Chobe District (2)

In our last instalment we had noted that by the 1600s Vekuhane settlement in the middle of Zambezi-Chobe-Linyandi (or Linyanti) region had led to the establishment of Intenge polity under a ruler named Ikuhane who was the son of Intenge, who thus took the title Munitengwe. Ikuhane is said to have been succeeded by Lilundu-Lituu, followed by the female ruler Mwale and Shanjo or Singongi. During this early period, the Vekuhane were both matrilineal and matrilocal in their social organisation.

Some local traditions maintain that during Munitengwe Shanjo's reign the Vekuhane lived for a period together with the Wayeyi and Lilebe's Hambukushu peoples in the Goha or Gcoha Hills. The three communities are reported to have come together to escape the raids of a notable 17th-century Aluya ruler named Mwanambinyi.