If you have ever been at a South African wedding, funeral or family gathering and heard someone greeted not by their name but by a rapid string of old words – “Shenge! Sokwalisa! Mnyamana kaNgqengelele!” – you have heard izithakazelo. This article explains what they are, where they come from, and why they still matter.
The word and its cousins
Every South African language group has its own term for clan praises:
- isiZulu: izithakazelo (also izibongo zomndeni)
- isiXhosa: iziduko and the praises within them
- siSwati: tinanatelo
- isiNdebele: iinanzelo
- Sesotho / Setswana / Sepedi: direto / maboko / diboko
- Tshivenda: zwirendo
- Xitsonga: swivongo and their praises
The idea behind all of them is the same: a fixed set of names and phrases that belongs to a clan and is used to address, thank or honour any member of it.
What izithakazelo actually contain
A clan praise is a compressed history. Read closely, most izithakazelo are built from four kinds of material:
- Founding ancestors and famous chiefs. “Mnyamana kaNgqengelele” in the Buthelezi praises names a real man – the chief minister of King Cetshwayo. “KaMashobana” in the Khumalo praises names the father of Mzilikazi.
- Places the clan lived. “BakaBheje waseNgome” ties the Khumalo to the Ngome forest; many Sotho-Tswana praises name a founding settlement.
- Events and deeds. A line may recall a battle survived, a migration, a famine, or an act that gave the clan its reputation.
- Poetic address-names. Words like “Shenge” (Buthelezi) or “Ndabezitha” (a royal salute) whose literal meaning is often lost but whose use signals respect and rank.
This is why two people with the same surname but different izithakazelo may not be the same clan – and why people with different surnames but the same praises are considered relatives who may not marry.
How they are used
- Greeting and thanks. The most respectful way to thank someone is to “bonga” them – to say their clan praises. Doing it well, for an elder or an in-law, is a real social skill.
- Prayer and ritual. When speaking to the ancestors – at a slaughter, a naming, an umsebenzi – a person calls the clan line so that the right ancestors are addressed.
- Identity and belonging. Knowing your izithakazelo is proof of knowing who you are. Many people who grew up away from family, or whose family history was broken by migrant labour, apartheid removals or adoption, feel the gap sharply.
- Praise poetry. Clan praises are the seedbed of izibongo – the praise-poem form performed by an imbongi for chiefs, and today for presidents, sports teams and weddings.
Where they come from – and why versions differ
Izithakazelo were composed and carried orally, often by women, over many generations. There was never one official version. A clan that split into branches – moving to different districts, serving different kings – would keep the old core and add lines of its own. That is why you will hear the Khumalo praises one way in KwaZulu-Natal and another among the Ndebele of Zimbabwe, and why almost every clan page on this site notes that “wording and order vary between families.”
The written record is thin and recent. The most important early collections are the James Stuart Archive of Zulu oral testimony (recorded 1897-1922), the Bleek and Lloyd ǀXam archive, and mission-era ethnographies such as Junod’s on the Tsonga. Most of what circulates online today was typed up from family memory in the last twenty years, often without sources – which is why it needs to be checked, not just copied.
Why this site exists
A lot of clan-name content on the internet is copied from site to site, and some of it is simply invented. Our aim is different: for each clan we try to separate what is documented from what is oral tradition from what is contested, explain the praises line by line where we can, cite our sources, and mark the gaps clearly so that families can fill them. If your family’s praises differ from what you read here, that is not a mistake to hide – it is exactly the information we want to record.
Sources and further reading
- The James Stuart Archive of Recorded Oral Evidence relating to the History of the Zulu and Neighbouring Peoples, ed. Webb & Wright, 6 vols.
- C. L. S. Nyembezi, Izibongo Zamakhosi (1958).
- Jeff Opland, Xhosa Oral Poetry (1983).
- Elizabeth Gunner & Mafika Gwala, Musho! Zulu Popular Praises (1991).
Do you know your izithakazelo? Help us record them properly – with the meaning of each line where you know it. Send us a WhatsApp on 065 138 8213 or use our contact page. We credit contributors who wish to be named.