An indaba (; ) is an important conference held by the izinDuna (principal men) of the Zulu and Xhosa peoples of South Africa. (Such meetings are also practised by the Swazi, 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 Xhosa languages. It means "business" or "matter".

Indaba

Usage

The term is used by various organisations around the world for their meetups or conferences; for instance, the Wiki Indaba, South African Tourism's Africa’s Travel Indaba and Canonical's Ubuntu Indaba.

Indaba

References

Zulu culture

Xhosa culture

Swazi culture

Languages of South Africa

Zulu words and phrases

South African English

Meetings

Indaba