the Ancestor of the Ovaherero

Kathu (Kadhu) ya Mangundu figures in Aawambo origin tradition as the brother of Nangombe and a son of the first human Mangundu. When the two brothers reached the great Omumborombonga tree during their migration from the east, they separated: Kathu led his people and herds onward in search of pasture, becoming the ancestor of the pastoral Ovaherero, while Nangombe remained to found the Aawambo. The story is regularly cited to explain the acknowledged kinship between the Aawambo and Ovaherero peoples of Namibia.

Parentage

• parent: the First Human

Domains

• migration and pastoralism

Powers

• to lead his followers and their herds in search of new pastures

Relations

• sibling: the Ancestor of the AawamboKathu and Nangombe were brothers whose parting at the Omumborombonga tree explains the kinship of the Ovaherero and Aawambo peoples.Alice Werner, Myths and Legends of the Bantu, George G. Harrap, 1933, ch. II (secondary)

Sources

• Kathu ya Mangundu is, in Ovambo origin tradition, the brother of Nangombe who led the Ovaherero away from the Omumborombonga tree in search of pasture, making the two peoples kin.: Frieda-Nela Williams, Precolonial Communities of Southwestern Africa: A History of Owambo Kingdoms 1600–1920, National Archives of Namibia, 1991 (secondary); Alice Werner, Myths and Legends of the Bantu, George G. Harrap, 1933 (secondary)