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Hungwe people are a tribe found across Zimbabwe and believed to be the earliest Bantu-speaking inhabitants of modern day Zimbabwe who settled in Southern Africa as early as 500 A.D. and whose arrival was only preceded by the San and Khoi Khoi.
To this day, Hungwe people remain connected by the common bond of the Fish Eagle (Hungwe/Nyoni/Shiri/Mutisi) totem which transcends tribal, linguistic, cultural and geographical boundaries. The Hungwe people cannot be classified into a single tribal grouping as they have inter-married and assimilated into other tribes over centuries. Today, Hungwe people are classified along the main tribal and linguistic groupings of Karanga (Hungwe; Shiri), Kalanga (Nyoni), Ndebele (Nyoni), Ndau (Mutisi), Nambiya and Tonga (Nyoni).
Descendants of the Hungwe tribe are today found geographically concentrated in Somabhula, Filabusi, Mberengwa and Gwanda areas where they speak isiNdebele; Masvingo, Shurugwi and Zvishavane areas where they speak ChiKaranga, Plumtree, Bulilima and Mangwe areas where they speak ChiKalanga, the Zambezi Valley areas of Hwange, Binga and Dande where they speak ChiNambiya and Chitonga; and the Chipinge and Chimanimani areas in the east of Zimbabwe where they speak ChiNdau. Beyond the borders of Zimbabwe, Hungwe descendants are believed to be found among the BaVenda in South Africa, BaKalanga in Botswana, BaTonga in Zambia, and Ndau, Manyika and Shangaan in Mozambique.
The praise song of the totem goes:
“Mazvita Hungwe; Matapatira; Zienda nomudenga; Pasi yakatyendove; Mudyanavana; Kunyima vanazvinoshura; Vedotojena; Vakadzi kuvarume vavo; Chasuranebanga … kunovava; … nebheura; ... eshumba; Muranda we…; Shiri isina shura nemunhu; Vachifamba nomudenga; VokwaChinobhururuka; Maita Shiri; Chivara; Maoko mavi, Shiri iri Hungwe.”