On 23 September, the royal Dagada clan and the community of Guyuni Hadagada held a memorial service to commemorate the life of the late Sarah Sheron Dagada, better known as "Vho SS Dagada", who became the first Muvenda woman to qualify as a social worker.
Dagada was born and raised in the royal musanda clan of Guyuni Hadagada in 1946. She started school at a primary school in Guyuni that only extended to Standard 2 (Grade 4 in today's terms). From Standard 2 onwards, the nearest school was at Lukau, which was a five-kilometre walk up and down the mountain. She excelled academically, having skipped several grades before she was offered a scholarship to attend high school at the then Vendaland Training Institution.
Dagada qualified for a matric exemption in 1963 - one of only four students in the whole of Venda to achieve such an accolade in that year, and the only female among the four. Incidentally, her partner of 50-plus years, Joseph Matamela Maiwashe, was also one of the four students to achieve this accolade that same year. Together, they went to study for their bachelor of arts in social science at the University of South Africa's Turfloop campus, where Dagada graduated in 1967. Upon graduation, she joined the Department of Social Development as a social worker in 1968 and quickly advanced through the ranks. From there, she was promoted to principal social worker in 1977, chief social worker in 1982, assistant director in 1988, and from there to manager for social development in the Vhembe region until her retirement in 2011.
After retirement, she turned to mentoring social-work supervisors on behalf of the National Department of Social Development and undertook project work on foster care for SASSA. She also tutored and mentored students undertaking social work degrees at UNISA.
Dagada passed away in 2021, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, could not be given a dignified funeral and so the clan decided it would honour her memory and the role she had played.
Her daughter, Tshiwela Maiwashe, described her mother as a hardworking woman, a unifier of the Dagada clan, a peace-loving and humble person with a kind nature.
She is survived by her life partner Joseph and their children.