Malamulele can refer to the town of Malamulele or the area of Malamulele. Both the town (approximately in the center of the area) and area are in the

Limpopo province Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature is ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

and predominantly occupied by

Tsonga people The Tsonga people ( ts, Vatsonga) are a Bantu peoples, Bantu ethnic group primarily native to Southern Mozambique and South Africa (Limpopo and Mpumalanga). They speak Xitsonga, a Southern Bantu language. A very small number of Tsonga people ar ...

. Malamulele town has one provincial road and one regional road; the R81 to

Giyani Giyani is a town situated in the North-eastern part of Limpopo Province, South Africa. It is the administrative capital of the Mopani District Municipality, and a former capital of the defunct Gazankulu bantustan. The town of Giyani has seven s ...

and the R524 to

Thohoyandou Thohoyandou ( ve, Ṱhohoyanḓou) is a town in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. It is the administrative centre of Vhembe District Municipality and Thulamela Local Municipality. It is also known for being the former capital of the bantusta ...

(and the Kruger National Park's Punda Maria Gate) respectively. Malamulele is flanked by two rivers,

Levubu River The Levubu River or Levuvhu ( ts, Rivubye; ve, Luvuvhu) is located in the northern Limpopo province of South Africa. Some of its tributaries, such as the Mutshindudi River and Mutale River rise in the Soutpansberg Mountains. The Luvuvhu River f ...

(Rivhubye) to the west and Letaba River to the east, meanwhile the Shingwedzi River runs from Malamulele West to Malamulele East, joining the Olifants in

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

on its way to the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

. Malamulele is the seat of the

Collins Chabane Local Municipality Collins Chabane Local Municipality is a local municipality of South Africa. It was established after the August 2016 local elections by the merging of portions of two local municipalities: Thulamela and Makhado. Malamulele is the seat of the mu ...

. There are between 100 and 120 villages in the Malamulele area, with an approximate population of half a million.http://effighters.org.za/malamulele.html According to official Stats SA census 2011 results, some 82 Malamulele villages (excluding the township), were home to 206,646 people. In 2001, Thulamela calculated the population according to some 16 main areas (again, excluding the township), supposedly representing the number of independent chiefs, which add up to 199,807 inhabitants. The Malamulele Area is situated between

on the east, starting at Letaba river, and

on the north-west, starting at Rivhubye river. To the west of Malamulele Area is

Waterval Waterval is a residential township in front of Elim Hospital, it is situated in the Hlanganani district of the former Tsonga homeland of Gazankulu, alongside the R578 road to Giyani in the Limpopo province of South Africa. Waterval includes , ...

, famous for the Elim Hospital. The

Cahora Bassa The Cahora Bassa lake—in the Portuguese colonial era (until 1974) known as Cabora Bassa, from Nyungwe ''Kahoura-Bassa'', meaning "finish the job"—is Africa's fourth-largest artificial lake, situated in the Tete Province in Mozambique. In Afr ...

HVDC A high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electric power transmission system (also called a power superhighway or an electrical superhighway) uses direct current (DC) for electric power transmission, in contrast with the more common alternating curre ...

power transmission line passes through Malamulele from

Tete Province Tete is a province of Mozambique. It has an area of 98,417 km² and a population of 2,648,941 (2017 census). Tete is the capital of the province. The Cahora Bassa Dam is situated in this province. Districts On March 21, 2013, Mozambi ...

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

. The Malamulele Area formed its own municipality in August 2016, named Collins Chabane, separated from

Thulamela __NOTOC__ Thulamela is the most dramatic of the around 300 archaeological sites identified in Kruger National Park. It is located on heights south of the Levubu River offering a panoramic view. Sidney Miller led excavations from December 1993 to ...

but still under the

Vhembe District Municipality Vhembe is one of the 5 districts of Limpopo province of South Africa. It is the northernmost district of the country and shares its northern border with Beitbridge district in Zimbabwe and on the east with Gaza Province in Mozambique. Vhembe co ...

Surrounding areas

To the north-east of Malamulele Town is the Kruger National Park, where it is located 63 km away from the Punda Maria gate, 72 km from the Punda Maria Rest Camp, 99 km from the Shingwedzi Rest Camp, 108 km from the Pafuri Rest Camp and 135 km from the Mopani Rest Camp. Malamulele Town is 243 km from

Polokwane Polokwane (, meaning "Sanctuary" in Northern SothoPolokwane - The Heart of the Limpopo Province ...

(the capital of Limpopo Province), 453 km from

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...

and 508 km from

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

. The shortest straight-line distance from Malamulele Town to the

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

border is about 60 km and also 60 km to the

border. Its proximity to Zimbabwe and Mozambique makes Malamulele one of the northernmost towns in

History

Malamulele was borne out of the homeland settlement system imposed by the Apartheid government. The people of Malamulele come from both sides of the Rivhubye and were resettled on the eastern side. Most of the people in Phaphazela village come from Malonga in what is now Vuwani. Phaphazela used to be called Malonga in remembrance of their former lands. Some people of the Makhuvele lineage were removed from parts of what is now Thohoyandou. Thus some of the people of Malamulele are the Magwamba, who used to form the Xipilongo (Spelonken) Empire. There has also been communities that were moved from the Kruger National Park to settle in Malamulele. About 40,000 people were moved from west of Rivhubye and settled in Malamulele, whereas about 10,000 were moved from Malamulele and settled in what was to become

Venda Venda () was a Bantustan in northern South Africa, which is fairly close to the South African border with Zimbabwe to the north, while to the south and east, it shared a long border with another black homeland, Gazankulu. It is now part of the ...

. Malamulele was the first town to be built in the former Gazankulu homeland, prior to

. It was named by Chief Risimati Chanyela Mulamula. It was one of the former 7 districts of Gazankulu, namely Nkowankowa, N'wa-Mitwa,

Lulekani Lulekani (nicknamed Lukcity) is a township 13 km outside Phalaborwa in Mopani District Municipality in the Limpopo province of South Africa. Lulekani is close to Kruger National Park Border and has two main shopping centers, mainlLulekani Sp ...

, Mhala,

Hlanganani Hlanganani, formerly Spelonken, is an amalgamation of various large villages which are situated in the north western portion of the former Tsonga homeland of Gazankulu, South Africa. Hlanganani is situated alongside the R578 road to Giyani and El ...

, Giyani, and of course, Malamulele. At the end of apartheid, Malamulele was renamed to Levubu-Shingwedzi Transitional Local Municipality, after the two rivers. An amalgamation with Thohoyandou led to the Thulamela Local Municipality, which then centralised all administration and services in Thohoyandou. The years 2000 to 2015 saw consistent objections to the merger with Thohoyandou. In the last few years, the objections went from peaceful applications to the Municipal Demarcation Board to violent protests with property being damaged. The protests were mired with accusations of tribalism and denial, claiming all South African municipalities face service delivery protests. The issue was demonstrated to be imbalanced services between Thohoyandou areas and Malamulele areas. Even with poor service delivery, Thohoyandou areas still enjoyed better service in comparison to Malamulele areas. In July 2015, the Municipal Demarcation Board announced that a new municipality would be formed to serve Malamulele. In August 2016 the new

started to operate in Malamulele, it also serves

Vuwani Vuwani is a town in Vhembe District Municipality in the Limpopo province of South Africa. Demarcation dispute In 2015, the Municipal Demarcation Board decided to excise Mashau and Masakona settlements from Makhado, and merge them with the Mala ...

and Bungeni which were under

Makhado Local Municipality Makhado Local Municipality is located in the Vhembe District Municipality of Limpopo province, South Africa. The seat of Makhado Local Municipality Louis Trichardt. Main places The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main pl ...

before.

Geography and climate

Malamulele is a low-lying area at risk of flooding. There are a lot of hills, but no known mountains. The soil structure is mainly sandy grey soil (), which the area is named after. Malamulele is approximately 1551.93 km² in land area. It has a perimeter of 178.283 km². The area is sparsely populated with a lot of bush between neighbouring settlements. The town has a very dry subtropical climate, specifically a humid subtropical climate (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

: Cwa), with long, hot and rainy summers and short, cool and dry winters.

Political atmosphere

Since 1994, the first time that the people of Malamulele and the rest of black South Africa were ever allowed to vote, the electorate has always voted for the ANC. A few voted for Ximoko xa Rixaka (Whip of the Nation), which has now morphed into XPP (Ximoko Progressive Party). Since then, the majority of Malamulele has voted for the ANC by default, with around 80% of the votes going to the ANC, about 20% higher than the national average.

Demographics

There are between 100 and 120 villages in the Malamulele area, with an approximate population of ± 500,000. According to official Stats SA census 2011 results, some 82 Malamulele villages (excluding the township), were home to 206,646 people. During the same period, Malamulele Town had a population of 13,070. In 2001, or 10 years prior, Thulamela calculated the population according to some 16 main areas (again, excluding the township), supposedly representing the number of independent chiefs, which added up to 199,807 people. During this same period, Malamulele Town had a population of 11,299. These main areas are: Gijana (Magona), Madonsi,

Makuleke The Makuleke Contractual Park or Pafuri Triangle constitutes the northernmost section of the Kruger National Park, South Africa, and comprises approximately 240 square kilometres of land. The "triangle" is a wedge of land created by the confluenc ...

, Mavambe, Mhinga, Mphambo, Mtititi, Mudavula, Mukhomi, Gumbani,

Mulamula Liberata Mulamula, ''née'' Rutageruka (born 1956) is a Tanzania, Tanzanian diplomat and politician who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Community, East African Cooperation from April 2021 to October 2022. She was appoint ...

, Mulenzhe, Ntlhaveni (Bevhula), Tshikonelo, Xigalo, Xigamane, and Xikundu, thereby recognising 14 Tsonga and 2

(Mulenzhe and Tshikonelo) chiefs. These places account for 1362 km²

Thulamela Local Municipality The Thulamela Local Municipality is a Local municipality in the Limpopo province of South Africa. Its municipal boundaries were greatly altered after the South African municipal elections, 2016 when much of the area that formerly belonged to the m ...

of Malamulele's 1552 km² total land area. For perspective, its northwestern neighbour, Thohoyandou, had a population of 69,453 in 2011, more than double its 2001 population of 32,730. Its eastern neighbour, Giyani, rose from 22,725 to 25,954.

Notable People

Thomas Chauke

References

External links

Thulamela Municipality

�� Gazankulu facts

- South African Student Radio Network

- Matimu News {{Vhembe District Municipality Populated places in the Collins Chabane Local Municipality