King Lobengula
King Lobengula was the second and last king of the Matebele.
Lobengula was the son of King Mzilikazi a descendant of the Khumalo Dynasty who became the first king of the Matebele after fleeing from King Tshaka of the Zulu’s reign of terror in South Africa.
The Matebele where a faction among the Zulu’s in South Africa and Mzilikazi was one of Tshaka’s general. Following a fallout with the king, Mzilikazi in the mid-1830’s led his followers across the Limpopo into what is now modern-day Matabeleland in western Zimbabwe.
Arriving in Matebeleland the king and his well-trained army set out to dominate the inhabitants of the area and surrounding areas and claimed sovereignty over a wider area in Zimbabwe.
Lobengula was born to Mzilikazi and a princess’s mother of the Swazi Household of Sobhuza the first. Following his father’s death in 1868 Lobengula ruled the Matebele until the time when the territory was colonized following the Rudd Concession.
In 1893, the King and his kingdom rebelled against being colonised in the Matabele Rebellion. Sensing defeat, the king set fire onto his once dominant capital and with a small remnant of his army, he fled northwards towards the Zambezi River.
There is a lot of mystery surrounding the king’s fact following his escape. It is believed that he died sometime in the Gwayi area in 1894. There are also skeptics who believe that he managed to cross the Zambezi into modern day Zambia.
