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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Tsonga-Shangaan of South Africa

The Tsonga-Shangaan of South Africa, numbering approximately 2,630,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Bantu ethnolinguistic group indigenous to southern Mozambique and the Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces of South Africa. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Tsonga is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Tsonga-Shangaan

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: South Africa
People Cluster: Bantu, Central-Southeast
Primary Language(s): Tsonga (tso)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 2,630,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG015542
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Pray for the Tsonga-Shangaan of South Africa

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

—
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tsonga
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Tsonga Speakers

Media Resources in Tsonga:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Tsonga:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Sociedade Bíblica de Moçambique, 2014✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Tsonga bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Tsonga-Shangaan are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Tsonga-Shangaan:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Tsonga-Shangaan of South Africa

But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.
readPsalm 130:4

Pray that God will bring those who have hard hearts to repentance and trust in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins.

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
readMatthew 6:10

Pray that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and that people will seek His kingdom and righteousness above all else, trusting in His provision.

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
readHebrews 10:39

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, and faithfully follow God, they will share Christ boldly with those around them.

And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
readMark 5:20

Pray that God will bring people who appear beyond hope to faith in Jesus and that they will then go and tell others of the marvelous things He has done.

Tsonga Across Countries (ROP3 - 110220) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

4 people groups

PhotoPeople Group ID ▼NameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
TsongaPG015680TsongaZimbabwe5,500No Longer UnreachedTsongaProtestantism
TsongaPG015560TsongaEswatini28,000No Longer UnreachedTsongaProtestantism
Tsonga-ShangaanPG015542Tsonga-ShangaanSouth Africa2,630,000No Longer UnreachedTsongaProtestantism
TsongaPG015424TsongaMozambique4,055,000Engaged yet UnreachedTsongaEthnoreligion

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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