October 12, 2016 at 4:46 pm	Reply	Thabo Mkwananzi	From what I gather there were more than four Mkhwanazi lineages of which the most prominent were those of Mhabahaba Mkhwanazi (Intunta), Somhlolo Mathema Mkhwanazi (Inqama), Maqundela Mkhwanazi (Sobukhazi) and Lodada Mkhwanazi. Lodada was the father of Mbhida and Mfaziwamajaha, King Lobhengula’s first and second wives respectively. Today only the Mhabahaba chieftancy (Ngungumbane) and the Somhlolo(Mathema) still exist. It appears that the praise names you listed generally belong to the Mhabahaba lineage as he became the most prominent/famous of the the Mkhwanazis. What were Mhabahaba’s praise names or those of his immediate ancestors became adopted as general Mkhwanazi izitemo/izangelo/izithakazelo. Broadly speaking, there are two groups of amaKhwanazi in Matebeleland, that is, abezansi (Gagisa/Mpandeyamadoda/Mgidla/Mathema/Sigidi,etc) and abenhla (Gawu/Makhwentaba). Both groups are Nguni although most people associate abenhla with Sothos. Whilst a great majority of abenhla were of Sotho origin, there were many Ngunis who fell under the abenhla group by virtue of the geographical location where they joined Mzilikazi. For instance whilst the Gagisas/Mpande… were abezansi(which means) because they came from Zululand, the Gawus/Makhwentabas were enhla either because they were Nzunza(Transvaal Ndebeles) or Nyamazana’s Swazis. The association of abezansi with Nguni and abenhla with Sotho was opportunistically exploited by Sinqobile Mabhena of eNswazi. In 1997/8 when she claimed that as a Sotho, not a Nguni, ‘she was entitled to be a chief because Mabhenas were Sothos not Ngunis’. We know this incorrect as Mabhenas, Mahlangus, Sikhosanas, Mthombenis, etc, from kwaNdebele are pure Ngunis from the Transvaal. The Mkhwanazi(Gawu/Makhwentaba) fall under this category. As for Mhabahaba being the oldest known Mkhwanazi ancestor, well, I’m not quite sure. Mhabahaba was son of Zama, who was son of Bebesi, who was son of Lomafu, who was son of Nkwenkwezi, who was son of Sikhumba, who was son of Mthethwa, who was son of Mantewane. The oldest known Mkhwanazi ancestor is probably Mantewane. Bryant, a well-known Zulu anthropologist thinks that Mkhwanazis are originally Mthethwas just like Zulus are originally Gumedes. Curiously, the Mkhwanazi lineage does mention Mthethwa as one of the forebears. Besides, in KZN, the Mthethwas in eMpangeni and Mkhwanazis in Mtubatuba are neighbours who enjoy unusually close relations. The Mkhwanazis are found among all the 5 Nguni groups ie the Zulu, the Xhosa,the Ndebele(Mthwakazi), the Swazi and the Ndebele(Nzunza) and the common praise name that links all of them is Nkwali (Nyoni) yenkosi. As for the spelling, the Mthwakazians are the only group who spell the surname with an ‘n’ next to the ‘..zi’. It can be assumed that this is a bastardised version which was acquired in Zimbabwe as a result of the linguistic influence of local languages. The ‘h’ is not much of a problem as it reflects the changes in the Zulu/Ndebele orthogaphy which did not represent aspirated sounds such as ‘khwa’ vs ‘kwa’, ‘khu’ vs ‘ku’, ‘pha’ vs ‘pa’. Those who are spelling it as ‘Mkhwanazi’ are therefore using the modern Zulu/Ndebele orthography while those who spell it as ‘Mkwanazi’ are using old Zulu/Ndebele orthography. In South Africa and Swaziland only ‘Nkwali/nyoni yenkosi’ is known. .They instead use Shamase and Ndonga which are not used in Mthwakazi. I hope someone more knowledgeable than me could assist. George Mhabahaba