he signing of the Rudd Concession by Lobengula, King of the Matabele, formed the basis of the British South Africa Company’s charter and the foundation stone of the British occupation of Mashonaland. The agreement was obtained in competition with several other groups anxious to obtain mining rights in the country.

r. Rhodes selected three men to gain the concession from Lobengula. Their leader was Charles Rudd, a serious man who was a director of De Beers, a member of the Cape Parliament, and fanatically loyal to Rhodes. The second man was ‘Matabele” Thompson who spoke several African languages and was on good terms with Lobengula. The third member of the party, Rochfort Maguire, was an Oxford don and capable of framing the anticipated. concession in legal phraseology.

fter five weeks’ travelling Rudd’s party reached Umvutcha Kraal just outside Bulawayo where Lobengula was in residence. The events of the next few weeks are a confused story of clandestine negotiations with rival concessionaires, manipulations and intrigues. The King could neither read nor write and he engaged the advice of the Rev. C. D. Helm of Hope Fountain Mission and Mr. John Smith Moffat, both of whom were on Rudd’s side. Moreover Rudd had most to offer, and on 30 October 1888 Lobengula put his mark to an agreement which granted Rhodes’s company "the complete and exclusive charge over all metals and minerals situated and contained in my Kingdoms, principalities and dominions".

n return Rudd promised to pay Lobengula £100 a month, supply him with 1,000 modern rifles and 100,000 rounds of ammunition, as well as (a happy inspiration on Rhodes’s part) a gun-boat on the Zambezi.

obengula believed that all he was doing was to allow a mere handful of white men to dig a hole in some out-of-the-way place in his dominions. He did not appreciate that he had signed a document which could be interpreted as giving land rights to Rhodes’s group.

ithin a few hours of its signing Rudd was on his way south with the precious concession in his pocket. He lost his way and would have died of thirst had he not been succoured by friendly Bushmen who gave him water from their ostrich-shell containers.