On the Moyo-Lozwi or Rozvi: Are they Kalanga or Shona?

If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can only be maintained for such a time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of that lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State - Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Propaganda Chief.

The Questions of Identity - are the Moyo Kalanga or Shona?

One of the biggest questions of identity dogging Zimbabwe today, especially in Matebeleland, the Midlands and the Maswingo Provinces is that of the people that bear the Moyo surname. It is very common to hear the phrase, “vele bonke oMoyo ngama Shona.” Yet on the other hand in Mashonaland and Maswingo, one also hears those Moyo people, the Lozwi, or as they are known there, the Rozvi, arguing that they are a people of Kalanga stock.

Of course no confusion on the identity of the Moyo-Lozwi exists among us Bakalanga because we have always known that the Moyo surname is the biggest Kalanga surname in terms of numbers. In fact, right across Matebeleland the Moyo surname is the biggest, totally unrivalled by any other. Because of the confusion that seems to be surrounding the question of the identity of the Moyo people, I thought it worthwhile to answer the question - are the Moyo people Shona or Kalanga?

This question is asked in light of the fact that some Shona scholars and elites claim that the Moyo-Lozwi people are Shona, and some sections of the Mthwakazi movement claim that the Moyo-Lozwi are Shona. Of course the latter claim is the one that has larger implications for us here in Matebeleland, for it may well mean that if the Moyo are Shona, then Matebeleland may as well be renamed Mashonaland [Perish the thought!].

The Rise of the Moyo-Lozwi in the 1690s and Venda Relations?

There is a great deal of speculation and confusion regarding not only the identity but the origins of the Moyo people who for the last 150 years before the Nguni invasions were the rulers of the whole land that is now called Zimbabwe, directly or indirectly. One writer has called them the Prussians of the tribes of Rhodesia.

This confusion has been compounded by the fact that during the invasion of the Ngoni of Zwangendaba and the Matabele of Mzilikazi in the mid-1800s, the Lozwi were scattered all over Zimbabwe and other Southern African countries, so much that many a Lozwi today is identified as Ndebele, Zezuru, Manyika, Lozi, etc.

But, who were and are the Lozwi?

Concerning the rise of the Lozwi, we are informed by J.K. Renne that:

*******

In the 1680s, the Togwa dynasty [the Kalanga polity which was based at Khami], which had been one of the successor states to Great Zimbabwe, was conquered by the Lozwi of Tjangamire Dombo (Moyo–Nitombo [=Dombolakona-Tjing’wango]) who is attested in Portuguese accounts and who is apparently to be identified with the orally remembered figure of Mambo Dlembewu. This is consistent with the archeological record, which sees the abandonment of Khami after the seventeenth century, to be succeeded by the less magnificent constructions of Manyangwa and Danangombe. Prior to the seventeenth century conquest, ‘Togwa’ power evidently spread south of the Limpopo into what is now Venda country. There it was similarly overlain by a conquering group related to the Moyo-Lozwi.

The Venda record that the earlier layer of Tavhatshinde chiefs had come from the north, where they spoke with ‘Mwali’. Their leader was Netshiendeulu (=Tjibundule). They were conquered by VeleLambelo (=Dlembewu) whose followers formed the ruling Khwinde layer, which had clear links with the Moyo-Lozwi of Tjangamire Dombo. The power of the ‘Togwa’ rulers, or at least their influence, also spread east to their (presumed) ancestral home at [Great] Zimbabwe, until their heartland was conquered by Dombo (Renne 1979, 25).

*******

Now, before going any further, let me explain the name Tjangamire. On the first reading one may assume that this is a Shona word. But the reality is that this name (or the title that it was) is a combination of two words, a Kalanga and an Arabic word. It is a combination of the names Tjanga and emir/amir, which is Arabic for ‘justice’.

We will remember that the Arabs were traders in this land, and they carried the emir title from their homeland to Bukalanga as an address to Tjanga, who was the Governor of Bukalanga. Tjangamire therefore means ‘Tjanga the Justice/Governor’. The emir title is still in use today in most Arab countries, which is why some of them are called ‘emirates’, like the United Arab Emirates.

On Kalanga-Venda Oral Traditions and Relations

Now, going back to the identity of the Moyo-Lozwi and their Venda relations as related above by Renne, let us take a look at some of the oldest oral records that we have. In addition to the fact that we saw last week that most Venda clans of today are of Bukalanga stock, we read the following in Venda history:

It is related in Venda history that during the 18th century, a group of people belonging to the Kalanga-Lozwi tribe in present-day Zimbabwe migrated south, crossing the Limpopo River. As they wandered up the valley of the Nzhelele River, they had the good fortune to stumble upon a beautiful new homeland at the foot of the mysterious Zoutpansberg Mountain Range in the Northern (now Limpopo) Province. They promptly named the mountain range, Venda (i.e., pleasant place), and settled there (preceding information from http://www.africanexplore.com).

Perhaps to better understand the Kalanga-Venda relationships briefly here, let us turn to Kalanga oral traditions collected in the 1920s by Kumile Masola in his Nau dza Bakalanga. In these traditions we are told that the people that have entered history as the Lozwi actually migrated from Venda and overthrew the Togwa Kingdom under King Tjibundule. This is supposed to have happened in the following way:

***********

Tjibundule had been chief of the Kalanga when, unawares, the Nyayi [we learned that they are one of the Venda groups from Bukalanga] from Venda crossed the Limpopo and camped at the Ntugwi (Tuli) River, at a place that later became known as Lutombo gwabaNyayi (Hill of the BaNyayi). The origin of the name BaNyayi was that the Lozwi had ambassadors (or spies) who spied on the country of Tjibundule.

They had a chief by the name of Netjasike (with the childhood name Tjilisamhulu), who too became very powerful in the land and was also referred to as Nhu Unotapa, a title that for centuries had signified the lord of the land, the Monomotapa of the Portuguese. Netjasike had in his council of advisers Nhale and Ninhembgwe, who was the father of the famous general and medicine-man, Tumbale Bhepe-la-Mambo, of the Bhebhe clan.

Tjibundule and Nitjasike are said to have established good relations as neighbors, and constantly visited each other. But in due course, Nitjasike started developing an interest in Tjubundule’s country for its peace, glory and splendor, and set out plans on how to overthrow Tjibundule and take over the kingship.

Nitjasike, after a number of failed attempts to overthrow Tjibundule, finally succeeded in doing so by using the instrument of his daughter, Bagedze Moyo, who he gave for a wife to Tjibundule. After overthrowing Tjibundule, he took over as Mambo (King) of Tjibundule’s territory, and united the Kalanga of Tjibundule with his own Kalanga (BaNyayi = BaLozwi as we shall see later) into one people.

*******

Such is the Kalanga oral tradition in this regard. But we further ask, were the BaNyayi of Kalanga oral tradition the same people as the BaLozwi of Portuguese records? That seems to be certainly the case. Let us turn to an analysis of Portuguese documents related to this question and references to the ‘Land of Urobze’ done by W.G.L. Randles. He wrote:

*******

Ignacio Caetano Xavier wrote in 1758 that Tjangamire’s lands were populated by the Barobzes, who are in all probability to be identified with the BaLozwi, the dominant ethnic group on the plateau until the Zulu revolution precipitated the Nguni hordes northward. Antonio da Conceicao (1696) confirms the manner of Tjangamire’s going but does not state exactly where he had gone with the royal livestock [which had been entrusted to his care by the Monomotapa]. He simply remarks that Tjangamire went into ‘an area of Mocaranga adjoining Abutua.’ [Mocaranga was a Portuguese rendering of Makalanga].

An anonymous manuscript written towards the end of the eighteenth century, in which moreover Urobze and Butua appear as one and the same, speaks of Urobze as a very extensive territory belonging to Tjangamire:

… Urobze lies a long way from Manica, it would take a month to reach it, it is said to be nearer to the Cape of Correntes. The Africans call it Goromucuro; it lies to the west of Manica. The Kingdom abounds in rolling veld plains. There are huge herds … There are many birds called ‘emas’ [ostriches]. There are also very few trees, if at all, and firewood is replaced by cow-dung dried in the sun … The men and women are mis-shapen, they run very swiftly, are robust and fearless …, their language rough and each word is produced with such a vehement click of the tongue that one would say they are tearing the sounds violently from the very depths of their beings.

It seems probable that the name Urobze may first have been applied to a territory lying in the middle of the plateau, between Monomotapa and Butua, and then to the territory which extended right over the south-west sector, to the south of the river Umfuli, which was the southern border of Monomotapa.

Nevertheless, it is not clear what Goromucuro corresponds to. The image “abounds in rolling veld plains” evokes the Butua of the sixteenth century texts; the abundance of livestock, the existence of ostriches, the sparseness of trees and a population speaking in a language of clicks [the San], clearly indicates the region stretching between the Shangani and the Shashi in the south-west of the plateau bordering on the Kalahari, that is, Butua where the large settlements of Khami, Nalatale and Dhlodhlo were to be found (Randles 1979, 16-17).

*******

It can be seen from the above statements that the land of Urobze of the Portuguese documents, doubtless the land of BuLozwi, is the region south and south west of Zimbabwe. This is the same land identified by Kalanga oral tradition as the homeland of the Lozwi.

Are the Banyayi and BaLozwi the Same People Group?

But still, the question has not been answered of whether the Nyayi of Kalanga oral tradition and the Lozwi of Portuguese documents were indeed the same people as pointed out in Kalanga oral tradition. We go back to Randles. He wrote:

*******

This, of course, raises the question of whether the Lozwi were of Kalanga origin, and the answer is not clear. The Kalanga are, as we have seen, mentioned in Portuguese sources from 1506 and then seem to be occupying the whole of the plateau. The Lozwi, under the name of Barobzes, make an appearance only around the middle of the eighteenth century and occupied only the south-west sector.

According to Pacheco, the conquerors from the north of the plateau were known as Banyai. But Livingstone at the time of his travels near Tjikoba (north-east Zimbabwe) wrote: “Here they call themselves the Bambiri, though the general name of the whole nation is Banyai.”

Now, Carl Mauch, one of the first explorers to penetrate north of the Limpopo coming from the Transvaal, came across the Banyai at the other end of the plateau, around 20o 30 S and 30o 50 E, a little to the south of the Zimbabwe ruins. From the middle of the eighteenth century we find the usage of the word “munhai” (munyai), that is the singular; Antonio Pinto de Miranda (c. 1766) did not hesitate to make a Portuguese plural of this Bantu singular and so wrote the “munhaes” are “the officers charged with the duty of proclaiming decrees and orders of the emperors [of Monomotapa]”.

According to Ignacio Caetano Xavier (1758), they were “a sort of janissary” army of the Monomotapa. For Lacerda e Almeida (1797) the “munhaes” are quite simply the vassals of the Monomotapa. Finally, Posselt (1935) likens the Banyai to the Lozwi.

In a subject where many questions are easier to ask than to answer, let us formulate an hypothesis which seems attractive: the Banyai could have been a dominant group within the Kalanga people who left the south to conquer the north of the plateau, while the Lozwi could have constituted the nucleus of the dissidents who rallied to Tjangamire, took root in the south-west and then, in 1693, launched into the conquest of the north-east under Tjangamire II [Randles uses here Tjangamire II (that is Dombolakona-Tjing’wango Dlembewu) to differentiate him from the 1490 Tjangamire (Tjangamire I].

Thus, perhaps, when the Kalanga in the fifteenth century began their expansion toward the north and the Indian Ocean, they also advanced into the south-west at the same time as part of a single concerted movement. This indeed seems to be the interpretation expressed in the accounts of Alcacova and Barros, at least for the period up to the time of the revolt of Tjangamire I, when two factions developed separately, one in the south-west, the other in the north-east and on the coast (Randles 1979, 19-21).

*******

Going by the hypothesis of Randles, there can be no doubt that the BaNyayi of Kalanga oral tradition and the BaLozwi of Portuguese records are one and the same people. But we still further ask: were the BaNyayi or BaLozwi a Kalanga people as I have already stated above?

This question becomes very important to ask in light of the claims by some that the BaNyayi are the ancestors of the modern Shona. That the BaNyayi are the same race as Bukalanga is attested to by a number of writers.

Let us first hear from E. P. Mathers, a British Newspaper journalist. Mathers travelled with the Pioneer Column from South Africa in its entrance into Zimbabwe, and had his newspaper reports compiled into a book titled Zambesia: England's El Dorado in Africa - being a description of Matebeleland and Mashonaland, and less known adjacent territories, and an account of the gold fields of British South Africa. He wrote in 1891:

*******

To the country between the Tuli and Lunde [Lundi] Rivers the name of Banyailand may be very properly given, as it is inhabited by a number of petty so called Banyai chiefs, who, by some account are tributary to Lo Bengula, but who by others refuse to recognize the Matabele monarch as their King … At the time of the entrance of the British Pioneer column, the Makalaka would be described as “chickenhearted” people living in constant dread of Matabele raids. The Makalaka, or Banyai people, a mild and inoffensive race lived in daily and hourly terror of the Matabele (Mathers 1891, 350, 355, 360).

*******

Mathers, like other writers of the 19th and early 20th century, uses the names Makalaka and BaNyayi interchangeably, Makalaka being the Sotho-Tswana rendering for Makalanga. One other such writer is Mr. Theodore Bent who worked with the Kalanga during his excavations in 1891, having fifty of them in his employ. He too clearly stated that the names Makalanga, Makalaka, and Banyayi were interchangeable and referring to the same people group.

We will be doing well to remember that Bent tells us that the information he presents to us in his book he got it on the spot in contact with the Kalanga themselves, and that it is themselves who gave him their national name. He wrote in 1892:

*******

All the people and tribes around Zimbabwe [Great Zimbabgwe], down to the Sabi River and North to Fort Charter - and this is the most populous part of the whole country - call themselves by one name, though they are divided into many tribes, and that name is Makalanga.

In answer to questions as to their nationality they invariably call themselves Makalangas, in contradistinction to the Shangans, who inhabit the east side of the Sabi River. ‘You will find many Makalangas there,’ ‘A Makalanga is buried there,’ and so on. The race is exceedingly numerous, and certain British and Dutch pioneers have given them various names, such as Banyai and Makalaka (Bent 1892, 32).

*******

The explorer and hunter James Chapman, in 1863, was told the same thing about the Banyayi as he made an inquiry into the identity of the people he had encountered on the Zambezi Valley, who he discovered to be BaNambya and Bakalanga. As to their origins, he wrote:

*******

All the tribes here are descendants of the Banyai, a nation further to the east. The Makalakas were a distinct and independent people beyond the memory of man … The great-grandfather of the present Wankie, also called Whange, fled from his father Gole, chief of the Banyai, and set up for himself … The Banabea [Banambya] claim descent from a great Banyai chief called Mambo, one of whose titles was Dalamo (Tabler 1968, 73, 146).

*******

Mr. FWT Posselt who worked in Bukalanga [Plumtree] and Mashonaland [Marondera] writing in 1935, also informs us that the Banyayi are a Kalanga race. About them he wrote, quoting the Reverend Henry Junod, a missionary who worked with Kalanga and Tsonga people in the 1880s:

“According to some of the native historians the Baloyi [=BaLozwi] came from the BaNyai country along the Nwanati, who also belonged to the Nyai or Kalanga race…” (Posselt 1935, 143).

The German explorer Herr Karl Mauch had already pointed out back in 1871 that the BaNyayi are a Kalanga race. He wrote concerning Great Zimbabwe, “The name of the hill with the ruins is Zimbabye or, possibly Zimbaoe. The former name is the name given to it by the local Makalakas or Banyais (Bernhard and Bernhard 1969, 148). Elsewhere he uses the names BaNyayi, Makalaka and Balosse interchangeably, Balosse being the German rendering for BaLozwi (ibid., 203, 204 and 215).

It is indeed, with the above evidence, beyond any reasonable doubt that the BaNyayi are the same people as the Lozwi, and these are Kalanga peoples. [It is interesting to note that Banyayi in Zambia, Botswana and South Africa today still identify as Bakalanga and/or Vhavenda, and some still use the surname Moyo.]

However, some argue that the Lozwi became Kalanga by acculturation. For example, Dr G.C. Mazarire suggests the following concerning the Kalanga-Lozwi relationship:

*******

A Rozvi invasion of the 1690s successfully took over the area and set up the Changamire state which mainly functioned as a confederacy of tributary agnates. The Rozvi dynasty intermarried with the ‘Kalanga’ and adopted their dialect thus preserving the cultural continuity of the Kalanga. This way a sense of cultural fluidity came into place characterized by exchange and inculturation between the two groups (Mazarire 2003, Online).

*******

Professor G. P. Lestrade has also argued that “the BaLozwi are not a Kalanga people” (in Robinson 1963, 2). But the evidence to the contrary seems to be overwhelming. The archaeologist Professor Keith R. Robinson, after a wide ranging study of Lozwi archaeology, could not reach a precise conclusion on the Lozwi-Kalanga relationship, and only wrote:

“On the other hand, they are undoubtedly associated with the Kalanga, no doubt at first as rulers, but as time went on inter-marriage may have brought about a more intimate relationship” (Robinson 1963, 3).

*******

Even with these expressed doubts, there seems to be available adequate evidence upon which we can safely conclude that the BaNyayi are one and the same people with the BaLozwi, and that these are people of Bukalanga stock. Interestingly, even the Rozvi or Lozwi in Mashonaland today are claiming Bukalanga origins.

And TjiKalanga was the Lingua Franca of the Lozwi Kingdom

One other simple way of telling that indeed the Lozwi were and are a Kalanga people group is that TjiKalanga was the lingua franca or state language of the Lozwi Kingdom. It is unthinkable that in a period of about 150 years the Lozwi, if they were not a Kalanga group, and hence having a language of their own, would have totally lost their language as to use TjiKalanga as their official language, which would be incredible considering that they were the rulers, for it is very uncommon for those who are rulers to completely lose their language and identity to those upon whom they are ruling. Surely, if they were Zezuru or anything Shona, we have every right to expect them to have been using ChiZezuru as their state language, but alas, that was not the case!

Another way of establishing that the Lozwi are a Kalanga people group is observation of their population distribution today, mostly identified by the Moyo surname. The Moyo-Lozwi are mainly concentrated in the so-called Matebeleland (as well as the Midlands and Maswingo) Provinces and are actually the majority there, whereas there are very few of them in Mashonaland. How can they be ancestors of the Shona and be so few in that region?

Even if we were to make allowance for change of surnames to clan progenitor’s name as is the practice in Mashonaland, that still does not account for the small Lozwi population in that part of the country. Even the Lozwi concentrated in Bikita and surrounding districts we know that they moved from what we may call western Bukalanga, the so-called Matebeleland, during the Nguni invasions in the mid-1800s.

Conclusion, OK, so What?

We can conclude that yes, the Moyo-Lozwi, who are the largest population group in the so-called Matebeleland, are of Bukalanga stock, not Shona stock. This also means that the Lozwi Kingdom, which was the leading polity in what is now Zimbabwe for 150 years before the coming of the Nguni, was a Bukalanga [Bakalanga, Banambya, Balobedu and Vhavenda] Kingdom, not a Shona kingdom as is taught in school.

Secondly, it means that the claim that Matebeleland was once Shona land stolen by the Ndebele is ABSOLUTELY FALSE and without any historical basis. The 1979 Zanu Grand Plan is therefore based on a BIG LIE.

I therefore say forward the the struggle for freedom, self-government and self-determination. Forward with the push for Devolution of Power and/or Federalism. Gone are the days when a distorted history was used to marginalize and oppress non-Shona people branding them as foreigners from Zululand who stole Shona land, cattle and women! THIS COUNTRY BELONGS TO ALL WHO LIVE IN IT, BLACK, WHITE, SHONA, NDEBELE, SOTHO, VENDA, NAMBYA, KALANGA, TONGA, ETC.

-------------------------

Ndzimu-unami Emmanuel is author of two books, The Rebirth of Bukalanga and Zimbabwe: The Case for Federalism. He can be contacted by email on ndzimuunami@gmail.com  

Comments

  1. Again I take issue with some of your reasoning. You are relying sorely on authority of past figures without clearly articulating the justification. It would be better if you said why these figures from the past said what they did and by what reasoning they are correct. They were foreigners and ignorant of our culture and history, and I think you are giving them too much weight and no criticality.

    Also I quote: "All the people and tribes around Zimbabwe [Great Zimbabgwe], down to the Sabi River and North to Fort Charter - and this is the most populous part of the whole country - call themselves by one name, though they are divided into many tribes, and that name is Makalanga.

    In answer to questions as to their nationality they invariably call themselves Makalangas, in contradistinction to the Shangans, who inhabit the east side of the Sabi River. ‘You will find many Makalangas there,’ ‘A Makalanga is buried there,’ and so on."
    In my humble opinion, this refers unambigously not to Kalanga but to the Karanga. The geography described here is both their past and present region of residents. The Shangaans are neighbour to Karanga not kalanga. The shangaans also refer to their karanga neighbours as kalanga.

    I would also suggest the same of Mauch. He lived among Chief Mugabe's tribe who were and are recognised as karanga

    No weight can therefore be placed in writings of a confused period in which karanga is written down as kalanga. There is much evidence of karanga being written as kalanga. There is a dictionary called "The vocabulary of tebele and kalanga languages". This document has karanga in it instead of kalanga.

    I will also say that your double standards of assigning much scrutiny to shona historical sources while there is not critical analysis of source which support your position. Masola's material is an example. You accept it verbatim which is not really scholarly.

    Another fact you ignore is that a lot of the leading houses of the rozvi fled from matebeleland and were granted residence among the Duma Karanga. Including the last Mambo. They were transfered to Gokwe in Shangwe country in the last century after tension with the Duma where some were given chieftainces or headmanship. They are with us today and are the source of most of the shona traditions you so readily scorn. Will you deny that the late Tongai Moyo was Rozvi? Since you are asking us to chose your traditions over theirs you should provide more reasons and not rely on authority. Do you want the truth or propaganda? From reading your blog, it would seem the kalanga are the source of all that is good and the shona the epitomisation of evil. The same goes to the ndebele who you can only accept for political expediency and then, only as juniors to kalanga. Ethnic chauvinism is seductive but I urge you to reject it. In the same way that shona deny kalanga identity you have denied the Nambya and the Venda their identity, despite the fact that they have different culture language and traditions. While Nambya might be a kalanga dialect it is not mutually intellegible with lilima, the dialect passing for standard kalanga. I hope you see the irony of your position.

    ReplyDelete
  2. There is no doubt that the Kalanga were the first settlers in what is now Zimbabwe. The Karanga are indeed Kalanga. They were called that way by shona speakers who substituted r for l. The Karanga and Zezurus are not the best of friends. Do you know why? The Zezuru have always wanted to claim ownership of Zimbabwe. The truth is that the peaceful Kalanga / karanga did. There is overwhelming evidence that shows that Great Zimbabwe was the main city of the Kalanga kingdom. When Mzilikazi came in, he was given the rainmaker Mukwati - a Kalanga to station at Matopos. The Kalanga indeed built Great Zimbabwe under Mambo - a Kalanga. Ndebeles have a song that goes this way, "Kudala kwakungenje, kwaku busa uMambo no Mzilikazi". It simply means, in the past there were two rulers / nations - that of Mambo and the other of Mzilikazi. The fact that Mambo's is mentioned first by Ndebeles, shows that it was the bigger and older - and that Mambo gave Mzilikazi permission to settle there hence they honoured him. Yes the lie is taught in schools with false claims of the shona of having built Great Zimbabwe. It was the Kalanga.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If we should take into consideration the true fact that the very earth we inhibit is 1.3 million times smaller than the son, people would know to always tell the bare truth than wanting to glory in vain lies, what actualy does people gain or lose by telling lies? Now is time for the truth to prevail, if my mother was raped by an unknown and I was born as a result, do I go about claiming belonging to the unknown rapist or clinging to the reality of my single parent? We highly respect the zezuru, ndebeles and shonas, but the bare truth is that the country was ruled by karangas prior to the arival of diverse tribes who are in leadership presently.

      Delete
    2. I think anonymous does not understand the History of Zimbabwe, anywayy put it plainly, Changamire Dombo is the first Rozvi person period. The Kalanga now in the west of the country existed way before Changamire, he was a rich cattle owner who used to give people his cattle to heard and for time reward them with some depending on how well they did. Now the Portuguese who had a strategy to have a huge colony coast to coast were pushing inland displacing people west were there were tsestefly and creating Prazos on the plateaus where confiscating Changamire's cattle who was located at Matopos. He galvanizaed the population to expel the intruders and created and empire called the Rozvi empire. There is no tribe called ZeZuru a misnomer for VeZuru, those in the north or top. So, if there is no group as such how can they be in conflict, there is Shava (Mhofu/Mpofu) and they are both in the south and north and come from same forefather, same for Shavasha (soko/ncube), shumba (Budya) Nyati, both north and south. The rest came with the pioneer column so how there be bad blood. You will fool yourself.

      Delete
    3. Point of correction; The Kalanga are not the first settlers in Zimbabwe as the San and Tonga came earlier. Thanks.

      Delete
    4. @Nkambeni the San call themselves Ngarange-Khwe which is kalanga-people and Sotho-tswana is kgalagadi or kgalaka or khalaka

      Delete
  3. Is Robert Mugabe related to the Mugabe people in Great Zimbabwe area of Masvingo?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No definitely not...There is a very long distance between Malawi and Great Zimbabwe

      Delete
    2. Mugabe is a Zezuru Musundi-Karigamombe-Tsiwo- Zvimba (Gushungo clan) .They are Shona speakers.

      Delete
  4. The word Shona is of Ndebele origin. The general information is that it comes from swina, (tsvina), a derogatory term used by the Ndebele to refer to all those who were resisting incorporation into their nation, or not handing over food by 'disappearing into caves' with their food stocks during the Matabele raids ("baphombe batshona nje emabhalwini…"). Mzilikazi did have demanding nation building requirements – he had no choice. The numbers were against him. After the scattering of the Karanga/Kalanga state and people, anyone who was not within the state was subject to constant raids and called by this derogatory term (swina). The white colonialists further entrenched this term by calling it Shona – (I say white colonialists to distinguish them from the Ndebele, who were also colonialists). There is no tribe called Shona, but there is a language now called Shona (just like Swahili, a mixture of Kalanga/Karanga dialects!). There is, and always has been, the Karanga/Kalanga people, most likely Kalanga was the original term corrupted by the Portuguese as they replaced the ‘L’ with ‘R’. There are no Zezurus or Korekore either. Zezuru is a Portuguese term which refers to 'highlander' and Korekore is another corruption for ‘kurekure’, which the southerners (in the Guruuswa area) used to refer to their wing in Mutapa’s capital. The terms Nyai, Kalanga/Karanga predate everything else. The Mutapa, Torwa, Rozvi, Guruuswa (Butwa) states were all metropolitan, with many ‘chieftainships’ representing many subtribes. Karanga/Kalanga refers to a group of people rather than a single tribe.

    All people of these lands were (and are still) identified by their animal totems – Moyo (the ruling class) was originally not a totem, but simply referred to the ruling class. In referring to these people as Shona people, the writer is missing a vital point. In as much as I appreciate your effort in digging up our past, I note a tendency to base it on current unbalanced political dispensation to elevate one group over the other. I, personally, have no doubt that at the epicentre of our history, the modern Kalanga dialect is closer to the language of our forefathers than any of the other dialects. Its isolation means it will have been corrupted less by foreign languages, until the arrival of the Ndebele. Beach, may have written about people pointing 'northwards' as their origins, but my grandmother was very clear and explicit about the location of Guruuswa. '... takabva ku Guruuswa nekuda kwemaDzviti...' (we came from Guruuswa running away from the Ndebele). This migration is too recent to be forgotten. I would agree with your assertion that the Shona were never in the South & Western of Zimbabwe if I knew who you are referring to as the Shona. But if you are referring to many of the subchiefs of the Dzimbahwe, Mutapa, Torwa, Guruuswa states scattered as far as Murehwa, then I do not agree with you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I find myself too often having to do this, Guru Usva, long grass, they meant the great lakes, now for you MuRozvi the Dzwiti she refers to is not Mzilikazi, it is Zvangendaba, he severed the head of Mambo, son of Changamire the first Rozvi, that then made the Moyo people migrate north east trying to reach Portuguese garrisons on the north coast of present day Moz for protection, bu they moved in waves, there were no cars, some of the chiefs would suffer swollen legs from gaut and the people will settle there and eventually never leave again. So people always think it was Mzilikazi who was the first Dzwiti and that they had bad intent in actual fact most of these forces came to stop the spread of colonialist as resistance forces against those who wanted to embrace the new world. Mambo's head is cut for being too friendly with Portuguese marrying his sister to people his father had expelled (calling them Moyo Sinyoro (Senio) )

      Delete
    2. actually it orginally comes from Zulus and it was given to shona by their king due to the way shonas used to despair or hide

      Delete
    3. Shona came Asian word sayouna which means gold

      Delete
  5. Hello there. I am in search of some answers... Does any one know izithakazelo of the Moyo clan. PLEASE help me out as I am trying to find out my roots. Thank you I would really appreciate all the help.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Mate. Moyo clan have different izithakazelo/izitemo, e.g my clan is called 'abako Gwayi,' yet the other Moyo's i know of are called 'abako Dewa'. So i think there is a lot of Moyo's with different izithakazelo/izitemo that i don't know of. I hope this helps you.

      Delete
    2. mine are Dewa, Sayi, Vumabalanda, Bakadzi babuya bemene

      Delete
    3. Okay, again, yes the original moyo was Chirandu, now they had a culture that if you married their daugher or sister you will have to adopt their totem and you original became the surname. As the rulers people wanted to be related and they did, so you have Moyo Dewa, Chirandu, Ndizvo (clans) whatever, but as a tribe you all became Rozvi

      Delete
  6. Moyo was never and shall never be shona in anyway.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 100% True.....Shona is not a tribe or Clan but a dialect or language spoken. Did Lozwi Moyo "tshona/hide / kuvanda muwena" or they just agreed to allow Mlikazi to be their King/iNkosi/ Mambo,,,yes Mambo/Ishe means King or iNkosi. The Khumalos, Dlodlo, Nyathi etc are not Ndebele (Languge) but they are Hlubi-Nguni who speak iSiNdebele like the Lozwi-Moyo.The Shona speakers are Zezuru, Barwe, Korekore, Buja, Murehwa etc....they dont use Moyo as a Surname because they are not sons and daughters of the larger Lozwi Tribe.

      Do you think Mbuya Nehanda, Sekuru Kaguvi, Chaminuka etc are of the Lozwi descandance..did they meet Mzilikazi or Lobengula...?????? NONSENSE..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      Delete
  7. Hello, My name is Amos - i have just discovered that my grandfather was from Zimbabwe and from the Moyo clan and grandmother South African ( They were never married, hence i carry my grandmother's surname - My father ( Eric ) named me after my grandfather " Amos ", i need to know more about the moyo clan.
    I am based in South Africa, Johannesburg.

    ReplyDelete
  8. i am a Moyo and my totems are Nkabinde, Maphendula, Lina eliphendula inkomo ethi ibe mnyama ibe bomvu. eMageza ngochago

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hey guys to tell you the truth Moyo means heart or soul,,,so the Moyos were warriors in that time and Moyo is not a kalanga or shona word its swahili ,,when we came here in the 9th century we didnt have this much seperation,,shona,kalanga,zulu venda pedi sotho ,ndebele,,we were black people,,,and if we date back we are of one clan,,,you either ,who you cal;l yourself but the truth stand as we are one in JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH,,WE CREATE OUR LANGUAGES because we cant remember the words properly for our main language ,,,iam a MOYO by descent ,,the bvuma vha landa ,,but still i dont understand because i speak VENDA my mother is venda from royal house and my father is ndebele as his father is ndebele from GWANDA,,,So we dont know anything ,,only GOD knows,,,

    ReplyDelete
  10. Your account is accurate, but where you're missing it is your presumption of the existence of a 'Shona' people. The word 'Shona' is derived from a derogatory term 'Maswina' which was later adapted by the Settlers as recent the 1930s as Mashona. There is no doubt that Bukaranga and Bukalanga are basically the same nation that branched from the Mutapa dynasty.
    Oral tradition has it that the Moyo totem was the identification of the Mwari worshippers until Mutota, a Munhumutapa worrior branched out to raid the Batogwa (Vatorwa) people of the north and adopted the Nzou (Ndlovu) totem. It is well known that Nyashanu in Vuhera aka Bu Hera (a Zezuru state) adopted the totem of Shava (Mhofu)when he married Mutota's daughter. Mutota's expansion strategy was that one has to marry outside of own totem, or pay a tribute and change his totem. The Vahera worshipped the mhondoros, a religion they shared with the Va Rehwa of the Soko totem through intermarriage. Other totems also came to existence through inter marriage and shared customs as evidenced in the tribal praise songs of all tribes identified by totems.
    These intermarriage customs also explains the dialect variations with Chikaranga still raw in the Bukaranga country (Masvingo)and influenced by the Va Nyika aka Vabvakure vekuTanganyika (coastal people)of the east, as well as the influence of the Nguni languages in the west.
    These variations among the Rozvi, Lozi, Lozwi, Barotse, Rozi can be traced as far as the Limpopo to areas across the Zambezi into Zambia, Malawi, Namibia, Mozambique, Botswana and Guruuswa in the south end of Tanzania. The first Changamire had his thrones at Ancient Zimbave (Great Zimbabwe), Khami and Danamombe the former trade centers of the Mbire up until the Mutapa kingship before the rebellion of Changamire Dombo who set up Tsindi as his fort to revolt against Portuguese slave and gold trade.
    His kingdom broke down due to internal uprising with some smaller satellite kingdoms/clans refusing to pay him tribute, the Portuguese's continued attempt to move inward and at the same time the Nguni invading from the south.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Moyo is definitely not Shona. I am Moyo myself, and 100% certain l am not Shona and will never be. A lot has been said here with regard to oMoyo oNhlinziyo oMageza ngochago, nabanye as we have got different totems. In conclusion, all l can say is "simunye". Let this article not be a tribal divide and let it not be interpreted as saying 'we hate Shona'. I personally have nothing against our fellow nationals. I am quite certain they would neither be happy to be referred to as amaNdebele when they know for sure they are not. To those who feel like oMoyo are foreign to isizwe samaNdebele, you might be 90% correct, all l ask is to never refer to us to as amaShona.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yo!!! Because bits an insult to be A Shona?

      Delete
    2. Moyo are AbaLozwi, Rozvi its the same thing they came from the same ancestor spoke one language Tjikalanga only movement and geographical locations made changes in the name and language like the Khumalos in Zimbabwe we Identify them as Ndebeles now bt they came from the Zulu, the language became different and they called themselves different, A Lozwi became a Rozvi, Tjikalanga changed to karanga or we can say Shona bt stil these pple are the Same from Mambo dynasties

      Delete
    3. Where u are lost is that u think Moyo is a surname whilst its just a totem changed to a surname by the coming of the Nguni and the whites its a totem research or trace back your original surname then u belong to the Moyo totem u wil understand where you come grom myb the pple u are insulting are your original ancestors dont be a fool

      Delete
  12. Abantu-baka-Langa (people of the sun) cover almost the whole of Southern African. They migrated from the North- East in waves losing their connection in the process. To now catch on straws trying to draw a dividing line that split Ngunis, Tswanas, Shonas, vaKalanga is a sad thing that threatens to completely submerge our true history and connectedness. What is SHona by the way? There is no such tribe. If you are serious about knowing who you are, leave the recent-politically motivated biases. It is a disgrace.

    ReplyDelete
  13. This is very much simple, if the moyos are being urged to be shona why the majority of the kalanga are moyos.For me I see it as the Lozwi are kalanga hence the Rozwi being the shona .I am a moyo and kalanga

    ReplyDelete
  14. This is very much simple, if the moyos are being urged to be shona why the majority of the kalanga are moyos.For me I see it as the Lozwi are kalanga hence the Rozwi being the shona .I am a moyo and kalanga

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hello my name is Jabulani John Moyo and I live in South Africa, according to my late Grandparents and late Farther, my two sisters and I are from the Kalanga clan, we once recorded our grandmother doing the Kalanga isithakazelo/praise on a cellphone which was later stolen, we are looking for that exact isithakazelo/praise but we cannot seem to find it anywhere on the Internet, please if anyone can help us we will appreciate it, this is a rough example of what she was saying during the praise (aku duba njele bampane hi ta shidiyanyaka, batoposhi shpotele....) she said it meant that (we are the clan of the baboon, we are the rain makers) please note that the spelling on the isithakazelo/praise is not accurate it is just what we heard and interpreted into words please assist us. Any help would be glady appreciated on my personal email address jabulanijohn@gmail.com.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Here is my Moyo izithakazelo/ izitemo/ totems

      Moyo,mengwe,ntshongogwe, nali,zhomba,dombo kulu, dombo lisapotelekwe, makula nemkaka athi vula inanywingila,balilima,................m

      Delete
  16. "There is a land, south of the Zambezi but north of the Limpopo that stretches from the Coast to the desert Sands of Botswana, with fertile lands, rich in Gold and Ivory whose kings live in stone Castles" - This was an account in Vasco Da Gamas voyages when he first landed in what we can call Mozambique today. There are some 200 such sites in southern Africa, such as Mapungubwe in Limpopo, Khami, Great Zimbabwe and Bumbusi in Zimbabwe and Manyikeni in Mozambique, with breath taking, mortarless walls

    Remember, Mozambique did not exist at the time. Mozambique was a European invention born from the Berlin Colonial Conference.

    The name "Shona" did not exist at the time to describe the people in this region. The term "Shona" was only widely used by the British in their political-colonial scheme as After Cecil John Rhodes conquest of the lands under the Union Jack in his strategic employ of ethnic "divide and rule" to justify invasion of that territory, a strategy that has been so successful to this very day that people collectively known as Shona and those know as Ndebele to this day still are not united. Sadly! How clever Rhodes was.

    Karanga, Kalanga and Shona are different words to mean the same people. I will qualify this statement but before I do,let me get to the crux of the matter

    1. There is a view that Shona people are inferior to Ndebele people. That is why you cannot think of yourself as Shona. It is a cultural inferiority complex. The Group of Nguni people who settled in modern day South Western Region we call Matabeleland in 1830-1835 under Mzilikazi was militarily superior to the peace loving peasant farmers which we will call Shona for npw. Mzilikazi himself was a general of the famous Shaka. The Ndebele plundered and raided the people who were living in that region and in peripheries by means of their military prowess. This is how the Ndebele superiority complex was born, and has never died.

    2. Moyos, are NOT Nguni. How they came to be in Matabeleland is as follows.

    i. There were people living in that region around Khami who were of Moyo totem. After their defeat, they were assimilated into the Ndebele ranks as Moyos
    ii. In their raids, the impis often came back with Grain stores, Cattle, beautiful women and Young fit boys who would
    Baggage carriers and later assimilated into the impis themselves. But Ngunis struggled with the local
    tounge, and also as a way of breaking these stollen people from linking back to their own, they often changed their identities. Say a boy was taken at 3 or 4 yrs old to Matabeleland, having a name Tapiwa Madamombe and have a totem nyati\Buffalo, they would change his name to Sipho Nyathi. Or Nguruve, to Ngulube....The same was with Moyos. Moyo is not a Surname. Its a totem. Totems were now just used as Surnames to make it easier to pronounce for the Nguni overlords, and to break their link to Shonas.

    3. Kalangas did not exist before 1830-1835. They are simply a Ndebele invention. Those young men who were non-Nguni but yet lost connection with Shona's had to be classed somehow. That's how Kalanga s came into existence

    The solution to the problems
    1. Doing away with looking down upon each other. Shonas do look at Ndebele s differently. And Ndebele s kindly return the favour. This attitude has got to change. We need to realise we are no better than each other. We are brothers. Refusing this truth is paying into the lie created by politicians such as CJ Rhodes
    2. We have to address societal complexes, superior or inferior
    3. We have to compel our politician to rectify and face crimes such as Gukurahundi
    4. We have to start learning to love. To love ourselves. To love each other. What does it matter if you are Shona? What does it mean if you're Ndebele. Are Shonas not people? Are Ndebele s not people? Let celebrate each others strengths and help each other in our weaknesses

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What facts do you have. Please provide facts to avoid further confusion. I mean hard core facts not conspiracy theories and fantasy to suit one's self

      Delete
    2. I like your calk for peace, but some of your theories can perpetrate hatred. Like saying Moyo is not a surname. Really? Where did that come from. Do you know of Nali, Ntshongogwe, and others. These people kept their Khalanga names and Moyo surname. Where is the change that you claiming of Nguni wording.

      Delete
    3. The Lozwi existed before the Shona they spoke Tjikalanga

      Delete
    4. from my understanding Mzilikazi did not defeat the Moyo led tribe of Kalangas when he arrived in Zimbabwe instead they just agreed to rule together Mambo (Moyo) and Mzilikazi there is even a song about this

      Delete
    5. Sure. King Mzilikazi is being confused with King Zwangendaba of the Angoni and his small Group led by Queen Nyamazana of the Swazis. The later attached King Mambo. Mzilikazi had a Mutual understanding with Mambo only.

      Delete
  17. Marcus Samuels, you're lost. Period.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Moyo Mgwaqo where do they originate from. all i know we come from silobela . please help

    ReplyDelete
  19. Moyo means heart in both Shona and Kalanga!!! Kalanga and Shona are related languages. Some Moyos are Shona, others are Kalanga and yet others are Ndebele. Emmanuel you discussed a lot about the history of the black people of Zimbabwe: The first people to live in Zimbabwe were the Khoisan people. Zimbabwe was a Khoisan country before 400AD. From 400AD onwards, Bantu people from the North began to arrive in Zimbabwe. The first Bantu people to live in Zimbabwe were the Tonga. The Tonga fought the Khoisan people and drove them out of Zimbabwe. In 600AD, another Bantu group, the Kalangas arrived in Zimbabwe. The Kalangas had an acrimonous relationship with the Tonga people. The Kalangas fought the Tongas, defeated them and drove them to the hot, low rainfall and mosquito and tsetse fly infested Zambezi valley while they took over all the good land for themselves. The third Bantu group, believed to be the ancestors of the Shona people arrived IN Zimbabwe from 800AD onwards. Surprisingly, the Kalangas and Shonas became friends from onset. The Shonas and Kalangas intermarried and even mixed their languages. Modern Kalanga and modern Shona languages have a high lexicon sharing. Zezuru is the Shona dialect that is closest to the Original Shona language which the Shona people spoke in 800AD, but surprisingly the Shona people of 800AD did not call their language Zezuru, they called their language Karanga. Like I said, the Kalangas and Shonas were friends from first sight, I am sure the new arrivals by calling their language Karanga were trying to impress the Kalangas who had been settled in Zimbabwe long before them. The other reason why the Kalangas were friendly to the Shonas could be because they wanted the Shonas to help them fight the Tongas, who at that time were still resenting the presence of Kalangas as the Tongas had settled in Zimbabwe before the Kalangas. The Kalangas and Shonas later came to be one people. The Karanga / Kalanga settled in the far West (South, South West, West and North West) referred to themselves as Kalangas, while those in the centre and East (North, North East, East and South East) referred to themselves as Karangas. The Karangas have come to be called Shonas today. The Shonas of Masvingo and the Midlands have retained the name Karanga in reference to the dialect of Shona they now speak in Masvingo and the Midlands. The fifth group of people (and fourth group of Bantus) to arrive in Zimbabwe were the Ndebeles. The Ndebeles led by Mzikazi kaKhumalo arrived in Zimbabwe in 1830. Mzilikazi was Nguni (Zulu) but he came with lots of Sotho (Souther Sotho, Northern Sotho and Tswana) people. Mzilikazi also incorporated the local Kalanga and Karanga people into the Ndebele nation. It is Mzilikazi who named the Karanga people Shonas. When the British came to Lobengula (Mzilikazi's son) to seek permission to settle in Zimbabwe, Lobengula allowed them to settle among the Shona people and not in Matabeleland. Lobengula told the British that the Shonas were his subjects and he had the power to decide for them. From then, the White people started to refer to the Karanga people as Shonas as they thought Shona was their real name.

    ReplyDelete
  20. How can kalanga people be something that is a recent creation

    ReplyDelete
  21. There was no kalanga nation. There were people who spoke Chikaranga!! a dialect of the greater Munhumutapa, Rozvi and Torwa nations whose descendants today are loosley called Shona.

    You need to understand that Shaka as he expanded the Zulu nation raided and assimilated other nations. When Mzilikazi broke away, he kept the tradition of capturing and assimilating conquered peoples. This is the fate of the Rozvi people who lived in the Khami ruins and surrounds who bore the totem Moyo.

    Ask any well educated historical authority where the Totem Moyo comes from and they will tell you from Changamire Dombo who founded the Rozvi Empire.

    unfortunately, amongst the Ndebele communities, Shona's or being shona is looked down upon. Hence the decorative words like "Amasvina" !!!

    So i can understand why the Moyo people who were conquered and assimilated by Mzilikazi into the Ndebele Kingdom would want to disassociate themselves from their very Shona roots.

    I am done discussing this very simple and straightforward matter. Moyo's are decedents of shona, Specifically KA-RA-NGA (Not Kalanga) people. The word Kalanga was Mzilikazi's creation to refer to people he had stollen. Hence the identity crisis.

    Id prefer you hate me for the truth, than love me for lies. The sooner you accept your roots and come to terms with facts, the better!!

    Good Bye

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. King Mzilikazi and his Ndebele gave the inhabitants in the Eastern part of Zimbabwe an identity: Shona. Before that they were loosely arranged or known under small clans or groupings. The languages were close to each other and the raiding army could not tell the difference. The Ndebele army on raiding them they would run away and hide in caves or mountains or bushes. Then the Ndebele in looking for them and failing to locate them would ask amongst themselves: Bakuphi lababantu abamane ba shone? Or Bashonephi lababantu? They were known as abantu boku shona.
      Shona meaning disappearing into thin air.

      Period.

      Delete
  22. I have discovered that the Moyos have a crisis of identity. They don't know where they belong.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Spot on. I’m actually realizing at 40 that I really do not know who I am and don’t know where I come from . Mxm

      Delete
  23. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shona_people#:~:text=The%20terms%20%22Karanga%22%2C%20%22,all%20Shona%20before%20the%20Mfecane.

    quote
    ====
    The terms "Karanga", "Kalanga" and "Kalaka", now the names of discrete groups, seem to have been used for all Shona before the Mfecane
    ====

    Ndini Moyo ndataura

    Why do you other moyos leave out the ndizvo from your names...surely you realize that ndizvo is a shona word?

    ReplyDelete
  24. Good research I like it Am a Moyo I understand our history of Balozwi though with a few missing links, I dont understand when the writer talks abt the Shona because now Shona is a group of languages karanga which is more similar to kalanga included, and again talk about the arival of the Shona from where, In my own opinion and and assesment I think Tjikalanga though i cant clearly see which grp started with this language of came with it from the great lakes or near Kilimanjaro gave birth to all these Kalanga and the so called Shona languages therefore the so called dialects including Kalanga all fall under Tjikalanga its one thing, the languages are related from one to another from the Tjikalanga to modern kalanga to karanga to korekore or whatever to zezuru to manyika or whatever If one speaks one cannot totaly feign ignorance or say i cannot hear a single word from a Zezuru sentence or Kalanga sentence a Zezuru or Karanga speaker can say to a Kalanga speaker you speak a language of the past to me they are all one People, A Kalanga or Moyo may refuse to be a Shona or of modern shona dialects because mybe of associating shona with the inferiority complex brought about by the Ndebeles, devide and rule politics of the colonialists but on the other hand on the truth that there is nothing called Shona even if its there it cannot be the father of Tjikalanga rather it can be the son in as much as a father refuse to be the offshoot of his children. What were they before they were called or became the Shona, i think they were called by their dialects which were but a result of changes from their original language of their ancestors. I saw a statement about the arrival of the shona in 800AD which grp or dialect exactly how will they arrive with a language and customs similar or close to Tjikalanga as if they came from the same ancestor. So originally its the Lozwi kingdom not the Rozvi kingdom as written in history texbooks there must be some clarity here it seems history is distorted here, although Rozvi or Lozwi mean the same thing I think their original name need to be used other than what the whites or another tribe prefered to call them. Myb a study of all the Kingdoms and Chiefdoms in what is now Zimbabwe before the arrival of the Ndebele can clearly show us that they were all not Shona bt different pple who spoke different languages all with their roots in Tjikalanga from Limpompo to Murehwa

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hie i m Ntshebe Moyo tshongogwe phupa zhomba mtshongwe netshaNhale ntabenkulu emagwe matshizeze untuntundule isifula esingapheli manzi esile mizi engasikwayo emagwe bamagwana dombo lisingapotelekwi zhomba Mangwe bagongwana my praising clan i m descendant of Nhale chief adviser of Mambo King Tjilisamhulu Nitjasike my mother is Salu Moyo Dewa sayi vumabalanda bakadzi beha bamnene banongula nemkaka beti vula inanywingila baNinjigwe. Ninjigwe was a leader of umbutho kamaMbo uTjilisamhulu Nitjasike. The meaning of word Tjilisamhulu umlusi wamathole

      Delete
    2. The the fist born of Chief Nhale Moyo first wife was Thali Talaunda second born Tshongogwe Mengwe to second wife was Tjangate. Chief Mengwe at Botswana Maitengwe is descendant of Chief Nhale Moyo

      Delete
    3. I am a Moyo baTalaunda..would you know much about our history abatalaunda?

      Delete
  25. Hi guys I'm new in this platform, I'm from south Africa in Johannesburg,I was born in 1973,i don't know my dad, but my mom told me his surname is Moyo/kalanga, they met in 1972were they were working together at a steak range, it's only that I forgot his names, the reason I don't know my dad is my mom was still young & scared to tell my dad about the pregnancy because my dad wanted to marry her & take her to Zim so she was scared of her parents that my dad will take me to Zim & we won't be able to come to south Africa anymore & she used to tell me that I look like my dad, & my dad's mom was a tswana & his father was a kalanga so pls guys I really want to know my roots, & everything about the kalangas,so pls if anyone can help me Tra e my dad I will appreciate that even if it's his family if maybe his late cause my mom is also late, but she told me that I'm a 1st born from my dad, I will like to know isithakhazelo pls my family💔💔💔 I'm now a mother of 2 & 1 grandchild

    ReplyDelete
  26. Great findings up there. Thank you for this piece of information my bro. Tribes or Clans are not to be identified by the language or dialect the speak. This is where the whole distortion of history is incorrectly recorded. For example Nkomo is a Sotho by Tribe or Clan but speaks different languages like iSiKalanga, iSiNdebele, iSiShona, iSiNgisi etc.

    Secondly , every word has its meaning ; What is the meaning of Shona, Rozvi, Karanga, Bhuruwayo, Mberengwa, Ndevere or even Halale (Harare).

    If Moyo is Shona (tshona emlindini/kuvanda mumwena).....can someone tell me why the Lozwi would hide in caves during the Ndebele Impis' raids.,,?????.Shona/Tshona word is deragatory and i feel pity for the Zezuru, Buja, Korekore, Murehwa, etc clans when they refer themselves as Shona or Tshona (aMaSwina). They must chlorinate themselves from this word...lihlazo/zvinonyadzisa.

    The Moyo Tribe are the majority especially in Southern Africa. Our tribe or Clan is Lozwi /Lozi (not Rozvi coz rozvi means nothing to us). We speak ChiShona, iSiNdebele, iSiKalanga, English , iSiNdebele etc. Ndebele or Shona or Kalanga are not Tribes but these are languages or just some culture and traditional values. The proper is to say Mzilikazi was Hlubi-Nguni-Mntungwa-Khumalo by tribe or Clan speaking iSiNdebele. He was not a Ndebele (language) but a Mthwakazi Kingdom King/iNkosi. He adpted or icorporated a lot of Tribes in his Nation building.
    We speak iSiNdebele, we are not a language but singaMaLozwi (formerly(Luyi Tribe of the Luba-Lunda State of Central Africa, hat borders Kasai and Kwango Rivers).

    You can continue addressing us in borrowed robes but lies have short legs.

    Last but not least; Moyo is ONE...Gwayi, Mzingwane, Sai, Senda, Nkabinde, Dewa, Nhliziyo etc ; these are some of the great grand sons of Moyo. We are living in harmony with Hlubi-Ngunis in Matebeleland as most of these pple hv married our sisters, they call us oMalume/Sekuru/Uncle/Ankele. NO YOUR TRUE IDENTITY

    ReplyDelete
  27. Let me also dispel some rumours about the Bhebhe, Mangena, Mabhena etc tribes. These minority tribes were incorperated or bathunjwa or kupambwa by the bigger and stronger Moyo-Lozwi Tribes, hence they became Moyo. Directors of a given company with different names in the CR14 maybe identified by the Company name but it does mean they are siblings.

    Mabhena, Mangena, Bhebhe etc ngaMaHlubi-Nguni people..that is the correct version. But because they core-existed well with us, we call them our brothers and sisters. The speak and practice iSiNdebele/Ndebele culture and tradition in Zimbabwe , they Mthwakazi children by birth.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The founder of Bhebhe clan at Zimbabwe is son of Ninhembwe Moyo chief adviser of Mambo Tjilisamhulu Nitjasike Moyo those Bhebhe are related to Moyo at Zimbabwe

      Delete
  28. Maybe an analysis of the origins of the word shona might help. The history is the same but what happened was that the British government grouped everyone outside matebele and called their language shona. Before 1900 there is no record shona people. The Moyo’s are actually on both sides the ones inherited to Mzilikazi totally lost their identity as they also lost their language. This the confusion, otherwise, the remaining BuKalanga is a very small population which doesn’t account for the whole Mutapa empire even those in Matebele are also too small. The tribes of the original Kalanga/Karanga have very similar words except the ones adopted by Mzilikazi. The tribes of Karanga include: Venda, kalanga (Karanga is also used but R was borrowed from somewhere), Nambya, BaLozwi, BaTembe etc.

    ReplyDelete
  29. I feel sorry for Moyos who hate their identity, who hate themselves. Moyo is NOT!! a ndebele word. Moyo means heart in Shona in Zambian Malawian and other countries across the Zambezi not in Nguni languages. Dombo is a Shona word meaning Stone. Moyo is a TOTEM not a surname. All Moyos are Rozvi or Lozi. Togwa or Torwa is Shona meaning 'we fight ' Shona is a broad term which includes Karanga or Kalanga Zezuru Manyika Korekore VaToko VaMbire etc Changamire is corruption of Changambire. Moyo (Heart) is one of most popular Totem amongst the Shona. Some have taken it up as a surname but that does not change the fact that it is a TOTEM. All Moyos are related whether you like it or not. And they can be called Shona because we are living in a time when the word Shona is in use. If your name is James does that make you an English man? Yet you answer to it and are proud of it. Those who answer to being called Shona know their totem is Zezuru Manyika Korekore VaToko Karanga etc and do so only for convenience sake. Because it is a waste of time trying to fight to change words like Shona, Africa, Zulu, etc So you can say you are not Shona but in today's language or today's terms you are indeed SHONA wether you like it or not.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Lols at all the “Moyo is Shona” losers. How can people with a long and storied history be part of a modern invention? Don’t be mad Kalanga people kept their unique identity while your spineless fathers were swept up into the confused, derogatory umbrella of Shona people. All those groups now called Shona should have stood ten toes down and refused the moniker. Now they are upset and trying to sweep everyone who had the courage to keep their identity into their mess. Too bad, so sad.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Just by taking Karanga and Kalanga or Lozwi and Rozvi common sense will show these are the same people. Same people with heritage sites scattered around Zimbabwe and acros limpopo River. Writer is trying to rewrite history like the colonizers facts are stubborn Moyo is simply a shona word and Kalanga word which means heart ❤

    ReplyDelete
  32. think before talking MuSotho MuTswana MuVenda
    BaSotho BaTswana BaVenda article was probably written by a kindergarten student. MuNyayi BaNyayi what is that?. They call them BaTswana because what? They call them BaSotho because of what? They called them BaNyayi because they were mediators which has meaning in shona language Munyayi. Get over yourselves thats why Mugabe saw the need for a clean-up, Zimbabwe was very peaceful before it was invaded by people from the south africa and white people

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Complete List of Nguni Surnames or Clan Names

Rebuilding the Great Nation of Bukalanga: The Twelve Tribes of Bukalanga Re-Discovered and Redefined