Saturday, June 22, 2013

3 chiefs monument - solution!

I have never heard a Mongwato, a Mokwena or a Mongwaketse use the phrase “go tswa goo-Lowe”, meaning “ever since Lowe”. The reason is simple – they never lived at “Lowe” (Mapungubwe). The Kalanga name for “Lowe” of course is “Liwa/Luwe/Luo”.

Instead, they most probably originate from Khami, near Bulawayo. Khami is a corruption of its  Kalanga name – Nkami; meaning “the milker”.

It makes sense therefore that a swap be made between Botswana and Zimbabwe - the monument of their three chiefs in Gaborone’s Central Business District (CBD) gets re-Christened “Bulawayo”; while the Zimbabwean city of Bulawayo reverts to its original name of "Khama" "Nkami".