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Wozekhaya

Isibongo · isiNdebele (Southern Ndebele)

Sibasa

  • PeopleamaNdebele (Southern)
  • Grouping Son(s) of Musi who settled among the Venda
  • Surnames recorded Sibasa, Mphafuli
  • Places recorded Vhembe, Limpopo, Tshivhase
  • Branch Southern

Also Spelled

Sibasa is also written Mphafuli and Mphaphuli.

Spellings differ between families, between records and between countries. Wozekhaya keeps the name as each source wrote it rather than settling on one form.

Written down by families and by the people who recorded them.

About This Record

What Was Written Down

Van Warmelo's genealogical table, as relayed by Skhosana, gives Musi a son M'Pafuli who became first chief of the Venda Mphaphuli; Skhosana suggests Mphafuli and Sibasa may be the same person, and Van Vuuren allows for that. Wikipedia treats them as two brothers who founded the Tshivhase and Sibasa chieftainships. Recorded as a Ndebele origin claim inside Venda polities, not as a Southern Ndebele clan of today. Recorded from the sources named on this entry; the wording here is Sibaya's own.

Families Tell This Differently

Families who carry this name tell parts of it differently. Each way it has been told is below.

Where This Comes From

Written down by
  • Philemon Buti Skhosana, The linguistic relationship between Southern and Northern Ndebele (PhD thesis, chapters 1-2 read), 2009, University of Pretoria (UPSpace repository) — https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/28563/01chapters1-2.pdf
  • Philemon Buti Skhosana, The linguistic relationship between Southern and Northern Ndebele (PhD thesis, chapters 1-2 read), 2009, University of Pretoria (UPSpace repository) — https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/28563/01chapters1-2.pdf (citing Van Warmelo 1930 and Van Vuuren 1983)
  • Wikipedia contributors, Southern Ndebele people, read 2026-09-05, Wikimedia Foundation — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Ndebele_people

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