Matsafeni Mdluli

Matsafeni Mdluli (also spelt Mataffin) was a 19th century Swazi chief and warrior who led Swazi military campaigns in the area around present-day Mbombela (formerly Nelspruit) and west of Limpopo, South Africa during the Swazi-Sotho conflicts. He was a military leader for one of the regiments of King Mswati II and later his son King Mbandzeni, called Hhohho.

Matsafeni belonged to the Eswatini aristocratic Mdluli clan that serves as custodian of the Mbilaneni Royal Burial Site and a clan from which the mother of King Bhunu, Queen Labotsibeni Mdluli, was born in Hhohho in c.1858. The Matsafeni settlement on the banks of the Crocodile River near the Mbombela Stadium in South Africa is associated with his military influence and Eswatini's expansionist conquest starting in the mid-1800s. This is where he lived with his 40 wives.