Nsibandze, and two other indunas, at Zombodze in April 1898, the Transvaal administration sought to bring him to trial. Accompanied by his brother, Malunge, he fled across the border into the British colony of Natal. He was saved from deposition by the intervention of the British high commissioner in South Africa, Lord Milner, who held that the Transvaal's attempt to try him was ultra vires. He returned to Swaziland under British protection and a commission of inquiry imposed a fine on him, holding that he had allowed disorderly behaviour within his kingdom. Britain and the Transvaal then combined to add a protocol to the Swaziland convention that purported to reduce his status from king to paramount chief, and removed his powers of criminal jurisdiction. On the outbreak of the South African War in October 1899 the Transvaal's special commissioner, J. C. Krogh, and the British consul, Johannes Smuts, withdrew from Swaziland. General Piet Joubert wrote to Bhunu, indicating that the South African Republic was leaving Swaziland in his hands. He resumed full authority over his kingdom, but he did not live long to enjoy untrammelled power: he died two months later at Zombodze on 10 December. Labotsibeni now became queen regent as well as queen mother and acted in the name of Bhunu's son, Mona, also known as Nkhotfotjeni, who was chosen to succeed at the age of six months; he eventually became paramount chief, and later King Sobhuza II. It was widely believed that Labotsibeni would have preferred her second son, Malunge, a handsome, intelligent, eloquent, and able young man, to succeed Bhunu. His succession would have avoided a very long minority, but it would have been an unacceptable break with Swazi custom. For most of the three-year crisis of the South African War, Labotsibeni was, with the support of a co-regent, Prince Logcogco (a son of King Mswati II), and her council, the last independent ruler in Africa south of the Zambezi. During this period she adopted the habitual stance of a Swazi monarch. While leaning towards the British, she sought to preserve Swaziland as a neutral space and maintained a diplomatic relationship with the South African Republic's forces. She was largely successful in keeping Swaziland out of the war. Exceptional incidents were Thinthitha Dlamini's attack on a party from the Piet Retief commando near Hlatikhulu in February 1901, and General Tobias Smuts's attack on a small unit