PICTURE: Tsonga traditional fishing called Saila is a potential tourism package for The Great Limpopo Trans-frontier Park
AS one travels across the land between Save and Limpopo rivers, hot climatic conditions becomes order of the day. Each side of the road is savannah type of vegetation. Acacia and mopane thickets wave at the passers-by. The bushes are nothing other than elephants’ favourite dinner.
The region is referred to as the South Eastern Lowveld of Zimbabwe. One of its natural ornaments, Gonarezhou National Park which is home to the small five and the big five game, is part of The Great Limpopo Trans-frontier Park. The trans-frontier park incorporates Limpopo National Park, Kruger National Park and Gonarezhou National Park of Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe respectively.
Before the three parks existed, the land belonged to the Tsonga people, commonly known as Shangani or Shangaan people or Machangana in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Who are really the Tsonga people and what’s so fascinating about their culture?
The name Tsonga existed before the word Shangani. Like Shona language which incorporates dialects like Karanga, Zezuru, Manyika and others, Tsonga is a collective language for Rhonga, Hlengwe, Bila, Shangani, Ndzawu (Ndau), N’walangu, Nhlanganu, Hlave, Tswa and N’wanati. But the Ndzawu and Tswa tribes refuse to be identified as Tsonga. If Shangani is a dialect of Tsonga, how come it overshadowed the mother term?
Mainstay Tsongas refute being labelled as Shangani. They claim that the term Shangani is an insult to their proper identity. As a result, a lot of controversy surrounds the Tsonga-Shangani issue.
The question still remains of how the name Shangani came to overshadow the Tsonga identity in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and some part of South Africa.
To answer the question, let’s look back to what transpired the 19th century.
Shangani people are believed to have drawn their name from a Nguni leader named Soshangana Manukosi Nxumalo. A descendant of the Ngunis and cousin to Zwide II of the Ndwandwe kingdom, Soshangana is said to have refused to be incorporated into the Zulu kingdom after Zwide II was defeated by Shaka in 1819. He fled from Zululand and finally settled in southern Mozambique. Along the way, Soshangana conquered tribes like Chopi, Ngomane, Ndzawu and Shongonono and incorporated them into his Nguni ethnic group. So the Ngunis dominated most Tsonga tribes.
In 1824, Soshangana formulated kingdom which is known as Gaza. Again, controversy surrounds the name Gaza. Some scholars say that it came from Soshangana’s forefather who was named Gasa. Others claim that Soshangana found the name Gaza already in existence. They claim it was named Gaza by Arab traders who had already established good relations with Tsongas in Mozambique.
Whatever its origin, Soshangana become the king of Gaza Empire. In 1837, he established his capital in present day Gaza province in Mozambique. Soshangana fathered Mzila from his first wife and Mawewe from his great wife. In 1858, he died at Chayimite in Gaza province.
His sons fought for the throne. Although Mzila had been left to succeed his father, he fled with his followers to South Africa. In 1862, with the help of Joao Albasini, an appointed Portuguese consul and Portuguese traders, Mzila returned and fought back. Defeated, Mawewe fled to Swaziland.
When Mzila became king, some sources believe that he moved his capital to Ndungutungu which is present day Chingove in Mozambique. Others believe that he moved his capital to Chipinga (now Chipinge) in Zimbabwe. The name Chipinga is thought be have been derived from a Tsonga verb "kupinga" which means “to carry by men.” It is said that a European commissioner was carried on shoulders by men whenever he visited Gaza areas in present day Chipinge and Chiredzi. Others also claim that Chipinga was derived from a small hill near present day Chipinge town.
In 1884, Mzila’s son Ngungunyana took over as king. He moved his capital to present day Manjakazi in Mozambique’s Gaza province. On realising that his kingdom was being invaded by the British and the Boers, he signed a treaty with the Portuguese government. Unfortunately, the Portuguese did what Ngungunyana was expecting as the Europeans demarcated the boundaries of the Gaza kingdom further.
In 1895, Ngungunyana placed his kingdom under the British. Angered, the Portuguese fought the Gaza regiments whom they defeated. Ngungunyana and his generals were captured and banished to Portugal as prisoners of war. This led to the collapse of the Gaza kingdom. In 1906, Ngungunyana died in Portugal.
It should be noted that although the Ngunis became a powerful tribe that incorporated most Tsonga tribes as Shanganis, not all Tsonga tribes became Shangani. It is correct to say that all Shanganis are Tsonga but not all Tsongas are Shangani.
Tsonga advocates want the name Shangani eradicated from history since they claim that its existence is an insult to their proper identity. They disown Soshangana Nxumalo as their king. They further renounce any other Nxumalo descendant as a Tsonga king.
Traces of the Gaza kingdom are notable this present day. In Zimbabwe, Chipinge and Chiredzi districts identify themselves with the name Gaza. Chipinge’s high density suburb is called Gaza Township with extensions such as Gaza A, Gaza E and Gaza O. One of the forests in Chipinge east that borders Mozambique with Zimbabwe is called Ngungunyana Forest. There is a place in Chipinge east called Mzila. Chiredzi rural district is called Gaza-Khomanani. In South Africa, Ngungunyana’s life size statue is found in Giyani in the Limpopo province.
In 1966, the Tsonga people in Zimbabwe were removed from their original homes to pave way for the establishment of Gonarezhou National Park. To this day, the Tsonga people refer to the game park as “marhumbini ahina” (our deserted homes).
What is so unique about the Tsonga culture that makes it a tourism package for the Great Limpopo Trans-frontier Park?
The Tsonga have a rich but secretive culture that includes the initiation school and traditional fishing called Saila. They circumcise their young males as they grow into manhood. According to the Centre for Cultural Development Initiative, 80 percent of the Tsonga men and women are graduates of the initiation school which goes by the name khomba for women and nghoma for men.
Not many Tsonga people may be well educated formally but they possess degrees in their cultural education. How they avoid being attacked by crocodiles during the traditional fishing ceremony is what should make Saila a tourism package. Effort is being made to teach Tsonga language in formal schools. Books like Hluvuko waHina series edited by Hebert Hasani Phikela are the first Tsonga books to be published for primary schools.
Tsonga chiefs namely Chiredzi’s Sengwe, Tshovani and Gudo and their headmen Mpapa and Chilonga and Chipinge’s Mahenye should start considering the initiation graduation and traditional fishing ceremonies as tourism packages for the Great Limpopo Trans-frontier tourists. There is a great similarity between the Tsonga graduation ceremony procession and Harare International Carnival’s street procession. If marketed well, the Tsongas from Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces of South Africa can be constitute the regional tourists to consume the initiation graduation and Saila ceremonies in Zimbabwe.