Isibongo · isiNdebele (Northern Ndebele)
Ndlovu
This name is also recorded in isiXhosa, isiZulu and iKalanga. See Ndlovu clan names in every language.
- PeopleamaNdebele (Matabeleland)
- Grouping Elephant totem carried by several unrelated lines
- Surnames recorded Ndlovu
- Places recorded Matabeleland, Midlands
- Branch Matabeleland
Your Family's Praise Belongs Here
This clan has a praise. It is not on this page yet, and that is our doing, not anything about your family or the praise itself. If the people at home still say it, you can put the true one here.
Why It Is Not Here Yet
The rendering that was read: totems.co.zw (Zimbabwean community heritage site, uncredited), totems.co.zw - Ndebele Totems category (about thirty entries: Ngwenya, Khumalo, Nyoni, Dlamini, Mthunzi, Gumbo, Mnkan…, 2023-2025 (post dates), totems.co.zw — https://totems.co.zw/category/ndebele-totems/ (Ndlovu; opening lines - this is the Mthombeni-line rendering)
A praise belongs to the families who recite it, not to whoever wrote it down. A isiNdebele (Northern Ndebele)-speaking family that still holds this one holds the better version of it, and can put that version on this page.
Also Spelled
Ndlovu is also written Ndhlovu, Gatsheni, Gabula, Mthombeni and Tlou.
Mthombeni is also recorded for Mthombeni (Matabeleland) (isiNdebele (Northern Ndebele)) and Mthombeni (Southern) (isiNdebele (Southern Ndebele)).
Spellings differ between families, between records and between countries. Wozekhaya keeps the name as each source wrote it rather than settling on one form.
Written down by families and by the people who recorded them.
About This Record
What Was Written Down
Ndlovu-Gatsheni's ACCORD article is explicit that Ndlovu in Matabeleland is not one clan: Ndlovu (Gatsheni) are Nguni, Ndlovu (Gabula) are Kalanga, Ndlovu (Mthombeni) are Nguni, and many Lozwi-Shona people translated Zhou into Ndlovu on their own initiative, so the totem is shared without shared descent. totems.co.zw makes the same four-way distinction and adds Tlou for the Sotho. Sokhela's column lists Malinga, Halimana, Mthombeni, Magutshwa, Luphahla, Mphoko, Gegana and Gatsheni as elephant-totem izibongo of Nguni or Sotho origin. The Sunday News Sotho column records Sotho families adopting Ndlovu as a surname inside the kingdom. Recorded from the sources named on this entry; the wording here is Sibaya's own.
Families Tell This Differently
Families who carry this name tell parts of it differently. Each way it has been told is below.
Where This Comes From
- Written down by
-
- Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Nation Building in Zimbabwe and the Challenges of Ndebele Particularism (African Journal on Conflict Resolution 8(3)…, 2008, ACCORD — https://www.accord.org.za/ajcr-issues/nation-building-in-zimbabwe-and-the-challenges-of-ndebele-particularism/
- Mloyiswayizizwe Sokhela, Reconstruction of the Kalanga history welcome but beware of distortions! (opinion column, Bulawayo24, reprinted on ka…, 2012-05-09, Bulawayo24 / kalanga.org — https://kalanga.org/blogs/reconstruction-of-the-kalanga-history-welcome-but-beware-of-distortions/
- totems.co.zw (Zimbabwean community heritage site, uncredited), totems.co.zw - Ndebele Totems category (about thirty entries: Ngwenya, Khumalo, Nyoni, Dlamini, Mthunzi, Gumbo, Mnkan…, 2023-2025 (post dates), totems.co.zw — https://totems.co.zw/category/ndebele-totems/
- totems.co.zw (Zimbabwean community heritage site, uncredited), totems.co.zw - Ndebele Totems category (about thirty entries: Ngwenya, Khumalo, Nyoni, Dlamini, Mthunzi, Gumbo, Mnkan…, 2023-2025 (post dates), totems.co.zw — https://totems.co.zw/category/ndebele-totems/ (Ndlovu)
- totems.co.zw (Zimbabwean community heritage site, uncredited), totems.co.zw - Ndebele Totems category (about thirty entries: Ngwenya, Khumalo, Nyoni, Dlamini, Mthunzi, Gumbo, Mnkan…, 2023-2025 (post dates), totems.co.zw — https://totems.co.zw/category/ndebele-totems/ (Ndlovu; opening lines - this is the Mthombeni-line rendering)
Are You Ndlovu?
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Tell Me When It Opens Send This To Your Family
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If Your Family Holds More Of This
A family saying its own izibongo / izithakazelo knows them better than any directory does. If yours has more than what is on this page, it belongs here.
This is also how this clan's praise gets onto the page. Your family's own words are yours to give.