An indaba (; ) is an important conference held by the izinDuna (principal men) of the Zulu and

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

peoples of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. (Such meetings are also practiced by the

Swazi Swazi may refer to: * Swazi people, a people of southeastern Africa * Swazi language * Eswatini Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked coun ...

, who refer to them using the close cognate '.) Indabas may include only the izinDuna of a particular community, or they may be held with representatives of other communities. The term "Indaba" comes from the Zulu and

languages. It means "business" or "matter".{{cite book, last=Pettman, first=Charles, title=Africanderisms; a glossary of South African colloquial words and phrases and of place and other names, year=1913, publisher=Longmans, Green and Co., page=225, url=https://archive.org/stream/cu31924026563795#page/n245/mode/2up

References

Zulu culture Xhosa culture Swazi culture Languages of South Africa Zulu words and phrases South African English Meetings