13 September - Venda was granted a form of self-governance in 1979

 

Venda was granted a form of self-governance on 13 September  1979, when it was declared an independent republic by the apartheid government of South Africa. This was not recognized internationally and was part of the apartheid policy of creating separate homelands for different ethnic groups. Venda's "independence" was thus a step in the apartheid regime's strategy to disenfranchise black South Africans.

This status was abolished on 27 April 1994, when South Africa held its first democratic elections, marking the end of apartheid and the reintegration of all bantustans into a united South Africa. Therefore, while 13 September 1979, is a notable date in the history of Venda, it is not celebrated as an independence day in the conventional sense. Instead, South Africa celebrates 27 April as Freedom Day, commemorating the first post-apartheid elections.