Many people do not understand what Mthwakazi was or is. Mthwakazi was & is a nation with a large number of clans or tribes or whatever you may call them. Matebele is the word that was used by BaTswana & BaSotho to refer to our ancestors....never in a day was everyone from our..

province called a Ndebele. It is wrong therefore to call everyone from Matebeleland as a Ndebele. Each and every “tribe” or whatever one may call it had its own identity and the plan was to preserve them as they were while having a common leadership and governance setup.

Each person in our region needs to know who they are and if they do wish to dress according to their culture or live according to their customs they should kindly do so.

These are the tribes or nations (or whatever you may call them which were under Mthwakazi/ Umbutho obanzi):

1) ISizwe sakwa Khumalo- their chief was Mtshane and they spoke isiZulu, they are Zulu people (Some do say ngamaHlubi & not ZULU but then it is a topic for another day)

2)ISizwe sakwaNgwana - their Chief was Nyamatana and they spoke isiSwati, they are Swati people.

3) ISizwe sikaBarolong - their Chief was Moroka & they spoke isiSotho, they are Sotho people.

4)ISizwe sakwaHlomuza - their Chief was Sipika/Sambana & they spoke isiZulu, they are Zulu people.

5)ISizwe sikaMlotshwa- Their Chief was Mlotshwa(Nkomo) & they spoke isiSwati, they are Swati.

6) ISizwe sakwaBatlaping- Their Chief was Somisi & they spoke isiSotho,

...they are Sotho people.

7)ISizwe sakwaBatlokwa- their Chief was Philane & they spoke SeSotho....they are Sotho people.

8)ISizwe SakwaNzunza- their Chief was Magodonga & they spoke Ndebele, they are Ndebele people.

9)ISizwe sakwaSibide- their Chief was Mdala & they spoke Ndebele, they are Ndebele people.

10) ISizwe saBaPedi- their Chief was Matlala (Mnguni), they spoke Sesotho and they are Pedi/Sotho people.

11) ISizwe saManala- their Chief was Sibindi & they spoke Ndebele, they are Ndebele people.

12) ISizwe saBakwena- their Chief was Sitshela/Sechele, they spoke SeSotho & they are Sotho people.

13)Isizwe samaNgwatho- Their Chief was Sekhume and they spoke seTswana.

14)ISizwe samaNambya- their chief was Silozwane / Zanke & they spoke Lozi-Nambya, they are Lozi/Nambya.

15)ISizwe saMangwe- Their Chief was Mdombolo & they spoke Lozi-Kalanga, they are Lozi/Kalanga.

16) ISizwe sabaLilima- their Chief was Mkibe, they spoke Lozi-Kalanga & they

are Lozi/Kalanga.

17) isizwe saMagololo- their Chief was Sebetwane & they spoke Lozi-Kololo which is a Sotho dialect of Barotseland, they are Kololo & it is safe to say they are Sotho people too.

18)Bathwa- I don’t have information about them but they belong to the modern day “Khoisan” group & rumor has it that Mthwakazi was named after Queen Muthwa who described Mzilikazi and a great a person greater than him hence Muthwakazi but that’s a story for another day.

19)ISizwe saBaTswana- their Chief was Sibindwane, they spoke seTswana & they are Tswana people.

20) ISizwe sa BaSotho- Their Chief was Tshupula/Manyoba, they spoke SeSotho & they are Sotho people.

21)ISizwe sabaVenda- their Chief was Hwadalala, they spoke isiVenda and they are Venda people.

22) ISizwe sabaVenda- their Chief was Somabulane, they speak Venda and are Venda people.

23) ISizwe samaTonga- Their Chief was Gudu, they spoke isiTonga and they are Tonga people.

24) ISizwe saBaNyayi- Their Chief was Thupane (Ndumba) & they spoke Lozi-Kalanga.

25) ISizwe sika Tshibi- their Chief was Zhizha, they spoke Karanga & they are Karanga.

There are many surnames under this great nation under the modern day Zimbabwe, each clan or tribe has its own dressing, language, culture etc and under our Kings we lived harmoniously, our dances which were different then were all done, our attires back then were relevant, our...

different languages, cultures, traditions and spiritualisms were maintained and respected, let us know who we are, dress according to who we are and live according to who we are, that is Abantu with iSintu & ubuntu/botho/hunhu.

We are BaThwakazi
We are not all Ndebele
Our former and current government got it all wrong
Let us not be told who we are
Let us live by who we are.

ZAZI

Ngiyabonga, Ndaboka, Ndatenda.

#MimiReeds Mthwakazi

Left them out how? Was this post about them? No need for the FYI, I know about the presence of AmaNguni in Zim before Mzilikazi came.....thanks though.