Venda people

Vha-Venda

Play media Venda woman singing about a successful trip to collect stinkbugs.
Total population
0.7 million - 1.0 million
Regions with significant populations
Languages
Venda
Religion
African traditional, Christian

The Venda (Vhavenda or Vhangona) are a Southern African people living mostly near the South African-Zimbabwean border. The bantustan of Venda was created to become a homeland for the Venda people. The Venda people, like their Tsonga neighbours, are South Africa's minority groups, they currently number 700 000 speakers in Limpopo Province, while the Tsonga at their doorsteps number 900 000 people, also in Limpopo province.

The Venda people are originally from the Congo and the East African Rift, migrating across the Limpopo river during the Bantu expansion.

The Venda of today are descendants of many heterogeneous groupings and clans such as:

Vhadau, Vhakwevho, Vhafamadi, Vhania, Vhangona, Vhalea, and Vhaluvhu were collectively known as Vhangona. The Vhangona and Vhambedzi are considered to be the original inhabitants of Venda and the first people to live there.

The land of Vhangona was later settled by Karanga-Rodzvi clans from Zimbabwe: Vhatwanamba, Vhanyai, Vhatavhatsindi, and Vhalembethu. Masingo, Vhalaudzi, and Vhalemba are late arrivals in Venda.

According to one version of Vhangona oral history the capital of Vhangona was Mapungubwe with the Raphulu Royal House as the most senior royal house of the Vhangona. According to this version the Vhangona Kingdom had approximately 145 chiefdoms and a King (Thovhele). It is said that the Kingdom was divided into seven districts:

These districts were ruled by District Chiefs (Mahosi Mahulu), as follows:

Each district had Vhamusanda (Junior Chiefs) who paid tribute to Mahosi Mahulu. This tradition states that one of the Vhangona kings was King Shiriyadenga whose royal kraal was at Mapungubwe. It is not clear if this Shiriyadenga is the same Shiriyedenga of the Sanga dynasty, a Karanga-Rozvi branch. The Sanga dynasty, in Zimbabwe's eastern highlands, was founded by Chiphaphami Shiriyedenga who died in 1672. Could it be that at one point the Karanga-Rodzvi Empire extended beyond the Vhembe (Limpopo) River, and that the Vhangona, though not Karanga-speaking, were at one point under Karanga-Rodzvi rule?

The other version of Vhangona history disputes that the Vhangona were ever united under one chief or king. It says that the Vhangona had different independent chiefdoms and that the Vhangona chief of Nzhelele valley was Tshidziwelele of the Mudau clan. What is clear, however, is that the Vhatwanamba, who were of Karanga-Rodzvi origin, conquered Vhangona clans who lived in Mapungubwe, Musina, Ha-Tshivhula, Ha-Lishivha, Ha-Matshete, Ha-Mulambwane, and Ha-Madzhie (the areas of Ha-Tshivhula, Ha-Lishivha, Ha-Matshete, and Ha-Mulambwane are known today as Alldays and Waterpoort).