When Shaka returned to the AmaZulu chiefdom from the AmaMthethwa chiefdom with an entourage and usurped the chieftaincy, he remained subordinate to Chief Dingiswayo, who retained paramountcy across smaller chiefdoms in the vicinity of the AmaMthethwa. Several smaller chiefdoms had already offered submission to Shaka's father, Senzangakona, and Shaka himself had retained strong links with the AmaLanga chiefdom of his mother, including many prominent people of eLangeni who had taken refuge with him in Dingiswayo's growing kingdom. In spite of his contentious relationship with his maternal cousin Makedama, the eLangeni people were the first to come under the AmaZulu chiefdom as Shaka widened the control that his father had already begun to extend. The few small chiefdoms that recognized the authority of Senzangakona, such as the AmaMpongose, also khonza'd the new AmaZulu chief Shaka. But Shaka had already earned a reputation that caused the smaller chiefs to worry about the fate of their people, and their diviners foretold disaster:

When people heard that Tshaka had become king, Ngoza of the Tembu people, and Macingwane, and then Matiwane, all fLed. Matiwane went along the Drakensberg. On the way some of his people lost toes from the cold. Tshaka had not yet made war; he had not yet fought with Zwide. They saw him in the isitundu medicines (medicines made by the diviners for the king to wash with). Diviners in those days still had medicines, unlike those of today, who collect money and doctor with nothing.

The Ama Ngwane, under their chief Matiwane, appear to have fLed first after suffering defeat in a joint attack by the forces of Dingiswayo and Shaka. Matiwane's people were set into fLight again by Shaka a few years later, and in the interim other chiefs had also led their people in an exodus southward. Although his dates are questionable, Shepstone appears to be the most accurate of the sources for early Ama Ngwane history, and he explained that they were settled in the northwestern part “of the present Zululand” until they were attacked by Dingiswayo, who was assisted by the forces of his subordinate chief Shaka.