06 Aug 2026

Through a living culture of thrift, hands-on skills, mutual support and resilient entrepreneurship, members of the Zezuru community in Botswana offer a powerful example of intergenerational economic self-reliance.

The Zezuru form one of the main subgroups of the Shona people of Zimbabwe. Historically linked to the broader Shona civilisations that built and sustained the stone cities of Great Zimbabwe and later states such as the Mutapa kingdom, they developed traditions of farming, livestock keeping, ironworking and long-distance trade. 

In Botswana, the community largely descends from followers of the Gospel of God Church (also known as the Vapostori or Johane Masowe movement). These groups migrated from Zimbabwe in the 1940s, initially for missionary work, and settled in places such as Francistown, Mandunyane, Shashe and later southern centres including the Kanye area. Over decades they became known locally for practical skills, informal trade and strong communal networks. BOPA reporter Marvin Motlhabane recently visited communities in the Molapowabojang–Ntomalome ward and the bustling markets of Kanye to explore the everyday practices that continue to shape Zezuru economic life. 

In Molapowabojang, 78-year-old Mr Emmanuel Namo, originally from the Shashe-Mandunyane area and of Shona descent, shared how traditional knowledge still sustains families. A skilled carpenter who never attended formal school, Mr Namo learned woodworking from his father. He has used that craft to house and support his family for decades.

Mr Namo explained that children were traditionally taught practical economic skills from a young age. Boys learned to work with wood and metal, producing furniture and other useful items. Girls often went into the community to sell goods. Handling money and basic trade formed part of everyday education, independent of classroom schooling.

He recalled opening a workshop in Kang with his brothers in the early 1990s. When fire destroyed the business, the setback was severe. Through steady piece-work; repairing furniture and building wardrobes in Kanye and surrounding villages - he gradually rebuilt. He constructed a family home and two bachelor pads that now generate rental income. Today he lives in a house built by his own labour and has raised children who are studying and some working.

Mr Namo also described community marriage customs within their church tradition, citing that marriage required membership of a recognised church. He added that formal lobola (bride price) was optional rather than compulsory, stating that parents of the prospective husband would visit the bride’s family to declare intent, after which the process could proceed in a relatively simple manner and without the heavy costs common in some other customary marriages. Mr Namo himself is married to a woman from Lobatse and belongs to the African International God Church, a Word of Faith institution.

In the busy markets of Kanye, 34-year-old Ms Jennifer Khanda of Tsolamosese who is now living in Ntlhantlhe illustrated how the same cultural orientation supports younger generations. 

After graduating with a Diploma in Fleet Management from Mega Size College in 2019, she struggled to find formal employment - a challenge shared by many Batswana graduates.

Ms Khanda said lack of formal employment returned her to skills she had absorbed from childhood. With a P300 advance from an uncle, her business gradually picked from selling bananas and boiled eggs on the streets. 

Off the initial proceeds made, she then went on to purchase rejected sponge material from a Gaborone bed factory, made ten pillows, carried them on her head and sold them in Letlhakane. Her success allowed her to expand, therefore she posited that she later started sourcing goods from Johannesburg; tracksuits, bedding, shoes, cutlery and other household items; and sold them house-to-house on Sundays and Wednesdays. She found this more profitable than running a fixed tuckshop. 

Ms Khanda managed to diversify further into mobile money services including Myzaka, Orange Money and airtime, and plans to add prepaid electricity and DSTV subscription services. 

Her story to scaling up had her joining several metshelo, which are rotating savings and credit schemes in which members pool money, offer internal loans at interest, and distribute payouts for housing, school fees, groceries or emergencies. Individual dividends can reach P25 000 and beyond, she explained. 

She credited fellow Zezuru women with practical solidarity, adding that after a period of confinement when she could not trade, women in the community provided interest-free support so she could restock and restart. This mutual assistance functions as an informal, trust-based safety net that helps members weather personal setbacks and expand enterprises. 

Ms Khanda explained that Zezuru practice placed strong emphasis on family and extended kin as the foundation of economic security, stating that, «education is treated as a long-term investment; assets such as housing and small businesses are built incrementally; and skills are transmitted early so that young people can generate income rather than wait solely for formal jobs.» She revealed that in an economy where formal employment opportunities remain limited and many households rely on informal trade, these habits offer a practical model.  Thrift is combined with productive workmanship. Risk is managed through diversification of goods and services. Social capital which includes shared values, church networks and reciprocal support, reduces vulnerability,» she explained. 

She reiterated that the result is a form of holistic wealth: not only cash in hand, but the capacity to rebuild after loss, the knowledge to create goods and services, the discipline to save and reinvest, and the social ties that turn individual effort into collective resilience.

As Botswana continues to navigate economic change, the everyday practices of Zezuru households and traders illustrate an enduring African approach to prosperity, one rooted in skills, mutual aid, patient accumulation and the conviction that true security is built by many hands working together across generations. ENDS