Rambuda in the sources
The Rambuda are a Venda royal family and traditional council in the Vhembe District of Limpopo. Wikipedia’s Venda people article lists Rambuda among the Venda clans without comment. The Vendaland community site lists Thovhele Avhatendi Hector Rambuda as a chief.
What the sources say
The best-documented fact is a court case. In Chief Avhatendi Ratshibvumo Rambuda and Others v Tshibvumo Royal Family and Others (CCT 255/22, [2024] ZACC 15), argued on 30 November 2023 and decided on 17 July 2024, the applicants were the chief, Mr Ndwambi Donald Rambuda, the Rambuda Traditional Council and the Rambuda Royal Family. The dispute concerned the Limpopo Premier’s decision to recognise Mr Rambuda as headman of Tshibvumo Village, which the High Court had set aside.
The Constitutional Court found that the Rambuda Royal Family had the authority to identify the successor, and that the Premier had not lawfully followed the mandatory process under section 12(2) of the Limpopo Traditional Leadership and Institutions Act, relying on misleading information from the MEC. It allowed the appeal in part, remitted the matter to the Premier, who must refer it to the provincial House of Traditional Leaders and the relevant local House, and ordered that further decisions take into account section 2(1) of the Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Act. It made no order as to costs. That is all we have read of it, which is the Court’s summary and not the full judgment.
Overview article
The Dzimauli succession war of 1882 to 1896 is told in The Venda succession wars of the 1880s.
Cautions
The court case concerns one village’s headmanship and tells us nothing about the clan’s past; the history above comes from a single community site. We found no praise text or totem. Venda oral history is told differently by each royal house and the dates in the sources do not always agree; where they differ we say so and take no side.
Ha-Rambuda in local oral history
The Luonde community site tells the history of the Rambuda chiefdom of Dzimauli, and says it gives no author, date or sources. In its account the chiefdom was founded by Phophi Rambuda, a younger brother of Thohoyandou and Raluswielo (Tshivhase). After Thohoyandou vanished in 1770, his brother Tshisevhe acted as king and refused to step down, and was defeated and killed by Thohoyandou’s son Munzhedzi Mpofu; Raluswielo was also beaten. Raluswielo and Rambuda settled at Vhuphani, Rambuda then at Lunungwi and Raluswielo at Dopeni. Rambuda, a hunter, crossed the Mutale River and conquered Dzimauli, then ruled by a woman chief, Nyafhasi, who fled to Makonde, where Ravhura is said to have given her land at Tshaulu.
The rulers named, without dates, are Phophi Rambuda, who died at Dzimauli; his son Vele Rambuda, who had 14 sons; Bele Rambuda, who contested the succession, was driven out and was later killed; Mashila Rambuda, installed by the Tshivhases after they invaded Dzimauli and whose mother was a Tshivhase; Mashila’s widow Nyatshitahela, who fled when Mphephu’s forces advanced; and Tshikosi Rambuda, installed with Mphephu’s help, who stayed loyal to Makhado and then Mphephu. The account says Rambuda paid tribute to Raluswielo, that Vele Rambuda refused tribute to Ligegise as “a boy” (see Ligegise), that the Tshivhases tried to take Dzimauli and failed because of the terrain, and that Munzhedzi Mpofu’s warriors also failed to dislodge Rambuda. It tells of Makhado touring the Venda chiefdoms for submission, of Vele Rambuda submitting while Bele did not, and of Bele being lured to Mphego and killed there. It credits the praise name “Rambudas who jumped from tree branches” to the second assault on Dzimauli, which succeeded when fighters climbed into the residence from tree branches.
We have not seen a second source for any of this, and Luonde itself says nothing of the Boers or of the headmanship dispute of Tshibvumo that the Constitutional Court decided in 2024. See also our Tshivhase page.
Izithakazelo and totem
We are printing no Rambuda praises or totem because none has been confirmed. If you belong to this house and recite its praises, we would like to record them, with your permission and credited to you.
Sources and further reading
- Constitutional Court of South Africa: Chief Avhatendi Ratshibvumo Rambuda and Others v Tshibvumo Royal Family and Others (CCT 255/22, [2024] ZACC 15), case page and summary
- Vendaland: Musanda wa VhaVenda (community website; lists current chiefs, cites no sources)
- Wikipedia: Venda people (clan list)
- Luonde: Ha-Rambuda (community site; no author, date or sources given, so treat as unverified oral history)
See also Masingo, Ramabulana and Tshivhase.
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