Vhembe District Municipality with its head quarters in Thohoyandou was established in 2000 through the process of transformation of Local Government. It was established in terms of Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998 as a demarcated sphere of governance. It is composed of four local municipalities, namely; Makhado, Musina, Thulamela and Mutale. It covers 21 407 km2 and has population of over 1.1 million living in 274 480 households.

The four local municipalities cover four portions of the former Transitional Local Council disestablished with the December 2000 elections. The amalgamated entities are the former Mutale/Masisi/Vhutswema, Elim/Hlanganani/Tshitale and Thohoyandou/Malamulele. The amalgamation was finalised by the issuing of notice 308 of 2000. In terms of section 12 of Local Government Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998, the then existing Municipalities were disestablished to make way for the new four Municipality.

The area of jurisdiction of Vhembe District Municipality is predominantly rural with critical basic services backlogs.

Vhembe District is one of the then Limpopo's six district Municipalities established in 2000. These were Mopani, Capricorn, Waterberg, Bohlabela and Sekhukhune. Bohlabela has since been incorporated into Mpumalanga.

Vhembe is situated in the Northern part of Limpopo Province, sharing borders with Zimbabwe in the north, Mozambique through Kruger National Park in the east and Botswana in the north west.

• Thohoyandou,
• Makhado,
• Musina,
• Malamulele,
• Tshilamba,
• Sibasa,
• Dzanani (Mphephu)
• Elim