Venda people

The Venda (VhaVenda), Bantu people of the South Africa-Zimbabwe border, speak a tongue born from Sotho-Tswana and Kalanga meetings after 1400 and keep the memory of Mapungubwe, the 13th-century kingdom where King Shiriyadenga first ruled from the Soutpansberg across the Limpopo to the Matopos. When Mapungubwe fell around 1300 to changing climate and power moved north to Great Zimbabwe, Venda ancestors stayed in the mountains. The legendary Thoho-ya-Ndou, Head of the Elephant, built his Dzata capital, now a national monument, and Venda kings still rule from the Soutpansberg mist. Sacred forests, the Fundudzi lake that no one may swim, python dances and the domba initiation keep the mountain kingdom's order. Dzata's ruins still draw school trips yearly. The Pretoria museum guards the golden rhino. Soutpansberg mists still hide the royal kraals. Thoho-ya-Ndou's elephant name still titles Venda kings. The golden rhino of Mapungubwe, housed in Pretoria, still lends Venda country its emblem.