The Lobedu or Balobedu ( also known as the BaLozwi or Bathobolo ) are a southern African ethnic group that speak a Northern Sotho dialect. Their area is called Bolobedu. The name "balobedu" means "the mineral miners," lobela or go loba, - to mine. Their ancestors were part of the great Mapungubwe early civilization. They have their own kingdom, the Balobedu Kingdom, within the Limpopo Province of South Africa with a female ruler, the Rain Queen Modjadji .
20-550: It is estimated that there are around 1 million BaLobedu in South Africa. Their population is found in Greater Letaba Local Municipality (171 011 or 80.4% based on the 2011 census), Greater Tzaneen Local Municipality (200 000 or 46% based on the 2011 census), Ba-Phalaborwa Local Municipality (70 000 or 47% based on the 2011 census), Greater Giyani Local Municipality (20 000 or 6.4% based on
40-403: A Queen with his daughter Dzugundini 2.Mamabolo history . https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/76077/letsoala_399_mamabolo_history_tribal_transcript_ns.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y Greater Letaba Local Municipality Greater Letaba Municipality ( Northern Sotho : Mmasepala wa Greater Letaba ; Tsonga : Masipala wa Greater Letaba ) is a local municipality within
60-485: A male initiation ceremony called Moroto. The female initiation ceremony is called Dikhopa. Balobedu have their own way of praising and talking to their God through Dithugula. They sit next to a traditionally designed circle in their homes and start calling the names of their ancestors. The Lobedu have female rulers known as "Rain Queens". The queen is believed to have the power to make rain. The Balobedu Kingdom consists of
80-567: A number of small groups tied together by their queen. On 12 June 2005, Queen Makobo Modjadji died, leaving no clear successor acceptable to all members of the Queen's Council. The late queen's brother has served as regent since then. The area of Balobedu consists of around 150 villages, and every village has a male or female ruler who represents Modjadji, the Rain Queen. The Rain Queen was historically known as an extremely powerful magician who
100-699: A translation of the Christian Bible is being undertaken by VALODAGOMA NPC (the BaLobedu think tank) and PANSALB (the Pan South African Languages Board). There are sub-groups of the Lobedu: The Balobedu originally migrated south from present day Zimbabwe to their present location in South Africa. The central Queendom village is Khethakoni, in the district of Balobedu. These BakaLanga migrants consisted of
120-603: Is a Bantu language spoken by the Kalanga people in Botswana and Zimbabwe . It has an extensive phoneme inventory, which includes palatalised , velarised , aspirated and breathy-voiced consonants , as well as whistled sibilants . Kalanga is recognised as an official language by the Zimbabwean Constitution of 2013 and is taught in schools in areas where its speakers predominate. The iKalanga language
140-727: Is closely related to the Nambya , TshiVenda , and KheLobedu languages of Zimbabwe and South Africa . Linguists place Kalanga (S.16 in Guthrie's classification ) and Nambya (in the Hwange region of Zimbabwe) as the western branch of the Shona group (or Shonic, or Shona-Nyai) group of languages, collectively coded as S.10. Kalanga has a dialectal variation between its Botswana and Zimbabwean varieties and they use slightly different orthographies. Historically, Wentzel mentioned Kalanga proper in
160-432: Is only a second or third language and is foreign to them like English and Afrikaans. Lobedu is a written language and its dictionary, Thalusamandzwi Ya Khilovedu, was published in 2018 by Kgothatso Seshayi. The first Lobedu novel, Lekhekhesha, was published in 2018 by Eliya Monyela. The first Lobedu poetry book, Zwireto zwa KheLobedu, was published and launched in 2020 by Lobedu poet Makgwekgwe Waa-Mampeule. As of October 2021,
180-578: The Mopani District Municipality , in the Limpopo province of South Africa . The seat is Modjadjiskloof . The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places : The municipal council consists of sixty members elected by mixed-member proportional representation . Thirty councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in thirty wards , while the remaining thirty are chosen from party lists so that
200-740: The 2011 census), and smaller villages in Limpopo. Some are found in Gauteng province as labor migrants, especially in Tembisa and Alexandra townships. Their language is known as Lobedu (used here but Khelobedu , KhiLovedu , or Lovedu are equally valid) and is sometimes considered a dialect of the Northern Sotho language and is grammatically similar to other Sotho–Tswana languages . Mutual intelligibility between certain Venda dialects and
220-564: The Lobedu language is so high that speakers of these Venda dialects can effectively communicate with Lobedu speakers without difficulty. A Tshiguvhu (a Venda dialect) speaker can understand a Lobedu speaker easily, and vice versa. Lobedu could easily have been classified as a Venda dialect or an independent language. For example, Northern Sotho has higher mutual intelligibility with Southern Sotho and Tswana than it does with Lobedu. Most Lobedu speakers only learn to speak Pedi at school; as such, Pedi
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#1732772987871240-642: The Mokwebo, who are the ancestors of all wild pig clans (ba ana golove/ba bina kolobe) like Mamabolo Ramafalo and Modjadji, the Nengwekhulu, who are the ancestors of all elephant clans (Ditlou); and the Ramabulana, ancestors of the other elephant clans (Ditlou), who are also uncles of the Nengwekhulus. All BaLobedu are descended from these three groups: BaKwevho, Nengwekhulu, and Ramabulana. The rest of
260-472: The ancient Mokwebo (wild pig) royal house. All Chiefs in Bolobedu are of the wild pig clans, with the exception of the chiefs of Taulome, Malatji, and Rakgoale (Mogoboya), who are Dinoko (porcupines) after running to Bolobedu after difagane wars their traditonal dance they brought is Dinaka. The elephant clan is Rabothata, Selowa (Khelowa/Tshilowa/Shilowa), Shai, Matlou (Ma₫ou), Mabulana, and Maenetja; these are
280-874: The current Lozwi king, Mike Moyo, who is also gifted with rainmaking. Linguists have listed Lobedu together with Kalanga , Nambya (a dialect of Kalanga ), Venda , Lemba , Shankwe, Nyubi, and Karanga as a language of the Lozwi, which consequently connects them to their history. Their rainmaking history is tied to that of the Banyai in northern Matabeleland and BakaLanga in southern Matabeleland, and there are two areas called Njelele in Matabeleland . Balobedu do traditional dances called khekhapa for women and dinaka for men.Sekgapa and Dinaka are traditional dances of Bapedi-speaking people covering such areas as GaSekhukhune, GaDikgale, GaMaake, GaSekororo, and Bolobedu. Balobedu have
300-413: The daughters or sisters who were lost to their families. The Rain Queen extends her influence through her wives, because they link her politically to other families or villages. The Rain Queen was referenced in literature as the basis for H. Rider Haggard 's novel She . Before Balobedu was ruled by Queens. They had 6 male Kings. The last being King Mokoto. The King was ordered by Ancestors to conceive
320-577: The descendants of the ancient royal house of Nengwekhulu. The BaLobedu are more closely related to the Lozwi Kingdom started by Dlembeu . As they were migrating southward, another splinter went South-East. The Northern Lozwi, or Lozi are found in the present-day Western Province of Zambia. They settled alongside the Zambezi River Banks and established it as Musi-oa-tunya (storms that thunder), present day Victoria falls . They have
340-478: The people are descendants of East Sotho or BaLaudi refugees and indigenous South Venda groups like BaNgona. As a result, the most common animal totems among BaLobedu are the wild pig (Goloe/Kolobe) and the elephant (Dou/Tlou). The wild pig clans (Dikolobe) are the Modjadji, Mohale, Ramalepe ,Modika, Mahasha, Mabulana, Mokwebo, Mampeule, Molokwane, Malepe, Sebela, Thobela, and Ramafalo, all of whom are descendants of
360-585: The praise lines Sai/Shai and Dewa, and call themselves the people of Thobela, which is the same as the Lozwi/Kalanga. The rainmaking powers of Queen Modjadji are also synonymous with the Njelele Shrine in SiLozwi (in present-day Matabeleland, Zimbabwe), and it is therefore accepted that there is an intertwining of their history with the rest of the Lozwi. Lozwi have a history of rainmaking, as does
380-575: The total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received. In the election of 3 August 2016 the African National Congress (ANC) won a majority of forty-six seats on the council. The following table shows the results of the election. 23°30′S 30°15′E / 23.500°S 30.250°E / -23.500; 30.250 Kalanga language Kalanga , or TjiKalanga (in Zimbabwe),
400-456: Was able to bring rain to her friends and drought to her enemies. Visitors to the area always brought her gifts and tribute, including cattle and their daughters as wives (though their role is more akin to what those in the Western world would call ladies-in-waiting), to appease her so that she would bring rain to their regions. The name Lobedu is thought to derive from this practice, referring to
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