Shashe River

Lobengula was crowned King of the Ndebele in 1868 after a short, sharp civil war at the great place called Mhlathlandlela.

He had long been tolerant of the Boer and English hunters who showed up at his home, Bulawayo, in Matabeleland, and in 1870 had even granted Sir John Swinburne's London and Limpopo Mining Company the right to search for gold along the Tati River between the Shashe and the Ramakgabane Rivers.

The Ndebele king was keeping a sharp eye out on the south across the Limpopo, where the Transvaal Boers were building their republic, as well as to the southwest towards Bechuanaland.

The British were showing a great deal of interest in Southern African states, moving inexorably closer to him.

Grobler's past had caught up with him.

He had ignored Khama's command to stop illicit liquor smuggling and horse trading, and the region's patience had snapped.

Khose Khama was also engaged in a bitter territorial dispute with Lobengula over the land between the Shashe and Motloutse rivers, and as Grobler's party crossed the Limpopo River at Baines Drift, they were intercepted by the armed Ngwato patrol.

It was led by Mokgotswani, Chief Khama's brother.