Movement and Settlement of the Sotho - Tswana speakers into South Africa

Movement and Settlement of the Sotho - Tswana speakers into South Africa

These were probably the First Arrivals of the Bantu speakers. They are believed to have come from the Congo area around the Thirteenth and the Sixteenth Centuries.

They mainly included the Sotho and the Tswana (Tswanas). They also included the Basuto people, the Kwena clan, the Bechuana, Rolong, Tlhaping, Ngwato (Bamagwato), Ngwaketse, Pedi, Hurutses, Lovedu, Tlharo, Thamaga, Khurutshe.

The Sotho Tswana are also popularly referred to as the Bechuanas. They are also believed to have come from Lake Tanganyika and Lake Malawi region through the ancestry of Marolong, Masilo and Manghope, Mokgatla.

They occupied the largest tracts ofland between River Orange and the River Zambezi. Others extended west of the Drakensbergy Mountains. Other extensions went to Lake Ngami and the Kalahari (Namib) desert. They pushed the Khoikhoi south and west wards.

They arrived in South Africa in three waves like;

• The Western Sotho of Botswana/Bechuanaldnd which included the Rolong, Hurutses, Among others,
• The Southern Sotho who included mainly the Basuto people and,
• The Northern Sotho of the Transvaal who included the Pedi, Lovedu, and others.

Organization of the Sotho- Tswana

Political Organization

The Chief of every tribe was the head of each of the tribes.

The position of the chief was hereditary/patrilineal (succession passed onto from the father to the eldest son) The Chief was a political, judicial, military, religious leader.

They had elders who settled land conflicts.

Those who reached the age of maturity/adulthood could be given cattle and other animals.

Chiefs had ability and power to perform miracles like rain making.

The Chief linked the society to the past ancestors of the Sotho-Tswana.

Chiefs among the Sotho-Tswana close an lnduna to assist them. Indunas traced decency origin from commoner families.

Matters of urgency were handled by the National Assembly called the Pisto to discuss important matters. Chiefdoms were created after assimilating other groups of people.

Women also played a role in state formation.

Political discussions were important among the Sotho-Tswana. They had a standing army

Women regiments led by the Chiefs daughters existed among the Sotho-Tswana alongside male warriors.

Economic Organization

The Sotho-Tswana were cultivators growing food crops like beans, sorghum, legumes, yams, millet and pumpkins. They practiced hunting wild game gathering fruits and pottery making. Fishing was also an important economic activity.

They were great iron workers who smelted spear-heads, knives, arrow heads and the hand axe.

Their marriages were largely polygamous. Initiation ceremonies were important which admitted young boys to adulthood.

The Sotho-Tswana had a culture of keeping cattle and other animals (goats, sheep, and fowl).

The Sotho -Tswana raided their neighbors like the white settlers, Griqua, Kwena, Ngwaketse, Nwato, Rolong for fortunes like cattle and slaves.

Land was owned on a communal basis and the chief was the overall custodian.

Internal trade with their neighbors and those white settlers was important.

Social Organization

They worshiped in their Supreme god Modimo who was believed to be the creator of the whole world.

The smallest social unit among the Sotho- Tswana was the family (homestead).

Kin family relations were important. The father was the Chief Priest of the family.

The ruling clan determined the name of the tribe.

Their agents cut across clans.

Sotho-Tswana kinsmen lived close to each other.

The family lineage was important.

Initiation ceremonies were important where young boys were admitted into adulthood through circumcision. Those who were initiated into adulthood formed regiments with civil and military roles.

They traced a common ancestor.

Sotho-Tswana tribes were bigger political units made of hundreds of settlements.

The Sotho- Tswana settled in large clustered villages on hills, plateaus with store huts (corbel).

The Great House among the Sotho-Tswana proved the rulers. The Left Hand House provided advisors to their rulers.

The Great son among the Sotho-Tswana was the heir of the Chief. His mother was supposed to be the great wife. They worshiped ancestral spirits of male ancestors.

The Sotho-Tswana and the Nguni -Tsonga are the most clearly known of all the Bantu groups who settled in South Africa according to Linguists and Archaeological evidence.

Nonetheless more detailed research should be done on other Bantu speakers like;

(a) The Ambo-Herero /Aherero-Ambo and;

(b) The Shona and;

(c) The Venda.

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