Microsoft Word - PhD Thesis Final.pdf - University of Limpopo ...

area. From central Africa, the Venda moved south, and their strong Shona-
influenced culture suggests that they had settled for a certain extent of time
around Zimbabwe, before crossing Limpopo River to settle in the
Soutpansberg 189 . Excavations in that area have yielded much of the Venda
artefacts, especially pottery, which is connected to the traditions of
Soutpansberg and Mapungubwe, the directions from where the Venda
came from. The presence of the Venda in the Makgabeng area helped to
further shape identities in that area as an assortment of cultures of the San,
the Khoikhoi, Batau, Bakwena, Baroka, Batšhadibe, Matebele, Babirwa and
the Venda, blended. Like those who remained in the Soutpansberg, the
Venda who migrated further south, reaching Makgabeng, used the
mountain ranges as their home and fortress. The process of “assimilation”/
“intermixture” has resulted in the absence of distinctive Venda communities
in the Makgabeng today.
Of all the population groups in the Makgabeng area, the Bakone and the
Bahananwa are still the most identifiable up to this day. The identities of the
other groups of the Batau, Bakwena, Baroka, Batšhadibe, Matebele,
Batlokwa and Babirwa appear to be overshadowed by the Bakone and the
Bahananwa. Although those smaller groups still maintain their identities in
the form of clans, family names, totems, praise poems and other cultural
traits, the Bakone and the Bahananwa identities still tower over theirs. This
189 E. B. Eastwood, et al, “Archaeological and Rock art Survey…”, p. 12.
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