Riphabu’iki ya Venda
Republic
of Venda
The arms of Venda, taken into use upon Venda’s “independence” on 13 September 1979, may be blazoned:
Arms: Vert, an elephant's head caboshed or, tusked Argent, the whole within a bordure or.
Crest: A Venda tribal drum proper.
Supporters: Two elephants proper.
Motto: Shumela Venda.
Original arms registered:
The arms above replaced an earlier registration in the name of the Venda Legislative Assembly, published in the South African Government Gazette on 8 September 1972. The blazon reads:
Arms: Vert, an elephant statant within a bordure or.
Wreath: Or and vert.
Crest: A Venda tribal drum proper.
Motto: Shumela Venda.
About the arms:
The “independence” arms have supporters added, and replace the standing elephant with an elephant’s head. The term caboshed means that the head faces the viewer and there is no sign of a severed neck.
An official explanation states: “The head of the elephant who presses forward is a symbol of the will and determination of the people who will not be stopped in their attempt to venture into the future in the pursuit of their set ideals.
Of the crest it states: “The drum, known as a ngoma, symbolises the unity of the people; it is used by the chief when summoning the people of his tribe when an important message has to be conveyed.
And the supporters: “The two elephants . . . are a symbol of the power and stability exercised by the ruling authority.
The motto, Shumela Venda, translates as: “Always aspire for Venda.” (In the word Venda, the letter D has a circumflex accent added below the letter to indicate a sound like the TH in the.)
About the state:
The Venda people, or VaVenda, are quite distinct from any other in South Africa. They are Bantu-speakers, but they come from further north than any other South African group. This is revealed in the name of their language, TshiVenda.
The prefix used by both the Nguni and Sotho peoples contains the letter S – se- in Sotho (Sesotho, Setswana), and isi- in Nguni (isiZulu, isiXhosa, isiNdebele). Bantu-speaking groups from further north use either the tshi- (or chi-) prefix or ki-, as in tshiKongo, kiSwahili, kiGanda, kinyaRwanda or kiRundi. Only one other Bantu language spoken in South Africa also uses the tshi- prefix: xiTsonga.
The Venda tribal trust lands all fell into the Transvaal Province, and the northernmost of them abut the Limpopo River on the Zimbabwean border, close to Mozambique. Ironically, South Africa retained a narrow strip along the border between Venda and the Limpopo River, otherwise the state would have bordered on Zimbabwe.
The districts of Venda (starting roughly at the north-eastern point, adjoining the Kruger National Park) are: Mutele, Makuyua, Tshikundamalema, Manenzhe, Mphaphuli, Tshikonelo, Thengwe, Rambuda, Khakhu, Tshivase, Mphephu, Mulenzhe, Lwamondo, Gwamasenga, Tshakhuma, Shimbupfe, Nesengani, Davhana, Sinthumule, Masia, Mashau, Masakona, Mashamba and Mulima.
The Venda Legislative Assembly chose in 1979 to accept South Africa’s offer of “independence”. This independent status was, however, not recognised by any country outside South Africa, and the best international recogition Venda or any of the other three “independent” states received was the listing of their postage stamps in the Stanley Gibbons catalogue.
Throughout its existence Venda relied heavily on subsidies from South Africa, and the four “independent” states exploited the South African Government’s anxiety by inflating their budgets with salaries for excess staff and exorbitant expenditure on the leadership and their projects.
A capital was built at Thohoyandou.
Like the other three “independent” homeland states, Venda ceased to exist on 27 April 1994. It now became part of Northern Transvaal or Northern Province, which in 2002 was renamed Limpopo Province.
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Comments, queries: Mike Oettle