If there's history to be learnt at school, it's the history I'm about to write below because we seldom hear of anything other than King Shaka in our history. We forget that there were empires & chiefdoms he worked with during his time & that existed before his time. Who he perhaps borrowed the concept of his Zulu state from. Because we often do think that King Shaka sprang out of nowhere & what he was doing was unsual. But we don't think "Yes, his deeds were unusual but were maybe not uncommon." Because when we look further into our history, we find that the ancient King Dlamini himself was said to have united the Swazi nation in a similar way to King Shaka & further into the Zulu clan's history, King Munguni united the Qwabes, Mbathas, Ndwandwes, Gumedes & people of the original Zulu kaMalandela as amaNguni. So today I have decided to shed a little light with what I've learned from various historical sources including maps, books, written items & documents on the so-called Mbo/Dlamini tribes & nations.
The southern part of Mpumalanga province & western part of KZN including southern half right down to Umzimvubu River was ruled by Tekela-speaking, so-called Mbo tribes/nations. These were AmaZizi (north Miya dynasty), AmaHlubi (mid-north Rhadebe dynasty), Nhlang'wini (south & southeast Dlamini dynasty) & Bhaca (far southwest Diko dynasty). These tribes/nations spoke Tekela (Swazi-like) languages. They were not attacked by King Shaka kaSenzangakhona & were left as sovereign regions by the Zulu Emperor excepting for the Bhaca who were attacked & fled south. The Ngwane, under Matiwane, who attacked the AmaZizi & AmaHlubi were themselves attacked & dispersed by the emperor, Shaka. The Hlubi regiment called Iziyedane (which was often called on by King Shaka as allies in battle) further attacked the Thuli who had displaced tribes who had settled in the, now Ethek'wini, area. The Ethek'wini area said to have being an ancient Hlubi region itself. Unfortunately, I do not have many names of the commanders of the various regiments as what is documented is often from the memory of an old man who was alive at the time or had the knowledge told to him by his elders.
Many times it's said that these Dlamini tribes shouldn't be considered Zulu & should rather be called by their respective individual names. At the time of King Shaka, these tribes were greater in population & power but were stable & not combative like the Ndwandwe, Ntungwa & Mthethwa. Perhaps these Mbo tribes should even be given the same authority as the Swazi monarchy. My problem with them gaining independence though is that these tribes are already seen as one entity & even painted as Zulu so it feels almost awkward to cut them out of the Zulu sphere. But if these tribes feel it should be so & it would be best if they're not considered Zulu, they have all the right to do so.
These Mbo tribes are claimed to descend from the Shubi tribe of central east Africa.