Makhado Mphephu Ramabulana Foundation - MMRF

Historical Context

Prior to the democratization of South Africa in 1994, black communities lived mainly in the semi-autonomous homelands. One of these homelands, Venda, was at some point led by the late King Patrick Ramaano Mphephu, a descendant of the great warrior King, Makhado, who fought against white occupation of the then Northern Transvaal. Under the leadership of Patrick Ramaano Mphephu the Vhavenda rose from the least developed communities in South Africa to one of the most economically and socially developed communities after implementation of aggressive and successful programmes focused on culture, education, health and agriculture.
In the 2001 National Census, the total population of the Limpopo Province was 11.8% of South Africa’s population. There were 5,273,637 people of which 97.3% were blacks living mainly in rural areas. The population of people living in rural areas was 4,830,215 or 86.8% of the total population of the province. The population of Vhembe District was 1,201,890 or 21.6% of the total population of the province of Limpopo.
According to a profile of the Limpopo province on demographics, poverty, inequality and unemployment compiled by the PROVIDE PROJECT Research Team in August 2005, poverty and unemployment in South Africa are often rural phenomena. Like other provinces in South Africa, the Limpopo province has high poverty rates, inequalities in the distribution of income between various population subgroups, and unemployment. The people in Vhembe District, the majority of which are Vhavenda, have the lowest average income of R9, 620.00 per year for African agricultural households, compared to the provincial average of R14, 186.00 and the national average of R15, 014.00. Under the Non-agricultural African households, Vhembe District’s annual average income of R21, 688.00 was second from the bottom after Sekhukhune District’s annual average income of R17, 874.00, compared to the provincial average of R25, 402.00 and the national average annual income of R29, 777.00. The district with the highest average annual income in the province was Mopani District with an average annual income of R33, 558.00.