Tshishonga is the kingmaking prime minister of the early Singo court, remembered for the decisive and bloody part he played in the royal succession. It was Tshishonga who murdered the reigning king Bele and then set Bele's younger brother Dyambeu upon the throne, an act that redirected the line of paramount kings from which Thohoyandou would spring. In Venda dynastic tradition he stands as the type of the overmighty minister whose hand could make and unmake kings.