[3] Mpande first favored Umtonga,[4] then groomed Mbuyazi to succeed him, but finally decided that Cetshwayo was a better choice.
[5] In order to forestall his rivals, chief among whom were his half brothers Umtonga and uHama, Cetshwayo invited the British, in the person of Theophilus Shepstone, to his September 1873 coronation.
[6] Under Zulu succession law (ukuvuza), uHamu was inKosi (chief) of the Ngenetsheni people, who lived in northwestern Zululand, including formerly in the "Disputed Land".
In late 1878, uHamu opened negotiations with the British hoping to get their support for his taking the Zulu throne.
[7][9] In retribution, Cetshwayo subsequently sent an army unit to destroy the Ngenetsheni villages and cattle, thus setting the stage for the Third Zulu Civil War of 1883–1884.