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Babirwa Clan — History & Meaning
Tswana clan · Setswana
Totem Nare (buffalo); they praise one another as 'kgomo ya naga' (the wild cow), reflecting the buffalo totem.
History & origin
The Babirwa are a Sotho-speaking people (their dialect is called Sebirwa) found on both sides of the Limpopo, in the Bobirwa region of north-eastern Botswana and in adjacent Limpopo Province, South Africa, with communities also in southern Zimbabwe. Oral tradition links their origin to Nareng ('place of the buffalo') in the former Transvaal, where they are said to have adopted the buffalo (nare) totem, and to early leadership under Tshukudu. By the mid-19th century they were established as transboundary cattle-keeping pastoralists around the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe rivers and in the Tuli block.
Associated surnames
Surnames that share this clan: Birwa, Sebirwa.
We publish the full diboko (clan praises) only once we can verify them against documented tradition — for this clan they are still being confirmed. If you can share an authoritative version, corrections are warmly welcomed.