Skip to content
Sibaya

Mutupo · Tshivenda

Tshivhase

Also spelled Tshivhasa, Raluswielo / Raluswyelo.

  • PeopleVhavenda
  • Grouping Singo; eastern Soutpansberg royal house
  • Surnames recorded Tshivhase
  • Places recorded Eastern Soutpansberg, Phiphidi, Dopeni, Miluwani, Mukumbani, Ligegise

Your Family's Praise Belongs Here

This clan has a praise. It is not on this page yet, and that is our doing, not anything about your family or the praise itself. If the people at home still say it, you can put the true one here.

Why It Is Not Here Yet

Everything else on this page is unaffected. The clan name, the Tshivenda terms, the totem, the grouping, the surnames and the places recorded are facts, and facts carry no copyright no matter which book they were read in. What is absent is one author's particular wording, which is the part copyright does protect.

N.C. Ṋetshisaulu, 'The Role Played by Nicknames and Totems in the Development of Tshivenḓa Surnames', E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 6(7) (2025)

In copyright. A peer-reviewed article published in 2025. In copyright. Its totem, oath and taboo statements are facts and are published here; its wording is not.

The rendering that was read: Nthambeleni Charles Ṋetshisaulu (University of Venda), The Role Played by Nicknames and Totems in the Development of Tshivenḓa Surnames, 2025 — https://noyam.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/EHASS20256715.pdf

A praise belongs to the families who recite it, not to whoever wrote it down. A Tshivenda-speaking family that still holds this one holds the better version of it, and can put that version on this page.

Written down by families and by the people who recorded them.

About This Record

What Was Written Down

Netshisaulu explains the name as a nickname: the founder, Raluswielo, was a warrior who burnt the homes of Chief Nephiphidi's people and was then called Tshivhase, so that the group's original Masingo name gave way to Tshivhase. Stayt and Luonde make him a brother of Thohoyandou who declared independence in the east; Stayt gives the line Mukesi, Legegisa (who moved the seat from Miluwani to Mukumbani) and Ramaremisa, and records long wars with Mphaphuli and Rambuda's breakaway. Wikipedia records the succession of Ligegise in 1867 after Luvhengo Mukhese's death, and that the Tshivhase subjugated the Mbedzi Luvhimbi rainmakers. The Ramunangi document describes the Tshivhase headman's role in the Phiphidi tourism development. Recorded from the sources named on this entry; the wording here is Sibaya's own.

Where This Comes From

Written down by
  • Luonde.co.za - Brief History; Ngomalungundu (community heritage site), accessed 2026-09-05, luonde.co.za — https://luonde.co.za/brief-history/ and https://luonde.co.za/brief-history/ngomalungundu
  • Nthambeleni Charles Ṋetshisaulu (University of Venda), The Role Played by Nicknames and Totems in the Development of Tshivenḓa Surnames, 2025 — https://noyam.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/EHASS20256715.pdf
  • Hugh A. Stayt, The Bavenda, 1931 — https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/59437
  • Wikipedia contributors, Venda Kingdom (Wikipedia article), accessed 2026-09-05, Wikimedia Foundation — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venda_Kingdom

Recorded Alongside

  • Dzivhani Also recorded among the Vhavenda.
  • Kwinḓa Also recorded among the Vhavenda.
  • Lambani Also recorded among the Vhavenda.
  • Luvhimbi Also recorded among the Vhavenda.
  • Makuya Also recorded among the Vhavenda.
  • Manenzhe Also recorded among the Vhavenda.

Are You Tshivhase?

Put your name on the launch list.

Tell Me When It Opens

We write to you about Sibaya, and nothing else.

If Your Family Holds More Of This

A family saying its own zwirendo knows them better than any directory does. If yours has more than what is on this page, it belongs here.

This is also how this clan's praise gets onto the page. Your family's own words are yours to give.

Add What Your Family Holds Get Sibaya All clan names