Mzala Tom Profile picture
24 Mar, 13 tweets, 3 min read
1. THE SOTHO PEOPLE OF ZIMBABWE🇿🇼 (Part 2)

Umnxeba....🧵

The BaBirwa are Sotho people who came from Transvaal in present-day South Africa and settled in modern day Zimbabwe. The language spoken by the Babirwa people, seBirwa, is a dialect of Northern Sotho.
2. The Babirwa in Zimbabwe are found in the South West of Gwanda District, in the villages of Gungwe, Ntalale, Tlhakadiyawa, Kafusi, Mawaza, Mafukung and surrounding villages.
3. When Babirwa moved into the area which is today known as Gwanda (a corruption of the Ndebele word Kwanda, increase),it was inhabited by Jahunda (Kalanga dialect) speaking people & a group of Ndebele who moved southward from the northern side of precolonial Matabeleland South.
4. Other groups of Babirwa left their homes north of Polokwane with other Transvaal migrants again and joined their relatives who left Transvaal for Bokgalaka (Kalangaland),what Sothos called modern day Zimbabwe territory back then.
5. Not all Basotho of Zimbabwe are BaBirwa. Those that are found under Beitbridge district all the way to Manama and surrounding areas are not BaBirwa. These are descendants of Northern Sothos of the then Northern Transvaal who had been displaced off their lands by the Boers.
6. These groups of Basotho travelled in groups usually related. They came from different areas of the then Northern Transvaal as far as Potgietersrus today known as Mokopane.
7. Others came from Polokwane around Moletse areas, Bochum, Taaibosch, Zebediela, Ga Kibi, Botlokwa, Ga Makgato etc and there were also others who were from Venda and others Tsonga speakers who adopted the Sotho spoken in Zimbabwe by association and marriage.
8. Some of the descendants of those people returned to South Africa in the 1920s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 70s, 80s and reunited with their relatives in Northern Transvaal.
9. Today there are many Pedi and Venda speaking people in Limpopo and Venda respectively with Zimbabwean roots from these migration of the returnees. Some Basothos in Zimbabwe are still in touch with the relatives of their ancestors both in South Africa and Botswana.
10. The Sotho language of Zimbabwe which is similar to the Sesotho that is spoken in Musina and surrounding areas is a corrupted Kubu dialect and it is similar to Selobedu. Sotho is an official language in Zimbabwe.
11. Basotho became part of the Ndebele state under King Mzilikazi and adopted totems as their surnames and that is why today, some of them use surnames like Ndlovu, Nyathi, Sibanda, Moyo, Dube, Mdlongwa etc. Others now use their Sotho surnames like Makhurane, Nare, Tlou etc

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More from @tlsibanda

7 Mar
1. THE PRINCESS AND IMBULUMAKHASANE

A Ndebele 🇿🇼 folk tale....

Long, long ago when stones were still soft such that one could pinch them, there was a young, beautiful Ndebele princess.
2. One day during the Inxwala ceremony a young handsome prince from a far away kingdom was dazzled by the princess's beauty during the maidens' parade. He then asked his father to send a delegation to arrange a royal wedding.
3. The young princess and the prince were deeply in love. The prince would travel to the kingdom to meet the princess at secret spot close to the royal bathing place by the riverside.
Read 18 tweets
1 Mar
1. KING MZILIKAZI'S GOVERNANCE STYLE🇿🇼🧵

The evolution of the Ndebele state can be divided into 2 phases: 1.1820-1840 was dominated by migration & wars 2. 1841-1893 saw the Ndebele evolving to a new full-fledged settled heterogeneous state in present day Matabeleland, Zimbabwe.
2. King Mzilikazi's government hierarchy was as follows :
1. Inkosi (King)
2. Indunankulu Yesizwe (Prime Minister)
3. Umphakathi (Inner advisory council)
4.Izikhulu (Outer advisory council/council of prominent men)
5. Izinduna zezigaba (provincial chiefs)
6. Abalisa (headmen)
3. At the bottom of the hierarchy were ordinary men who were aptly called abamnumzana (heads of homesteads). From these you could still find izikhulu who were rich and influential. Eventhough they were not chiefs or military leaders, they had the ear of the king.
Read 11 tweets
20 Feb
1. NDEBELE 🇿🇼 CULTURAL ASTRONOMY & COSMOLOGY

Ancient Ndebele people used celestial knowledge to chart seasons & to regulate agricultural cycles & ritual calendars. Celestial bodies determined healing rituals, divination, social & political decisions.
2. The moon:inyanga was the most significant celestial being that affected several aspects of the Ndebele community. One moon cycle made up a month (inyanga) & thirteen moon cycles made up a year (umnyaka).
3. The emergence of a new moon called Kholiwe, symbolised renewal, restoration and revival of people's lives. Ndebele people would direct a prayer the new moon by chanting 'Kholiwe hamba lomkhuhlane!' Asking the new moon to take away all diseases.
Read 11 tweets
4 Feb
1. THE HLENGWE/TSONGA PEOPLE OF ZIMBABWE🇿🇼

Umnxeba......🧵

The Hlengwe people of Zimbabwe are a subgroup of the Tsonga people – an ethnic group found in four SADC countries : Mozambique, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Swaziland. Hlengwe means wealth.
2. The Hlengwe come from the Nyaka kingdom which was located along the northern coast of the present-day KwaZulu-Natal up to the present-day Mozambican capital city of Maputo. The Nyaka kingdom is believed to have been in existence by around the end of the 14th century.
3. The Hlengwe people inhabit parts of the south east Lowveld of Zimbabwe which is part of the low lying country and includes most of Mozambique between the Save and Limpopo Rivers.
Read 17 tweets
31 Dec 20
1. THE WITCHCRAFT TRIAL OF PRINCESS MNCENGENCE KHUMALO 🇿🇼

Umnxeba .... 🧵

Princess Mncengence was King Lobhengula's sister who rose to prominence after Lobhengula's succession of King Mzilikazi. In the Ndebele kingdom there were two capital offences : treason and witchcraft. Image
2. The crime of ubuthakathi was significant in that there was a belief that for misfortune to occur in a person's life it was either the person's amadlozi were angry and needed to be appeased or the misfortune was caused by witchcraft.Only an isanusi/seer could sniff out a witch.
3. When king Lobhengula ascended to the throne, he continued with the alliance between the Ndebele and the Shangani kingdom. He married a Shangani Princess Xhwalile Nxumalo the daughter of King Mzila of the Gasa people. Image
Read 10 tweets
28 Dec 20
1.THE TITLES OF MARRIED WOMEN ACCORDING TO ANCIENT NDEBELE🇿🇼 CUSTOMS

In the olden days marriages revolved around blood covenants between families and were not founded on a private agreement between two lovers.
2. A woman is the one who got taken /ukuthathwa by a family and got converted to be their own through sacred rituals. There was no exclusive covenant between a woman and her husband but between a woman and the husband's clan. Hence the man could marry more women.
3. The first stage after marriage for a woman was that of being umalukazana. Umalukazana is derived from the word ukwaluka/ ukwalukwa - meaning to be initiated. Umalukazana thus referred to a female initiate being grafted into a new family through various rituals.
Read 11 tweets

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