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Item The seeds of ethnic or tribalistic manifestations in Limpopo: The case of Makhado, Vuwani and Malamulele.(AOSIS, 2021-11-08) Mugovhani, Ndwamato G.This research article argued that the current conflicts between Vhavenda and Vatsonga, two decades and four years later after the first democratic elections for a new South Africa in 1994, are manifestations of the seeds that were sown by the Voortrekkers since their arrival around the Soutpansberg in the northern parts of South Africa in 1836. Makhado (Louis Trichardt), Vuwani and Malamulele have been embroiled in continuous arguments and counterarguments, advocacies and counter advocacies, including protests, and in some instances, destruction of the essential property. Before then, Vhavenda and Vatsonga used to live alongside each other and even together. In their traditional village settings, there was no discrimination based on language or ethnicity. Through review of early scholarly writings, oral resources garnered from elders and the author’s personal experience, a few episodes were highlighted, and the ramifications thereof were discussed. Contribution: This study also postulated that although the promotion of the tribes’ uniqueness was culturally significant, social cohesion and multiculturalism could have been sustained without institutionalising the segregation laws and demarcations, for these decisions have come back to haunt the present democratic South Africa’s ideals of nation and social cohesion.Item Towards contestation of perceptions, distortions and misrepresentations of meanings, functions and performance contexts in South African indigenous cultural practices(Mcser Publishing, 2014-12-01) Mugovhani, Ndwamato George; Mapaya, Madimabe GeoffThis article aims to contest the distortions and misrepresentations in the earlier writings of western scholars on the indigenous cultural practices of indigenous African language groups. The focus area will be Vhavenda communities around the Vhembe district of the Limpopo province of South Africa. This is the territory which was encroached by the various western missionary societies from as early as 1863. By 1940, most notable missionaries were almost well established in Venda. By the beginning of the 20th century, schools and hospitals also began to mushroom around Venda due to this missionary enterprise. Through interrogation of the various available sources; previous literature, our findings from participatory observations and the open-ended (sometimes-convergent) interviews and discussions, this article explores a number of the nomenclature and clichés that arose out of this missionary and ethnographic enterprise. The primary objective is to redress the resultant distortions of the information; with the objective of repositioning the distorted facts.