Gole in the sources
Gole is the ancestor of the Mphaphuli house. The sources describe him in three different ways: as the Venda high priest under Thohoyandou, as the chief priest and guardian of the royal sons under Dimbanyika, and, in the Mphaphuli house’s own presentation to the Commission, as Nelugunda (also Kutama or Tshibogo), the favourite and most junior son of Vele-la-Mbeu.
What the sources say
The Mphaphuli house’s account. The house told the Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims that Vele-la-Mbeu gave his favourite son Nelugunda the traditional instruments that guarded the whole kingdom; that the royal council sent Nelugunda with Tshisevhe’s son Ragavheli to a Ndebele healer to prepare him for the throne; that Ragavheli was killed on the way; and that in the skirmish Nelugunda cut off an attacker’s arm, so taking the name Mphaphuli, from the Venda word “to chop”. He then fled to Tshitomboni and never returned to Dzata (pp. 618 to 620). The Commission noted that the house concedes it comes from the most junior house of Vele-la-Mbeu. See our Mphaphuli page.
Other accounts. The Luonde site says that during Thohoyandou’s reign the Venda high priest (tshifhe) was Gole, founder of the Mphaphuli house, nicknamed Mphaphuli for killing enemies in battle, and that Thohoyandou placed his son Tshilala at Tshitomboni to guard the south-east. In Lufuno Mulaudzi’s 2020 University of Pretoria doctoral thesis, one tradition (from E. Mudau and O. S. Radzilani) has Dimbanyika give the chief priest Gole-la-Denga land to guard the south-east against enemies, with his headquarters at Tshitomboni, and give the commoner Magoro the area of Mbwenda so that both could support Gole Mphaphuli as guardians of the royal sons; the thesis adds a note that “Gole-la-Denga should be Mphaphuli” (pp. 62 to 63). Mulaudzi himself writes that the idea that Mphaphuli was a brother of Tshisevhe is “highly distorted”, and that scholars of Venda history have generally seen him as a chief priest and servant of the Ramabulana (pp. 69 to 70).
The Ralushai Commission heard the Mphaphuli case through its spokesman Gota Sumbana, who gave the genealogy as Nelungundu, Tshilala, Ratsimbi, Ranwedzi, Makwarela, Phaswana, Magwedzha, Mpandeli and the present Thovhele Musiiwa Mphaphuli. Mulaudzi says the house’s affinity with the Masingo is questionable, notes that a pastor alleged Swati or Ndebele origin but that no trace of such culture survives in Mphaphuli practice, and records a scholarly view that the Mphaphuli were traditionally the priests and announcers of national news at Dzata (ch. 9, pp. 211 to 212).
Cautions
Whether Gole, Nelugunda and Mphaphuli are one man, and whether he was a prince or a priest, is exactly what the sources dispute; the house itself concedes it comes from the junior house. The Mphaphuli house’s history is told differently in the Commission’s record, local oral history and academic work, and the names and dates do not always agree; where they differ we say so and take no side.
Izithakazelo and totem
We are printing no Gole praises or totem because none has been confirmed. If you belong to the Mphaphuli 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 Mphaphuli account, pp. 618 to 622, and findings, pp. 648 to 664)
- Luonde: Ha-Mphaphuli (community site; no author, date or sources given, so treat as unverified oral history)
- Lufuno J. P. Mulaudzi, “Historicising the politics of vhuhosivhuhulu: the Venda polity and state formation in South Africa, c.1800s-2020”, DPhil thesis, University of Pretoria (2020), chapter 3, pp. 62 to 70
- Lufuno J. P. Mulaudzi, “Historicising the politics of vhuhosivhuhulu: the Venda polity and state formation in South Africa, c.1800s-2020”, DPhil thesis, University of Pretoria (2020), chapter 9, pp. 211 to 212
See also Mphaphuli, Masingo and Tshivhase.
Do you belong to the Mphaphuli 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.