Who the Bomvana are
The Dictionary of South African English defines a Bomvana as a member of an Nguni people who speak a dialect of Xhosa and live mainly in the Transkei, and says the name comes from the clan’s first leader, Bomvana, “little brownish one”. Its earliest quotation is W. Shaw’s diary of 29 June 1828, which calls the people beyond the Bashee towards the Umtata “Amabomvana”. It quotes a 1970 encyclopedia saying the Bomvana originally belonged to the larger Xhosa tribe, the Amatshezi, and were driven out of Pondoland in the early 19th century, and a 1973 newspaper saying the prophetess Nongqawuse was taken to the Great Place of Moni, chief of the Bomvana beyond the Bashee River.
Their own tradition
Wikipedia’s article, which presents the account as the Bomvana’s own tradition, says they descend from the amaNgwane of KwaZulu-Natal, from Nomafu, the first of the amaNgwana, and from Bomvu, who gave rise to the amaBomvu. It says Bomvu’s great son Nyonemnyam continued the line and Nyonemnyam’s son Njilo is the progenitor of the amaBomvana, that they left Natal around 1650 for Pondoland after a cattle dispute (Njilo’s grandson Dibandlela refused to send the customary cattle to his grandfather), and that they stayed in Pondoland until 1837. The article then says they were driven out into the area east of the Mbashe River, including the Cwebe reserve, and placed themselves under the Gcaleka with the permission of King Hintsa. The dates 1650 and 1837 are traditional and do not sit easily with the Faku material below, so we do not treat them as established.
Wikipedia’s article on Faku says his father Ngqungqushe was killed fighting a Bomvana regent, Gambushe, about 1810 to 1815, and that Faku drove the Bomvana west across the Mbashe into Gcaleka territory under Hintsa, which is much earlier than 1837. Its Hintsa article says he repulsed a joint Bhaca and Mpondo attack on the Bomvana. We cannot reconcile these dates.
Chiefs and the 1850s
The Bomvana article says Chief Ntshunqe refused to take part in Nongqawuse’s prophecy, so that while other Xhosa suffered famine in the cattle-killing of 1854 to 1858 the Bomvana kept their cattle and farmed their land, and that cattle disease in 1897 and 1910 devastated their herds. It says that in 1878, during a regional war, Chief Moni could not stay neutral and asked to become a British subject; the High Commissioner accepted and annexed the district around the Mbashe River, called Elliotdale, to protect them. It also says education split the community into the “red” people (amaqaba), who keep traditional ways, and the “school” people (amagqobhoka), who are usually Christian. Several of its claims, for example a trade in tobacco and cannabis, are cited only to a seed company’s website.
What we have not read
The Wikipedia article cites Holt (1969, The Tshezi of the Transkei), Palmer (1998), Du Toit (1960), Mji (2015) and Thompson (1932), none of which we have read. William Anderson Soga’s 1894 University of Glasgow thesis, The ethnology of the Bomvanas of Bomvanaland, appeared in a search result but we did not read it. We found no Bomvana praise text or confirmed totem, and no account of who leads them now.
Izithakazelo and totem
We are printing no Bomvana praises or totem because none has been confirmed. If you are Bomvana and recite your izithakazelo, we would like to record them, with your permission and credited to you.
Sources and further reading
- Dictionary of South African English: Bomvana
- Wikipedia: Bomvana (tradition-based; some claims weakly sourced)
- Wikipedia: Faku kaNgqungqushe
- Wikipedia: Hintsa kaKhawuta
Are you Bomvana? Tell us your praises and what elders say about the history, and we will add it, credited to you. Share what you know or WhatsApp 065 138 8213.