Tsonga

Historical Background

According to early Portuguese accounts, the Tsonga people were already living in the central and southern areas of Mozambique, between the Indian Ocean and the Lebombo Mountains, during the early 16th century. Being fairly isolated, they lived a peaceful life in dispersed settlements, having some customs in common, but lacking a common political identity.

However, the arrival of the Nguni refugees rudely shattered this peaceful way of life. These refugees had been displaced from their KwaZulu-Natal homeland by Shaka, the Zulu king. They subsequently entered the interior of the country and migrated as far as Mozambique where they subjected the local Tsonga people to their rule.

The Nguni group with the strongest influence over the Tsonga groups was the Ndwandwe or Shangaan under the rule of Soshangane. They were known to the local people as the Angoni and later as the Amashangana. This group eventually built up a realm that stretched from the Zambesi River to Delagoa Bay (the site of present day Maputo) and was known as the Gaza Kingdom.

In 1835, the Angoni leader, Soshangane clashed with the other two Angoni refugee leaders in Mozambique and drove them over the Zambesi River and back into South Africa. Soshangane ordered the local Tsonga captains to assist him but they refused.

When they were informed of his victory over the other two Angoni leaders, the captains and their followers fled to the present-day Northern Province. More Tsonga refugees followed after the death of Soshangane when disputes over the chieftainship broke out between his two sons.

They were later followed by a third group of Tsonga refugees who fled Mozambique when the Portuguese defeated the Shangaans led by Soshangane’s grandson. Some of these refugees settled in the North Sotho area of Tzaneen while others settled in the territory of the Lobedu people under Modjadji, the Rain Queen.

Other groups settled in the Mpumalanga Province near the present-day Kruger National Park. During most of the 19th century, the Tsongas made a good living from hunting elephants and selling the ivory to traders. As the elephant population decreased, Tsonga hunters turned to hunting buck and other animals and traded the skins, furs and horns with other Black groups or traders.

Venison and fish were also important parts of the Tsonga diet. Fishing was done in a rather unconventional way. Seasonal rains would turn dry riverbeds into raging rivers that burst their banks and small lakes would develop. As the summer sun dried these lakes, communities would wade through them, conical plunge baskets in hand to catch the fish.

At the end of the 19th century, the easy access to food came to an end. Conservationists started to close down most of the area that was home to the Tsonga people, in order to establish the Kruger National Park and hunting and fishing became illegal.

Today, one of the largest groups of Tsonga people still live near the Kruger National Park. In the 1890’s, farming areas in the Mpumalanga Lowveld were sold to speculators who then rented out the farmland to the Tsonga.

However, after the area was cleared of malaria and sleeping sickness, the Tsonga lost their rented land and were forced to hire themselves out as farm labourers on the very farms that they had previously worked for themselves.

The community was disrupted once again in the 1960s and 1970s when the then government created a homeland for the Tsongas called Gazankulu. Many people were forced to abandon their homes and move to this area. The various social and economic problems experienced in these reserves made the people increasingly dependent on migrant labour.

Men left their families to go and work in the mines while the Tsonga women worked as domestic servants in the towns and cities. This disintegration of the family caused many social problems such as child neglect, alcoholism, teenage pregnancies and AIDS.

Social and Cultural Life

A typical homestead unit (a muti) consisted of a man, his wife or wives, their children and the families of their married sons. At first a married son would stay in his father’s homestead but as the son acquired more wives, he would move out and establish his own homestead. The sons would usually extend their father’s homestead or build next to it.

Over time this practice resulted in the formation of clans. The homestead area was usually circular and was ringed by a perimeter wall constructed of branches and tree stumps. The cattle byre (called the xivaya or tshanga) was in the centre of the circular area, directly opposite the main entrance. Strangers were expected to enter only through the main entrance, on the eastern side of the homestead.

The traditional Tsonga home had a cylindrical shape with earth walls and a conical thatched or reed roof. The home of the principal wife was directly behind the cattle byre and the homes of the other wives flanked hers. Each wife had her own cooking area and the senior wife also had her own granary.

The meeting place (huvo) was usually located under a tree and was enclosed with branches and tree stumps. The other special area used for sacrificial purposes, the gandzelo, could be located indoors or outdoors. The men used this area to discuss issues concerning the running of the homestead.

Women and children were excluded from this area. The Tsonga’s main agricultural products were cassava (manioc plants), potatoes and sorghum, maize and fowls. The Tsonga used slash-and-burn agricultural strategy. An area would be chosen, the natural growth chopped down and crops grown there until the land was no longer fertile.

The process would then be repeated in another area. The initial clearing of the land was the responsibility of the men but from there on, the women would take over the agricultural duties. As nothing was put back into the soil, the land around the homestead would steadily become depleted and useless for agricultural use and the homestead would be moved to more fertile areas.

This competition for land led to some serious conflict, especially when populations started increasing. The Tsonga chief (the hosi) and his council held final authority in the group. Chieftainship was hereditary and was usually bestowed on the oldest male member of the oldest lineage of the strongest clan in the group.

Should the next in line be under age, his uncle, the younger brother of his father, would normally act as regent in his place until he was old enough to take over. However, the new chief had to be approved by the council. The chief wielded power over all aspects of his followers’ lives.

He allocated land and approved the start of rituals such as initiation rites, harvest ceremonies and rain dances. The chief also mediated between members of his group and tried serious cases and appeals. However, as European governments imposed their rule on all the indigenous groups, so the traditional political structures were destroyed and the power of the traditional chiefs diminished.

When the Tsonga started experiencing serious social problems, the government did eventually take notice. They tried to re-institute the power and influence of the chiefs in the traditional communities through legislation. In the 1950s, tribal authorities were harnessed to help control the Bantustan/Homelands administrations.