Vhembe District Municipality

Vhembe is one of the 5 districts of Limpopo province of South Africa. It is the northernmost district of the country and shares its northern border with Beitbridge district in Matabeleland South, Zimbabwe and on the east with Gaza Province in Mozambique. Vhembe consist of all territories that were part of the former Venda Bantustan, however, two large densely populated districts of the former Tsonga homeland of Gazankulu, in particular, Hlanganani and Malamulele were also incorporated into Vhembe, hence the ethnic diversity of the District. The seat of Vhembe is Thohoyandou, the former Capital of the former Venda Bantustan. According to 2011 census, the majority of Vhembe residents, about 800 000, speak TshiVenda as their mother language, while 400 000 speak Xitsonga as their home language. However, the Tsonga people are in majority south of Levubu River and they constitute more than 85% of the population in the south of the historic river Levubu, while the Venda are in Minority south of Levubu, at 15%. The Northern Sotho speakers stands at 27 000. The district code is DC34.

Vhembe
District municipality
Seal
Location in Limpopo
Coordinates: 22°56′S 30°28′E
Country	South Africa
Province	Limpopo
Seat	Thohoyandou
Local municipalities	List Musina Collins Chabane Thulamela Makhado
Government
• Type	Municipal council
• Mayor	Nenguda Dowelani[1]
Area
• Total	25,597 km^2 (9,883 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[2]
• Total	1,294,722
• Density	51/km^2 (130/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [2]
• Black African	98.2%
• Coloured	0.1%
• Indian/Asian	0.4%
• White	1.1%
First languages (2011) [3]
• Venda	67.2%
• Tsonga	24.8%
• Northern Sotho	1.6%
• Afrikaans	1.3%
• Other	5.1%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	DC34

History

Vhembe was originally settled by tribes of Khoisan peoples. It was later settled by the Venda people (recently migrated from what is now Matabeleland South in Zimbabwe), who constitute a majority of the population of Vhembe today. Later, from around 1820 onwards, the Tsonga people started to invade from the south east and are today a majority in the whole southern and eastern part of Vhembe, which are known today as Malamulele (in the east of Vhembe) and Hlanganani (in the south of Vhembe). At the same time, the Boer colonialists arrived in Vhembe, at around 1836. Venda communities are only found in Vhembe district and as a result, there are no existing Venda communities or villages outside the district. Vhembe means Limpopo river in the Venda language. Before the renaming of Limpopo Province in 2002, the name Vhembe was submitted to the Limpopo legislature as one of the desired name for the new Province but the majority of the members of the Legislature voted against the name Vhembe in favour of the name Limpopo. The Dzata ruins in Thulamela local municipality once served as the main settlement and capital of the Venda empire which had dominated the area during the 18th century.

Boer settlement of the territory began in the late 18th century and gradually upsurged throughout the 19th century. By the turn of the century, the Soutpansberg was taken by the Boers from the Venda rulers, making it one of the last areas in the future republic of South Africa to come under white rule. During the apartheid era, the bantustan of Venda (declared independent in 1979) was established in the eastern part of the Vhembe area, and was reintegrated into the country in 1994. The former bantustan capital, Thohoyandou (named after a chief that had led the expansion of the Venda empire in the 18th century) is the current capital of the Vhembe district.

On December 11, 2008, Vhembe was declared a disaster zone by the Limpopo government due to the spread of cholera from across the Zimbabwean border to the district.[4]

The Vhembe region became the Vhembe Biosphere Reserve in 2009, which was officially declared a biosphere reserve in 2011.[5] The reserve includes the Blouberg Range, the Kruger National Park, the Makgabeng Plateau, the Makuleke Wetlands, the Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape and the Soutpansberg.[6]

Geography

The main geographic feature of the district is the Soutpansberg mountains.

Neighbours

Vhembe is surrounded by:

• Mozambique to the east
• Zimbabwe to the north
• Botswana to the north-west
• Mopani (DC33) to the south
• Capricorn (DC35) to the south-west

Local municipalities

The district contains the following local municipalities:

Local municipality	Population	%	Dominant language
Thulamela	381 696	29.58%	Venda and Tsonga
Makhado	516 031	39.56%	Venda and Tsonga
Collins Chabane	328 636[7]	25.48%	Venda and Tsonga
Musina	68 359	5.38%	Venda

Demographics

The following statistics are from the census 2011 10% sample.[8]

Language	Population	%
Venda	861 910	67.3%
Tsonga	318 973	24.9%
Northern Sotho	19 935	1.6%
Afrikaans	16 317	1.3%
Sotho	12 369	1.0%
Other	27038	2.1%
English	12994	1.0%
Ndebele	4193	0.3%
Zulu	1 864	1.0%
Tswana	1 179	0.1%
Xhosa	660	0.1%
Swati	2 412	0.2%
Sign	1 205	0.1%

Gender

Gender	Population	%
Female	704 559	54.4%
Male	590 509	45.6%

Population group

Population group	Population	%
Black African	1 272 427	98.3%
White	14 168	1.1%
Indian/Asian	5 435	0.4%
Coloured	1 858	0.1%
Other	1 180	0.1%

Age

Age	Population	%
00 - 04	163 984	12.7%
05 - 09	142 612	11.0%
10 - 14	144 313	11.1%
15 - 19	159 642	12.3%
20 - 24	130 534	10.1%
25 - 29	99 850	7.7%
30 - 34	80 042	6.2%
35 - 39	71 038	5.5%
40 - 44	59 394	4.6%
45 - 49	53 881	4.2%
50 - 54	45 418	3.5%
55 - 59	35 508	2.7%
60 - 64	27 315	2.1%
65 - 69	21 205	1.6%
70 - 74	18 526	1.4%
75 - 79	16 045	1.2%
80 - 84	13 847	1.2%
85+	11 916	0.9%

Politics

Election results

Election results for Vhembe in the South African general election, 2004.

• Population 18 and over: 621 522 [51.80% of total population]
• Total votes: 386 629 [32.22% of total population]
• Voting % estimate: 62.21% votes as a % of population 18 and over

Party	Votes	%
African National Congress	348 768	90.21%
Democratic Alliance	15 553	4.02%
United Democratic Movement	5 821	1.51%
African Christian Democratic Party	4 687	1.21%
Pan African Congress	2 875	0.74%
New National Party	2 098	0.54%
Azanian People's Organisation	1 767	0.46%
Independent Democrats	916	0.24%
Freedom Front Plus	864	0.22%
Inkhata Freedom Party	585	0.15%
United Christian Democratic Party	469	0.12%
NA	359	0.09%
SOPA	336	0.09%
PJC	301	0.08%
EMSA	282	0.07%
CDP	258	0.07%
TOP	198	0.05%
UF	191	0.05%
KISS	129	0.03%
NLP	92	0.02%
Minority Front	80	0.02%
Total	386 629	100.00%

References

1. "Executive Mayor". Vhembe District Municipality. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
2. "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
3. "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
4. "Limpopo declares disaster area", by Independent Online, December 11, 2008
5. "The official launch of the Vhembe Biosphere Reserve". Archived from the original on 2 October 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
6. UNESCO - Biosphere Reserve Information
7. NOTE: official census statistics for Collins Chabane not available (March 2020).
8. Statistics South Africa. Census 2011 10% sample

External links

• Vhembe District Municipality Official Website
• Vhembe Region named UNESCO’s Biosphere Reserve