The dresses and beautiful decorated homes of the Ndebele people in South Africa are unique in Africa. Many a fashion model would envy the elegance, colour and presentation of a well-dressed Ndebele women.
Colourful dresses, metal rings and beaded hoops are used. The beadwork is sometimes so elaborate that garments and trinkets can only be removed by destroying it. The rings around the anckles as well as necklaces remain there for most of the wearer's life.

The decorative art in dressing is also employed by the women to decorate their homes. Multicolour wall paintings are painted by using their fingers.

Being very photogenic and familiar with tourists, a visit to a Ndebele kraal is extremely rewarding.
Visit the Botshabelo Mission Station outside Middelburg in Mpumalanga for a typical Ndebele experience.





NDEBELE
The Ndebele are part of the larger Nguni ethnic group. They are thought to have travelled from KwaZulu to the Transvaal region, led by a chief called Musi and settling near Pretoria in about 1600. In the mid-seventeenth century, the nation split over a succession dispute between his two sons, Manala and Ndzundza.

In 1882, following friction with Voortrekker settlers over land and other resources, the Boer leader Piet Joubert led a campaign against the Ndebele leader Nyabela. Nyabela was imprisoned, finally being released in the late 1890s, and many of his people were indentured to white farmers.

During the apartheid era, Nyabela's successor as leader, Cornelius, was forcibly moved with his people to a tribal "homeland" called KwaNdebele, which was given nominal self-government.

People with the last name Ndebele are considered royal.