Makhado
Wikipedia describes Makhado (about 1839 to 3 September 1895) as a 19th-century Thovhele of the Singo (Vhasenzi) dynasty of the Venda kingdom, who ruled the Dzanani district of the Zoutpansberg, the youngest son of Thovhele Ramabulana, who died in 1864 when Makhado was about 25. It says his mother, Limani, a granddaughter of the khosi of Tshitavhadulu, is noted for her political intrigue, that Ramabulana overthrew his rival and brother-in-law Ramavhoya with the help of the Voortrekker Louis Tregardt and married Limani, and that Davhana and Makhado were Ramabulana’s sons; it does not describe a succession dispute between them. See our Ramabulana page for the Commission’s account of the house, which also names Davhana.
Death and descendants
The article mentions the Tshamafingalanga war, said to have lasted 12 years, and a “pro-Boer faction” among the Venda, but gives no detail of Makhado’s wars. It says that, according to the Venda historian M. H. Nemudzivhadi, Makhado’s first wife, Nwaphunga, conspired with a pro-Boer faction and poisoned him in 1895, and that he was buried behind Lutshindwi Mountain. It lists sons including Mphephu I and Mbulaheni George (Mphephu II), and says Patrick Mphephu (Mphephu III, 1924 to 1988) was president of the Venda bantustan from 1979 to 1988. See our Mphephu page.
What we have not read
The article’s sources are Lindsay Braun’s Colonial Survey and Native Landscapes in Rural South Africa, 1850 to 1913 (2014), a web page on the Mphephu-Boer war of 1898 and J. H. N. Loubser’s 1991 ethnoarchaeology of Venda-speakers; we have read none of them. It carries a hidden tag that the year of birth is uncertain. We do not know who holds the Makhado line’s position today.
In Mulaudzi’s history
Lufuno Mulaudzi’s 2020 University of Pretoria doctoral thesis tells Makhado’s life at length from Van Warmelo’s informants, Nemudzivhadi and Müller-Malan. It says he was the son of Limani, whom his father Ravele Ramabulana took as a wife after she had been promised to his dead brother Ramavhoya, so that by the custom of cattle he counted as Ramavhoya’s son; Mulaudzi argues this put his claim to the throne far from the line of succession. As a youth he worked on a farm and hunted elephants with Funyufunyu and Stuurman, learning to use a gun, and went to the circumcision school at Doli against the wishes of his father and brother. When his father died in 1864 and the elders installed his half-brother Davhana, his aunt Nyakhuhu and uncle Madzhie backed him, and with some whites in Schoemansdal he deposed Davhana (ch. 4, pp. 80 to 87).
Mulaudzi says Makhado’s refusal to return the Boers’ guns after elephant hunting led to war; in 1867 a Boer force under Paul Kruger was sent to Schoemansdal, and Makhado’s warriors attacked it at night and forced the whites to leave, which earned him the name Tshilwavhusiku-tsha-ha-Ramabulana, “the one who attacks at night”. Kruger abandoned the attempt to retake it on 15 July 1867. In the late 1870s Sir Theophilus Shepstone called Makhado, Ligegise Tshivhase, Ranwedzi Mphaphuli and Rambuda to a meeting at Commando Boom that curtailed his authority. He later refused to meet General Joubert, made a pact with Captain Taylor, agent of Cecil Rhodes, and designated his youngest son Maemu as heir against custom (ch. 4, pp. 88 to 97; see Mphephu I and Sinthumule). Mulaudzi gives his death as 1897 and cites Müller-Malan’s allegation that he was betrayed from within the royal house; the Wikipedia article and Luonde give 3 September 1895, and later passages of the thesis itself treat Mphephu as ruling from 1895. We have not resolved this.
Schoemansdal and the war of 1867 in Nemudzivhadi
M. H. Nemudzivhadi’s 1998 thesis presents the abandonment of Schoemansdal on 15 July 1867 as Makhado’s victory over the Boers, which gave him the praise-name Tshilwavhusiku tsha ha Ramabulana. See Schoemansdal, Evacuation of Schoemansdal, 1867 and Stephanus Schoeman.
Overview articles
For longer syntheses see The Soutpansberg war, 1863 to 1869 and Christian missions in Venda and the Spelonken, 1863 to 1895.
The later disputes over the Venda kingship are followed in Venda kingship disputes, 1890s to 2020s.
The succession of 1864 and his death in 1895 are set out in The Ramabulana succession, 1864 to 1895.
His part in the Tsianda, Lwamondo and Dzimauli disputes is set out in The Venda succession wars of the 1880s.
His dispute over tax and land with the Republic is set out in Tribute, land and the Boer state in the Soutpansberg, 1855 to 1898.
Izithakazelo (dzinyimbo, praises) and totem
We are printing no praises or totem for Makhado because none has been confirmed here. If you belong to the Singo house and recite its praises, we would like to record them, with your permission and credited to you.
Sources and further reading
- Wikipedia: Makhado (cites Braun 2014, Loubser 1991)
- Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims: Determination on the Vhavenda kingship claim (via our Ramabulana page)
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