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Sibaya

Xivongo · Xitsonga

Makhuvele

Also spelled Makhubele, Msengi.

  • PeopleVatsonga
  • Totem mhunti (duiker) and mhlanga (reed) — Malungana: the clan has two totems, the bad-tempered duiker of its praise and th
  • Grouping Chiefly clan of the Msengi Tribal Authority, Hlanganani district
  • Surnames recorded Makhuvele, Makhubele
  • Places recorded Msengi, Giyani, Hlanganani, Limpopo

Your Family's Praise Belongs Here

This clan has a praise. It is not on this page yet, and that is our doing, not anything about your family or the praise itself. If the people at home still say it, you can put the true one here.

Why It Is Not Here Yet

Everything else on this page is unaffected. The clan name, the Xitsonga terms, the totem, the grouping, the surnames and the places recorded are facts, and facts carry no copyright no matter which book they were read in. What is absent is one author's particular wording, which is the part copyright does protect.

S.J. Malungana, Vuphato: Praise Poetry in Xitsonga (D.Litt. et Phil. thesis, Rand Afrikaans University, 1994)

In copyright. A doctoral study whose swiphato were recorded from named performers in the author's own fieldwork. In copyright. The performers are the authority on the recitations; the thesis is the author's rendering of them.

The rendering that was read: Shidjabadjaba John Malungana, Vuphato: Praise Poetry in Xitsonga (D.Litt. et Phil. thesis), 1994 — https://ujcontent.uj.ac.za/esploro/outputs/doctoral/Vuphato---praise-poetry-in/9913242107691

A praise belongs to the families who recite it, not to whoever wrote it down. A Xitsonga-speaking family that still holds this one holds the better version of it, and can put that version on this page.

Written down by families and by the people who recorded them.

About This Record

What Was Written Down

Malungana attended the installation of Chief Falaza Jim Makhubele (Msengi) on 25 October 1990, where the tribal historian gave this account: the Makhuvele originated in present-day Mozambique; at Rooibok farm on the Giyani-Moeketsi road they met Joao Albasini, who installed Msengi as their first Transvaal leader; Msengi ruled at Rooibok and died at Belleview; his son Gidela Fyle succeeded him and was followed by Falaza Jim; the people resettled at their present site in 1967-68, were merged with Ndengeza in the Hihluvukile Community Authority, and Msengi Tribal Authority was established by Gazankulu cabinet resolution in 1987 with the chief appointed in 1990. The chief's lineage praise recited that day runs Falaza, Mpambukwani, Msengi, N'wamavimbi, Magujamani, Mavindzi, Manyahule, Nkumbenkulu, Malanga, Nkuxu. Mathevula's table of contents includes a Makhuvele chapter (not read). Recorded from the sources named on this entry; the wording here is Sibaya's own.

Where This Comes From

Written down by
  • Shidjabadjaba John Malungana, Vuphato: Praise Poetry in Xitsonga (D.Litt. et Phil. thesis), 1994 — https://ujcontent.uj.ac.za/esploro/outputs/doctoral/Vuphato---praise-poetry-in/9913242107691
  • Wikipedia contributors, Tsonga people, read 2026-09-05, Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsonga_people

Recorded Alongside

  • Bila Also recorded among the Vatsonga.
  • Cawuke Also recorded among the Vatsonga.
  • Hlabi Also recorded among the Vatsonga.
  • Hlanganu Also recorded among the Vatsonga.
  • Hlungwani Also recorded among the Vatsonga.
  • Honwana Also recorded among the Vatsonga.

Are You Makhuvele?

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If Your Family Holds More Of This

A family saying its own swiphato swa swivongo knows them better than any directory does. If yours has more than what is on this page, it belongs here.

This is also how this clan's praise gets onto the page. Your family's own words are yours to give.

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