The Tshivenda National Lexicography Unit (TNLU) held their annual general meeting at the University of Venda´s senate chambers on Friday last week.

Writers, academics, students and interested members of the community filled up the chambers and listened attentively as different reports were tabled during the function.

The unit was established by the Pan South African Language Board’s Act of Parliament, Act 59 of 1995, to develop, promote and preserve the Tshivenda language by writing dictionaries. The unit is housed at the University of Venda and the university manages and controls the accounting activities of the company. The director of financial management and planning of the university also serves on the board of directors of the company.

On behalf of the TNLU board of directors, Prof Mbulaheni Musehane outlined the successes, challenges and developments of the unit. He said the unit had already produced a Venda-English dictionary through Maskew Miller Longman Publishers. "We are still making some rectifications to the dictionary as we have noticed that there are some things that need to be changed. We are working on another Venda dictionary, where we are only doing some touch ups to complete it. We have also done different seminars and meetings to iron out issues relating to the board."

Prof Musehane said things are changing for the better because the unit is growing on a daily basis. "When we started, we only had three permanent staff members and they were assisted by two interns. We have now advertised three positions and the candidates have already been interviewed. We are only waiting for the results of the interviews. We only had two offices and as we are speaking now, we have four, clearly indicating that things are changing. We are planning to work on the following dictionaries in the near future: Venda Fruit Dictionary, Venda Kingship Dictionary, Rivers of Venda Dictionary, Dictionary of Venda Locusts, to name but a few."