I fairly often get questions about my second name: Mfundza. These are mostly curious, sometimes incredulous and only occasionally reflect other sentiments not worth mentioning.
The name is (si)Swati and has the same stem as the word ‘funda’ in (isi)Zulu, which means to learn. While it does have a meaning, my parents named me after a specific person: Mfundza Sukati. Sukati was the first post-independence Deputy Prime Minister of Swaziland. The personal connection is that Sukati was a friend of my grandparents who had fled to Swaziland after harassment, arrest and banning orders from the apartheid government. So it’s a name of some significance, which I am proud to carry.