More about the Ndebele people

The Ndebele language is actually Bantu which is spoken by Ndebele South Africans. These people can be found throughout Gauteng in South Africa. The last consensus taken was in 1996 & it was then reported that there are approximately 500, 000 individuals in South Africa that are able to speak Ndebele.

This language is only spoken amongst people of the Ndebele culture and it is not taught at any schools, therefore the language is falling away and can only be carried through generation

The language of Ndebele was not considered to be an important language and neither was it considered to be necessary, so the children were taught to speak Zulu instead, as it was more common than Ndebele. Besides all this, the Ndebele families were still different from the Zulu families and this brought on their separation by the Apartheid government.

Ndebele got its very own radio station, which was simply named “Radio Ndebele” and then later renamed “Ikhwekhwezi” which means “star” in English. The radio station has played a big role in trying to keep the Ndebele language alive and to keep the pronunciation and vocabulary the same; however there have been a few Afrikaans and Northern Sotho words added to the language.

I love the two photos above showing the traditonal Ndebele dress & their very colourful homes!