(g) The present Zimbabwe Makalanga originally came from Masungye, in the direction of the Lower Sabi. Mogabe is the dynastic title of each succeeding chief of this tribe. The Mogabe-Molinye moved to Jena and finally to the Beroma country, in the neighbourhood of Zimbabwe. The succeeding Mogabe, a son of Molinye, moved up from Beroma to Mangwa (Morgenster), four miles south of Zimbabwe, from which place he drove out the Amangwa people, who occupied the Zimbabwe district and the country for a considerable distance round about. The next Mogabe, Chipfuno, a son of the previous Mogabe, settled at Wuwuli, five miles south of Zimbabwe, and later his younger brother, Handisibishe, the present Mogabe, succeeded Chipfuno in the dynastic rule. Handisibishe is seventy years of age, but Chipfuno was much older.
The connection between the present Zimbabwe Makalanga and the Zimbabwe ruins only dates back authoritatively for some sixty or seventy years, but their opinion as to the age of the native remains at the ruins, as found by them when they arrived, added to a similar account based on the longer residence of the Barotse and Amangwa, and on their history and traditions, enables investigations to be carried back at least eight generations.
(h) The oldest known natives who have resided at Zimbabwe are the Amangwa, who were driven out by Mogabe Handisibishe. These were originally a tribe of pure Makalanga, but by marriage with their erstwhile over-lords, the local Barotse, many of their people have acquired some of the distinctive features of the Barotse, while a large proportion are still in every respect true Makalanga. These people now reside in Nini district, eight miles south-west of Zimbabwe, their nearest kraal being Bingura’s, which is two miles distant. They can speak with regard to the state of the ruins as they were conditioned some generations ago. They state they never occupied the Acropolis ruins except when Amaswazi raiding parties were in the district, and then only as a temporary refuge, and that many large walls have completely fallen down. The Amangwa were once a numerous and powerful people. Their kraals were built in the valleys, close to the ruins and on the nearest kopjes.
MAKALANGA “BOYS” FENCING, ZIMBABWE
MOTUMI MONGWAINE
Mogabe Handisibishe took advantage of a famine in the Zimbabwe district when he attacked them, and perpetrated great cruelties on their women in order to make them divulge where the relics from the ruins were hidden, but the Amangwa did not yield on this point. It is curious that so many relics of prehistoric value have been found in the Nini district where the Amangwa now reside. The wooden bowl, carved with the zodiacal signs, the soapstone cylinder, etc., were discovered in Nini, and the best native authorities affirm that the Amangwa still have relics in their possession.
(i) The correct name for Zimbabwe is Zim-b[=a]b-[=gw]i, meaning “buildings or houses of stones.” The natives never apply the name Zim-bab-gwi to the Elliptical Temple, but always speak of it as Rusingu, “the wall.” Zim-bab-gwi is only applied to the ruins on the hill.
(j) The natives have no recollection or tradition with regard to the Monomotapas, the dynastic chiefs of the mediæval Makalanga who resided at Zimbabwe.