Ntebaleng Chobokoane (University of Pretoria) and Tukufu Zuberi (University of Pennsylvania)

    The Sotho all originated from the Great Lakes region of East Africa and they migrated into Southern Africa as a single group, but later broke up and occupied different parts of Southern Africa. In general each Sotho group preserved its essential elements of speech and customs with which it identified itself. The paper uses census data from Lesotho, Botswana and South Africa to describe, compare and attempt to explain the present living arrangements among the Sotho populations. The results indicate that their contemporary patterns and forms of living arrangement are different. In addition, the factors
affecting living arrangements vary across different Sotho groups, although a typical pattern prevails.