The independence aspirations of Matabeleland are rooted in the history of the Ndebele kingdom (Mthwakazi), which existed in southwestern Zimbabwe until it was conquered by the British South Africa Company in 1893. The Ndebele people, led by King Lobengula, resisted but were overwhelmed by colonial forces during the First Matabele War.

In independent Zimbabwe (post-1980), Matabeleland became the center of political tension. Early on, opposition to Robert Mugabe’s government by the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU), supported largely by Ndebele communities, led to the brutal Gukurahundi massacres (1983–1987). In this campaign, the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade killed an estimated 20,000 Ndebele civilians in Matabeleland, leaving a deep scar and fueling lasting grievances.

Since then, many Ndebele have felt marginalized politically and economically under Zimbabwe’s Shona-dominated state. This has given rise to independence movements such as the Mthwakazi Liberation Front (MLF) and other civic groups, which argue that the Ndebele people have the right to self-determination and to restore the precolonial state of Mthwakazi.

While Matabeleland has never been an independent modern state, its advocates claim historical legitimacy from the 19th-century Ndebele kingdom and moral legitimacy from the trauma of the Gukurahundi massacres. In recent decades, calls for independence or federal autonomy have grown stronger in the diaspora, though within Zimbabwe these movements face repression.

Today, the idea of an independent Republic of Mthwakazi remains largely symbolic but powerful, serving as a rallying cry for Ndebele identity, justice for historical atrocities, and resistance to continued marginalization.