nto Bechuanaland. This was an epic passage that features large in the amaNdebele mythology of war and exodus. The route skirted the eastern fringes of the Kalahari Desert where the tried and tested mobile survival tactic was employed, and raids were conducted against all and any who happened into the path of the surging impi. In due course the amaNdebele wandered into lands unoccupied by any other than Bushmen and nomadic groups of Tswana hunter/gatherers. There was no one to fight and nothing to plunder, and the means of survival was reduced to foraging for edible roots, bulbs and berries, and hording precious water in disused ostrich eggs.
For all involved this was period of arduous struggle, and a test for every man, including Mzilikazi, whose physical capacity, that which Robert Moffat had noticed on his last visit had been visibly reduced, returned. With his innately spartan view of life it is possible that Mzilikazi exulted in this period. It is easy to imagine that from it he sought not only a homeland beyond the influence of the white man, but also a penance for defeat, and perhaps even a period of asceticism and self-cleansing. If this were so it would explain why Mzilikazi did not immediately seek to reunite with his estranged nation, even though he would have known more or less where they were, as they most likely knew in general terms where he was. It is possible also that, once satisfied that his people were safely settled in a land of reasonable plenty, that he and his division would exhaust all possibilities of finding somewhere better before reuniting his people.
In due course the wandering impi met up with the Makololo, an offshoot of the Batlokoa people of Mantatisi, seeded in Bechuanaland during the Mfecane, and thereafter pushed further north as part of the upheavals of amaNdebele occupation. Under their chief Sebituane the Makololo had settled on the upper Zambezi where it seems that some sort of a confrontation took place which, combined with the tsetse fly of the Zambezi Valley, finally turned the amaNdebele and set them on a course for the south, and at last a rendezvous with their estranged kinsmen. It is uncertain how long the two groups remained separated, and also the degree, if any, of communication that had passed between them during that period, but Mzilikazi was appalled at the state of affairs at Gibixhegu when the rendezvous was finally made.
It quickly became apparent to him that in his absence moves had been underway to replace him. His response to this state of affairs is strongly suggestive of the fact that it did not come about as a consequence of a genuine belief among his people that he and his impi had died in the wilderness, but more that advantage was taken of his absence by those with an interest in a realignment of power in the nation. Many examinations have been made of this event, and the ramifications that followed, but without clear records it is hard to pinpoint precisely where the roots of treason lay. However Mzilikazi promptly identified all those that had been involved, and many who simply might have been involved, and executed them all. This was followed by the more clinical selection of many others that posed the greatest potential threat to the stability of his rule who were also killed.
During the long separation of the two groups it seems that the senior Indunas present at Gibixhegu, with the possible exception of uMncumbata, whose whereabouts at this time are not clear, had elected to replace Mzilikazi by his son nKulumane. This suggests that the source of the conspiracy to unseat Mzilikazi was one or other of his senior wives, most notably the mother of nKulumane, who, if not directly serving as regent during the minority of the child, would at the very least be able to exercise enough influence to prevent Mzilikazi’s return before the boy came of age, and perhaps even orchestrate his death or exile.
However the scheme was devised, and whatever might have been its motivation, it was an injustice to the child who, upon the likely failure of the plot, could expe