Microsoft Word - PhD Thesis Final.pdf - University of Limpopo ...

With the gradual subjugation of the Makgabeng area by the Boers, the area
slowly adopted a new political identity. The power of the chiefs, Matlala and
Malebogo were usurped and replaced by those of the Boers. The former
voluntarily gave in to the Boer authority as their ally, while the latter fought
until his final defeat and imprisonment in 1894. With the new Boer authority
in place, the Makgabeng communities were forced to adapt to its new
demands and expectations. Their traditional ways of looking up to the chiefs
for protection, allocation of land, administration of justice, etc., were
replaced by the new system of Boer governance.
The defeat of the Bahananwa and the imprisonment of their chief,
Ratšhatšha Lebogo (Malebogo) in 1894, and the voluntary alliance of Kgoši
Matlala to the Boers, meant that the ZAR had an overall authority in the
entire north-western part of the Transvaal, up to the Limpopo River. The
imprisonment of Ratšhatšha meant that the Makgabeng communities who
were his subjects, were left leaderless, although his mother, Mmaseketa, his
nephew Sephuti, and Maemeletša, were left to take care of the
Bahananwa 251 .
After their defeat, the Bahananwa were expected to be out of their
mountain strongholds of Blouberg, and were ordered to settle on the flat
plains, making anyone who still occupied the mountains, an outlaw. With the
251 Interview, Elias Monyebodi, Acting Headman of Ga-Monyebodi village, Ga Monyebodi
village, 22 December 2002.
148