Giyani is a town situated at the intersection of R81 Provincial Route and R578 Regional Route in the north-eastern part of the Limpopo Province of South Africa.
Giyani town is part of Greater Giyani Local Municipality within the Mopani District Municipality and is the administrative capital of both municipalities.
More or less 470 km north-east of Johannesburg by road, 104 km from Tzaneen, 105 km from the Phalaborwa Gate of the Kruger National Park, and 35 km from Malamulele, you will find the little happening town of Giyani, a popular town in the Limpopo Bushveld, on the northern bank of the Klein Letaba River, and west of the famous Kruger National Park.
It is hot in Giyani, reaching 36°C in the summer and managing to remain at around 22°C during the winter – sublime if you want to escape cold, wet winters elsewhere in South Africa.
Giyani is made up of around 200 villages, and predominated by a group of people who speak mainly Xitsonga, give or take the handful of white, mainly Afrikaans speaking people who tend to live around Kremetart, next to Mongope. This is farming country and fields of mielies peanuts, tomatoes, bananas and cattle farming predominate, whilst the staple diet, unsurprisingly, is maize meal.
There is also a big Spar in town where you can stock up on essentials if need be, and it is said that the country’s first practicing black pharmacist set up shop here during the years of apartheid.
Because of where Giyani finds itself geographically, it is a fairly popular town to visit en route to the Kruger National Park. Even the local golf course stocks resident game such as zebra, giraffe, some antelope and a prolific bird life.
Just outside town you will find the Manomba Nature Reserve and the Nsami Dam, both peaceful and pretty locations at which to chill, whilst enjoying the occasional baobab tree interspersed by the requisite Mopane in the Lowveld countryside.
History
Giyani was established during the 1960s as the capital city of Gazankulu, on land belonging to the Homu Royal Family. The Risinga Community (under headman Chabalala) originally came from the Elim district, next to the township of Waterval.
The Old Parliament Buildings in Giyani, the ministerial houses, and the Palace of the chief minister of Gazankulu were built on what used to be the Chief’s Kraal and headquarters of the Risinga Community. Across the main road, the Risinga Community used to drive their herds of cattle for grazing at a place known today as Giyani Golf Course. Giyani Section E, Section A, Sections D1 and D2, and the CBD of Giyani, known as Bendstore, were villages of the Risinga Community. The Risinga Community was forcefully removed from their land during the 1960s in order to make way for the new capital of Gazankulu, and they were relocated to the foothills of Man’ombe Mountain in Homu Block 14 and Makoxa Village with their chief, Hosi Homu Chabalala.
Roads
The R81 Provincial Route is the major road that runs through Giyani. It links Giyani to Polokwane and Malamulele and joins the R524 Regional Route to Punda Maria entrance gate of the Kruger National Park.
The R81 joins the N1 National Route to Pretoria and Johannesburg in Polokwane, next to the Mall of the North.