Vhalaudzi in the sources
Wikipedia’s Venda people article describes the Vhalaudzi, with the Masingo, as late arrivals in Venda, and says no more. The Luonde site places them among the Vhasenzi, the Karanga-Rozvi-origin groups it says arrived in the mid-1500s and conquered the independent Vhangona clans, along with the Masingo, Vhandalamo and Vhalemba.
What the sources say
The Commission’s determination on the Vhavenda kingship claim mentions Vhulaudzi once, as a place: in the Tshivhase house’s account the royal court moved from Vuvha to Vhulaudzi, then Phiphidi, Denga and finally Luaname (Mukumbane). It does not say the place is named for the clan, and we do not claim that. See our Tshivhase and Masingo pages.
The Vhalaudzi of Lwamondo and Tsianda
Hugh Stayt’s 1931 The Bavenda places the Vhalaudzi sib on sacred mountains, among them Lwamondo, and says another section has its mountains at Masia and Tsianda. He says it has no totem animal or object in the usual sense, but its people are forbidden to work in their gardens on the day after they first see the new moon, and that those of Lwamondo are of Sotho stock from Phalaborwa; the Vhalaudzi living on Lwamondo Kop are closely connected with the baboon and are generally called the Vha-ila-Pfene. The Tsianda section adopted the goat as its totem, he writes. M. H. Nemudzivhadi’s 1998 thesis calls the inhabitants of Tsianda “the Vhalaudzi” in describing the Tsianda succession wars of the 1880s. See Lwamondo and Nelwamondo.
The Tsianda and Hamutsha branches
M. H. Nemudzivhadi’s 1998 thesis traces the rulers of Tsianda and Hamutsha, whom it calls the Vhalaudzi, to Govhamasenga, brother of the mother of Thohoyandou, and describes the division of the territory between his descendants Mukhesi and Mugivhi in 1885. See Tsianda, Hamutsha and Govhamasenga.
Cautions
The Luonde dating is that site’s claim, uncited, and we have not checked it. We found no Vhalaudzi chief, totem or praise text.
Izithakazelo and totem
We are printing no Vhalaudzi praises or totem because none has been confirmed. If you belong to the Vhalaudzi and recite your praises, we would like to record them, with your permission and credited to you.
Sources and further reading
- Wikipedia: Venda people (tagged as needing more citations; its clan list has no inline citations)
- Luonde: Brief History (a community site; no author or bibliography given, so treat as unverified)
- Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims: Determination on the Vhavenda kingship claim (the Vhangona account, pp. 608 to 609)
- Hugh A. Stayt, The Bavenda (Oxford University Press for the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures, 1931); open access at the University of Pretoria repository
- 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)
- Mphaya Henry Nemudzivhadi, “The attempts by Makhado to revive the Venda kingdom, 1864-1895”, PhD thesis, Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education (1998), chapter 7; 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)
See also Vhangona and Masingo.
Do you belong to the Vhalaudzi? 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.