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at a macro-level and also filtered through to the micro-levels. Their effects
were also manifested in the Makgabeng area. The phenomenon known as
Mfecane in Nguni and Difaqane in Sotho, which is a hotly debated historical
issue, is “an essentially African revolution” 227 . The merits and demerits of
the Mfecane/Difaqane debate is beyond the scope of this study. It will only
be sufficient to point out that this phenomenon had begun with the
Ndwandwe/Zulu war of 1818-19 and has lasted for nearly twenty years. The
widespread warfare left thousands dead: killed in battle, assaulted by
bandits or died of starvation. Thousands of cattle, sheep and goats were
captured, recaptured and slaughtered. In many areas cultivation stopped
because of the Mfecane/Difaqane 228 upheavals.
Around the area south of the Limpopo River, which included the Makgabeng
area, Mfecane/Difaqane took place at the time when the area was
experiencing burgeoning population density, diminishing resources, famine
due to periodic droughts, diseases particularly malaria due to mosquitoes
and presence of the tsetse fly, a growing social stratification and political
amalgamation among societies 229 . Heightened competition and conflict
resulted in movements of people around the area. Therefore, the
Mfecane/Difaqane upheavals found the Makgabeng as a restless area.
227 J. D. Omer-Cooper, “Has the Mfecane a Future?” Unpublished, Colloquium paper, University
of Witwatersrand, 19991, p. 1.
228 The Nguni and Sotho names for it, meaning “crushing” and “scattering,” aptly describe what
the period meant to so many people.
229 T. J., Makhura, The Bagananwa Polity…, p. 65.
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