Relationship to the Nkuna
The Nkuna are one of the leading Tsonga chiefly houses, historically centred in the Tzaneen and Ritavi area of Limpopo (the Nkuna traditional authority around Nwamitwa). An earlier version of this page said that oral tradition remembers the Nkuna as having left the Ngome country of northern KwaZulu, moving through the Lydenburg district and into Mozambique and adopting a “Nhlave” dialect. We could not source that; the sourced account of Nkuna origins is Junod’s, summarised on our Nkuna page.
Within that house, Xilaveko is remembered as a descendant of Nkuna – the praise recorded on this site names him “n’wana wa Nkuna”, “child of Nkuna.” Lineage names like this identify a particular branch of the family and are used alongside the main clan praise.
Swivongo (praises)
The text currently on this page reads:
Xilaveko, n’wana wa Nkuna,
La nga dlayiki hikuva u lava ku hanya swinene.
(“Xilaveko, child of Nkuna, the one who cannot be killed because he loves life greatly.”) This is a short fragment from a secondary source. A full Nkuna/Xilaveko praise would open with a “Nhlave” call and name a chain of ancestors and places, but we have not confirmed that. We would like to record a verified version from the Nkuna royal house or Xilaveko elders.
Related clans and names
Nkuna (senior house), Mabunda, Maswanganyi, Nkwinika, Novela (an earlier version of this page called these a “Nhlave cluster”; we could not confirm that).
In Junod's ethnography
Junod does not name Xilaveko. We searched both volumes of his ethnography for Xilaveko, Shilaveko and similar spellings and found nothing, so it supports neither the page’s statement that Xilaveko was a descendant of Nkuna nor the praise recorded above.
What he does give is the Nkuna descent as his informants told it, which the Xilaveko line would have to fit into. The ancestor Nkuna had a son Shitlhelana and a grandson Rinono. Rinono’s sons are known: one founded the royal house, and the others gave their names to the “doors” of the clan, Mhuntanyana, Mashongana, Mbhalati, Kulala and Mushwana, each under a petty chief (vol. 1, about p. 330). His chief list is Nkuna, Shitlhelane, Rinono, Kulalen, Nwarinyekana, Muhlari, Ribye-ra-ku-tika, Shiluvane, Muhlaba (about p. 25). Xilaveko is not among these names, but Junod says himself that such lists are probably too short and may mix brothers with sons, so the absence proves nothing either way. See our Nkuna page for the full account.
For praise and totem, Junod’s only Nkuna record is the clan praise-name “Those of the ox! Those of the buffalo…”, which he regards as an adopted Pedi-style totem (about pp. 335 to 339), not a personal praise such as the “child of Nkuna” line on this page.
This section summarises Henri A. Junod, The Life of a South African Tribe, vol. 1, The Social Life (Neuchatel, 1912) and vol. 2, The Psychic Life (1913), read in the Internet Archive scans. Junod was a Swiss missionary writing from a missionary’s viewpoint, in his own spelling. Page numbers are approximate, taken from the page markers in machine-scanned text, and we have not checked them against the printed books. Where we match his spelling to a name used today, that is our inference.
Sources and further reading
- Patrick Harries, Work, Culture and Identity (1994) – Tsonga clan formation (we have not confirmed that it uses the “Nhlave cluster” label).
- Henri-Alexandre Junod, The Life of a South African Tribe (1912-13).
- Records of the Nkuna Traditional Authority, Greater Tzaneen (Limpopo).
Help us improve this page. Xilaveko and Nkuna history is carried mostly in oral tradition. If you can supply a verified praise text, the line of descent from Nkuna, or a totem, send us a WhatsApp on 065 138 8213 or use our contact page. We credit contributors who wish to be named.