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For the M.C. Escher lithograph Waterval, see Waterfall in 1994, the area was shifted to Makhado Local Munic(M. C. Escher).
ipality and now forms part of Vhembe District Municipality.
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 Njhakanhjaka, Lemana, Elim Hospital, Elim Mall, Hubyeni Shopping centre, Magangeni but
excludes Shirley village, which is a separate and stand
alone farm, sharing a legal boundary with Waterval and
Mbhokota village to the east.
From the year 1554 when Lourenco Marques, a Portuguese trader settled on the land of the Tsonga, trade
between Portugal and Africa began. Between 1554-1800,
the Tsonga people started to leave the east coast and begin trade with the interior. They established 'trade routes
that included the whole eastern Transvaal and the northern Transvaal. The Tsonga traded goods with both the
Venda and the Pedi between the years 1554-1800 but
they did not settled in these areas. Goods traded with
the Venda and the Pedi included beads, clothes, Maize,
guns, soap, and shoes,which the Tsonga obtained from
the Portuguese and were rewarded with both Ivory and
Iron by the Venda in exchange for goods sold. The Venda
were skilled locksmith, they traded iron to the Tsonga
and the Tsonga sold them Maize and introduced maize to
the whole of Venda. Prior to trade between the Tsonga
and the Venda, the Venda used to eat Sorgum as stample
food, but with the arrival of the Tsonga, the Venda ceased
to eat Sorgum as staple food and started eating maize
meal, which the Tsonga introduced to Venda. Both the
Tsonga and the Venda named the new staple food Vuswa
(Tsonga), Vhuswa (Venda). Maize was introduced to the
Tsonga people by Vasco Da Gama in 1497, Vasco Da
Gama stayed briey on the land of the Tsonga and named
it Terra da Boa Gente (Land of the friendly people),
before departing to India on a sea voyage. Vasco Da
Gama or the Portuguese have obtained maize from South
America where they were in their early stages of massive
colonisation of their colony called Portuguese Brazil or
modern day Brazil, Maize is indigenous to South America. However, as trade with the interior developed over
time, the Tsonga established what is called 'trading station', these stations were developed slowly into small villages. The purpose of the 'trading stations was to prevent armed robbery since traders were often robbed their
goods, so trading stations provided security against robbery since all these stations were guarded 24 hours by
Governance
Waterval was proclaimed a township in 1980 by the former Gazankulu homeland, in the district of Hlanganani.
Waterval also forms part of Nhjakanhjaka Traditional
Authority. The Hlanganani Regional Court for the District of Hlanganani (wrongly called Waterval Magistrate
Courts), the historic Elim Hospital, Waterval Post Ofce, Police Station, Hubyeni Shopping Centre, and the
new Elim Mall are all situated in Waterval. Prior to the
Swiss encounter, Chief Nhjakanhjaka exercised authority in the area. This western portion of Gazankulu was
known as the Tsonga nger during the 1950s until the
late 1960s by the Apartheid ocials of the Department of
Bantu Aairs and Development. When Apartheid ended
1
2
armed personnel and their sta. Some of the Tsonga
traders never returned to the east coast and were given responsibility of taking care of these trading stations. Some
Tsonga traders stayed permanently in the Venda and Pedi
villages, never returning to the east coast. For more than
250-years, the Tsonga people had no interest in Colonising the eastern and northern Transvaal, since they treated
both the eastern and northern Transvaal as trading areas
only. Full scale 'internal colonisation' of both the eastern
Transvaal and northern Transvaal only begin from 1820
onwards, this was a period when Soshangane invaded the
Tsonga homeland and a mass exodus of Tsonga refugees
left the east coast in their thousands into both the eastern
and northern Transvaal. This is known as 'forced colonisation' since the Tsonga were forced to vacate their homeland due to war. These new 'colonies that were invaded
by the Tsonga refugees were not new areas, they were
known to the Tsonga for more than 250-years. So the
Tsonga refugees ocked in their thousands and started the
process of 'internal colonisation', which after the period
of 80-years (1820-1900), resulted in the 'internal colonisation of the whole eastern and northern Transvaal by the
Tsonga respectively. The land where Waterval is situated
today was one of the ancient 'Tsonga trading station' and
was already known to the Tsonga people for centuries before the process of 'internal colonisation', however, it was
not known as Waterval.
Chief Njhakanjhaka and his people arrived here between
1818 and 1820 as refugees from Mozambique during the
wars of Soshangane, also known as Manukosi. Chief
Njhakanjhaka was one of many Tsonga leaders who rebelled against the authority of Soshangane and was defeated by the superior Nguni warriors under the command
of Soshangane. Chief Njhakanjhaka had tried to defend
his Tsonga people against the Nguni invaders, who not
only oppressed the his people but also enslaved women
and children. To avoid death and execution at the hands
of Soshangane, Njhakanjhaka ed with his people and
settle at a place known today as Waterval. The land where
Waterval is situated is in fact Nhjakanhjaka.
Chief Nhjakanhjaka was a Paramount Chief of
Spelonken (modern day Valdezia, Elim, NwaXinyamani, Bungeni, Chavani, Mbhokota, Shirley,
in fact the whole of Hlanganani). As Headman of
Spelenkon, Chief Nhjakanhjaka exercised authority over
50 000 Tsonga people who resides at Spelonken district;
the 1905 Transvaal statistics put the number of Tsonga
speakers of Spelonken at 50 000 souls. However, Chief
Nhjakanhjaka was undermined by Joao Albasini, who
made himself paramount chief of all Vatsonga in modern
Hlanganani district. Albasini was indeed a paramount
chief of all Vatsonga in the Spelonken district (modern
day Hlanganani district), it was only after the death of
Joao Albasini in 1888 that Chief Nhjakanhjaka was able
to claim back his chieftainship from Albasini.
ADJACENT AREAS
4 History
The history of Waterval goes back to the founding of the
Swiss Mission Station in Elim in 1878 and the founding of
Elim Hospital in 1899.[2] Prior to this, the Swiss Mission
Station was located in Valdezia, 10 km east of Elim. The
missionaries moved from Valdezia to Waterval because
many of them contracted malaria. The Farm Waterval
included the land where Elim Hospital is located and the
whole of Nhjakanhjaka and Rivoni but excluded Shirley.
5 Tsonga Finger
During the 1950s until the late 1960s, the land of Waterval, Elim, and surrounding land east up to NwaNwaxinyamani was dubbed the 'Tsonga nger'. It was
located in what the Apartheid government considered a
White area in the nearby town of Louis Trichardt and
forced removal was imminent. The Apartheid government attempted, without success, to remove the Tsonga
from Waterval and Elim. By the late 1960s, the Tsonga
nger was annexed to Gazankulu, as well as Elim Hospital.
6 Adjacent areas
6.1 Shirley
6.5
Elim Mall
6.2
Rivoni
6.3
Elim
The village of Elim took its name from the historic Elim
Hospital, many prominent Shangaan people also came
from Elim, Eric Miyeni is one of the most popular resident of Elim. The former head of the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa, Ms Pansy Tlakula was
married here and her husbands family, the Tlakulas, are
the land owners at Elim. The new Elim Mall is situated
on land owned by the Tlakula family. Elim refers to Nhjakanhjaka village, Rivoni and Lemana, but exclude Waterval and Shirley.
Elim Hospital
8
Njhakanjhaka II (crowned in 1995 and died in 2007
at Shirley Village)
Njhakanjhaka III (crowned in 2011 at Shirley Village, he is the current ruler and chief of Elim/Shirley
Community)
References
REFERENCES
9.1
Text
9.2
Images
9.3
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