Named for a nearby flat-topped hill, the name meaning “the place of the Nduna”. (Nduna – “a headman” in Ndebele). Legend has it that the Matabele captured some white children in the early 1800’s from a hunting party near the Vaal River. The boy grew up to be known as uVelani. "There seems little doubt that uVelani did ally himself with his captors. In 1837 he survived the long, dry trek to Rhodesia, and his prowess as a warrior grew, such that he rose to be induna of the Gogobambeni and Otakengeni military kraals. He lived at his kraals, near Thaba-zinduna, and in the course of time he took three wives and raised a family but, with the exception of one daughter, his children predeceased him." It is believed that he was involved in a dispute with Mzilikazi over cattle, the chief ordered his death along with his entire family. It was not permitted for anyone to mention the name of, or mourn, a person executed at the chief's order so that it is not surprising that little or nothing further has ever been heard.

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