Abakhulisi a section of abaThembu, are of Nguni origin like amaXhosa, amaZulu, amaSwazi, and amaNdebele, who trace their origin to the Great Lakes of Central Africa.
The Nguni along with other significant national groups are said to have migrated southwards to present-day kwaZulu–Natal. Among those that settled in the north-east tip of South Africa were those later unified by Shaka into the Zulu nation.
With a traceable history that stretches from the Thukela and Mzinyathi Rivers in Msinga under Ngoza son of Mkhubukeli, iNkosi of Abathembu in the late 1820s, to the Ngudwini forests in kwaSandanezwe (Donnybrook, kwaZulu-Natal) under current iNkosi Khulekani Walter Mkhulise, Abakhulisi can today be located in various areas within kwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and as far as Swaziland.