freedom. They enjoyed no political power, despite holding a monopoly of the Mlimo theocracy, and despite the fact that large number of young men from the Mashona derivative groups were pressed into military service in amaNdebele regiments – the Mpande Regiment being one of those made up almost exclusively of young amaHoli men.[iii]
Before the amaNdebele began to reap what they had not sown, however, Mzilikazi first set about establishing the parameters of what would later come to be known as Matabeleland. The political successes achieved by both he and Shaka Zulu as more or less replicas of one another had been achieved thanks almost entirely to highly skilled organisation and structuring of the military. The striking difference between the combined peoples of the Mashona and the amaNdebele themselves was the existence of strong central authority combined with a highly disciplined, cohesive and fanatically loyal military. It was this that allowed the amaNdebele to dominate groups and peoples numerically superior to themselves, and it was on a system of decentralized military administration that the core of the nation depended. Mzilikazi therefore, despite the appearance of unlimited authority, ruled by the careful balance of military loyalty, and by acting at all times with the needs and health of his army foremost in his mind.
Mzilikazi’s long perambulation prior to his arriving in Matabeleland to join his people had left him fairly confident that his new borders were not immediately threatened by any powerful force, and the strictly defensive posture that he had devised and maintained in previous periods of settlement was not so vitally necessary here. However, defensive or otherwise, the system of military districts and military administration remained central to amaNdebele government.
The nation was therefore divided into military districts. Sufficient space existed between these that expansion could be effected with a minimum of upheaval, and sufficient distance was maintained between rival regiment that could, and occasionally did, physically express their fanatical esprit de corps with internecine violence. These districts existed under the command of a military governor who administered his territory with a limited degree of autonomy. His terms of service would depend on his favour with the king, and rewards were given for good behaviour while any suggestion of treason or infidelity would be punished in the usual way. As an added security Mzilikazi made use of his extensive seraglio of wives to keep the air tested for any hint of divided loyalty, added to which the Mwari theocracy that now ostensibly lived by the favour of the king returned the favour by remaining vigilant for signs abroad of insurrection.
The first capital of Matabeleland was established close to Intaba-ye-zinduna at a site Mzilikazi named Mahlokohloko, and here he settled some 300 of his wives alongside a regiment of the same name under the Induna Mbambelele. The country was divided into two principal sectors that included in the first instances territory stretching from the Bulalima/Mangwe district to Nyamandhlovu in the west, and in the second territory stretching as far east as present day Gweru. Later this was increased to four. Each was overseen by a principal regiment, itself commanded by a senior Induna. The country was then divided into sub-districts wherein an Induna commanded a military barracks and where a section of the royal harem resided with the responsibility of acquainting the king with any information of interest.
The boundaries of these districts were fluid, as where the areas of settlement of the regiments comprising the divisions. Each regiment was commanded by an Induna who was in turn answerable to a district governor. When a regiment was raised it was the responsibility of the regiment itself to construct its own barracks or regimental kraal where members lived until they were permitted to marry. Companies of recruits meanwhile lived in military kraals under a subordinate induna.
Inasmuch as the military underscored ever