As early as December 1893, it was reported that Lobengula had been very sick, but his death sometime in early 1894 was kept a secret for many months and the cause of his death remains inconclusive.

" Under mysterious circumstances, Lobengula died in January 1894, and within a few short months the British South Africa Company controlled Matabeleland and white settlers continued to arrive.

Rhodesia was named after Cecil Rhodes, the British empire-builder who was one of the most important figures in British expansion into southern Africa, and who obtained mineral rights in 1888 from the most powerful local traditional leaders through treaties such as the Rudd Concession and the Moffat Treaty signed by King Lobengula of the Ndebele.

In 1887 Robinson was induced by Rhodes to give his consent to the conclusion of a treaty with Lobengula which secured British rights in Matabele and Mashona lands.

Several impis ( regiments ) disputed Lobengula's assent and the question was ultimately decided by the arbitration of the assegai, with Lobengula and his impis crushing the rebels.

Lobengula was a big, powerful, man with a soft voice who was well loved by his people but loathed by foreign tribes.

Life under Lobengula was less strict than it had been under Mzilikazi, although the Ndebele retained their habit of raiding their neighbours.

Lobengula was aware of the greater firepower of European guns so he mistrusted visitors and discouraged them by maintaining border patrols to monitor all travellers ' movements south of Matabeleland.

The 25-year Rudd Concession was signed by Lobengula on 3 October 1888 and by Queen Victoria on 20 October 1889.

The company was empowered to trade with African rulers such as King Lobengula ; to form banks ; to own, manage and grant or distribute land, and to raise a police force ( the British South Africa Police ).

The capital was transferred from Toteng after victory over Ndebele King Lobengula.

The rifles were never delivered, furthermore Lobengula was illiterate as were the " interpreters " present at " signing ".

His first step was to persuade the Matabele King Lobengula, in 1888, to sign a treaty giving him rights to mining and administration ( but not settlement as such ) in the area of Mashonaland which was ruled by the King by use of coercion and murderous raids involved tribute-taking and abduction of young men and women.

Using this Rudd Concession ( so called because Rhodes's business partner, Charles Rudd, was instrumental in securing the signature ) between Rhodes ' British South Africa Company ( allegedly on behalf of Queen Victoria though without any official knowledge or authority ) and Lobengula, he then sought and obtained a charter from the British government allowing him to act, essentially although in a limited way, with the government's consent.

Going to South Africa when he was nineteen, he travelled from the Cape of Good Hope to Matabeleland, which he reached early in 1872, and where he was granted permission by Lobengula, King of the Ndebele, to shoot game anywhere in his dominions.

It was during this advance that he first met fellow scout Frederick Russell Burnham, who had only just arrived in Africa and who continued on with the small scouting party to Bulawayo and observed the self-destruction of the Ndebele settlement as ordered by King Lobengula.

It was originally one of the regions that the country was divided into following occupation by the Pioneer Column in 1890 and designated the extent of territory under administration of the British South Africa Company as distinct from the remainder of the territory that was directly under the control of the Matabele king, Lobengula, which was named Matabeleland when it was occupied in 1893.

After the death of Mzilikazi the first king of the Matabele nation in 1868 the izinduna, or chiefs, offered the crown to Lobengula, one of Mzilikazi's sons from an inferior wife.

His son, Lobengula, succeeded him as king.

Leander Starr Jameson immediately sent his troops to Bulawayo to try to capture Lobengula, but the king escaped and left Bulawayo in ruins behind him.

From his first establishment in Bechuanaland he kept up a friendly correspondence with the Matabele king Lobengula with the object of attaching him to the British cause.

In 1888, British colonialist Cecil Rhodes obtained a concession for mining rights from King Lobengula of the Ndebele peoples.

In 1893-94, with the help of their new maxim guns the BSAP would go on to defeat the Ndebele in the First Matabele War, a war which also resulted in the death of King Lobengula and the death of most of the members of the Shangani Patrol.

Rhodes had a vested interest in the continued expansion of white settlements in the region, so now with the cover of a legal mandate, he used a brutal attack by Ndebele against the Shona near Fort Victoria ( now Masvingo ) in 1893 as a pretext for attacking the kingdom of Lobengula.

Lobengula had 80, 000 spearmen and 20, 000 riflemen, against fewer than 700 soldiers of the British South Africa Police, but the Ndebele warriors were no match against the British Maxim guns.

Lobengula only gave his agreement to Cecil Rhodes when his friend, Dr. Leander Starr Jameson who had treated Lobengula for gout once before, secured money and weaponry for the Matabele in addition to a pledge that any people who came to dig would be considered as living in his Kingdom.

He made valuable ethnological investigations, and throughout his wanderings — often among people who had never previously seen a white man — he maintained cordial relations with the chiefs and tribes, winning their confidence and esteem, notably so in the case of Lobengula.

The Matabele nation assembled in the form of a large semicircle, performed a war dance, and declared their willingness to fight and die for Lobengula.

About 10, 000 Matabele warriors in full war costume attended the crowning of Lobengula.

The coronation of Lobengula took place at Mhlanhlandlela, one of the principal military towns.

Lobengula had granted Sir John Swinburne the right to search for gold and other minerals on a tract of land in the extreme south-west of Matabeleland along the Tati River between the Shashe and Ramaquabane rivers in about 1870, in what became known as the Tati Concession.

Lobengula had been tolerant of the white hunters who came to Matabeleland and he would even go so far as to punish those of his tribe who would threaten the whites.

It soon became obvious that Lobengula had been duped and that the British team really intended to colonise his territory.

In exchange for wealth and arms, Lobengula granted several concessions to the British, the most prominent of which is the 1888 Rudd concession giving Cecil Rhodes exclusive mineral rights in much of the lands east of his main territory.

* 1987 – Bongani Khumalo, South African footballer

Khumalo went on to become a star player for Kaizer Chiefs and did not play for any other South African soccer club, only leaving them for short overseas playing periods – he signed with FIFA agent Marcelo Houseman who took him to Argentina first Argentinian club Ferrocarril Oeste for six months in 1995 and in 1996 he played for the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer.

South Africa won the match 1 – 0, due to a penalty scored by Khumalo.

Although he was a winning co-coach ( with Donald " Ace " Khuse ) of Kaizer Chiefs in the 2002 – 2003 season ( guiding the club to a 12-game unbeaten record and earning themselves a joint Coach of the Month PSL award ), Khumalo has stated that his aim is to become a soccer administrator.

Khumalo then scored the second goal to make the score 2 – 0 in favour of the South Africans.

To please the Ndwandwe, Matshobana – a Khumalo chief – married the daughter of the Ndwandwe chief Zwide and sired a son, Mzilikazi.

Among the many fascinating cases of the Mfecane is that of Mzilikazi of the Khumalo who was a ' general ' of Shaka's, who fled Shaka's employ, and in turn conquered an empire in Zimbabwe, after clashing with European groups like the Boers.

Again Khumalo was nominated for an Image Award, together with Angela Bassett, Whoopi Goldberg and Janet Jackson.

Khumalo stars in 2004 movies Hotel Rwanda and Yesterday, for which the latter was nominated for a 2005 Academy Award in the category " Best Foreign Language Film ".

Gito had begun recording the 10 tracks and the production was completed by Dave Reynolds and guests including Steve Newman ( Tananas ), Paul Hanmer, Ian Herman ( Tananas ), McCoy Mrubata, Moses Khumalo, Pedro Da Silva Pinto ( 340ml ), Tlale Makhene, Tony Cox, Frank Paco, Nibs Van Der Spuy, Deepak Ram, Rui Soeiro ( 340ml ), Bernice Boikanyo, Paulo Chibanga ( 340ml ), Thuli Mdlalose, Eliot Short, Vusi Maseko and Graeme Sacks.

His mother's clan was Khumalo.

Khumalo was promoted to the senior team the following year, when he started a game against Orlando Pirates.

After the re-admission of South Africa to FIFA in 1992, Khumalo was selected to be a member of the South African squad for its first official international match in July of the same year, against Cameroon.

Khumalo was voted 62nd in the Top 100 Great South Africans in 2004.

It was also adapted into a 1992 film starring Whoopi Goldberg and Leleti Khumalo.

Matshobana, son of chief Mangete, was the chief of the Khumalo tribe: a clan of Nguni people living near the Black Umfolozi river in kwaZulu, in South Africa, and was the father of Mzilikazi the founder of the Ndebele ( Matabele ) kingdom in Zimbabwe.

Sibongile Khumalo was born in Soweto and guided by her father, Khabi Mngoma, a professor of music, where she studied violin, singing, drama and dance.

Khumalo was the first person to sing the title role of Princess Magogo in the first African opera Princess Magogo ka Dinuzulu.

In 2009, Khumalo was honoured by Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa by being awarded a Doctor of Music honoris causa.