Venda Traditional Leaders Administration Proclamation of 1991 in the sources
The Venda Traditional Leaders Administration Proclamation, No. 29 of 1991, was issued by the Venda government of national unity after the Mushasha Commission. It listed the communities under recognised vhothovhele and ended the status of the khosikhulu. For genealogists it is a useful roll of the Venda traditional communities of 1991.
What the sources say
The 26 communities. Lufuno Mulaudzi’s thesis prints the roll in the proclamation’s own lettering as: (a) Tshivhase, (b) Mphephu, (c) Mphaphuli, (d) Kutama, (e) Sinthumule, (f) Rambuda, (g) Thengwe, (h) Mulenzhe, (i) Makuya, (j) Tshikondo, (k) Manenzhe, (l) Khakhu, (m) Tshikundamalema, (n) Mutale, (o) Nesengani, (p) Tshimbupfe, (r) Tshakhuma, (s) Mashau, (t) Mulima, (u) Mashamba, (v) Masakona, (w) Nthabalala, (y) Tsianda, (z) Ha-Mutsha, (aa) Masia and (bb) Davhana (ch. 8, p. 196). Our directory has pages for Tshivhase, Mphephu, Mphaphuli, Kutama, Sinthumule, Rambuda, Thengwe, Manenzhe, Khakhu, Tshikundamalema, Nesengani, Mashau, Mashamba, Masakona and Davhana; the others are not yet written.
What it did. Its stated purposes were to regulate the recognition of vhothovhele and magota, to define their powers and duties, and to give them civil and criminal jurisdiction. The areas of the communities were to be those of the Territorial Councils existing when it took effect, and the chairman of the government of national unity, Ramushwana, could divide or merge communities and set their areas, after consulting those concerned. It recognised as heads of these communities the men installed as mahosi under section 68 of the Venda Constitution Act of 1979. When a headship fell vacant the chairman could recognise whom the royal council designated, settling any dispute himself; and he could withdraw recognition at a royal council’s request or after a commission of inquiry of up to five members (ch. 8, pp. 196 to 198).
Mulaudzi’s verdict is that, though it was meant to end irregular appointments through proper consultation, the proclamation eroded the Venda kingship and was never repealed by later governments. He counts 28 vhothovhele today, down from the 32 of 1990. See also Ramushwana.
Cautions
The roll in the thesis skips the letters q and x, which may be a typing error in the proclamation or its transcription, so the number of communities may be 26 or 28; Mulaudzi counts 28 vhothovhele today. Mulaudzi is a historian writing in 2020 from commission reports, newspapers and interviews he carried out himself, and he states his own opinions in the text; the extracted text of the thesis has stray spaces and some unreadable characters, so page numbers are approximate. We have not seen the proclamation itself. Venda kingship history is told differently by each house and by each historian, and where the sources differ we say so and take no side.
Sources and further reading
See also Masingo, Ramabulana and Tshivhase.
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