Lenyenye
Lenyenye | |
|---|---|
Lenyenye Lenyenye | |
| Coordinates: 23°58′19″S 30°16′08″E / 23.972°S 30.269°E | |
| Country | South Africa |
| Province | Limpopo |
| District | Mopani |
| Municipality | Greater Tzaneen |
| Area | |
• Total | 8.81 km2 (3.40 sq mi) |
| Population (2011)[1] | |
• Total | 12,099 |
| • Density | 1,370/km2 (3,560/sq mi) |
| Racial makeup (2011) | |
| • Black African | 99.2% |
| • Coloured | 0.2% |
| • Indian/Asian | 0.3% |
| • White | 0.1% |
| • Other | 0.1% |
| First languages (2011) | |
| • Northern Sotho | 95.6% |
| • Tsonga | 2.7% |
| • Tshivenda | 0,70% |
| • Other | 1% |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (SAST) |
| Postal code (street) | 0857 |
| PO box | 0857 |
| Area code | 015 |
Lenyenye is a township in the Greater Tzaneen Local Municipality of the Mopani District Municipality in the Limpopo province of South Africa. Lenyenye named after small river run on west of the township, the original name of Lenyenye township is Ramalema. It is located about 20 km southeast of the town of Tzaneen. The neighbouring township of Nkowankowa lies directly north of Lenyenye. It is the home of Bakgaga. The prominent dialectal language that is spoken there is Sekgaga sa ga Maake.
The township is best known as the place where the academic/politician Mamphela Ramphele was banished to under the apartheid regime and lived during the period from 1977 to 1984.
The township is also linked to Keletso Mopai a South African writer born and raised in Lenyenye. She is the author of the short-story collection If You Keep Digging (2019), published by BlackBird Books, and her work has appeared in international and South African literary publications including The Johannesburg Review of Books, DRUM, and Catapult. In 2020 she was named among the Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans.[2][3]
References
- ^ a b c d "Main Place Lenyenye". Census 2011.
- ^ "Keletso Mopai". Open Book Festival. Retrieved 12 March 2026.
- ^ "Keletso Mopai". The Kenyon Review. Retrieved 12 March 2026.