Soshangane

Around the same time that the Ndwandwe were growing in military power, Zwide ascended to the Ndwandwe-Nxumalo throne following the death of his father Langa KaXaba.

In the earlier years, the Ndwandwe occupied the whole northern part of Zululand, and more specifically, from the Pongola River in the north to the southern point of the Black Umfolozi and from Ngome in the north-west, eastward to St. Lucia Bay on the sea.

In order to enhance their own authority and create an aura of invincibility round themselves, the Ndwandwe rulers relied on a widespread use of magical and religious influence.

Zwide fled with the remnant of his followers, eventually settling in the upper Nkomati valley in the eastern Transvaal present day Mpumalanga Province.

Zwide with his two remaining sons Sikhunyana and Somaphungu and two daughters Thandile and Fikile managed to escape northwards to the present Mpumalanga Province and settled along the Nkomati River.

Soshangana / Manukuza and his group decided not to become incorporated into the Zulu Kingdom after the Ndwandwe king Zwide, whose subject suffered a defeat.

The Gaza branch was constituted of members of the Likhohlwa part of the original royal house living in the Ndwandwe area at a place called eTshaneni, the Ghost Mountains on the Mkuze plain.

[10] Soshangana, along with his four brothers Madjole, Ngheneya, Mpisi and Zikhata as well as his people (Gaza branch) followed the example of other Ndwandwe parties by leaving his family land at Tshaneni.

[11] Fleeing before the on coming rage of the Zulu king, they took a route along the eastern foot hills of Lubombo through Mngomezulu country to the upper Ntembe River vicinity where Captain W. Owen found them in 1822.

During his sojourn in the territory of the Tembe and thereafter, Soshangana defeated almost all the Ronga clans of the vicinity of Delagoa Bay without encountering any resistance and raided their cattle.

After two years together, mutual jealousies arose, and Zwangendaba was forced to begin the march and was to take the Ngoni through Zimbabwe, and ultimately into Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania.

[22] Soshangana and his group subjugated and incorporated the indigenous Tsonga, Shongonono, Ngomane, Portuguese, Ndzawu (Ndau), Hlengwe, Nyai, Rhonga, Shona, Senga and Chopi tribes.

[26] In 1838 as result of the smallpox epidemic in which he lost many of his warriors, Soshangane and his followers returned to their earlier home, Bileni in the Limpopo valley, leaving his son Mzila to place the area north of the Zambezi under his tribute.

[27] By the time that Soshangana returned to settle in the Limpopo valley, he had brought not only all the Tsonga chiefdoms of the interior under his control, but he had also subjected many of the Tonga in the immediate neighbourhood of Inhambane.

Soshangane left with his followers and his younger brother Mhlabawadabuka for the eastern Lebombo foothills, till they reached the vicinity of upper Tembe river.

Around 1825 Soshangane entered the country between Matsolo and Nkomati river where he found Zwangendaba Hlatswayo of the Jele clan, a former Ndwandwe subsidiary chief.

After trouble arose between Soshangane and his younger brother Mhlabawadabuka, Zwangendaba and his followers left for Vendaland, between Limpopo (Vembe) and Levubu (Ribvubye) rivers being joined by Mhlaba.

In 1828 Shaka sent a punitive expedition to liquidate his rival to the North, however suffering from malaria and food shortages they were easily defeated and Soshangane consolidated his empire.

Only Shangaans were allowed to settle in this area, with the exception of Davhane, the brother of Makhando, who had deserted his brother to seek sanctuary with Joao Albasin Albasin, unpublished book, 1988); Due to cordial relations between Soshangana and another significant force at the time, that of the Ngwane King Mswati II, Soshangana stabilized the tension by presenting in marriage two of his daughters, Mahambandle and Nomagaca( Van Der Merwe), The last years of Soshangana s’ reign were spent in stabilising and enforcing his power by sending his regiments out as far as the Zambezi River on a yearly basis to collect taxes.

Like other Nguni states, the Gaza Monarchy was unique, not in the way it provided an umbrella of sovereignty over tribute paying subjects, but in the sheer extent of its operations.

At the height of its power in the 1850s and 1860s the direct authority of its rulers extended over the whole of what is today southern Mozambique and large parts of western Zimbabwe, eastern and northern Transvaal (Liesegang, 1975:1).

Subject chieftaincies retained their identities and their traditional ruling dynasties, but had to accept the presence of their representatives of the Gaza state at their capital.

Mention must be made that armed tax collecting parties representing these “houses”, periodically visited the outlying areas (Newitt:, 1973: 287).

So called court officials (i.e. those belonging to the house of the king and those of his ancestors) one of whom was often designated as prime minister in later English accounts, are also mentioned in reports on the Gaza Kingdom (Liesegang, 1975: 3).

Modelled on Shaka’s regiments these organisations of professional soldiers, grouped by a toughened by rigorous training, dominated the local peasantry.

In order to govern more effectively, the ruling lineage devised a system of territorial apanages under royal siblings, which increased steadily and were re-divided after a civil conflict on the death of Soshangane in 1858, when Mzila beat his brother Mawewe for the succession (Devenport, 1987: 68 &, 1966:-59).

The conquered peoples who were not Shona included the Chopi, Thonga/Tsonga the Hlengwe and the Ronga however many separate tribes among these remained unconquered and many fled to other parts where they re-established their independence.

[33] Another book by Gerhard Liesegang (1986) delves deeper into the activities of the Gaza Empire during Nghunghunyane's time and it points out the cruel nature of the Ngunis against the Shona, Kalanga, and Tsonga people.

The book also features descriptive interviews from people about those times, and it gives a clear overview of how the Gaza Kingdom was used as a vassal (or proxy) by foreign European governments in order to destabilize the region and to control it for its resources and slaves.