Lwamondo succession dispute, 1883 in the sources
In 1883, after the death of Maboho Nelwamondo, his sons Raidimi and Phophi fought over the throne of Lwamondo. Raidimi called in Makhado’s army, which arrived on 5 February 1883, but Phophi’s side surrendered without a fight, Makhado recognised Phophi as khosi, and Makhado’s influence over Lwamondo was sealed.
What the sources say
The two sons. M. H. Nemudzivhadi’s 1998 thesis says that Maboho’s sons Raidimi and Phophi were the most important of his many sons and each claimed the throne, and that there is “some confusion between written and oral historiographical reasons” for Makhado’s coming to Raidimi’s assistance (p. 178). In Van Warmelo’s account Raidimi’s mother was Vhumbani, a daughter of Maphaha of Phahwe, and Phophi’s mother Mmbodi a daughter of Raluthaga Madzivhandila of Tshakhuma, and Makhado helped Raidimi because of family ties, since his younger sister Ndalammbi was married at Phahwe and his wife Midana (Mphephu’s mother) came from the same family. Nemudzivhadi calls this incorrect: it is not supported by Kone Nengovhela, Phophi’s niece, who told him the events clearly. Midana did come from Phahwe, he accepts, but Phophi was supported by the people within the territory, especially those of Matatani, whose gota had married a daughter of Raluthaga (pp. 178 to 179).
The fighting and the appeal. The people divided between the two princes. The makhotsimunene Matshuse, Nemutandani and Muligwe supported Raidimi; Mabidzha fled to Makhani at Muhuyu. Raidimi, although older, could not withstand Phophi’s supporters and went to Vhuingamela, where his younger brother Kilimboi had married Muome, a niece of Funyufunyu Tshinetise. Funyufunyu agreed to assist Raidimi and passed the request to Makhado, who was concerned because Lwamondo was nominally part of his territory (p. 179).
Makhado’s army. Makhado mobilised one age group; Kone Nengovhela remembered a multitude of Dzanani people accompanying Raidimi, arriving at Vhuthopha on 5 February 1883, a force Lwamondo had never seen the like of. Phophi’s army, seeing it could not stand, decided “to surrender diplomatically”: they sent a girl, Matodzi, with a vessel to Makhado’s army, followed by a head of cattle and Venda beads. The cattle were slaughtered and roasted for the army, and not a shot was fired; one khotsimunene of Lwamondo was killed, but Nemudzivhadi says by the inhabitants themselves. This is contrary to Albasini’s report to the meeting at Klipdam on 20 February 1883, which said Makhado’s army wrought havoc at Lwamondo (pp. 179 to 180).
The outcome. The army, which in his view wanted loyalty from the people and wanted to keep Albasini’s influence out, left; Raidimi, who felt betrayed, accompanied it to Dzanani, leaving Phophi as the sole contender. He did not stay long, returned to his father’s land and made peace with Phophi, “characteristic of Venda political history”. Nemudzivhadi notes nobody knew why Makhado did not install Raidimi, and suggests Makhado preferred to accept Phophi’s surrender and recognise the claimant with the greater number of supporters. Phophi’s installation followed at Makambe, with Netshivhale responsible. Nemudzivhadi concludes that Makhado “did not invade the territory”, but waited for an opportunity to make his authority felt, and that the Dzindi and Luvuvhu rivers became the south-eastern border of Makhado’s territory, next to Tshivhase and Mphaphuli (pp. 180 to 182).
Which Albasini?
Nemudzivhadi attributes the Klipdam report of 20 February 1883 to “Albasini” without initials. The 1883 letters and affidavits he cites around it are footnoted to A. A. Albasini, the Commissioner for the Spelonken, whom he describes as gradually taking over the Tsonga from his father João (p. 153), so the speaker was presumably Antonio, though the minutes are not quoted. See João Albasini.
Antonio Albasini
See Antonio Albasini for the Commissioner whose reports Nemudzivhadi contrasts with Phophi’s niece’s account.
Overview article
This dispute is set beside Tsianda and Dzimauli in The Venda succession wars of the 1880s.
Cautions
This account rests on Nemudzivhadi’s reading of the colonial archive and of Phophi’s niece, a witness of about a hundred years in 1980, who may favour Phophi’s line; Van Warmelo and Albasini told it differently, and the Raidimi side is represented only through the others. The OCR of the original names (Mabidzha, Makhani, Muhuyu, Vhuingamela) may contain misreadings. The vessel’s contents, garbled in our scan, are omitted. Muome’s place in the Funyufunyu family is stated as Nemudzivhadi gave it and is not otherwise confirmed. Two Venda-language typescripts about Lwamondo are held in the Van Warmelo collection at the University of Pretoria (W. Matodzi, 1938, on Maboho; L. Manthagu, 1942, on betrothal, burial and succession customs of the Lwamondo chiefs). We machine-read the first, which is four pages: the text is badly garbled and we could not quote it, though in what we could make out it concerns the fight between the supporters of Raidimi and Phophi. We did not read the second, which deals with private customs. Nemudzivhadi is a Venda historian whose subject is Makhado’s reign; he built on oral interviews done between the mid-1960s and the mid-1980s and on colonial archive papers, and he often says where his informants and the written sources disagree, as do we.
Sources and further reading
- Mphaya Henry Nemudzivhadi, “The attempts by Makhado to revive the Venda kingdom, 1864-1895”, PhD thesis, Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education (1998); open access at the North-West University repository (a scanned copy; we read it by OCR, and page numbers cited are the thesis’s printed numbers)
- W. Matodzi, “U dzama ha murena Maboho Ne-Lwamondo” (Venda typescript, July 1938, 4 pages), Van Warmelo collection, University of Pretoria; listed only, see the caution below
See also Lwamondo, Nelwamondo, Makhado, Vhalaudzi and Madzivhandila.
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