The Venda and the Bakiga People

South Africa has 10 different ethnic tribes, Afrikaans, Ndebele, Zulu, Northern Sotho,
Southern Sotho, Tsonga, Venda, IsiXhosa, Sestwana, and Swati tribes. However, I
will be focusing on the Vhavenda tribe in South Africa.

The Venda (Vhangona) are Bantu Southern African people living in the Northern
Province (also known as Limpopo) of the country. I will be relating this tribe with the
Bakiga tribe in the south western part of Uganda. I find it very interesting that the
Bantu tribes goes this far, meaning that there are some words we actually share with
the Venda people. However the spellings might be different but the pronunciation is
the same e.g. motho vs omuntu (person)for the Bakiga, ngwana vs omwana (child)
among others. The Venda people are also a minority tribe coming right after the
Tsonga (Tshagane) people in South Africa, with an approximation of 875,000 of them
living within the country. The Venda tribe is broken down into 6 ethnic groups such
the Vhangona and Takalani to name a few making it similar to the Bakiga who are
also broken down into Bahesi, Bahimba,etc. However, the Vhangona are the original
inhabitants of Venda, they are also referred as Vhongwani wapo. Interestingly enough
the Masingo people are actually from Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of
Congo. The Masingo were moved to South Africa during the Bantu Expansion.

Venda was broken down into four main Districts i.e Thohoyandou, Vuwani, Makhado
and Vhembe. Each district had its own chief (vhafuwi) who was responsible for
paying tribute to the head chief of the Vhavenda people. This tribute was used to take
care of the people and to cater for the needs of the King.

The Venda people located on the North East side of the Limpopo River used to do
trade in Mapungubwe. They traded things such as gold, iron, copper, making them
more of miners. The people of Mapungubwe mainly traded with Ancient Ethiopia
using Mozambican trade ports. The Venda tribe was broken down into districts each
district had its own chief. This chiefs were responsible for paying tribute to the head
chief ( the king/vhafuwi). This tributes would be used to take care of the people and
meet the needs of the king, with trade included.

Currently “agriculture dominates the Venda economy. The Venda Chiefs are
traditionally custodians for the land for their people, while local housemen permit
headsmen groups to occupy and work tracts of land.” (Britannica.com). This brings
me back to my culture where agriculture is the our main economic activity. However
the Bakiga people don’t have the custodians of their land for they own their own land
individually.

The Venda Culture mimics the East, Central African and Basotho culture a lot. For
example, male circumcision is common between the Basotho but not the Nguni
people of South Africa. This act of circumcision very much relates to the Gishu tribe
of eastern uganda where the males are painted white. Once young females reached
adolescence they would usually be taken the river where they would do the Python
Dance which mimics the movement of a snake. The King would come and chose his
next wife from the girls being presented during the dance. This practice still takes
place among the Venda and I find it very surprising that people still conduct such
practices and yet we believe that women should be able to find love rather go for a
dance show (python dance) to be identified by the king or any man at the function
inorder to get married off. A girl who had fallen boobs would be considered impure
and said not to be a virgin so would be restricted from doing the Python Dance as is a
tribute to the great snake of the Vhavenda people and an opportunity for the king
(vhafuwi) to choose his wife.

Girls would also be required to do the Domba (a premarital initiation).The Domba

was meant to prepare women to be wives and mothers i.e take care of the household.
Girls would usually stay with the chief for up to 4 months preparing for the Domba
which was also practised my the Bakiga and many other cultures in Uganda .

Water plays a huge role in the Venda belief system. This is because water was around
many sacred sites in which they would go to call upon ancestral spirits. It was very
important to Venda people to have constant communication with their Ancestors.
Furthermore, they believed in water spirits ( also known as Zwidutwane) which were
said to live at the bottom of waterfalls or water bodies. These beings were
half-invisible, with one eye, one leg and one arm. They would take offerings to these
water spirits in order for them to be in the good books and communicate with their
ancestors. Lake Fundudzi is one of the Venda people most sacred sites. It is believed
that great water spirits and snake lived in that lake. Some people say that they can
hear the Tshikona song ( an ancestral song) from the lake. I don’t find it shocking that
the vender people also believed in spirits as much as we did just that they had
different beliefs.

Till date the Venda tribe still has a king. However, the difference is that in the past the
king used to get paid through tributes made by lower chiefs from each district.
Nowadays, the king is paid a monthly salary by the South African government.
Having a king has faded amongst the Bakiga people as they do not have traditional
leaders but rather political leaders.