Ndebele - Economy



Subsistence and Commercial Activities. The precolonial Ndebele were a cattle-centred society, but they also kept goats. The most important crops, even today, are maize, sorghum, pumpkins, and at least three types of domesticated green vegetables ( umroho ). Since farm-laborer days, crops such as beans and potatoes have been grown and the tractor has substituted for the cattle-drawn plow, although the latter is still commonly used. Pumpkins and other vegetables are planted around the house and tilled with hoes. Cattle (now in limited numbers), goats, pigs, and chickens (the most prevalent) are still common.

Industrial Arts. Present crafts include weaving of sleeping mats, sieves, and grain mats; woodcarving of spoons and wooden pieces used in necklaces; and the manufacturing of a variety of brass anklets and neck rings. Since precolonial times, Ndebele are believed to have obtained all pottery from trading with Sotho-speaking neighbors. The Tshabangu clan reportedly introduced the Ndebele to blacksmithing.

Trade. Archaeologists believe that societies such as that of the Ndebele formed part of the wider pre-nineteenth century trade industry on the African east coast and had been introduced to consumer goods such as tobacco, cloth, and glass beads. Historians such as Delius (1989) believe that a large number of firearms reached the Ndzundza-Ndebele during the middle 1800s.

Division of Labor. In a pastoral society such as that of the Ndebele, men attended to animal husbandry and women to horticultural and agricultural activities except when new fields ( amasimu ) are cleared with the help of men who join in a communal working party called an ijima. Even male social age status is defined in terms of husbandry activities: a boy who herds goats ( umsana wembuzana ), a boy who herds calves ( umsana wamakhonyana ), and so forth. Men are responsible for the construction and thatching of houses, women for plastering and painting of walls. Teenage girls are trained by their mothers in the art of smearing and painting. Even today girls from an early age (approximately 5 or 6) assist their mothers in the fetching of water and wood, making fire, and cooking. Female responsibilities have arduously increased in recent years with the increase in permanent and temporary male and female labor migrants to urban areas. It is calculated that some 80 percent of rural KwaNdebele residents are labor migrants.

Land Tenure. Land was tribal property; portions were allocated to individual families by the chief and headmen as custodians, under a system called ukulotjha , with the one-time payment of a fee that also implied allegiance to the political ruler of the area. Grazing land was entirely communal. The system of traditional tenure still applies in the former KwaN-debele, except in certain urban areas where private ownership has been introduced. In South Africa, Black people could never own land; the Ndzunzda-Ndebele's land was expropriated in 1883, when they became labor tenants on White-owned farms. Most Ndzunzda-Ndebele exchanged free labor for the right to build, plant, and keep a minimum of cattle. Since the formation of the KwaNdebele homeland, traditional tenure, controlled by the chief, has been reintroduced.

The last born son inherits the land, but married sons often build adjacent to their natal homesteads, if space allows it. In certain rural areas (e.g., Nebo), this form of extended three-generational settlement is still intact.


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User Contributions:

1
SIMBARASHE NZEKETE
The economic structure of the Ndebele was very appreciable. Each and every person has his or her duty to play in the society which was wonderful. this article is very useful thank you very much.
2
mr TinoGee
thank you for the information it was very useful...especially to scholars like me
3
Mapondera Nomenclator K
log me direct into this department i enjoy your work and im being satisfied by history
4
BuhleNkommz
Good work keep it up, how about the social, political activities
5
takudzwa samushonga
nice keep it up also add more info about the economic and social activities
6
Cynthia Zvipindu
Good information very help full, but if you can post about what do the euro-centric view and afro centric view say about Ndebele economy economic
7
Tafaranashe Masunga
thank you very much ,too helpful in A level students
8
takudzwa autrix mushure
To what extent was were the ndebele affected by their migration
The economy of Ndebele state was good because there was a division of labour
Then why the Land Commissioner does not give back the Ndebele people their Land which was taken by the Boer, plus they killed our Grandparent during the war, and they never came with cows, but they took ours. Now we are being fooled by them so they get away with the past. The Ndebele arrived in Gauteng in 1600 century and they were forcefully removed from their land during 1800, meaning they lived there for more than 200 years.
11
Poso
And everyone knows that 87% of our Total Economy is white Owned, And Ndebele people did not borrow much from Sotho people, because the Sotho People started to immigrate from Lesotho During 1800 century to the Republic which was Tranavaal. However there is Ndebele people who immigrated to Lesotho as a matter of the War from 1600 to 1800. They changed their languages because they were hiding from the BOER. The NDEBELE People were already NDEBELE when they came to Transvaal during 1500 century with KING MAFANA. The father of KING MUSI.

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