This past weekend the Bekuhane (often also referred to as Basubiya) held their cultural festival. The following is a brief look at the early history of the group.?While the Chobe has the highest proportion of Bekuhane within Botswana, other branches of the community can be found in the Northwest and Boteti. Linguists generally classify their language, Chikuhane, as a dialect within the larger Ila-Tonga l cluster, which are widely spoken throughout the central Zambezi basin. Since the mid-nineteenth century Setswana and Silozi have also been adopted among the Bekuhane as regional lingua franca. ?Prior to 1876 the Bekuhane were united as a small polity known as Itenge. The traditional rulers of Itenge were addressed as Munitenge, from “mwina-Itenge” meaning owners of Itenge. According to Bekuhane traditions, in the past the borders of Itenge extended throughout the modern Chobe District and adjacent areas of Namibia’s Eastern Caprivi. While the claim is plausible, available evidence also confirms that the Chobe has also long been the home of other independent ethno-linguistic groups.?By 1970, the Bekuhane were said to constitute some two thirds of the Chobe District’s population. Other prominent groups included Batswana (Batawana) Bathoka, Balozi, Banabia and Khoe (Basarwa).?The population of the Eastern Caprivi has also been historically heterogeneous. Although perhaps half of all Bekuhane currently reside in the Eastern Caprivi, there another group known as the Mafwe currently outnumbers them. Bekuhane communities also exist in Western Zambia.?While archaeology confirms the existence of early Iron Age settlements along the Chobe by the 3rd century, according to oral traditions the Bekuhane only emerged as a separate group after settling along the river during the 17th century. Some traditions further claim that they had fled turmoil within the Baluya or Baleya polity in western Zambia, which preceded the emergence of the Balozi kingdom. This is consistent with linguistic as well as oral evidence. According to Matengu Masule, the Chobe migration occurred during the time of Munitenge Ikuhane who was the son of Itenge; thus the names of the people and land respectively.?Another common tradition holds that the Bekuhane once lived together with Hambukushu and Wayeyi at the Goha Hills some 50 kilometres south of the river. This was during the reign of Munitenge Shanjo, also known as Singongi, who according to existing genealogies lived at least three generations after Ikuhane. ?Ikuhane is said to have been followed by Lilundu-Lituu, followed by Mwale (apparently a female ruler), then Shanjo. Shanjo’s son Mafwila or Mafwira I was succeeded by his younger brother Nsundano I.?The Bekuhane are said to have prospered under Nsundano. Praised as “Liberenge” (“the Peeler”), “Cisundu manyika” (“the pusher of countries”), Nsundano is credited with having captured many cattle while successfully defending his subjects from neighbouring Bathoka and Baluya. Such traditions are significant in countering the belief that Bekuhane did not keep cattle until relatively recently. ?Nsundano was ultimately killed fighting the Baluya. ?He was succeeded by his nephew Liswani I, the son of his sister Mwale and a man named Sikarumba (or Raliswani). At least from this time such matrilineal descent became the norm among the Bekuhane. It seems likely, however, that the earlier Munitenge had also been the matrilineal nephews, rather then the biological sons, of their predecessors. This system of matrilineal royal succession survived among the Bekuhane until the colonial era.??Although the Bekuhane remained united until the late nineteenth century under the descendents of Ikuhane, from Liswani I’s reign successive Munitenge were forced to accept the suzerainty of first the Bakololo and then the Balozi. As a result Liswani moved his capital from Luchindo to Isuswe, both in the eastern Caprivi. Isuswe was the name of a Mokololo who was made the Bekuhane overseer.?Sometime during the 1840s the Bakololo ruler, Sebetwane, suspected Liswani I disloyalty. As a result the Munitenge was summoned to his court at Naliele, in Zambia, where he was executed.?All of the modern Bekuhane rulers, in both Botswana and Namibia, are descended from either Liswani I or his sister Nsanzwe. After Liswani’s execution by the Bakololo the throne passed, in accordance with matrilineal succession, to Nsanzwe’s son, i.e. Liswani’s nephew, Nkonkwena I, who was also known as Liswani II.?Nkonkwena/Liswani II was the last ruler to unite Bekuhane. For a while he ruled from Impalila island at the confluence of the Chobe and Zambezi rivers. But, hearing that the Balozi ruler Sepopa wished to kill him, in 1876 he fled from the Chobe region with most of his followers. By 1878 he had resettled at Rakops under the rule of the Bangwato Kgosi Khama III.
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