeleland.
The First Matabele War began in October 1893, and the British South Africa Company's use of the Maxim gun led to devastating losses for the Mthwakazi warriors, notably at the Battle of the Shangani.
To further complicate things the House of Lobengula announced that it had identified Prince Peter Zwide Khumalo to be the next legitimate King.
His claim has largely been reinforced by factions of the Khumalo clan which do not have the legitimate right to identify a king.
His claim has further been challenged by his aunt, brother to his father, clearly stating that he has no right to kingship as he has other siblings who are better suited for the role.
