The Ndebele people (traditional rivalries of the Shona) had rebelled against the British South Africa Company, and in March 1896 the Matabeleland Rebellion spread into the Shona country. Southern Africa had been experiencing drought and locust plagues, which led to famine. Resentment against the British and their taxes and mandatory inoculations simmered, inflamed by orders to kill and burn infected cattle. Although missionary workers were being ordered to safety, Mizeki refused to leave, rationalizing that his absent bishop’s orders to stay could not be overruled (although the bishop was in England receiving medical treatment for malaria, and would soon die there), and that he had recently extended hospitality to an incapacitated elderly man.