Venda, 1973

The BaVenda people live in the far north of the former Transvaal and a “homeland”, consisting of territory almost up to the Zimbabwe border, and a small exclave was set up; it was named Venda, meaning “world” or “land” in the Tshivenda language. On 01 February 1973 Venda was granted internal self-government and full “independence” from South Africa on 13 September 1979, with its capital in Thohoyandou, just north of Sibasa. Its flag had horizontal stripes of green, yellow and brown, and a blue bar at the hoist. In the central stripe was the letter V in brown. The colours of the flag are those used in traditional BaVenda beadwork.