Gazankulu was a bantustan in South Africa, intended by the apartheid government to be a semi-independent homeland for the Shangaan Tsonga people. It was located in both the Northern Transvaal, now Limpopo province and Eastern Transvaal, now Mpumalanga province. It was given self-rule in 1969, with its capital at Giyani. Gazankulu homeland covered the lands around Elim Hospital, which is 15 Km from Makhado town, as well as some areas around Levubu river valley, the villages of Valdezia and Bungeni being the two largest Tsonga settlements in the Levubu river valley, with a combined population of more than 50 000 people, according to the mid-2015 population statistics and goes on to end at Hazyview in Mpumalanga. Total length of Gazankulu, from Elim Hospital to Hazyview, is 317 Km long, which is a distance equivalent of travelling from Pretoria to Bandelierkop in Limpopo. The homeland consisted of the 'Mainland Gazankulu' which are Elim, Giyani and Malamulele, with 3 large Exclaves, which are Bushbuckridge, Tzaneen and Phalaborwa. Gazankulu share borders with other black homelands, which are, Venda, Lebowa and Kangwane.