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driven by various reasons, found themselves purchasing farms in the
Makgabeng area. Those new immigrants to the Makgabeng area obviously
brought new ideas and ways of life, which inevitably changed identities in
the Makgabeng area. As far as political identities were concerned, those
immigrants did not sever ties with their original chiefs as they moved into
Makgabeng. For instance, the Batlokwa farm purchasers in Makgabeng still
regarded the Batlokwa chiefs, Ramokgopa and Machaka as their rulers,
while those from Moletji still regarded Kgoši Moloto as their chief 253 . The
retention of this previous political allegiance went against the fact that in the
Makgabeng area, they bought farms within the jurisdiction of either Kgoši
Malebogo or Kgoši Matlala. This complicated political identity among the
Makgabeng communities was compounded by the symbolic nature of the
Malebogo and Matlala chieftainships, whose real powers had been usurped
by the White colonial authorities 254 . This was because the White authorities
imposed their value systems on the Makgabeng communities and these
communities were expected to be identified as the subjects of those
authorities.
Missionaries and political identities
253 Interview, John Machaba, Norma B village, 25 July 2003.
254 Ibid.
151