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Cetshwayo’s place of birth was his father’s kraal of
Mlambongwenya, near Eshowe. He was born in a very
troubled period in the history of the Zulu kingdom.
At time of his birth, Shaka Zulu was wielding a very
powerful command of the Zulu nation. Cetshwayo’s
father was Mpande, half brother to Shaka Zulu.
Though Cetshwayo was not heir to the throne, a turn
of events at his early years would put him in the
path to becoming the next Zulu king. Shaka Zulu was
in conflict with Shoshangane, a leader of a
breakaway faction that had fled the Zulu kingdom and
had established their kingdom near Delagoa Bay.
Cetshwayo’s father was sent to demand tribute and
annex the newly established kingdom into the Zulu
Kingdom. Mpande’s forces were defeated by
Shoshangane’s force and he was forced to retreat. On
his retreat he learned about the assassination of
the King Shaka. Fearing that the same fate might
befall him, he moved to Engakavini where Cetshwayo
grew up. At the age of fifteen he became heir
apparent. His father had become King of the Zulus
following his defeat and surrender of King Dingaan’s
army to Mpande in 1840.
He succeeded his father as king from 1872. Initially
supported by the likes of Theophilus Shepstone but
as soon as the Zulu nation became a threat to
British confederation of South Africa, under the
British flag, Cetshwayo became a menace. Sir Frere
orchestrated a campaign to annex the Zulu kingdom
even though British policy at the time was to avoid
war with the Zulu kingdom. Without the full backing
of the British parliament, Frere went ahead with his
war plans against the Zulu kingdom. He first issued
an ultimatum to King Cetshwayo to surrender his army
and submit to British authority. King Cetshwayo
rejected the ultimatum and war broke out between the
two nations.
The Zulus won the Battle of Isandlwana, but they
lost the crucial Battle of Ulundi. Cetshwayo was
imprisoned and sent into exile in the Cape. He was
allowed to travel to London and even met Queen
Victoria, who allowed his return to rule a portion
of the former Zulu kingdom. On his return, a civil
war had erupted in the kingdom; Cetshwayo was forced
to flee to Eshowe where he died in 1884. The doctor
who examined him to determine the cause of death
suspected that he was poisoned because in the early
morning he was in good health and he was seeing
taking his usual early morning walks. He was
prevented from conducting a post mortem inquiry into
the King’s cause of death by the relatives of the
King when he told them that the procedure of this
inquiry would involve dissecting his body. As a
result, the doctor certified the cause of death as.
“syncope, the result of disease of the heart”
English Heritage have added a blue plaque to 18
Melbury Road, London - the house where King
Cetshwayo stayed during his brief visit to London in
August 1882. The plaque was proposed by
archaeologist Dr Tony Pollard, who directed the
Isandlwana battlefield dig in 2000. King Cetshwayo
visited England in the aftermath of the Anglo-Zulu
War to argue his case for restoration; during his
visit he became a firm favourite with London crowds
who gathered outside 18 Melbury Road in the hope of
catching a glimpse of him. He also met Queen
Victoria at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight - she
presented him with a silver mug, now in the KwaZulu
Cultural Museum at oNdini. Partly as a result of his
visit the king was restored with limited powers in
1883.
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Date of Birth: 1826, emLambongwenya,
South-east Zululand
Date of Death: 8 February 1884, Eshowe
Following Shaka's assassination by Dingane
(28 September 1828) and Dingane's removal by
Mpande (1839–40), the Zulu nation was
fraught with uncertainty over the succession
to the throne: Mpande however had legitimate
sons. Succession of the Zulu monarchy was
based on the first-born son of the great
wife. However, in order to maintain his hold
on the throne, a Zulu king quite often
married his great wife late in life, or
assigned the position to an existing wife
late on.
Cetshwayo was born to the Zulu prince Mpande
and his wife Ngqumbazi in 1826 at Mpande's
homestead, emLambongwenya, in South-east
Zululand. At the time, the Zulu nation was
ruled by Mpande's brother Dingane.
Cetshwayo's name means 'the Slandered One'
possibly referring to a rumour over his
legitimacy spread by Dingane. Although
Dingane had eliminated all of his other
brothers, Mpande was allowed to live: he had
produced two sons thus ensuring a
continuation of the royal line. Neither
Dingane, or Shaka his predecessor, had
produced offspring.
Mpande had announced his heir at an
unusually early stage – even taking the step
of introducing his son, Cetshwayo, to the
Boer Volksraad at Pietermaritzburg in 1839.
(The Boers took a nick out of Cetshwayo's
ear to aid identification in later life – in
a similar fashion to the tagging of cattle.)
The Boers were aiding Mpande in his
offensive against Dingane, and the provision
of an heir gave him more credibility for
continued good relations between Boers and
the Zulu nation.
However, as Mpande aged, he became worried
that Cetshwayo was gaining too much
influence. Accordingly, Mpande encouraged
Cetshwayo's brother Mbuyazi with the
possibility of being made heir. This was
perhaps justified, since in the resultant
civil war (1856) Cetshwayo retained a
considerable following amongst Mpande's
izikhulu (council of elders); despite
Mpande's outspoken support for Mbuyazi.
Drought and famine hit the Zulu nation in
the summer of 1852–3 and various factions
looked towards civil war as an opportunity
to gain cattle. As the situation worsened,
Mpande made more of his support for Mbuyazi.
In November 1856 Mpande granted Mbuyazi a
large tract of land in south-east Zululand;
at the same time he refused to meet with
Cetshwayo to discuss the succession
question. Conflict became inevitable when
Mbuyazi and his supporters, the iziGqoza,
moved to their lands just north of the
Thukela River, clearing the area of
Cetshwayo's supporters.
Cetshwayo mobilised his forces, known as the
uSuthu, against Mbuyazi, and the two sides
met at the Thukela, near the border with
Natal. Colonial traders in the area, worried
by the impending conflict, sent word to
Natal. John Dunn, an administrative
assistant to the Natal Border Agent rushed
north with 35 Frontier Policemen and a
hundred African hunters. John Dunn's force
(known as iziNqobo, the Crushers) moved to
'negotiate' between Cetshwayo and Mbuyazi,
but motivated by personal gain he offered
the services of his heavily armed force to
Mbuyazi.
Despite the advantage of firearms provided
by John Dunn's iziNqobo, the overwhelming
numbers of the uSuthu (between 15,000 and
20,000 warriors) forced the battle held on 2
December, and Mbuyazi's iziGqoza were driven
towards the Thukela. Only about 2,000 of
Mbuyazi's 7,000 warriors survived the
crossing, with a similar proportion of
losses amongst the accompanying women and
children.
In 1857 Cetshwayo and Mpanda came to terms:
Cetshwayo would have effective control of
the nation whilst Mapande would retain
'ultimate' authority and the title of king.
That same year, Cetshwayo sought out the
Colonial hunter-traders who he had fought
against at Ndondakusuka. It is recorded that
he desired "a white man as a friend to live
near him and advise him"1 and someone who
could provide modern firearms – the one
thing his side lacked in the battle. Dunn
was settled with a tract of coastal land
just north of the Thukela River where he
became an influential chief, and acted as
the main means of communication with the
British authorities and settlers of Natal.
Over the next 15 years Cetshwayo took
control of the nation, re-energising the
amabutho system and trying to stem the
diffusion of power away from the crown and
out to the izikhulu (territorial chiefs).
During this period Zululand was repeatedly
invaded by Boers from the South African
Republic (Transvaal) who were seeking land.
Cetshwayo looked for additional help against
the Boers from the British in Natal.
Mpande is recorded as having died on 18
October 1872, although this was an estimate
by the Colonial administrator and Secretary
for Native Affairs, Sir Theophilus Shepstone.
Mpande was buried with several of his
servants – it was a ancient tradition for
servants, wives and girls from the isigodlo
(royal enclosure) to be killed and buried
with the king in order to serve him in the
spirit world. (Zulu tradition has it that
Mpande's grave was desecrated by British
soldiers after the Anglo-Zulu war of 1879
and his bones removed for display in
Britain.)
Cetshwayo was crowned at a gathering at
kwaNodwengu on the 22 October. This was an
important pre-emptive move to maintain his
independent rule of the Zulu nation.
Shepstone had let it be known that as part
of the British support for Cetshwayo, he
would travel north from Natal and carry out
a coronation with full pomp and
circumstance. Shepstone and his entourage
travelled to oNdini on the Mahlabathini
plain for the official event on 1 September
1873. He was incensed by Cetshwayo's earlier
coronation by the izikhulu.
In 1875 Boers flooded across into Zululand,
claiming land south of the Phongol River as
well as attempting to tax Zulu homesteads in
the north-west. Several thousand warriors
were sent to the border and the Boers
eventually retreated. The situation was
finally alleviated when the British annexed
the South African Republic in April 1877
The arrival in March 1877 of Sir Bartle
Frere, British High Commissioner for South
Africa and Commander-in-Chief of all British
forces, brought a new threat to Zulu
independence. The Zulu nation was now
considered a threat to plans to confederate
the whole of southern Africa under the
British sphere of influence. Propaganda
portrayed Cetshwayo as a military dictator
who posed a threat to white-ruled Natal, and
who prevented his people from leaving the
kingdom to come and work for the whites.
Unfortunately events conspired against
Cetshwayo. A raid was carried out across the
border into Natal by a small Zulu force to
seize two women – both wives of Cetshwayo's
favourite chief, Sihayo. White settlers were
furious. Additionally a couple of surveyors
were assaulted whilst working near the
border in Zululand, and hunts by an ibutho
near Rorke's Drift panicked settlers across
the Buffalo River.
On 11 December 1978 Sir Theophilus Shepstone,
on Frere's behalf, presented Cetshwayo's
deputation with an ultimatum: the two
brothers who led the raid across the Thukela
were to be handed over for trial, with an
additional payment of 500 cattle for failing
to do so earlier, a British Resident was to
be stationed in Zululand, and the Zulu army
was to be disbanded. The deadline was to be
one month later, 11 January 1879. The
ultimatum was deliberately severe,
specifically written so that Cetshwayo could
not possibly comply. War between Britain and
the Zulu nation was now inevitable.
Lieutenant-General Sir Frederic Thesiger,
2nd Baron Chelmsford, led the invasion of
Zululand on 11 January, with British centre
column crossing at Rorke's Drift. Additional
British forces massed at Lower Drift on the
Thukela River, near the coast, and on the
north-western border near Utrecht.
Despite an early success at Isandlwana (22
January) where 24,000 Zulu warriors overran
the British camp of 1,700 – over 1,300
British and Imperial troops were annihilated
(only 60 of the survivors were Europeans).
That evening the small garrison at Rorke's
Drift regained British self-respect by
defending the (hospital) station against a
force of more than 3,000 Zulu warriors.
Cetshwayo's army was finally defeated at
oNdini (Ulundi) on 4 July 1879 and his royal
homestead burnt to the ground. Although
Cetshwayo escaped from oNdini, he was soon
captured in the Ngome Forest by British
dragoons (28 August). He was informed by
Shepstone that he was to be exiled from
Zululand and that the nation would be
divided into 13 independent chiefdoms under
the authority of the British.
On 15 September 1879 Cetshwayo was
despatched to Cape Town. He was held as a
prisoner of war until February 1881 when he
was transferred from the castle to Oude
Molen, a farm on the Cape Flats.
In 1882 Cetshwayo was permitted to travel to
England for audience with Queen Victoria –
he petitioned for his return to Zululand as
ruler. He was a hit amongst London society
and became a favourite of the public.
Cetshwayo was returned in secret to Zululand
on 10 January 1883. He was met at Port
Durnford by Sir Theophilus Shepstone (who
was brought out of retirement for the
process). Shepstone arranged the details of
Cetshwayo's restoration (29 January), but he
was not permitted an army to defend his
somewhat reduced 'nation' – part of the
arrangement was that the north of Zululand
was to be put under the control of Zibhebhu
kaMaphitha.
By March 1883 Zibhebhu was moving against
Cetshwayo's supporters in his assigned
northern territory and Cetshwayo's uSuthu
marched against him. The uSuthu were
defeated and driven into Transvaal and back
south to oNdini. The civil war between
Cetshwayo and Zibhebhu ranged across the
Mahlabathini plain and the uSuthu was once
again defeated. Whilst Cetshwayo and his
15-year old heir, Dinizulu, were able to
escape the capital of oNdini and hide out in
the Nkandla forest, the uSuthu leadership
was decimated. Cetshwayo was escorted to
Eshowe by Henry Francis Fynn Jr., the British
Resident in Zululand, on the 15 October
1883.
On the afternoon of 8 February 1884
Cetshwayo died. Although officially recorded
as a heart attack (Surgeon Scott, the
resident military medical officer, was
refused permission to do an autopsy and so
could record no other cause). However an
abortive assassination attempt (by poison)
was made against Mnyamana kaNgqengelele,
chief of the Buthelezi and Cetshwayo's chief
induna, around the same so time it seems
likely that Cetshwayo was also poisoned.
Cetshwayo's body was returned to the Nkandla
Forest for burial, and the war between his
uSuthu and Zibhebhu continued. Cetshwayo's
son Dinizulu, as heir to the throne, was
proclaimed king on 20 May 1884.
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