Matiwane

Matiwane (died c.1830), son of Masumpa, was the chief of an independent Nguni-speaking tribe, the amaNgwane, a people named after Matiwane's ancestor Ngwane. The amaNgwane lived at the headwaters of the White Umfolozi, in what is now northern KwaZulu-Natal. During the Mfecane his tribe was displaced by Zwide or Shaka and subsequently became vagrant marauders, who were eventually checked by an alliance of colonial and tribal troops. As a nomad Matiwane was at the mercy of the Basutos, Swazis and eventually king Dingane, the successor of Shaka, who put him to death shortly after Matiwane sought his protection.

Expecting an attack, Matiwane moved some of his cattle herds westward. Soon afterwards, in 1817 or 1818, either Zwide or Shaka serving as Dingiswayo's general, attacked the amaNgwane and drove them across the Buffalo river. This was the onset of the Mfecane migrations in which tribes became displaced, and in turn displaced others in a series of internecine wars.

The amaNgwane under Matiwane's leadership moved westwards, where they attacked the Hlubi, a larger kingdom built by Bhungane, in a quest to recover their cattle. Matiwane's patrols trapped and killed their chief Mthimkhulu c.1818, causing the Hlubi tribe to scatter in different directions. The Hlubi rued the catastrophe, referring to it as the izwekufa ("country of death"), and ascribed it to an act of witchcraft. Some Hlubi abandoned their homeland and fled north or west, or joined Shaka, but some merged with the amaNgwane. For the next three to four years Matiwane became the overlord of the upper Thukela region, near present-day Bergville, as he incorporated smaller tribes like the Bhele (relations of the Hlubi) and Zizi.

In 1821 or 1822 Matiwane, expecting an attack from Shaka, fled over the Drakensberg, drove the Tlokwa tribe from their land, and attacked Moshesh. He had to retreat before Moselekatse's advance, and fled southwards to the lands of the Umtata tribe, which they plundered. He became a fugitive again in 1828, when his people were defeated by colonial troops under the command of Major Dundas and Colonel Somerset.

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