There are two versions of Ndebele in South Africa, they both belong to the Nguni group of Bantu Languages. They are the Northern Ndebele or Nrebele and the Southern Ndebele otherwise known as Amandebele. There is also a separate language called Ndebele (spoken primarily in Zimbabwe, but also in Botswana - see Matabele.) The Bantu refer to over 400 different ethnic groups in Africa, from Cameroon to South Africa, united by a common language family, the Bantu languages, and in many cases common customs. ... The Matabele are a branch of the Zulus who escaped from King Shaka under the leadership of Mzilikazi, a former general in Shakas army. ...

The first group of Ndebele speakers are found in the Limpopo Province (formerly Northern Transvaal or Northern Province) of South Africa around the Towns of Mokopane (Potgietersrus) and Polokwane (Pietersburg). Unfortunately this language was never taken seriously, so it was never taught at school and neither did anyone sit down and compile a proper orthography. The language is sometimes mistakenly grouped under the Northern Sotho group of dialects. This language is becoming extinct. The new generation mostly speaks Northern Sotho. Limpopo (until 11 June 2003, Northern Transvaal) is the northernmost province of South Africa. ... Flag of Transvaal The Transvaal was one of the provinces of South Africa from 1910 until 1994. ... Mokopane (previously called Potgietersrus) is a town in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. ... Polokwane (previously known as Pietersburg) is the capital of Limpopo Province (the province with the greatest increase in growth rate for 2003) in South Africa. ... The orthography of a language is the set of rules of how to write correctly in the writing system of a language. ...

One of the Ndebele people's famous achievements is that they caught the Afrikaners by surprise and killed one of their leaders Piet Potgieter. The Afrikaners built a monument and called it "Moorddrift". As revenge the Ndebele King was killed in his cave refuge, together with a few of his followers. Afrikaners are white South Africans of predominantly Calvinist Dutch, German, French Huguenot, Friesian and Walloon descent who speak Afrikaans. ...

This group is sometimes called BaTlou. If this language were to be further grouped it would be grouped with Swazi, because of their use of the root ti- as opposed to izi- for example:

• nkxomo -singular tinkxomo -plural (Ndebele)
• inkomo - singular tinkomo -plural (Swazi)
• inkomo - singular izinkomo -plural (Zulu)

The second group of Ndebele speakers is found in the Mpumalanga and Gauteng Province of South Africa. This group's language was not considered notable, and for years the children were taught Zulu instead. However, the apartheid government still created a Bantustan for them called Kwandebele, and with this came a radio station, Radio Ndebele. In the new South Africa the name of the station was changed to Ikhwekhwezi, meaning Star. This station has expanded its footprint to include the Northern Ndebele region. The language still retains most of its own vocabulary with a few Northern Sotho and Afrikaans words trickling in. The Zulu are an African ethnic group of about 11 million people who live mainly in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. ... Mpumalanga, (name changed from Eastern Transvaal in 24 August 1995, is a province in South Africa. ... Categories: South Africa stubs | Provinces of South Africa | Gauteng Province ... Apartheid (International Phonetic Alphabet or in English and in Afrikaans) is the policy and the system of laws implemented and continued by White minority governments in South Africa from 1948 to 1990; and by extension any legally sanctioned system of racial segregation. ... Bantustan refers to any of the territories designated as tribal homelands for black South Africans during the Apartheid era. ... The Sotho-speaking people have lived in southern Africa since around 15th century. ... Afrikaans is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in South Africa and Namibia. ...

The Ndebele people have recently become famous for their colourful wall paintings and traditional garb. Their paintings are used for instance to attract tourists and were used to decorate tails of 15 British Airways jets as part of their ethnic art relaunch. British Airways is the largest airline of the United Kingdom. ... In 1997 British Airways adopted a new livery, developed by the London-based design agency Newell and Sorrell. ...

The Zimbabwean Ndebele is closer to Zulu than it is to the two South African Ndebele languages.

See also

• Matabele
• Provinces of Zimbabwe
• Matabeleland North
• Matabeleland South
• Bulawayo