They have a population of approximately 1.1 million. The Northeastern provinces of South Africa including Mpumalanga, Limpopo as well as Gauteng are mostly occupied by the southern Ndebele people.
The Ndebele are part of a larger tribe called the Nguni, which include the Zulu, the Xhosa, and the Swazi.
Collectively, the Nguni make up about two thirds of the Black population of South Africa, with the Ndebele population estimated at over 700,000 people.
There are three main groups of Ndebele people, Southern, Northern and the Ndebele of Zimbabwe.
The Ndebele of Zimbabwe speak a distinct language from the Southern and Northern groups, both of which reside in South Africa.
The Ndebele people in South Africa trace their heritage back to Chief Muzi, who, about 400 years ago, migrated his tribe from what is present day KwaZulu-Natal to Gauteng—both provinces in South Africa.
To this day, the Ndebele live primarily in the Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces of South Africa.
A traditional Ndebele village is made up of several individual family units called umuzi. Each umuzi consists of a head of the family (umnumzana), his wife and his children.
As the children themselves grow and become married, they establish their own umuzi in the community of their birth, which in turn grows the village.
The Ndebele tribes have similar linguistic characteristics with the Zulu people and are therefore believed to be close relatives with the Zulu.
The Ndebele are however distinctive in a number of ways such as their beliefs as well as the different ways in which they express their culture.
Traditionally, the Ndebele society believes that any sickness or disease is a result of a curse or a spell by an outside force on an individual.
The traditional healer or sangoma has the responsibility of struggling with these external forces using traditional medicine such as herbs or throwing of bones.
The Ndebele believe that the izangoma (who are both men and women) are able to communicate with the ancestral spirits, however their capacity to overcome a sickness is an indicator of their success or failure to the entire tribe.
All children (boys and girls) have to go through initiation into adulthood and initiation schools take place in a four year interval. When Ndebele boys are almost 18 years they are divided into division (indanga).
Each indanga is assigned a name that is derived from a cycle of thirteen or fifteen names depending on the tribe and the initiation rituals include circumcision however most of the initiation rituals are covered in mystery.
The Ndebele girls must adorn an array of colorful beaded hoops or izigolwan around their limbs, neck and waist.
They are secluded from the rest of the community and are taught about how to be matriarchs as well as homemakers.
As a way of celebrating their ‘coming out’ the Ndebele girls trade their izigolwan for amaphephetu (hard leather aprons).
Relatives and friends come together during the initiation period in order to stress the importance of this ceremony.
They participate in a number of activities plus ceremonies that mark this event which symbolize the transition from childhood to adulthood important.
The Ndebele traditions of shamanism and initiation are absorbing however their unique artistic style really sets them apart.
The women are in charge of decorating the homes and usually the front and sides of the home are beautifully painted with bright colors that have unique patterns filled with color.
Traditionally, the Ndebele used earth ochres and muted-dyes but the modern Ndebele designers use more bright and radiant colors.
