Paramount Chief Mpezeni is the King of the
Ngoni people of
Zambia's
Eastern Province and
Malawi's
Mchinji
Mchinji is a town and the capital of the Mchinji District in the Central Region of Malawi. Mchinji Boma, located from the Zambian border and from the national capital, Lilongwe, is the major hub of government and general business. It has a m ...
district.
Overview
The chieftainship was founded by
Zwangendaba, a former general of King
Shaka of the
Zulu, who fled the
mfecane. It is named after the Ngoni warrior-king
Mpezeni (also spelt ''Mpeseni'') who rose up in 1897 with over 4000 warriors against the
British who were taking control of
Nyasaland and
North-Eastern Rhodesia, and was defeated. He signed a treaty which allowed him to rule as Paramount Chief of the Ngoni and his successors use his name in the title to this day.
Paramount Chiefs or Inkosi ya makosi (1815 to date)
*
Zwangendaba (1815–1848)
* Regency (1848–?)
*
Mpezeni I (1848–1900)
*
Mpezeni II Mpezeni (also spelt ''Mpeseni'') (1830–1900) was warrior-king of one of the largest Ngoni groups of central Africa, based in what is now the Chipata District of Zambia, at a time when the British South Africa Company (BSAC) of Cecil Rhodes was tr ...
(1900–1928)
*
Mpezeni III Mpezeni (also spelt ''Mpeseni'') (1830–1900) was warrior-king of one of the largest Ngoni groups of central Africa, based in what is now the Chipata District of Zambia, at a time when the British South Africa Company (BSAC) of Cecil Rhodes was tr ...
(1928–1981)
*
Mpezeni IV (1981 to date)
References
Traditional rulers in Zambia
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