As the sense of crisis gradually lifted on Mswati's southern border, Swazi attention reverted to the north. Here Somcuba remained a nagging irritation, and continued to sour Mswati's relations with the Lydenburg Boers. The sudden dwindling of diplomatic intercourse between the two communities after the Commission of 1851 gives some idea of the level to which relations had sunk. Reference is not even found in surviving documents to the unprecedentedly disruptive invasion of Swaziland by Zulu forces in the last six months of 1852, and even ordinary trading enterprises slowly ground to a halt after Mswati neglected to pay for the goods he had previously received.

The problem of Somcuba was not simply one of his presence in the Republic: his removal of the Ludlambedlu cattle, and his performance of the iNcwala ceremony meant that he was directly usurping Mswati's political and ritual power. Nor, indeed, had he been content to live peaceably under Lydenburg's protection, but had subjected Mswati's people to a variety of harassments, including the murder of Swazi messengers sent to parley with the Boers. Somehow or other his depredations had to be stopped. To begin with, Mswati made at least one attempt in 1853 to tackle the problem by negotiation, but not surprisingly these efforts quickly broke down. In the final analysis Mswati could only be satisfied with Somcuba's death or his delivery into Swazi hands, and this was something to which Lydenburg could plainly not agree.