What is the Meaning and Causes of the uprising of the Mashona and matebele or chimulenga war in zimbabwe 1896 - 1897

THE MASHONA-MATEBELE (CHIMULENGA) UPRISING IN ZIMBABWE (1896-1897)




The whites created their settlement in Mashonaland in 1890. They thought that the Shona might thank the whites and were grateful to them since they could protect them against their traditional rivals, the Ndebele. But the matter was not so. The whites had misconceptions about the Ndebele, for they thought that with the fall of Lobengula, the son of Mzilikazi, the Ndebele power was completely dwarfed and could not stage war. As a result, in 1896, the whites were caught by surprise, for there was a more or less joint uprising between the Shona and Ndebele. In April 1896, the Matebele started a war that spread like summer fire to the Mashona tribe. In June of the same year, the war broke out in Mashonaland. The war was motivated by outstanding political, social, and economic dissatisfactions against the white men.




The Causes of the uprising.

• Loss of land. The white alienated the better and fertile land of the Mashona. On the other hand, the Ndebele were pushed into the reserves, which had water shortage, this caused dissatisfaction and unrests hence people took up arms to resist this situation.

• Forced Labour. Africans in both Matebele and Mashona were forced to supply labour to the colonial settles. All able bodied men had to work regardless of their former status in the societies and they were recruited by armed force.

• Harsh treatment. The colonialists treated the Mashona and Matebele people harshly. The elderly people were flogged and killed in public, and the conditions in the mines were deplorable.

• Taxation policies. In 1894, Hut tax was introduced; some of the Shona chiefs and their people refused new laws introduced by the colonial administration as well as British ways of collecting taxes. Those who failed to pay tax were persecuted and jailed without trial.

• Low wages. Africans who were forced to work in mines and whites farms were paid lowly although they worked for long hours and heavy works.

• The abolition of Induna age regiments among the Matebele. The Matebele were made to suffer socially and psychologically. Indunas were deprived of their power, importance and position.

• Interference in the Shona trade. The desire of British South Africa Company to control trade in the Mashona land contributed to the uprising.

• Desire for their lost independence. The Ndebele people resisted in order to regain their post independence, none of the Induna was appointed in any responsible administrative position.

• Missionaries disregarded the traditional and customs of the Shona and Ndebele people. In Matebele land, the missionaries wanted the Ndebele to change their religions based on Mwari cult.