Who is to blame for the Anglo-Ndebele war?
The Whites played a part in causing the war of dispossession, hence they are to
blame. Jameson kept on shifting the boundary to the side of the Ndebele. More so
the time given to Manyao and Mgandani was short and it was very difficult for
the Amabutho to move out of Masvingo. The Whites also deliberately delayed the
letter sent by Lobengula soliciting for peace. There was a secret arrangement
between the BSAC and volunteers to destroy the Ndebele state. The Amajaha are also
to blame because they were restless trying to vent out their exasperations.
The First Chindunduma/Chimurenga 1896-7 Causes
The Ndebele regarded Gwai and Shangani reserves as graveyards.
The Ndebele cattle were taken by the Whites after the war of dispossession.
Both the Ndebele and the Shona were subjected to taxation e.g. hut tax.
The use of Shona police angered the Ndebele who regarded the Shona as inferior.
Both the Shona and the Ndebele were subjected to forced labour in mines and
farms.
Usurpation of chiefly prerogatives, that is, the local chiefs were deprived of
their duties such as land allocation.
There was loss of independence as the locals were subjected to colonial rule.
The Whites were brutal to both the Shona and the Ndebele.
Natural disasters such as drought, rinderpest and locust made the native to fight
against the Whites as they were misinterpreted by the religious leaders. The
Shona were angered by the loss of their trade with the Portuguese.
Jameson Raid gave the Ndebele an opportunity to attack the isolated White farms.
Course/events of the war
a. Course/events of Ndebele Risings
The war started in March 1896 when the Ndebele learned that Jameson and the White
Forces were on a military expedition against the Transvaal government. In few weeks
of March many Whites were killed by the Ndebele Amabutho and the Whites were
scattered about the country at farms and mines. In the last week of March 122 White
men, 5 women and 3 children were murdered in isolated homesteads and camps.
The Amajaha also killed the Shone labourers who worked in farms and mines of the
Whites. The Ndebele were armed with traditional weapons such as arrows, bows,
assegais, axes and knobkerries. By early April White survivors were in fortified
camps at Bulawayo and Gwelo (present day Gweru). The religious leaders such
as Mabwani, Umlugulu and Mkwati influenced the Ndebele to drive the Whites out of
the country as they blamed then for natural calamities such as drought, rinderpest
and locusts.
The religious leaders influenced the Amajaha to deliberately leave the road to the
South open so that the Europeans might have the opportunity of escaping. In April
02
Major Plummer was appointed to command the Matebele Relief Force. As from April 28
the Matebele soldiers were driven out of Bulawayo. The Amabutho had nothing to do,
but all they could do was to hold out in the tangle of granite kopjes that
is Matopo Hills.
The Whites tried to starve the Ndebele, but it was difficult because another
uprising began in Mashonaland. Rhodes was determined to make peace with the Ndebele
and then concentrate all the resources against Mashonaland. This led to the Indaba
peace talks
The Indaba Agreement
The war continued unabated and Rhodes was worried because:
The fighting was costing the BSAC a lot of money.
The mines were not working and the BSAC was losing its profits.
The Whites were fighting war from two fronts i.e. Matebeleland and Mashonaland.
Rhodes decided to talk with the Natives. The Ndebele also wanted peace with the
White because the villages, crops and grain stores were being burned by the Whites.
In August 1896, Rhodes and the Ndebele Indunas had a meeting and agreed the
following:
Rhodes promised that the Ndebele could return to their lands if they agreed to
stop fighting.
Rhodes chose 10 Indunas who would be paid a monthly salary.
The trial of the Ndebele officials who committed crimes in the war.
Mwari cult officials should be punished for their role in the war.
The Ndebele weapons were to be submitted to the settler government. Rhodes
would give the Ndebele grain, food as well as seeds.
By this agreement the Ndebele lost freedom and independence. Their arms were lost
to the Whites and leaders were tried and sentenced to death. The Whites therefore
benefited at this agreement.
b. The Shona Uprising June 1896
The war started in June in Mashayamombe area. Eurocentric historians argue that the
Shona rose against the Whites because they feared to be punished by the Ndebele,
thereby overlooking the real causes of the first Chimurenga. In few weeks the White
farmers, miners, traders and prospectors were killed by the Shona. The Shona used
guerrilla warfare and inferior weapons such as spears against the Whites who used
Maxim guns and Dynamites.
The Whites established laagers for protection against spears. The Shona could
attack the Whites and retreated in the caves. Such battle tactic made it difficult
for the Whites to quickly defeat the Shona. The Shona were united by religious
leaders such as Mkwati, Kaguvi, Nehanda, Bonda and Chifamba.
However, some the Shona did not fight against the Whites, but for the Whites. Such
collaborators include Chirimuhanzu, Zimuto and Matiki. The Whites were aided by
Britain and Botswana to fight the Shona. This made the Whites to have upper hand
during the zenith of the Chimurenga. The Whites finally used the scotched earthy
policy to starve the natives and those who hid in the caves were dynamited, for
example, Makoni in his Gwindingwi. The capture of religious leaders such
as Kaguvi and Nehanda made the Shona to surrender in 1897.
The Chimurenga and religious Leaders
The spirit mediums were behind the Ndebele-Shona risings. The spirit mediums
like Nehanda, Kaguvi and Mkwati coordinated the war. The religious leaders
motivated the fighters e.g. Umlugulu and other spirit mediums prophesised that the
Whites were doomed and would be driven out of the country.
Mlimo’s messages influenced the fighters to expect supernatural help
from Mlimo (God). Thus religious leaders maintained morale among the fighters. The
religious leaders in Matebeleland also planned the timing of the Ndebele uprising.
It coincided with the Jameson Raid of 1896 when the Police Force was on a military
expedition against the Transvaal. The religious leaders influenced
the Maungwe passage to be left open for the Whites to use it in escaping. However,
this led to the defeat of the locals as this route was used by the Whites to bring
in reinforcement from outside. Mkwati, Kaguvi and Siginyamatshe played an
organizing role during the war e.g. Siginyamatshe organised in an area South of
Bulawayo, Nehanda in Mazoe, Kaguvi in Chegutu.
The religious leaders commanded the soldiers to fight the Whites e.g. the rising
in Matebeleland started in March under the High Command of Umlugulu. The religious
leaders such as Mkwati tried to unify the Shona and the Ndebele against the Whites.
They gave medicines to the soldiers which would give them some psychological
advantages during the war.
Results
The Natives were defeated.
Many natives died, but the number of the Whites was few.
Trade and agriculture was disrupted.
A system which was to check African ill-treatment was established.
Hut tax was reduced.
Effective control of the colony began.
Many locals turned to Christianity to follow Western culture.
More reserves were created.
A land commission was established.
There was railway expansion from Mafeking to Harare and from Beira to Harare, and
Bulawayo line reached Harare in 1897.
Britain decided to monitor and control the operation of the BSAC in Rhodesia by
stationing the Commandant General and the British High Commissioner.
The Chimurenga had effect of delaying the development of modern politics in this
country.
Peace settlement called the Indaba Agreement was negotiated between Rhodes and
the Ndebele Indunas.
Reasons for Shona-Ndebele defeat
The use of inferior weapons such as bows and arrows, etc.
Superior weapons used by the Whites such as guns made the Natives to be easily
defeated.
Lack of unit among the Natives, the locals fought separately i.e. the Shona alone
while the Ndebele alone.
Collaboration with the Whites made the defeat of the Natives inevitable.
The Natives lacked strategy as vital routes through which the Whites received
reinforcement were left open.
The White received aid from Botswana, Britain and South Africa.
Economic crises made the Natives to surrender.
