The indigenous people within the Kasai Basin up to Maniema understood themselves to be descendants of "AnKutshu Membele", then in the 20th century many accepted the imposed term Tetela (or Batetela in the plural).

According to Emil Torday a "tetela speaking" group bearing the Luba title "Sungu" claimed the name "Batetela" was given to them by the Arabs.

When the Arab slave traders witnessed this they began to refer to them as "Kusu" (Wakussu) people which is a corruption of the word "Kasuku", which means parrot.

Indigenous people off Maniema to Sankuru who reported themselves as descendants of AnKutshu or AnKutshu-membele (not to be confused with "Kusu") had indirectly and directly accepted the new reported and imposed label "Tetela" as an ethnic label in the early 20th century, which began to apply to all across the northern kasai basin up to Maniema irrespective of their original family names.

They are understood to be related to the then "Wakussu" people who remained in Maniema only separating from them in the late 1800s after the arrival of Arabs and Belgians in the region.

In the mid to late 19th century they were under the rulership of the Kilembwe rulers and chief Kasongo Lushie where some came under the influence of Arab traders while the "Sungu" and other bilingual populations ventured inland towards the eastern section within the Kasai basin.

According to Emile Torday The people bearing the Luba title "Sungu" arrived in today's sankuru district with term "Winya" to describe god and not "motetela".

[11] During the period immediately following independence, Patrice Lumumba, a Tetela, was a prominent politician and the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo before his assassination in 1961.

The ekuli, a small cylindrical two-toned drum, formerly used to signal victory in battle, is now used to call people to church and classes.