Lozikeyi
Lozikeyi Dlodlo (c. 1855-1919) was a queen regent{{Cite book|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195382075.001.0001/acref-9780195382075-e-1191 |isbn = 978-0-19-538207-5|title = Dictionary of African Biography|chapter = Lozikeyi Dhlodhlo |date = 2011|publisher = Oxford University Press}} of the Ndebele people in Southern Africa.
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Lozikeyi Dlodlo
| title = Queen of Ndebele
| titletext =
| image = Lozikeyi Dlodlo (died 1919) was a queen of the Ndebele people.jpg
| more =
| succession =
| reign-type =
| birth_date = c. 1855
| death_date = 1919
| Tenure =
}}
Background
Lozikeyi was one of the favourite wives of Lobengula,{{Cite ODNB |title=Lozikeyi |date=2004-09-23 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/61728 |editor-last=Matthew |editor-first=H. C. G. |access-date=2023-08-25 |place=Oxford |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/61728 |editor2-last=Harrison |editor2-first=B.}} and a senior queen, until 1893. She had no sons, only daughters, yet even so was influential in the attempt to have the son of a co-wife serve as her husband's successor. She was known for her outspokenness{{cite book|author=Kathleen E. Sheldon|title=Historical Dictionary of Women in Sub-Saharan Africa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=36BViNOAu3sC|year=2005|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-5331-7}} and for her defiance of the white settlers in what would later become Rhodesia.{{cite web|url=https://www.southerneye.co.zw/2015/08/13/outcry-over-neglect-of-queen-lozikeyis-grave/|title=Outcry over neglect of Queen Lozikeyi's grave - Southern Eye|website=www.southerneye.co.zw|access-date=22 September 2017}} When her husband disappeared, she served for a time as de facto regent of the kingdom.{{cite web|url=http://www.chronicle.co.zw/lozikeyi-queen-of-bulawayo/|title=Lozikeyi: Queen of Bulawayo - The Chronicle|website=www.chronicle.co.zw|date=31 May 2014 |access-date=22 September 2017}} Her place of retirement in the Bembezi River was an island which came to be known as the "Queen's Location". Lozikeyi died at Nkosikazi in Bubi District of influenza; her grave in the vicinity may still be visited, although its condition has been described as "neglected".{{cite web|url=https://www.southerneye.co.zw/2015/06/03/queen-lozikeyis-grave-neglected/|title=Queen Lozikeyi's grave neglected - Southern Eye|website=www.southerneye.co.zw|access-date=22 September 2017}} Nearby is a school for which she lobbied and which she opened; it still serves students, although it has not been modernized. She was the subject of a biography, Lozikeyi Dlodlo Queen of the Ndebele: "A Very Dangerous and Intriguing Woman" by Marieke Faber Clarke and Pathisa Nyathi, published in 2013.{{cite journal|title=Lozikeyi Dlodlo Queen of the Ndebele: 'A Very Dangerous and Intriguing Woman'|first=Sabelo J.|last=Ndlovu-Gatsheni|date=2 January 2014|journal=South African Historical Journal|volume=66|issue=1|pages=196–197|doi=10.1080/02582473.2013.855810|s2cid=143765858}} Four photographs of her are in the collection of the Bodleian Library in Oxford,{{cite web|url=http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/blcas/queen-lozikeyi.html|title=Queen Lozikeyi Photos|website=www.bodley.ox.ac.uk|access-date=22 September 2017}} which featured her in an exhibit during the construction of a new wing.{{cite web|url=https://daleybites.wordpress.com/2014/09/12/q-is-for-queen-lozikeyi-exhibiting-the-african-womans-body-in-the-21st-century-repetitions-oh-repetitions/|title='Q is for Queen Lozikeyi': Exhibiting the African woman's body in the 21st Century – repetitions, oh repetitions!|date=12 September 2014|access-date=22 September 2017}}
Queen of the Ndebele
Queen Lozikeyi took over leadership of the Ndebele nation due to the constitutional precedent among the Nguni people.{{Cite book|title=Lozikeyi Dlodlo: Queen of the Ndebele : a Very Dangerous and Intriguing Woman|last=Marieke Clarke, Pathisa Nyathi|publisher=Bulawayo: Amagugu|year=2010|isbn=978-0-7974-4266-5|pages=116}} Queen Lozikeyi was not the first woman to lead in this capacity. But rather was a part of a collection of strong influential royal woman in Nguni society. Queen Labotsibeni Mdluli was queen mother of Swaziland from 1889 to her death in 1919.
Anglo-Matabele war of 1896
Lozikeyi Dlodlo played an important role in the Anglo-Matabele war of 1896. She was in charge of the King's army. Together with her twin brother, Muntuwani, she ensured that the army had enough ammunition ahead of the 1896 war by using the weaponry her husband did not use in the first Anglo-Matabele war of 1893.
References
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Category:19th-century monarchs in Africa
Category:20th-century monarchs in Africa
Category:Female regents in Africa
Category:Deaths from the Spanish flu pandemic
Category:Infectious disease deaths in Zimbabwe
Category:People from Matabeleland North Province