Windhoek — As the last king of the Ovakwanyama between 1911 and 1917, Mandume ya Ndemufayo fought two colonial battles - the Portuguese onslaught in Angola and the British-South African regime in Namibia.

According to historian Patricia Hayes in her paper 'Order Out of chaos: Mandume ya Ndemufayo and Oral History', Mandume ya Ndemufayo stands out as one of the most compelling figures in Namibian history.

During his short period as king of the Ovakwanyamas (1911 to 1917), he witnessed the culmination of "unprecedented upheavals" in the northern Ovambo regions, during which Ndemufayo had to defend the Ovakwanyamas against Portuguese invasion in 1915, which forced him into a 'protection' agreement with British-South African officials administering what was then considered southern Ovamboland.

Ndemufayo was born around 1894 on the margins of the Okwanyama area. His mother, Ndapona, was the daughter of Hipondolua, the grandmother of King Weyulu.

Hayes reported that King Weyulu's two younger brothers, Nande and Hamalua, were to succeed the old king at the time of Mandume's birth.

But with the death of Nande in 1911, and Hamalua's death earlier than that, Mandume's succession to the kingship went smoothly.

But before that could happen, his childhood life was always in danger as a result of the line of matrilineal succession.

Mandume's face carried scars from a fire after he was hidden in an ant hole with a fire lit over it for concealment. He was later taken to his grandmother's homestead where he remained under the care of his great-aunt Nekoto.

He was later moved to Oshiteve until he was 10, and then kept at the border areas of Ovakwanyama. But when his family thought it was safe, he was allowed to stay at Nekoto's homestead.

These early experiences, historians suggest, left their mark on his character. A Rhenish missionary wrote of an impression of Mandume as a young boy as "small and misshapen, unpleasant and unfriendly in demeanour".

Other impressions were that Mandume grew up "channelling his energy into egotism", and that he knew how to inspire fear from an early age. He also trained himself as a master marksman, and there were rumours - though left unconfirmed - that he had shot his foster father.

As a king, wrote Hayes, Mandume quickly showed an astute political style. Mandume personally shot the man accused of causing Nande's death caused by witchcraft. After that, he moved the royal capital to Ondjiva where he ordered the construction of a new royal residence.

Initially he then made friendly overtures to the Rhenish missionaries, through whom he sent conciliatory messages to the German administration in Windhoek, said Hayes.

"It soon became clear that he intended to balance pro-German leanings with an anti-Portuguese stance. He showed no compunction towards Portuguese traders present in the country, and expelled them completely after denouncing their inflated prices.

"This would later emerge as crucial to the direction of Mandume's reformist drive, for at its core was the greater emphasis on production over exchange," wrote Hayes.

On domestic issues, Mandume, uncharacteristically for a Kwanyama king, laid down new laws which some considered a revival, with his "coherent, integrated vision of the transformation of the Kwanyama state and society".

But, wrote Hayes, his reforms came in piecemeal form.

Notwithstanding, Mandume, again unlike his predecessors, was critical over the impoverishment of the Kwanyama kingdom, criticising the manner in which poorer people and particularly women were exploited, deploring the depletion of natural resources, and showed a vision to restore order and abundance in the kingdom.

But by 1884, Berlin agreements divided the Kwanyama kingdom between the Germans and Portuguese, although there were not to be any occupation or administration of the areas for two decades.

Colonial officials then relied on protection treaties that facilitated migrant labour to southern mines.

Hayes suggested that the First World War changed the situation for Germany and Portugal.

The Portuguese fought with a German force at the border post Naulila and withdrew from southern Angola in 1914.

Mandume was then able to assert Kwanyama hegemony, but with severe food shortages in 1915, the Portuguese returned to carry out a military conquest of northern Okwanyama.

At the same time, South African officials occupied the southern part of the region that was previously claimed by Germany.

A three-day battle ensued at Omongwa, in which Mandume suffered great losses and he was forced to move the kingdom's capital to Oihale and was given protection by the South African Union government with Colonel Pritchard in September 1915.

Napandulwe Shiweda in 2005 in 'Mandume ya Ndemufayo's Memorials in Namibia and Angola' wrote that there were conditions of this protection treaty.

Mandume's access to a neutral zone and his subjects in Angola was prohibited. In January 1916, South African commissioner Manning recommended the creation of a buffer state between Portuguese and British areas, of which Mandume had no access to, where he was confined to the neutral zone, which did not form part of the initial agreement.

Shiweda wrote that Mandume's position was further compromised with criminal elements using his name, and he was unable to sort out criminal grievances imposed on his subjects inside Angola.

According to Shiweda, he then turned his energies to repossessing and reintegrating his land by implementing his authority over his subjects, contrary to colonial laws.

In February 1916 he entered the zone to investigate a case involving a woman who was detained by the Portuguese. He again crossed through the zone in March saying there was a Portuguese raid. When Mandume later pursued and killed headman Mapangasha in the Angolan territory, the Portuguese accused him of travelling 120 miles into the area with 800 fighters and killing a number of people. In Namibia, Mandume's trips were interpreted as a blatant defiance of colonial rule and a violation of the protection agreement.

A battle followed between Mandume and the Portuguese, in which the Portuguese were defeated. Nineteen Portuguese soldiers were killed, they lost horses, ammunition and vehicles.

This, for a period, united the Kwanyamas on both sides of the borders.

In May that year, a South African General Botha advised Mandume to go to Windhoek to "explain his conduct" to the administrator. He refused to go, which, according to Shiweda, was a turning point in the South African administration's disposition towards him, and a decision was taken to dispose of him.

Hayes reported that Mandume responded in the following manner: "If the English want me, I am here and they can come and fetch. I am not a steinbok of the veld, I am a man, and not a woman and I will fight until my last bullet is expended."

In September 1916, discussions in Windhoek were under way to get rid of Mandume, which Shiweda wrote was carried out by the South Africans who rejected joint military action with the Portuguese.

On February 2, 1917 over 270 South African troops left Ondangwa for Namacunde. Mandume had arranged fighters near the Ondonga border while he was at Oihole.

The South Africans avoided the ambushes set up and went to Oihole, where Mandume had between 200 and 300 armed men. The South Africans caught him off guard when they approached his residence from an unanticipated angle. A battle ensued, but Mandume was killed.

Shiweda wrote there are two versions of how Mandume died. The first suggests that he was shot. The other said that he had committed suicide and was subsequently decapitated by the Union forces, a belief emboldened by Mandume's earlier pronouncement that he would kill himself rather than get killed by somebody else.