1.6 Historical background, geographical location and delimitation of the research area
1.6.1 The origin of Tsonga people
The study of the origin of the Tsonga people is a complex one. According to Bill (1983:1) there is less agreement over the origin of the Tsonga people. It is not only the origin but even the name of this people group is disputed. Junod H A indicates that there was no true conscious national unity and therefore no name for the whole group. He adopted the name Tsonga and spelled it Thonga. He suggests that the name Thonga was applied to them by the Nguni invaders between 1815 and 1830. He also thought that it originated from the tern Ronga (Orient or dawn) by which the clans in the Maputo area called itself (1912:14-15). Junod says that the term is equivalent to slave as used by the Zulus and the people do not like to be called Thonga, but he adopted it because he knew 'no other name which would be preferable to it' (: 15). But then he says:
Strange to say, the Thonga of the Northern Clans, especially those of the Bilene and Djonga groups, like to call themselves Tjonga, the Hlengwe Tsonga. This word is perhaps originally the same as Ronga and may have meant also people of the East, although the R of the Ronga dialect does not permute regularly in Tj and Ts in the Northern clans; but this meaning is doubtful and has at any rate been forgotten. Another name which is much used amongst white people to designate the Thonga is the word Shangaan. Shangaan or Tshangaan was one of the surnames of Manukosi, the Zulu chief who settled on the East Coast and subjugated most of the Thonga at the time of Chaka. It is possible that this name was even older and that it belonged to a chief who lived in the valley of the Lower Limpopo before Manukosi. At any rate, this valley was called Ka Tshangaan and its inhabitants Matshangaan. But this name term was never accepted by the Ba-Ronga who considered it as an insult.
(Junod HA 1912:15)
Junod H P (1938) calls them 'Shangana-Tonga' (1938:43) and says that this name applied to the tribe is very ancient and he argues that: 'It ought to be written Va Tonga and not Va Thonga , which is the orthography accepted by my late father in his great monograph on the life of the people' (:43). He says that:
No people of Africa has been more completely described, and we already find their name in Ethiopia Oriental, where Joiio dos Santos writes: 'In some of these lands other tongues are spoken, especially the botonga, and it is the reason why they call these lands BoTonga and their inhabitants BoTonga.' And again: 'From Sofala to the south the kingdom of Sabie, which is also called BoTonga towards the Bay of Inhambane. In the west one finds the kingdom of AButua (Ba-Tswa).' Even before Jo2o dos Santos, Dom Goncalo da Silveira, in his letters to his Superiors, gives many interesting details about our tribe [Junod's italics].
(Junod HP 1938:43-44)
But in Junod H P (1936) we find yet another spelling. The Thonga of H A Junod and Tonga of H P Junod is now Tanga (with dot under T which is pronounced as Tsonga).
In Junod H P (1977) the name is spelled "Tsonga." What is not clear from my sources is whether this change is the permutation of Thonga and Tonga or the adaptation of Tjonga (Tsonga) ignored by Junod HA (1912). Junod gives two theories of the origin of Thonga and Shangaan, one as Zulu (foreign) and the other as Ronga; for Shangaan he also advances Soshangaan (Zulu) and a possible Tsonga chief who stayed in the Limpopo valley before Manukosi.
It was in fact strange for H A Junod to say there was no other name to call this people where there was Tsonga which was more neutral and was from the people themselves.
Junod's quotes of dos Santos and da Silveira are doubtful. The geographical area described and the spelling used are more consistent with the Gitonga people of Inhambane Bay who boarder with Vatshwa. It is to be noted that the Vatshwa also call the Gitonga as "Vatsonga." But the people call themselves "Ntonga" and their language "Gitonga."
Anywhere, the name for the people I am studying is now established as Tsonga or Vatsonga people. In Mozambique, this means the Vatshwa people of Inhambane, the Shangaan people of Gaza (including those in Limpopo province of South Africa and Maswingo province in Zimbabwe), and the Ronga people in Maputo and Natal's Thongaland.
The Ronga are named after wuronga (dawn or east, which equivalent to Mphumalanga), and are simply called "easterners". Geographical and linguistic criteria were the methods of classification used by HA Junod, and adopted by HP Junod (1977) and Feliciano (1998). Their classification was based on cardinal points and the position of each territory in relation to the Indian Ocean; however, for Hlengwe or Vahlengwe (Junod HA 1962:597; Junod HP 1977:98-106 and Feliciano 1998:36-39) there is no known meaning although Junod HA (1912:17) suggests it means wealth and others suggest it means tributary people and territories, there is no certainty. In Mozambique generally people don't like being called Vahlengwe, they ones in Inhambane want to be called Vatshwa and those in Gaza Vashangaan. The
Tsongas of the Save region are unaware that they are also classified as Vahlengwe.
They use this term with nuanced meaning. They use it to mean territories without water source (rives or ocean). It takes the meaning of semi-desert or arid terrene and the people dwelling those places. Those so designated hate the term very much because it has a connotation of "uncivilised" and "unhygienic" and "without culture or good manner."19
If Tsonga has its origin in the people themselves and the meaning is regarded as long forgotten, could we add some other speculation? The geographical hypothesis that Junod gives, "Eastern people," can be added with another possibility of, "Southern people" (Dzonga). Moreover, a tent or temporary dwelling and military barracks are called ntsonga. Removing "n" one remains with tsonga, and makes very little difference in the spoken Tsonga. As for Tshwa there is no attempt in giving its meaning and origin in literature that I consulted.
According to Junod HA (1912) the myths of origin among the Tsonga says that the first human beings emerged from reeds (1912:21). For the Ronga people, according to Junod, the first humans are 'Likalahumba and Nsilambowa' (:21); for the Djonga the first humans are 'Gwambe and Dzabana20' (:21). To these of origin one can add the Xitshwa in which, 'Khubyanyani and N'wa-Xikuvanyani' (Ndzukule 2001, interview).
The Tsonga, according to their ancient migration legends, immigrated into southeast coast (southern Mozambique) coming from the north of Save River from the Kalanga country (Valoyi, Makwakwa, Tembe and Malulke clans) and the others came from
19 The so called Hlengwe in Inhambane and Tswa as well as the Chibuto Shangaans and the Ronga use the singular first person to address anyone. In the Save region and probably in South Africa and Zimbabwe, to address someone in singular first person is regarded as lacking respect. Adults and respected people are addressed in the plural second person. This plural is a singular plural of respect also used by the Ndau and all Kalanga related languages. So, in the Save region one speaks of "n 'wina bava or tatana" not "wena bava or tatana." All the Tsonga languages Bibles use wean to address God, but the Save region find this very hard to respect humans but not respect God. If they could find their way, they would translate "wena Xikwembu" into "n'wina Xikwembu."
20 Gwambe is sometimes spelled "Gwamba" and Dzabana sometimes "Dzavani" (Maluleke 1995:30 footnote:26). This myth (Gwambe and Dzavani) is consistent with the legend the Baloyi and the Nwanati as well as the Tembe come from the north of Limpopo and that they are from the Nyai or Kalanga (Ndau and Shona). Gwambe and Dzavani in Mozambique are surnames or family names of the Vatxopi (Chope) people whose origin is Kalanga. Maluleke points out that Gwambe and Dzavani were the main Tsonga gods in the Spelonken area of South Africa (Maluleke 1995:30,160-62).
south and southwest of Dalagoa Bay now Maputo, from Zululand and Swaziland (Nkuna, Mpfumu, Khosa and others). But in the 19th century many Tsonga groups emigrated to different parts of South Africa and Zimbabwe due to political, economical and ecological pressures (Junod 1912; Bill 1983; van Warmelo 1975, Harries 1975-1976,1983, 1994).
According to a text on history called "Historia" (1981:4-8), based on the works of Guthrie, Greenberg and Heine the date, 1700, indicated for Bantu expansion is preceded by the establishment of the Tsongas south of the Save River. However, Ferreira (1987:37) indicates that Bantu groups arrived in the Manica region in the 9th
century. Manica is on the north side of the Save River. Hildebrandt (1996:49-50), however, doubts that any group of so-called Bantu could have crossed the Zambezi River before AD 1000, and feels more comfortable with the view that such crossing only took place after AD 1000, though he does not rule out the contrary. He only argues that the majority were still the group of people he calls 'primitive, "stone age"
Bushmen' (:50). However, he admits that the period of that expansion is to be located between 100 and 1000 AD (:3-4,50). This allows for an earlier settlement of the Tsongas to the south of the Save, which oral history seems to suggest.
For further study one can consult Junod HA (1912) who did a monumental study of Tsonga people and their culture, Junod HP (1938, 1977), who builds upon and amplifies the work of Dr. Henry A. Junod, presenting Tsonga history from 1498 to
1650, Harries (1975-1976, 1983, 1988, 1994) who focus mainly on the Tsonga emigration from Mozambique to South Africa, Feliciano (1998), who investigates the economic anthropology of the Thongas (Tsongas) of southern Mozambique, and others.