Ranwedzi in the sources
Ranwedzi (also written Ratsimbi Ranwedzi in the Commission’s record) is the best-documented ruler of the Mphaphuli house. Wikipedia’s list gives his rule as 1861 to 1903. He was one of the Venda rulers the British called to a meeting in the late 1870s, and one of the three eastern rulers affected by the war between the Boers and Mphephu in 1898.
What the sources say
The meeting of 1877. Mulaudzi writes that when Sir Theophilus Shepstone annexed the Boer republic in 1877 he wanted to settle local disputes, and called Thovhele Ligegise Tshivhase, Thovhele Ranwedzi Mphaphuli, Thovhele Rambuda and Makhado to a meeting at a store owned by a D. Gill at Commandoboom, where an agreement was reached on the boundaries of their authority, which curtailed Makhado’s power (ch. 4, about p. 91; see our Ligegise and Rambuda pages).
The war of 1898. The reign of Mphephu at Luatame, Mulaudzi says, ended the peaceful co-existence with the Boer republic, and the strain was also felt by three eastern rulers, Ligegise Tshivhase, Ranwedzi Mphaphuli and Tshikosi Rambuda. As the republic tried to isolate Mphephu, the Boers targeted Mphaphuli directly, whom Mulaudzi describes as ruling all the land around Sibasa; Mphaphuli sent a trusted man, Mmbidi, to Pretoria (ch. 5, pp. 108 to 118). Mulaudzi gives the later division of Venda into seven independent vhuhosi, Mphephu, Tshivhase, Mphaphuli, Rambuda, Sinthumule, Nesengani and Kutama (ch. 5, about p. 123).
The Mphaphuli house’s own list names Ratsimbi and Ranwedzi, while Wikipedia and Luonde separate Ratsibi, who ruled until about 1860, from Ranwedzi. We cannot say whether the Commission’s “Ratsimbi Ranwedzi” is one man or a merging of two.
Overview article
His meeting with Beuster in 1875 is told in The Berlin Mission in Venda, 1872 to 1908.
Cautions
The Commission’s “Ratsimbi Ranwedzi” combines two names that other sources treat as separate rulers. 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 Ranwedzi 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
- 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 4, about p. 91
- 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 5, about pp. 108 to 123
- Wikipedia: Venda Kingdom (list of Mphaphuli rulers and succession disputes; it cites Loubser 2024, Beach 1980 and others)
- 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)
See also Mphaphuli, Masingo and Tshivhase.
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