Pelandaba
'The matter is concluded' — named when its residents won secure, long-term tenure in the 1950s.
Phelandaba means “the matter is concluded”: indaba iphelile. The name is said to mark “the successful conclusion to the struggle for security.” The question is, security of what?
Security of tenure
The Herald (Mabikwa, 2024) gives the answer: the struggle was for more secure housing tenure. The City Council’s 1960 account of its townships shows what that meant in practice.
- Pelandaba began in December 1952, soon after Pumula.
- Families could borrow £250, more than four times Pumula’s £55.
- The lease was extended from 30 years to 99 years.
- By 1960 there were 365 houses, some of them, the Council noted, “large and very fine.”
So the name may record something specific: a long-running argument over whether African families could hold their homes for a lifetime, settled here in their favour. If that reading is right, it is one of the most meaningful names on the map.
What we don’t know yet
Did your family help win that argument? Do you know who chose the name? We would very much like to hear from early Pelandaba families.
Sources
- Bulawayo’s suburb names, N to Z
- F. Q. Mabikwa, ‘Tracing the roots: How Bulawayo’s townships reflect city’s rich Ndebele heritage’, The Herald, 2 November 2024
- ‘Bulawayo Municipality’, NADA No. 37 (1960), pp. 75–80
Do you know more about this? Corrections, photographs and your own account are all welcome, and a correction is published on the page with the date it was made. Send something in.