Lecture #7

The Ndebele-Shona
Relations
• There are various Nguni groups which passed through the Zimbabwe plateau.
• There shona people on the Zimbabwe plateau however referred to all these
Nguni groups as Madzviti.
• Historians have however had to deal with the Ndebele myth, that is that
argument that the Ndebele primarily depended on raiding the hapless shona
people.
• A myth which had been propagated by the missionaries.
• The European settlers argued that the shona were grateful to Europeans because
they had saved them from the predatory Ndebele.
• The shona and the Ndebele also participated in this myth making by identifying
themselves in this context.
• The shona went on to describe the Ndebele in derogatory terms as Madzviti
whilst the Ndebele referred to the shona as Masvina (amahole).
• Going beyond the myth is a challenge because academics have become involved
in this myth making.
• Archaeologists for example argue that the Shona responded to Ndebele raiding
by building fortifications in the mountains to protect themselves (refuge
tradition).
• This argument was popularised by Roger Summers who argued that the Shona
built various mountain fortifications to protect themselves from Ndebele raiding
parties.
 The idea of
Madzviti
• Dzviti was a term which was commonly used by the Shona to refer to the Nguni
people whom they identified with their war regalia.
• To what extent does this apply to the Ndebele?
• Raiding was indeed part of the Ndebele economy but in Marxist terms it was just but one
of the many branches of production. The Ndebele did not plough with the spear.
• It is important to note that the Ndebele and the Gaza gave their subjects a choice
of submitting to paying tribute or rebellion.
• Those who chose not to pay tribute faced raids and those who paid tribute were
spared.
• It should also be noted the at some indunas went on unsanctioned raiding parties
known as umhaso.
• There is also evidence to suggest that some indunas who went on raiding
missions and failed turned into banditry.
• All these people were known as madzviti.
• Some shona groups who had adopted nguni fighting methods also bacme
attracted to raiding eg the Dumbuseya who territorised areas such as Nyajena.
• Some vaShona raided the Nguni and not all Nguni raids were successful.
Chirumhanzu for example was notorious for raiding the Ndebele.
• Some shona groups also acquired guns which enabled them to fend off Ndebele
raids.
• By 1879 these guns were all over among the shona and it transformed their
resistance as a number of Ndebele raids were defeated by shona chies eg Chief
Mazorodza of Chivi who was later taken to Bulawayo and skinned alive.
• Religion: the Ndebele state adopted the Mwari cult in the Matopos area
and this became an area of constant interface between the shona and the
Ndebele. The Ndebele respected and adopted this cult.