It's weird to me that everyone in KZN grows up claiming to be Zulu either due to ignorance or association. After reading that the kingship of the former states & kingdoms that originally existed in KZN & northern Eastern Cape has been denied & ignored, I feel it right that the Mbo peoples find their own recognition. These people don't need a much younger Anglo-Dutch state to recognise them in their own land. Mbo people are not Nguni - they consist of the Amazizi, Hlubi, Nhlangwini & Amabhaca. These Mbo tribes were the first so-called Bantu nation to arrive in present-day South Africa & therefore KwaZulu-Natal. They speak the Mbo language which is a Tekela language. The Portuguese who got shipwrecked by Port Natal (Durban) in the 1500s or 1600s reported that the land they were in leading up to Delagoa Bay (Maputo) was called eMbo being accompanied by Hlubi warriors on their journey. I have yet to decipher what Mbo means but I've come across articles implying it could mean hippopotamus or leopard. Leopard being "ngo" & "ngwa" in various Bantu languages leads me to think Mbo may mean hippopotamus.
I feel a Mbo brotherhood may need to be formed of all people of Mbo descent in southeast Africa. As to how it could be formed, I'm not sure myself.
Comments