The house of Tshivhase
The Tshivhase house descends from Tshivhase, also called Raluswielo, a son of the Venda king Vele-la-Mbeu by one of his later wives. The account below is the one presented to the Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims by Thambaleni Allan Budeli on behalf of the house, followed by the commission’s finding. The commission’s text spells the name both Tshivhase and Tshivase. Other houses tell the story differently, and their accounts are on the pages for Ramabulana, Mphaphuli and Ravhura.
The house’s account of the split
In the Tshivhase account, Thohoyandou was not the son of Vele-la-Mbeu but the son of Masindi, a younger brother of Vele-la-Mbeu, so that he and Tshivhase were cousins. Thohoyandou was installed as regent for Tshivhase and settled at the second Dzata in 1760. The account agrees with the other houses that Thohoyandou disappeared, which it dates to about 1870. It says that after his disappearance the half-brothers Tshisevhe, Mpofu and Tshivhase feuded, and that the elders concluded that Tshivhase should be installed as thovhele at Dzata, partly because his mother, Vho-Nyavele, was a close relative of Vele-la-Mbeu and partly because Khadzi Tshavhumbwe favoured him. All three brothers then left Dzata, and Tshivhase moved to Dopeni, where, the account says, a Tshivhase kingdom was established around 1780 by Thovhele Ramashelo Vele Tshivhase.
The dates in this account do not line up with each other (a disappearance around 1870 sits beside a reign beginning in 1780), so we give them as the house presented them and not as established history.
Rulers as recorded
The account says Tshivhase ruled from 1780 to 1834 and was followed by his son Mukhesi Luvhengo Ramarumo (1834 to 1867), during whose reign white settlers arrived, disarmed the community and imposed taxes. It then lists Tshivhase Raluswielo and Morwale Legegise Mankili-Mankili (1867 to 1902), and Vele Ramaremisa (1902 to 1930), under whom land laws between 1913 and 1936 took large areas of land. Rasimphi Phiriphiri Frans Mphaya succeeded in 1930. The account says he was arrested for defying the government between 1930 and 1947, banished to Hammanskraal, and believed to have been poisoned in 1952. Ratshalingwa Thikhathali Prince Thohoyandou reigned from 1963 to 1966. The present holder is Kennedy Tshivhase. The royal court moved from Vuvha to Vhulaudzi, Phiphidi and Denga, and finally settled at Luaname (Mukumbane), where it is today.
What the commission decided
The commission found that the claim that Tshivhase had been enthroned as king of the Vhavenda as a whole was “not supported by the facts presented before the Commission or any other material researched”, and noted that it is common cause that after leaving Dzata he attacked Munzhedzi Mpofu twice (the Ramabulana account says he lost at Dzata and at the Khwivhila River). It found that the Tshivhase house settled within the jurisdiction of the Dzata kingdom, had not created a community with a new identity, and so had not established a separate kingship. The claim for recognition of a Tshivhase kingship was unsuccessful. The commission also rejected the house’s argument that the Ramabulana house was wrongly elevated by the apartheid government, finding the elevation was in line with custom because the Ramabulana were the most senior of Vele-la-Mbeu’s descendants. It found that the Vhavenda houses continued to exist independently, but that this independence did not make them separate kingdoms.
Overview articles
The Tshivhase side of the Dzimauli contest is summarised in The Venda succession wars of the 1880s.
The Berlin station at Ha-Tshivhase is set in context in The Berlin Mission in Venda, 1872 to 1908.
The Tshivhase claim and the commissions that heard it are set in context in Venda kingship disputes, 1890s to 2020s.
Izithakazelo (zwidade) and totem
We have not found a published Tshivhase praise text or a confirmed totem, so we are not printing either. If you belong to the Tshivhase house and recite its praises, we would like to record them, with your permission and credited to you.
Sources and further reading
- Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims: Determination on the Vhavenda kingship claim (the Tshivhase account on pp. 622 to 627, the findings on pp. 645 to 664)
The account above is as presented to the commission by the house and has not been independently checked. An earlier version of this page, with older writing, has been replaced.
Do you belong to the Tshivhase house? Tell us your praises and what elders say about the history, and we will add it, credited to you. Share what you know or WhatsApp 065 138 8213.