Biography

Sipopa was a son of the former Lozi King, Mubukwanu, ruler of the south of Bulozi, based at Nalolo whose fight with his brother Silumelume, ruler of the north, for overall control of the Lozi kingdom after the death of their father, Mulambwa, led to the weakness that allowed the Makololo

Makololo

The Makololo are a people of Southern Africa, closely related to the Basotho, from which they separated themselves in the early 19th century. Originally residing in what is now South Africa, they were displaced by the Zulu expansion under Shaka and migrated north through Botswana to Barotseland in...

 to subsume the Luyi kingdom easily.

He was a successor of Mbololo

Mbololo (king)

Mbololo was a Litunga of Makololo tribe, a successor of Liswaniso. He ruled 1863 - 1864. He was the last king of Makololo dynasty.-Family:...

, who was a very cruel king. Sipopa's reign became in 1864.

Some Lozi contenders for power accused Sipopa of retaining the customs of the Makololo tribe.

He took Queen Mamochisane

Mamochisane

Mamochisane was a Makololo Queen who ruled over many people, but especially the Lozi in Barotseland, today's Western Zambia, and was a wife of King Sipopa Lutangu.Her uncle was the king Mbololo.- Biography :...

 for a wife. She was a daughter of Sebetwane

Sebetwane

Sebetwane was a Southern African king, Basotho chief. He established the large and powerful Makololo nation in what is now southwestern Zambia after an arduous migration from his original home - Free State Province....

 and sister of Sekeletu

Sekeletu

Sekeletu was the Makololo King of Barotseland in western Zambia from about 1851 to his death in 1863.- Biography :Sekeletu was a son of the King Sebetwane and Queen Setlutlu. He succeeded his half-sister Mamochisane, who had decided to step down from the throne...

, who was a leper. Mamochisane was widely respected throughout Barotseland

Barotseland

Barotseland is a region in the western part of Zambia, and is the homeland of the Lozi people or Barotse who were previously known as Luyi or Aluyi. Its heartland is the Barotse Floodplain on the upper Zambezi River, also known as Bulozi or Lyondo, but it includes the surrounding higher ground of...

 and Sipopa could well have simply been following a tradition that Sekeletu had followed whereby, when a chief had died, the wife or wives of the deceased
were inherited and cared for by the new chief.

His daughter married a surviving Makololo man by the name of Manengo. Sipopa had a sister called Kandundu.

His successor was Mowa Mamili.