Rikhotso in the sources
Wikipedia’s Tsonga people article lists the Rikhotso under the VaMbayi, with the Khosa, Rivisi and Mbhanyele, in its list of Xitsonga-speaking communities after 1890. Henri Junod, the Swiss missionary who wrote the first full ethnography of the Thonga, names a clan he spells Rikotjo in the Djonga group, with the Khosa, the Shiburi and the Mathiye, in the country north of Delagoa Bay.
What the sources say
Junod gives the Rikotjo a praise-name (shibongo) meaning “those of the nyamari tree” (about p. 335). He also describes how, when the Zulu (Ngoni) of Soshangane invaded the Khosen plain, three allied armies were broken: that of Khosen under a chief called Mbanyele, that of Rikotsho under a chief called Makwakwa, and that of Shiburi under Shitlhama (about p. 424). The name Makwakwa there is a chief’s name; see our Makwakwa page for the clan of that name.
We found no Rikhotso-authored history. Junod does not say how the Rikotjo came to their country, only that they belonged to the Djonga group.
Cautions
The Mbayi grouping (Wikipedia) and the Djonga grouping (Junod) are different systems of classification and we cannot reconcile them. Junod wrote in 1912 in his own spelling and from a missionary’s viewpoint, so the match between his clan names and today’s surnames is by sound and is our inference. We found no confirmed totem; the nyamari tree in the praise-name is not a stated totem. Page numbers for Junod are approximate, read from machine-scanned text.
Izithakazelo and totem
We are printing no Rikhotso totem because none has been confirmed. If you belong to the Rikhotso and recite your praises (miLao), we would like to record them, with your permission and credited to you.
Sources and further reading
- Henri A. Junod, The Life of a South African Tribe, vol. 1, The Social Life (Neuchatel, 1912), read in the Internet Archive scan; a missionary ethnography of the Thonga (Tsonga), using his own spellings
- Wikipedia: Tsonga people (its post-1890 community list has no inline citation)
Do you belong to the Rikhotso? 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.