My own personal favorite, not on the list -
Moshoeshoe I, king of Lesotho. Having been dealt what looked like an almost impossible hand (an African monarch sandwiched between the British and Boers) through a combination of diplomatic agility and military success he managed to preserve the core of Lesotho's territory and institutions and is a large part of the reason why Lesotho is an independent country today and not part of South Africa unlike the higher profile and more glamorous Zulus.
My favorite story showing Moshoeshoe's style, in 1851 he was at war with the British empire. After embarrassingly defeating a couple of invasions he pulled off his master stroke - he surrendered. He'd realised that continued resistance would only invite an overwhelming response that would destroy his country so by seeking terms at the height of his success he ensured that those terms would be very generous indeed. The local British commanders, who were worrying about how to explain being humiliated by a native ruler, were only too grateful for the opportunity to construct a victory narrative instead and went along with it.