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News - Date: 17 October 2011
The community of Vhembe and the academic worldsuffered a big loss last week . This follows the death of one of the world´s finest scholars, Victor Nkhumeleni Ralushai.
Prof Ralushai (76) of Mbilwi died at Tshilidzini Hospital on Wednesday (05/10), after suffering a stroke.
Family spokesperson Mr Dick Ralushai said the death of his uncle came as a double blow to the family, as they buried his sister last weekend. “As the lastborn in the family, the death of his eldest sister, Tshinakaho Mashamba, must have affected him badly. It is just unfortunate that he died before our tears could dry up,” he said.
He was buried on Saturday (15/10) at Mbaleni and a memorial service was held in his honour on Thursday.
Immediately after news of his death became known, tributes started pouring from all corners of the world.
Dick said they had received so many messages from all over, among them the executive mayor of Vhembe, Cllr Florence Dzhombere, and Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale. Dzhombere visited the family and offered her condolences. Dzhombere said Ralushai´s death was not only a loss for the family, but to the district and the whole country. “We have lost a giant in whom we prided academic excellence ourselves as one of our own. He made our district very popular through his research work,” she said.
Prof Ralushai was born at Ha-Ralushai, Mbilwi, on 6 July 1935. He was the lastborn son of Mr Matodzi and Mrs Khangale Nemakhavhani Ralushai.
He attended at Mphaphuli Memorial School between 1946 and 1952 and Mphaphuli Secondary School between 1953 and 1955, where he obtained his junior certificate. He then proceeded to Pax College in Pietersburg (Polokwane), where he completed matric in 1958.
Victor had a short break when he worked as a clerk at Lukoto Bus Service and at the Sibasa Post Office, but later enrolled for a BA degree at the Pope Pius XII University College, now the National University of Lesotho.
He had to depend on the kindness of relatives and friends for the funding of his studies. The Roman Catholic Church gave him a nominal salary, on condition that he undertook part-time laboratory work at Lady Frere in the Eastern Cape.
Thereafter, Victor returned to Johannesburg for four years. Victor’s academic achievement and potential was recognised in 1971, when he was awarded a King’s College Cambridge University Scholarship to study history. He had developed a keen interest in Social Anthropology and he was transferred to Belfast, Northern Ireland, where he was awarded a PhD scholarship by Queen’s University and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthopology in New York.
Realising that in order to access written accounts of German missionaries of the Vhavenda and Bapedi, Victor spent some time in Taffen, Bavaria, where he mastered German. In 1977 he completed his PhD studies with the thesis Conflicting Accounts of Venda History with particular reference to the Role of Mitupo in Social Organization.
Ralushai then took up academic positions at the University of Botswana and Swaziland´s Kwaluseni Campus in 1978, and at Jos University in Nigeria in 1979, where many young South African student refugees enjoyed his professional guidance. While in Nigeria, he was struck by a serious bout of malaria. On his recovery, he was advised to return home.
Despite ill health, Prof Ralushai persevered and was eventually appointed vice-principal at the University of Venda in 1986. However, he was forced to take early retirement because of ill health in 1992.
Prof Ralushai attended numerous conferences and delivered academic papers in South African, North America, the United Kingdom and Western Africa.
He was a member of the National Development Agency, the indigenous knowledge systems (South Africa), advisor to the Mapungubwe institute (Mistral) and the Limpopo Heritage Agency. Prof Ralushai’s research formed a key basis for the successful motivation to Unesco to declare Mapungubwe a World Heritage Site.
He has completed a research project funded by the Freedom Park Trust, entitled From Mapungubwe to Thulamela Ruins - Sites as Sources of History.
He was appointed chairman of the Commission on Traditional Leadership in Limpopo, a commission that bears his name – the Ralushai Commission. In 2004, Victor Ralushai was awarded the order of Ikhamanga (bronze) by the South African government for his outstanding contribution to the academic field of indigenous history, knowledge systems and heritage.
Prof Ralushai is survived by his wife, Lucy.
Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019. He currently writes on a freelance basis, covering human rights issues, court news and entertainment.
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