KwaNdebele

KwaNdebele

Short History of KwaNdebele

Within the "old" South Africa, 10 homelands were created, four of which were granted "independence" by South Africa (not recognised by any other country in the world). These former South African Homelands/bantustans ceased to exist on 27 April 1994. They have all (including the former so called independent Homelands) been reincorporated into South Africa.

Where situated

KwaNdebele is a small contiguous territory in the central Transvaal (today's north-western most Mpumalanga). KwaNdebele is situated north-east of Pretoria and was granted internal self-government on 1 April 1981. The name KwaNdebele means the place or home of the Ndebele.

Who are they

The Ndebele of both Mpumalanga and Limpopo Province are not, as commonly thought, offshoots of the Zulu. The Ndebele of the Transvaal region settled in their present homes at least a century before Shaka's kingdom emerged. Although they most likely are offshoots of the Natal Nguni, they predate the Zulu kingdom. These two groups are constantly confused with the Ndebele of Mzilikazi, who was a breakaway from Shaka, and who took in many refugees fleeing from Shaka's reign of terror. An additional reason for this confusion is that during Mzilikazi's early period of kingdom-building, he operated in the regions now called western Mpumalanga and Gauteng, close to the home of the Southern Ndebele. Under pressure from the Voortrekkers he moved first to the Marico district (now in North West Province) and then to Bulawayo (now in Zimbabwe).

Population

Within the formal structural of statistics there is no accurate count for the population but the estimate is about 1 million people stay within the boarders of the KwaNdebele district.

Involvement within district

In 1991 Gert Basson began his involvement in the KwaNdebele area. Jacob Mofokeng is the pastor of the Fellowship Community Church with 5 other pastors and 150 + leaders.  At present Mosaïek are involved within the area with 8 church plants within the district and 3 within negation districts.