The History of Makholokoe – Part II
By Vusi Moloi © 2009
In the article The History of Makholokoe – Part I a historical overview of the Makholokoe people was provided. This article is a continuation of the history and analysis of the Makgolokwe people.
The History of Makholokoe – Part I
Preamble
The Makgolokwe people are the direct descendants of the Bakgatla through the great Morena Tabane who settled at the Lekwa valley in the 1500s. Morena Kgolokwe, a descendant of Morena Kgetsi broke away from the main Bakgatla to chart an independent path along with his people. The followers of Morena Kgolokwe came to be known as Makgolokwe meaning the people of Kgolokwe. The Makgolokwe established their main branch in the Lekwa region of the present day Standerton Mpumalanga where they built a defensive fortress Thaba Kholokoe. It was here that they built their Makgolokwe way of life which advanced their economy of cattle, farming, and hunting the succes of which allowed them to cultivate their indigenous knowledge systems and ancestral lands. They are among the first to be known as Basotho along with their cousins Bapedi and others as confirmed in a PhD dissertation Literature and Philosophy of African Languages by the great African scholar William Moruti Tsiu.
Genesis
The Bakgatla people have lived in the region bounded by Lekwa and Limpopo river systems for over a thousand years. They were part of many African peoples who began to drift Southward in search of greener pastures as a result of the great Sahara turning into a desert as a result of loss of rainfalls in 6000 BCE (about 8000 years ago). The present day Mpumalanga and Limpopo offered an excellent opportunity for these industrious communities to rebuild their lives and feed their livestock which kept them alive through milk and ceremonial meat. The Bakgatla boasted many impressive kings and queens one of whom was a famed King Mokgatla, the progenitor of the Bakgatla people. After a number of generations a great King Tabane was born in the 1500s.
Mokgatla King Tabane
The formidable King Tabane led his people to prosperity in spite of the harsh vicissitudes. Moreover he instilled a sense of independence and an industrious work ethic. The Bakgatla peacefully and cooperatively cooexisted with with other peoples like Bafokeng, Bahurutshe and Bakwena among others. The Bafokeng boasted some of the most impressive queens and princesses and one such Mofokeng maiden was a mesmeric Princess Mathulare who enthralled the imagination of a young Prince Tabane. Tabane and Mathulare were married in a traditional ceremony where the extended families of Bakgatla and Bafokeng exchanged gifts and vows and built new ethnic alliances. It was out of this marriage that five sons were born namely Diale, Kgwadi, Kgetsi, Matsibolo and Mosia. When Diale succeeded his father as a new King he broke away from the main Bakgatla to start a new branch at Fateng in the present day Sekhukhuniland. King Diale was married to Mmathobela and when she gave birth to a son, he was named Thobela. It was through this Diale lineage that the Bapedi people and their formidable Kingdom of Sekhukhune was born. They moved from Lekwa under the leadership of Thobela to an area near the Limpopo river at Mohlake in the mountains of Leolo. After succeeding his father Diale and taking charge of his people in the 1600s, King Thobela forged a great and proud nation of Bapedi. King Thobela became a great ruler who was venerated by both Bapedi and some Makgolokwe like this writer. To this day Bapedi continue to say “Thobela”.
King Kgetsi
One of the brothers of Diale, Kgetsi established himself at Lekwa. King Kgetsi became a direct line of descent for another great leader by the name of Kgolokwe. It was King Kgolokwe who made his indellible mark among his people that they became known as Makgolokwe meaning the people of Kgolokwe. The Makgolokwe thrived at Lekwa. Overtime the Makgolokwe developed a body of collective knowledge which served as an intellectual capital in helping them to navigate and cherish their way of life. This system of indigenous knowledge was largely based on oral tradition but was also encoded in artifacts and other artistic works like ditema, pottery, carvings, traditional attire and games of strategy like morabaraba and more. It was here that many Makgolokwe received the teachings of their foremothers and forefathers as well as martial arts like stick fighting, mountain strategies and other forms of self-defense training. The Makgolokwe were methodical cattle herders and farmers. They paid allegience to a totem of Kgoho which is documented in the dithoko and diboko tsa Makgolokwe in the following invocation:
Ke Lekgolokwe, Lekotswana
Lahlaba kgoho ka lemao
Laisa ho Morena Kgorong
Lare bona Morena kehlabile
A longer version of dithoko tsa Makgolokwe is from Nchakha Moloi as follows:
Lekgolokoe Kotsoana
By Nchakha Moloi ©2005
“Lekgolokwe lekotswana,
Le hlaba kgoho ka lemao ka sebonong
O ise ho mokgoloane kgorong
ore bona morena ke hlabile
Ke motho wa kgetsi se dutla majwe
ya hlahang bopeli hwa matso
Ya hlahang mokgatluwa tloopo”
Moloi, Nchakha (2005). Lekgolokoe Kotsoana. Geneology.Com, December 4, 2009, from http://www.genealogy.com/genealogy/users/m/o/l/Nchakha-Moloi/index.html
William Moruti Tsiu in his PhD dissertation recorded Young QwaQwa Mokgolokwe lady by the name of Lebohang Mosikili reciting dithoko of Makgolokwe as follows:
Ke thelleleng
By Lebohang Mosikili © 2001
Ke thelleleng
Ke le Lekgolokwe, Lekotswana,
Lehlaba-kgoho-ka-lemao-ka-sebonong
O isa mokgorong ha Kgwadi,
O re: 'Bona, morena, kehlabile!'
Ke monate wa nku ofella mono! Tsiu, William Moruti, University of South Africa, 2008.
Thaba Kholokoe
Thaba Kholokoe inspired a variety of school systems including Lebollo and Motebong systems of education. In the scholarly paper The Design Theory of Letanta this writer discusses an indigenous system of education as practiced before the advent of colonial conquest. Militlary training at the time was considered an extremely important component of education as a form of defence against invaders. The Makgolokwe chose to build a defensive fortress to underscore their need for self-preservation.
The Legend of King Kgolokwe
The close relation of Makgolokwe and Bapedi in terms of language and historical alliances proved symbiotic in advancing the common good. Some Makgolokwe became absorbed among the Sekhukhuni people. Other relatives of Makgolokwe include Batlokwa with whom they share a common ancestry of Tabane as well as sharing space in the land of QwaQwa. The Makgolokwe are also related to Bafokeng (Bafokeng come from Bakwena) by marriage as previously mentioned through Queen Mathulare.
The legend of Kgolokwe was so far reaching that one of the Bapedi rulers of the indomitable Sekhukhune Royal House carried the name of Kgolokwe (also known as kgoloko). The Lekwa region is like a biblical garden of Eden because it is here that many of our people trace their origins before trekking out to other parts of South Africa like Zululand, Harrismith, QwaQwa, Lesotho and many other places. This region represents an instance of Ntsoanatsi that tells the story of genesis.
Peacemaking and Forging Alliances
Given their heterogenous historical experience and the veneration of common ancestry with other peoples like Bapedi, Batlokwa, Basia, among others, Makgolokwe developed superior skills in peacemaking and forging alliances. These skills served to create their survival maximizing experience.
Makgolokwe have also formed alliances with other non-Bakgatla peoples like the Zulu people of Zululand as demonstrated by Makgolokwe places like Nondweni of Inkosi Lephatsoana. Makgolokwe are also found in other places like Kwamdakane, Ndindindi and Kwamhloya in KwaZulu Natal.
The perpetual Zulu legend and founder of the ANC Mr. Pixlie ka Seme was instrumental in the acquisition of land in the present day Daggakraal under their leader Morena Lephatsoana. Even though they lost this land as per the draconian laws of forced removals under the evil system of racist and sexist apartheid, Makgolokwe gained a lot of sympathy from others like the Transvaal Rural Action Committee which this writer worked for under the Black Sash leader Mrs. Sheena Duncan of Johannesburg. It was gratifying when the living legend and President of South Africa Mr. Nelson Mandela restored the land under Lephatsoana II Trust where the Mokgolokwe Chief Edward Moloi was there to receive the title deed on behalf of his people on June 21st, 1997 at Amersfoort in the Mpumalanga Province. In the poem Ke Daggakraal the Makgolokwe are remembered for putting up a determined fight for the land:
“Ka hohle ditholwana tsa hao di adilwe,
BoMoloi ba ho lwela temo ya mobu,
BoSiema ba ho hasanya lentswe,
Basuwe ke ditholwana tse ntle.” Sesotho Puo Ya Lapeng(Pampiri Ya Bobedi)November 2008, Daggakraal, Mpumalanga.
The great Premier of Mpumalanga the Honourable Mathews Phosa was the engine that did the heavy lifting behind the success of this project. Interestingly and deservedly so, the people of Daggakraal have renamed their Municipality in honour of the great son of the African soil Pixie ka Seme of Inanda, KwaZulu Natal.
Gutsy Spirit and Serving Others
The Makgolokwe have bolstered their gutsy spirit and perfected their skills of solidarity over centuries. Instead of waging wars of aggression against others, the Makgolokwe were trained to embrace others as their own regardless of ethnic origin. The only time when Makgolokwe went to war was in defence of their ancestral lands when the peaceful avenues were blocked like the war of 1856 when the arrogant and bellicose Afrikaners assisted by both Germans and the English sought to crush Makgolokwe people and rob them of their land under the barrel of the gun in the Free State. Intriguingly, when the Makgolokwe, under a junior Chief Wetsi had no alternative but to fight back, they were joined by other non-Makgolokwe volunteers like the Zulu warriors of King Mpande, Bapedi of Sekhukhune and others in resisting the claws of colonial encroachment. Even though the Bakwena of Mopeli fought on the side of colonizers in this war for which they were rewarded by President Johannes Brand of the Orange Free State in 1867, the Makgolokwe did not bear a grudge but have consistently engaged them in a peaceful struggle for the emancipation of their land.
Chief Molefe Royal House in Nquthu
Some historical accounts point to the fact that one the of the traditional surgeons of the great Zulu King Cetshwayo (the son of King Mpande) was a Mokgolokwe. When this writer was in KwaZulu Natal at Nquthu in the Royal House of Batlokwa Chief Molefe it was instructive to observe the alliances of Makgolokwe and Batlokwa. The Molefe Tribal Authority shared a border with a Zulu Chief Hlatshwayo. This invaluable experience, as documented in the book A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, was an immense learning experience with respect to the alliances of our peoples in the harsh face of a racist and sexist apartheid that inculcated separatist tendencies designed to break the spirit of the African. This writer is forever grateful to the great legend Ntate Monnafela Mota of Lechabile in the land of QwaQwa for making it possible to experience this epiphany.
Conclusion
The Makgolokwe are a unique people in terms of having a common ancestry with others and being able to forge and leverage those alliances in their quest for permanent liberation. The Government of President Zuma has committed itself towards the restitution of the land of Makgolokwe. The Makgolokwe are a recognized traditional community in terms of the 1994 House of Traditional Leaders Act. As long as they are relentless in their great struggle for their land, it is foreseeable that they will regain what is their birthright. Are the new generation of Makgolokwe cognizant and interested in their history or will they get attracted to the Western ways that seek to strip them of their Africanness?
About the Author
A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.
In the article The History of Makholokoe – Part I a historical overview of the Makholokoe people was provided. This article is a continuation of the history and analysis of the Makgolokwe people.
The History of Makholokoe – Part I
Preamble
The Makgolokwe people are the direct descendants of the Bakgatla through the great Morena Tabane who settled at the Lekwa valley in the 1500s. Morena Kgolokwe, a descendant of Morena Kgetsi broke away from the main Bakgatla to chart an independent path along with his people. The followers of Morena Kgolokwe came to be known as Makgolokwe meaning the people of Kgolokwe. The Makgolokwe established their main branch in the Lekwa region of the present day Standerton Mpumalanga where they built a defensive fortress Thaba Kholokoe. It was here that they built their Makgolokwe way of life which advanced their economy of cattle, farming, and hunting the succes of which allowed them to cultivate their indigenous knowledge systems and ancestral lands. They are among the first to be known as Basotho along with their cousins Bapedi and others as confirmed in a PhD dissertation Literature and Philosophy of African Languages by the great African scholar William Moruti Tsiu.
Genesis
The Bakgatla people have lived in the region bounded by Lekwa and Limpopo river systems for over a thousand years. They were part of many African peoples who began to drift Southward in search of greener pastures as a result of the great Sahara turning into a desert as a result of loss of rainfalls in 6000 BCE (about 8000 years ago). The present day Mpumalanga and Limpopo offered an excellent opportunity for these industrious communities to rebuild their lives and feed their livestock which kept them alive through milk and ceremonial meat. The Bakgatla boasted many impressive kings and queens one of whom was a famed King Mokgatla, the progenitor of the Bakgatla people. After a number of generations a great King Tabane was born in the 1500s.
Mokgatla King Tabane
The formidable King Tabane led his people to prosperity in spite of the harsh vicissitudes. Moreover he instilled a sense of independence and an industrious work ethic. The Bakgatla peacefully and cooperatively cooexisted with with other peoples like Bafokeng, Bahurutshe and Bakwena among others. The Bafokeng boasted some of the most impressive queens and princesses and one such Mofokeng maiden was a mesmeric Princess Mathulare who enthralled the imagination of a young Prince Tabane. Tabane and Mathulare were married in a traditional ceremony where the extended families of Bakgatla and Bafokeng exchanged gifts and vows and built new ethnic alliances. It was out of this marriage that five sons were born namely Diale, Kgwadi, Kgetsi, Matsibolo and Mosia. When Diale succeeded his father as a new King he broke away from the main Bakgatla to start a new branch at Fateng in the present day Sekhukhuniland. King Diale was married to Mmathobela and when she gave birth to a son, he was named Thobela. It was through this Diale lineage that the Bapedi people and their formidable Kingdom of Sekhukhune was born. They moved from Lekwa under the leadership of Thobela to an area near the Limpopo river at Mohlake in the mountains of Leolo. After succeeding his father Diale and taking charge of his people in the 1600s, King Thobela forged a great and proud nation of Bapedi. King Thobela became a great ruler who was venerated by both Bapedi and some Makgolokwe like this writer. To this day Bapedi continue to say “Thobela”.
King Kgetsi
One of the brothers of Diale, Kgetsi established himself at Lekwa. King Kgetsi became a direct line of descent for another great leader by the name of Kgolokwe. It was King Kgolokwe who made his indellible mark among his people that they became known as Makgolokwe meaning the people of Kgolokwe. The Makgolokwe thrived at Lekwa. Overtime the Makgolokwe developed a body of collective knowledge which served as an intellectual capital in helping them to navigate and cherish their way of life. This system of indigenous knowledge was largely based on oral tradition but was also encoded in artifacts and other artistic works like ditema, pottery, carvings, traditional attire and games of strategy like morabaraba and more. It was here that many Makgolokwe received the teachings of their foremothers and forefathers as well as martial arts like stick fighting, mountain strategies and other forms of self-defense training. The Makgolokwe were methodical cattle herders and farmers. They paid allegience to a totem of Kgoho which is documented in the dithoko and diboko tsa Makgolokwe in the following invocation:
Ke Lekgolokwe, Lekotswana
Lahlaba kgoho ka lemao
Laisa ho Morena Kgorong
Lare bona Morena kehlabile
A longer version of dithoko tsa Makgolokwe is from Nchakha Moloi as follows:
Lekgolokoe Kotsoana
By Nchakha Moloi ©2005
“Lekgolokwe lekotswana,
Le hlaba kgoho ka lemao ka sebonong
O ise ho mokgoloane kgorong
ore bona morena ke hlabile
Ke motho wa kgetsi se dutla majwe
ya hlahang bopeli hwa matso
Ya hlahang mokgatluwa tloopo”
Moloi, Nchakha (2005). Lekgolokoe Kotsoana. Geneology.Com, December 4, 2009, from http://www.genealogy.com/genealogy/users/m/o/l/Nchakha-Moloi/index.html
William Moruti Tsiu in his PhD dissertation recorded Young QwaQwa Mokgolokwe lady by the name of Lebohang Mosikili reciting dithoko of Makgolokwe as follows:
Ke thelleleng
By Lebohang Mosikili © 2001
Ke thelleleng
Ke le Lekgolokwe, Lekotswana,
Lehlaba-kgoho-ka-lemao-ka-sebonong
O isa mokgorong ha Kgwadi,
O re: 'Bona, morena, kehlabile!'
Ke monate wa nku ofella mono! Tsiu, William Moruti, University of South Africa, 2008.
Thaba Kholokoe
Thaba Kholokoe inspired a variety of school systems including Lebollo and Motebong systems of education. In the scholarly paper The Design Theory of Letanta this writer discusses an indigenous system of education as practiced before the advent of colonial conquest. Militlary training at the time was considered an extremely important component of education as a form of defence against invaders. The Makgolokwe chose to build a defensive fortress to underscore their need for self-preservation.
The Legend of King Kgolokwe
The close relation of Makgolokwe and Bapedi in terms of language and historical alliances proved symbiotic in advancing the common good. Some Makgolokwe became absorbed among the Sekhukhuni people. Other relatives of Makgolokwe include Batlokwa with whom they share a common ancestry of Tabane as well as sharing space in the land of QwaQwa. The Makgolokwe are also related to Bafokeng (Bafokeng come from Bakwena) by marriage as previously mentioned through Queen Mathulare.
The legend of Kgolokwe was so far reaching that one of the Bapedi rulers of the indomitable Sekhukhune Royal House carried the name of Kgolokwe (also known as kgoloko). The Lekwa region is like a biblical garden of Eden because it is here that many of our people trace their origins before trekking out to other parts of South Africa like Zululand, Harrismith, QwaQwa, Lesotho and many other places. This region represents an instance of Ntsoanatsi that tells the story of genesis.
Peacemaking and Forging Alliances
Given their heterogenous historical experience and the veneration of common ancestry with other peoples like Bapedi, Batlokwa, Basia, among others, Makgolokwe developed superior skills in peacemaking and forging alliances. These skills served to create their survival maximizing experience.
Makgolokwe have also formed alliances with other non-Bakgatla peoples like the Zulu people of Zululand as demonstrated by Makgolokwe places like Nondweni of Inkosi Lephatsoana. Makgolokwe are also found in other places like Kwamdakane, Ndindindi and Kwamhloya in KwaZulu Natal.
The perpetual Zulu legend and founder of the ANC Mr. Pixlie ka Seme was instrumental in the acquisition of land in the present day Daggakraal under their leader Morena Lephatsoana. Even though they lost this land as per the draconian laws of forced removals under the evil system of racist and sexist apartheid, Makgolokwe gained a lot of sympathy from others like the Transvaal Rural Action Committee which this writer worked for under the Black Sash leader Mrs. Sheena Duncan of Johannesburg. It was gratifying when the living legend and President of South Africa Mr. Nelson Mandela restored the land under Lephatsoana II Trust where the Mokgolokwe Chief Edward Moloi was there to receive the title deed on behalf of his people on June 21st, 1997 at Amersfoort in the Mpumalanga Province. In the poem Ke Daggakraal the Makgolokwe are remembered for putting up a determined fight for the land:
“Ka hohle ditholwana tsa hao di adilwe,
BoMoloi ba ho lwela temo ya mobu,
BoSiema ba ho hasanya lentswe,
Basuwe ke ditholwana tse ntle.” Sesotho Puo Ya Lapeng(Pampiri Ya Bobedi)November 2008, Daggakraal, Mpumalanga.
The great Premier of Mpumalanga the Honourable Mathews Phosa was the engine that did the heavy lifting behind the success of this project. Interestingly and deservedly so, the people of Daggakraal have renamed their Municipality in honour of the great son of the African soil Pixie ka Seme of Inanda, KwaZulu Natal.
Gutsy Spirit and Serving Others
The Makgolokwe have bolstered their gutsy spirit and perfected their skills of solidarity over centuries. Instead of waging wars of aggression against others, the Makgolokwe were trained to embrace others as their own regardless of ethnic origin. The only time when Makgolokwe went to war was in defence of their ancestral lands when the peaceful avenues were blocked like the war of 1856 when the arrogant and bellicose Afrikaners assisted by both Germans and the English sought to crush Makgolokwe people and rob them of their land under the barrel of the gun in the Free State. Intriguingly, when the Makgolokwe, under a junior Chief Wetsi had no alternative but to fight back, they were joined by other non-Makgolokwe volunteers like the Zulu warriors of King Mpande, Bapedi of Sekhukhune and others in resisting the claws of colonial encroachment. Even though the Bakwena of Mopeli fought on the side of colonizers in this war for which they were rewarded by President Johannes Brand of the Orange Free State in 1867, the Makgolokwe did not bear a grudge but have consistently engaged them in a peaceful struggle for the emancipation of their land.
Chief Molefe Royal House in Nquthu
Some historical accounts point to the fact that one the of the traditional surgeons of the great Zulu King Cetshwayo (the son of King Mpande) was a Mokgolokwe. When this writer was in KwaZulu Natal at Nquthu in the Royal House of Batlokwa Chief Molefe it was instructive to observe the alliances of Makgolokwe and Batlokwa. The Molefe Tribal Authority shared a border with a Zulu Chief Hlatshwayo. This invaluable experience, as documented in the book A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, was an immense learning experience with respect to the alliances of our peoples in the harsh face of a racist and sexist apartheid that inculcated separatist tendencies designed to break the spirit of the African. This writer is forever grateful to the great legend Ntate Monnafela Mota of Lechabile in the land of QwaQwa for making it possible to experience this epiphany.
Conclusion
The Makgolokwe are a unique people in terms of having a common ancestry with others and being able to forge and leverage those alliances in their quest for permanent liberation. The Government of President Zuma has committed itself towards the restitution of the land of Makgolokwe. The Makgolokwe are a recognized traditional community in terms of the 1994 House of Traditional Leaders Act. As long as they are relentless in their great struggle for their land, it is foreseeable that they will regain what is their birthright. Are the new generation of Makgolokwe cognizant and interested in their history or will they get attracted to the Western ways that seek to strip them of their Africanness?
About the Author
A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.
posted by Vusi Moloi at
1:02 AM
5 Comments:
thanks so much for your great works, Vusi. I would nevertheless like you to clarify this Thaba Kholokoe puzzle to me.
Rev. Ellenberger says it is at Standerton, in the Mpumalanga Province, yet in 2004 I travelled there in search of Makholokoe, but nobody knew anything about.
the search me took me to Nquthu where I indeed met some Makholokoe, the Moloi family.
I am working with my clansmen in Lesotho to re-organise Makholokoe, on both sides of the borders so as to forge a united community for our history, customs and traditions to be taught our off-springs.
God bless you.
Lekgolokwe! Lahlaba kgoho ka lemao! Reyaleboha monghadi ka boikgathatso bahorengolla. Ke eletsa hore okenelle Facebook moo renaleng Makholokoe teng. I don't know much about Rev. Ellenberger and I tried to find some of his stuff but came across an Afrikaans paper which I was not able to access. The fact that you couldn't find the Makgolokwe mountain does not mean it does not exist. It was most likely absorbed as part of a farm and it would be in some farm somewhere. This is why we need African researchers who will do a better job here than anyone else. You are already doing that. Hopefully the authorities support you in our important venture of histography of the great people of Makgolokwe.
I am glad you found the Makgolokwe at Nquthu. It has been more than 20 years since I left Nquthu and I hope to go back there when I return from North America. I am glad that you are doing great things in the mountain Kingdom.
Reyaleboha Lekgolokwe, haobe jwalo nako tsohle.
With love.
Vusi
Guys you have open my eyes...
This is what I've been trying to get for some time now...
Im getting to know more of my people in Qwa-Qwa and Lesotho, some whom are in Johannesburg
... Im' planning on doing a full Video Archive of my Moloi's family Culture...
Will keep you posted.
Ke ya leboha ho menahane...
Holeboha rona ngwaneso. Haobe jwalo kahosafeleng, mahlaba kgoho kalemao!
Holeboha rona ngwaneso. Haobe jwalo kahosafeleng, mahlaba kgoho kalemao!
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