Within six months of his return,
however, the king became embroiled in inter-chiefdom war and found himself
once again in hiding this time from renegades among his own people. Cetshwayo
died - quite possibly poisoned - on 8 February 1884. His teenage heir,
Dinuzulu, who had remained secluded in Zululand throughout his father's
travails, was declared Cetshwayo's successor. Dinuzulu was not without
rivals, though, and he sought Boer assistance as a self- destructive stalemate
descended on Zululand. Boer interest lay not in rescuing the monarchy but
in promises of territorial reward. They duly secured a tract of land large
enough for an independent self- government after swearing an oath to protect
Dinuzulu from his enemies and proclaiming him King of the Zulu and of Zululand.
He was in fact though a powerless king reduced to, as the British articulated,
'a nominal ruler in the hands of the Boer invaders'.
These developments greatly troubled the Natal settlers, who began lobbying
extensively for increased British control, particularly when Boer claims
escalated to include five-sixths of Zulu territory outside of the buffer-reserve.
After initial tardiness, the British government annexed Zululand in May
1887 a move not whole-heartedly accepted by the Zulu as a satisfactory
solution to their multiple problems. Dinuzulu fell into dispute with colonial
authorities who responded by informing him that 'the rule of the House
of Shaka is a thing of the past dead like water spilt on the ground. The
Queen who conquered Cetshwayo now rules in Zululand - and no one else!'
