The first Central African tribe to accept European settlement and virtual rule were the Shona people for Cecil Rhodes pioneers had hosted their flag on the soils of Central Africa and named their camp Fort Salisbury after the British Prime Minister who had given a charter to the company however following the suppression of the Ndebele in 1893 the British believed that as they had conquered Lobengula and his kingdom, there were no more serious threats in Central Africa for they did not expect even the Shona people whom they had freed from the Ndebele domination to revolt against them in any case.

However, in as much as the Ndebele had lost their king, the kingdom hadn’t been totally destroyed and it’s from this basis that the Ndebele relaunched an attack in the year of 1896 in what came to be the Ndebele rising.  The causes of  this rising included among others.  The failure by British officials to respect the interests of the African natives for the peoples in Africa were looked at as mere servants and labourers of the whites for according to Cecil Rhodes what mattered most was political control of the whole of Central Africa as far as North of L. Tanganyika which angered the Ndebele people who were left with no other alternative than resisting against the system.

The Ndebele who regarded themselves as superior over other tribes had been humiliated in the Ndebele British war of 1893 in which context therefore their rebellion was intended to revenge and capture their lost glory.

After the 1893 war, the Ndebele had lost many of their cattle some of which had been distributed among the whites, while others were sent to South Africa and the few that remained were distributed among the collaborators hence the 1896 rebellion was intended to get rid to the whites and recapture the lost animals.

The Ndebele youth were not happy with the introduction of the forced labour policy which had been imposed by the British according to the Ndebele they had been made slaves on their own land.

The Ndebele also objected to the loss of their independence that had been eroded by the whites through use of harsh and oppressive policies especially of the police force which was mainly dominated by the Shona who mistreated the Ndebele people in an attempt to revenge thus the Ndebele thought it good to revolt in order to overcome such mistreatment and humiliation.  In 1896 when the Ndebele learnt of the Jameson raid in Transvaal which had been defeated by the Afrikaners, they utilized this opportunity to launch a rebellion against the British.

At first the Shona thought that the whites had come to liberate them from the Ndebele but when they discovered that the whites intention was to stay in Mashona land, they resented it and demanded for their independence thus joining the Ndebele a combination of which came to be known as the Chimurenga wars or the Shona-Ndebele rising.

Furthermore, the Shona feared that if the Ndebele succeeded in defeating the British, then they would re-dominate them as was the case before 1893.  It’s therefore in this context that the Shona unconditionally joined this rebellion.

The Shona like the Ndebele were also forced to work on the farms of the whites a policy that was regarded as slavery by the Shona people so they saw it as good to rise up and revolt in order to get rid of the whites and overcome their good for nothing policies.

The British South Africa Company had stopped the Shona from trading with the Portuguese in Mozambique and were forced to buy goods brought into the country by the company from South Africa and the worst part of it was that the goods bought from the Portuguese were cheaper than those from South Africa which were of less quality.  The idea behind therefore was for the British to reduce the Portuguese influence which could overcome the Shona.

Similarly, the company refused the Shona to sell ivory and gold to the Portuguese who had been their long time partners (trade) for the gold business was used by the Shona to get guns and other goods from the Portuguese hence it was the attempt by the British to interfere with the Shona source of income that forced the Shona to join the Ndebele in the Chimurenga wars.

The taking over the Shona fertile lands by the whites and pushing them into reserves equally annoyed them and they therefore had no other alternative than revolting against the whites.

In addition, the whites allocated land to some loyal Shona’s duty that was supposed to be done by the Shona chiefs hence, in antagonism with their tradition and partly explains why they joined the Ndebele in resisting against the whites.

There was also the problem of taxation; for a decree had been passed by the British that all able heads of homesteads were supposed to pay taxes and many Shonas refused this decree for to them taxes were seen as a way of dominating by the whites.

The Shona were displeased by the harsh and oppressive measures used by the company officials to enforce their policies and rule which included flogging, brutalising which was not only done to the local people but also the chiefs.  It’s partly as a result of these policies that the Shona were very much disillusioned and were hence left with no other alternative than joining the Ndebele to resist white dominance.

In March 1896 when the Ndebele regiments attacked the White isolated farms and the Whites ran to towns in the later period the Shona joined partly in fear of Ndebele dominance but also because they shared the oppressive policies of the British and most important was the influence of their traditional religions leaders.

ORGANISATION OF CHIMURENGA WARS AND ROLE OF AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION

The rising started in March 1896 when the Ndebele regiments attacked the European isolated farms, the whites ran to towns but these areas were already surrounded by the Ndebele and later the Shona joined the raising partly on realising that the Ndebele might win and they feared they would once again be dominated not withstanding the fact that the Shona shared similar grievance but also due to the influence of their traditional religious rulers.

The priests of the Mwari-high god cult had a great influence on the Western Shona and the Ndebele people since the pre-colonial period.  These priests were mainly the Venda or Kalanga and not necessarily the Shona but were traditionally linked with the Rwozi rulers of the Shona and were turned to from time to time especially in periods of crisis by the Ndebele rulers notably Mzilikazi and Lobengula.

The chief priest of the cult by the 1896 was Mkwati a Shona ex-slave who was assisted by Tentela a woman and Singinyamatshe who was trusted and respected by both the Ndebele and Shona so when the war started in the 1896 the Ndebele turned to them for advice and they assured them success.

Mkwati then blessed them and encouraged them to join the rising and himself took a leading part in directing the attacks against the Europeans.

Closely related, it’s Mkwati who brought the two tribes together to fight against a common enemy in the Ndebele -Shona rising of 1895-97.

Mkwati also managed to persuade even the small tribes that had been dominated by the Ndebele like the Rozwe and Kalanga in otherwords Mkwati changed the rising from a Ndebele-Shona affair into a mass rising of the large section of the population.

In North-Eastern Mashonaland, other religious leaders like Kagubi and Nehenda inspired the Shona to join the revolt and in Shona, Bonda and Tshiroa equally played an important role in encouraging the Shona on behalf of the Mwari-cult.  These priests blessed the fighters and confirmed to them that they had received stronger powers than those of the whites and that they would definitely win and send the whites out of their lands.

It’s from this context that the 1896-7 rebellion involved a cross section of people including women, children, old, young, the aristocracy all intending to destroy the hegemony of the whites.   The concern therefore is a brief analysis of the role of African Traditional Religion in the organisation of the Chimurenga wars.

In the first instance traditional religion provided leadership; for following the death of Lobengula in 1894, the Ndebele had been left shepherd less and it was largely the role of Mkwati and his, assistants in representation of the Mwari-high god cult that directed the battle in Matebeleland in alliance with Kagubi and Nehenda in Mashonaland.

It also played a role of mobilization of the oppressed Africans against the white dominance for example Mkwati mobilised the Kalanga people and so did other religious traditional rulers because of the desire by these rulers to do away with white domination.

It provided morale and confidence especially among the Ndebele and Shona people who were promised protection against the whitemans gun fire.

It united people of diverse origins with different grievances i.e the rebellion ceased to be a Shona-Ndebele affair and turned into a nationalistic rebellion that cut across sections of people in Central Africa.  It’s in this light that scholars argue in favour of nationalistic feelings that were provided by African Traditional Religion which is because religious traditional rulers preached against foreign domination.

In conclusion therefore, in as much as ATR did play a very important role in the organisation of this rebellion and it’s sustenance, it’s vital to note that traditional religion did partly account for the collapse of the Chimurenga wars for it led to the death of many people especially at the hands of the white superiority in otherwords instead of the Shona-Ndebele people gaining their independence, they instead lost partly as a result of African Traditional Religious.

As a result, the rebellion was mercilessly suppressed and put down by the British by use of the maximum gun.

Leaders of raising especially Mkwati were killed and it’s suspected that possibly they were killed by the Shona people who got tired of fighting a losing battle.  Meanwhile Kagubi and Nehenda were captured and executed.

Many Ndebele and Shona were killed and there was disruption trade and agriculture.

It’s in this particular rising that the neighbouring leaders of Botswana (Khama) and Lewanika of Barotseland collaborated with the British in defeating the Shona-Ndebele people.

But like the Maji Maji rising, the Africans gained something because Rhodes lost a lot in both cash and kind in suppressing the rising and also fearing that he would lose the charter in case rebellion continued.  The Ndebele and Shona had retreated to the hills and were continuing to resist and Rhodes decided to ask for a peace settlement and this ended up in a peace treaty between the Ndebele leaders and Rhodes under which Rhodes recognised the Ndebele leaders and they became salaried officials and spokesmen for their people within the colonial administration.

Regular procedure was established to check on all kinds of ill treatment the whites were putting on the Africans.

Tax reduced from £2 to £1 per annum with no harassment during collection as was the case prior to the rising.

The Ndebele regained their former status as leaders for when the Ndebele came to peace with Rhodes, the Shona continued to fight until they were totally silenced.

Negatively, the rebellion led to the destruction of property, crops, plantations which brought serious famine and starvation.

The defeat of the raising was a serious blow to the peoples confidence in the religious leaders and traditional religion and as such those religious lost influence among people.  As an end result, many Shonas and the Ndebele turned to missionary schools to acquire education and get Christianity teaching hence the end of the Ndebele, Shona independence marked the beginning of the slow process of erosion of tribal religious and customary beliefs.

LEWANIKA OF LOZI

Lewanika, ruler of the Lozi was one of those African leaders who responded three diplomatic collaboration with the British colonialists.  As leader of the Lozi people.  Lewanika who came to power in 1876 faced internal problems which reached climax with his overthrow in 1884.  in 1888, Lewanika regained his throne and ruled up to 1916.

At the height of imposition of colonial rule, the Lozi king decided to collaborate using tactful diplomacy.  Several factors contributed to this response.  One of such factors was the internal instability within the Lozi area.  The political situation in the area was characterized by civil wars, rivalry for the throne which culminated in his overthrown in 1884.  After regaining the throne, he decided to collaborate diplomatically with the intent that he would use the British and their military power against his internal enemies.  In the course of time however, the British refused to be drawn into local Lozi affairs especially if their own interests weren’t jeopardized.  This indicates that diplomacy, as a means of response was not a sure mean to Lewanika against his rule.

The history of rivalry and coups that Lewanika experienced in the area forms the main factor for his response.  In addition, he would come to power after a succession dispute and could not win the loyalty of the masses easily.  He therefore sought external support through collaboration as a way to deal with such situations.

Economically, the Lozi people were largely farmers, supplemented with fishing and craftship.  They were therefore economically weak to put up stiff resistance.   They also felt that their economic occupation did not conflict with British interests and activities.  Worse still, the Lozi were military weak both in size of army and level of armament to put up any resistance.

Other than internal factors, Lewanika expected  co-operation which would enable him to defend his independence.  The Lochnea treaty gave the BSA. Co. mineral and commercial rights in the kingdom other than this, however, the B.S.A.CO did not respect the interests of Lewanika and treated him as their subject like other local subjects.  This indicates that signing these treaties as a means of diplomatic response was no guarantee that his interests would be safeguarded.

In 1898, Lewanika signed another treaty with Lawley (the Lawley treaty).  This treaty respected most of the terms of the Lochner treaty of 1890 and granted the company rights to exercise administration powers in the area.  By having the powers to exercise administration rights, the treaty made the company have direct colonial powers in the area unlike before.  It was a sign of undermining the Lozi independence and a fact that diplomacy had not helped.

In October 1900, Lewanika signed the last treaty with the company near Victoria falls, other than repeating the terms of Lawley treaty.  It also gave the company authority over land in the Tonga and Illa area.  Through these treaties, British company administration was laid in part of the Lozi.  The Lozi lost independence indication that diplomacy was not a guarantee. 

However, whereas this is true, Lewanika stood to gain some minor benefits, as a result of this response for example he managed to maintain a constable degree of power and influence in his kingdom. Unlike with other readers who resisted a resistors were defeated and disgracefully thrown out, secondly this response made his people enter the colonial period peacefully.  They did not experience the dangers of resistance characterized by destruction, deprivation and deportation and thirdly, he gained prestige and stood above his internal rivals through this response.

Not withstanding, the above mentioned benefits, it remains evident as was the case with Lewanika that diplomacy was no guarantee against Europeans in that period.

Question    Examine the response of Lewanika to British colonialism in the second half of the 19th Century.