limo.[ii]
The Ndebele accepted the cult with a minimum of adaptation, but called the cult after its chief officers, the Mlimo, which was a name taken up in the vague manner of the time by incoming Europeans to describe the god-figure himself. This has tended to cause considerable confusion when examining historic literature written at the time of early European activity, and it is clear that for a long time colonial whites had no clear understand what exactly was the structure and hierarchy of black religion.
For those Mashona not protected by a close association to the theocracy, and scattered within reach of the amaNdebele impis, life took an almost immediate and undesirable turn. Most villages and settlement throughout the region had no defensive capacity, and the disunited and clan and family oriented political structure of the Mashona allowed for no mass mobilisation nor the mounting of any viable common defence. It was exactly this type of circumstance upon which Mzilikazi had built his dominance, and it seemed that he had led his people to a land ideally suited to their murderous talents.
The contempt felt by the amaNdebele for the Mashona manifest itself most noticeably in the clearly defined class system that had evolved since the removal of the original Khumalo clan from Zululand. As we have seen those at the pinnacle of this structure were the AbeZanzi, or Those of The South, who all bore Nguni names, or izibonga, and who occupied all the principal offices of administration. Into their ranks where very occasionally seconded the abeNhla into such positions as headmen, and among these were those of Sotho stock inducted into the tribe during the mid period of its existence. The latter day inductees were the lowly Mashona, who regarded almost universally as slaves, or amaHoli, and less derisively when occasion demanded as abeTshabe. These were usually the few who became recognised as junior members of the families to which they had become associated, and some might by payment of a redemption fee buy their 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 cou