Matabeleland

Home to the country’s second-largest city, Bulawayo, the Matabeleland region is situated in southwestern Zimbabwe between the Limpopo and Zambezi rivers. The region is named after its Ndebele inhabitants. This tribe, originally called the Amatabele, meaning ‘people with long spears’, are descendants of the Nguni people of Zululand, now KwaZulu-Natal, in South Africa.

The tribe started their great migration north in 1823 when their leader, the esteemed military commander Mzilikazi, came into conflict with his superior, King Shaka. Mzilikazi took his 20-thousand-strong following on an 800-kilometre journey, spanning 17 turbulent years, before finally settling in southwestern Zimbabwe in 1840.

Mzilikazi structured the nation in a regimental fashion, to drive away relentless Boer onslaughts between 1847 and 1851 and to put pressure on the Boer government in the Transvaal to reach a peace agreement. This was eventually established in 1852.

Mzilikazi was - for the most part - cordial towards European travellers, however, the discovery of gold in Matabeleland in 1867 attracted an influx of Europeans that he was unable to contain. This set off a chain of events that over time led to the loss of his land. After he died in 1868, he was succeeded by his son, Lobengula. Lobengula was the last king of Matabeleland before the British took control. The BSAC (British South African Company), a trading company with its
head-quarters in London, established itself in the area in 1890. The British conquered the Matabele people in 1893 and in the latter part of the 1890s, present-day Zimbabwe was split into two areas by the British South Africa Company. These were Matabeleland in the west and Mashonaland (homeland of the Shona community) in the east. In 1980, the land (formerly known as South Rhodesia) became a part of Zimbabwe, when the country won its independence.

The present-day region comprises Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South and is the dwelling place of a cross-section of smaller cultural groups including Venda, Sotho, Xhosa, Tsonga, and Tswana. Matabeleland’s population is roughly 20% of the country’s total.

As mentioned elsewhere in this book, in the interests of simplicity and brevity, we’ve combined the official provinces of Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South, and the city province of Bulawayo, into this one region.

The region’s capital, Bulawayo, is home to beautiful Victorian architecture and many places of cultural interest including the Natural Museum of Zimbabwe
(showcasing the country’s fascinating advancement from the Stone Age to Colonialism), the Railway Museum, and the Chipangali Wildlife Orphanage.
Other prominent towns in the region include the bustling border town of Beitbridge, which represents the political boundary between South Africa and Zimbabwe, and the major railway town of Plumtree, the last station on the Cape Town-Bulawayo line.

Together with its colourful history, Matabeleland boasts many of the country’s tourist meccas, including the iconic Matobo National Park (resting place of Sir Cecil John Rhodes and King Mzilikazi), the mighty Victoria Falls (both are UNESCO world heritage sites), and Hwange National Park, the largest and oldest park in the country. The well established Scout Movement, founded in the late 1890s by British Army Officer Robert Baden Powell, has its origins in Matabeleland.

The semi-arid region has an average annual temperature of 23°C with approximately 75 days of rain per year.

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