Vhembe District Municipality

Vhembe
District municipality
Official seal of Vhembe
Seal
Location in Limpopo
Location in Limpopo
Coordinates: 22°56′S 30°28′E / 22.933°S 30.467°E / -22.933; 30.467
CountrySouth Africa
ProvinceLimpopo
SeatThohoyandou
Local municipalities
List
Government
 • TypeMunicipal council
 • MayorNenguda Dowelani[1]
Area
 • Total
25,597 km2 (9,883 sq mi)
Population
 (2011)[2]
 • Total
1,294,722
 • Density51/km2 (130/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2016)
[2]
 • Black African98.7%
 • Coloured0.2%
 • Indian/Asian0.4%
 • White0.8%
First languages (2011)
[3]
 • Venda67.2%
 • Tsonga24.8%
 • Northern Sotho1.6%
 • Afrikaans1.3%
 • Other5.1%
Time zoneUTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal codeDC34

The Vhembe District Municipality (Venda: Masipala wa Tshiṱiriki tsha Vhembe; Tsonga: Masipala wa Xifundza xa Vhembe) is one of the 5 districts of the Limpopo province of South Africa. It is the northernmost district of the country and shares its northern border with the Beitbridge District in Zimbabwe and on the east with the Gaza Province in Mozambique. Vhembe consists of all the 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 the municipality, hence the ethnic diversity of the district. The seat is Thohoyandou, the capital of the former Venda Bantustan. According to the 2011 census, the majority of the municipality's 800,000 inhabitants spoke TshiVenda as their mother language, while 400,000 spoke Xitsonga as their home language. However, the Tsonga people form the majority south of the Levubu River, while the Venda are the minority south of Levubu at 15%. The Sepedi speakers number 27,000. The district code is DC34.

History

Vhembe is settled by the Venda people who constitute the majority of the population of Vhembe. 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 Voortrekkers 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 names 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 early 19th century and gradually upsurged throughout the late 19th century. By the turn of the 20th 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 seat of the Vhembe district.

On 11 December 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.

The Vhembe region became the Vhembe Biosphere Reserve in 2009, which was officially declared a biosphere reserve in 2011.[4] The reserve includes the Blouberg Range, the Kruger National Park, the Philip Herd Nature Reserve,[5] the Nwanedi Nature Reserve,[6] the Makgabeng Plateau, the Makuleke Wetlands, the Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape and the Soutpansberg.[7]

Geography

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

Neighbours

Vhembe is surrounded by:

Local municipalities

The district contains the following local municipalities:

Local municipality Population % Dominant language
Thulamela 381 696 29.58% Venda
Makhado 516 031 39.56% Venda
Collins Chabane 328 636[8] 25.48% Tsonga
Musina 68 359 5.38% Venda

Demographics

The following statistics are from the census 2011 10% sample.[9]

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 757 501 54.4%
Male 645 278 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. Archived from the original on 1 June 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Archived from the original on 13 November 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  3. ^ "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Archived from the original on 13 November 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  4. ^ "The official launch of the Vhembe Biosphere Reserve". Archived from the original on 2 October 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
  5. ^ "ArcGIS Web Application". South Africa Protected Areas Register (PAR). Archived from the original on 8 March 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  6. ^ "Protected Areas Register (PAR)". Protected Areas Register (PAR) South Africa. Archived from the original on 8 March 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  7. ^ UNESCO - Biosphere Reserve Information Archived 17 May 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 31 July 2023.
  8. ^ NOTE: official census statistics for Collins Chabane not available (March 2020).
  9. ^ Statistics South Africa. Census 2011 10% sample