Raluswielo in the sources
Raluswielo, usually called Tshivhase, is the ancestor and founder of the Tshivhase house. The name Tshivhase is said to mean “one who burned and conquered the houses of the others”. The accounts of who he was disagree: the Commission calls him a son of Vele-la-Mbeu, Luonde a brother of Thohoyandou, and a 2003 University of Pretoria thesis a son of Dimbanyika.
What the sources say
The Tshivhase house’s account. As presented to the Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims, Thohoyandou was the son of Masindi, a younger brother of Vele-la-Mbeu, and so the cousin of Tshivhase, and Thohoyandou served as regent for Tshivhase. When Thohoyandou disappeared, the half-brothers Tshisevhe, Mpofu and Tshivhase feuded, and the elders chose Tshivhase because his mother, Vho-Nyavele, was a close relative of Vele-la-Mbeu and because the khadzi Tshavhumbwe favoured him. All three then left Dzata. Tshivhase moved to Dopeni, where the house says a Tshivhase kingdom was set up around 1780 by Thovhele Ramashelo Vele Tshivhase, who ruled from 1780 to 1834, assimilated some of the Vhangona he found there, and was succeeded by his son Mukhesi (pp. 622 to 625).
Other accounts. Luonde says Thohoyandou sent his brother Raluswielo to Dopeni, that after Thohoyandou vanished in 1770 Raluswielo challenged for the throne and was beaten twice by Munzhedzi Mpofu, first at Dzata and then at Khwivhila near Songozwi, and that he then ruled the land of Vhuphani and died at Dopeni. The Mphephu Ramabulana house tells the same two battles from its side. Fokwang’s thesis, drawing on oral tradition and Stayt (1968), makes him one of the four adult sons of Dimbanyika, set as petty chief at Phiphidi, who declared himself independent after Thohoyandou’s death and became wealthy and powerful. Wikipedia’s Venda Kingdom article calls him Raluswielo, a brother of Thohoyandou, from about 1780.
The Commission’s finding. The Commission found that the claim that Tshivhase had been enthroned king of all the Vhavenda was not supported by the evidence; that it is common cause that after leaving Dzata he attacked Munzhedzi Mpofu twice, which suggested he had not given up the fight for the whole kingship; and that he settled within the jurisdiction of the Dzata kingdom, his forebears having already defeated the Vhangona. It concluded the house had not established a new kingship (pp. 645 to 648). See our Tshivhase page for the house and findings.
Cautions
The name, parentage and dates (1760, 1770, 1780) all vary between sources. The Tshivhase house’s history is told differently by the Commission’s record, local oral history and academic work, and the dates and names do not always agree; where they differ we say so and take no side.
Izithakazelo and totem
We are printing no Raluswielo praises or totem because none has been confirmed. 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 house’s account, pp. 622 to 627, and findings, pp. 645 to 648)
- Luonde: Ha-Tshivhasa (community site; no author, date or sources given, so treat as unverified oral history)
- J. T. D. Fokwang, thesis (2003), University of Pretoria electronic theses, chapter 2, “Historical background to the Tshivhase chiefdom, Venda” (read by us in this chapter only)
- Wikipedia: Venda Kingdom (lists of Tshivhase rulers; it cites Loubser 2024, Beach 1980 and others)
See also Tshivhase, Masingo and Ramabulana.
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.