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epidemic which brought missionary Herbst’s family to the brink of death 289 .
Much of missionary activities shifted to Leipzig, where Christoph Sonntag
took over in 1892. In 1897 Robert Franz took over from Sonntag until 1908
when Franz moved to Bochum 290 . Between 1908 and 1914 there was no
White missionary in both Leipzig and Makgabeng stations, but Franz
overlooked those stations from Bochum 291 . Martin Jackel took over from
Franz from 1914 up to 1923, whereby a Black convert, Henrich Tsita,
formally took over the reigns 292 . With these successive missionaries in the
Makgabeng area, Christianity was entrenched as a new form of religious
identity. This form of religion competed with traditional beliefs of local
communities because as other people became converts, others retained
their traditional beliefs, while others were caught in the middle of those
religions.
Since the appearance of the first missionaries in the Makgabeng area in the
second half of the 19 th century, the ways of life of communities in that area
were never going to be the same again. From the earliest appearance of the
Berlin missionaries, concerted efforts were made to spread the Gospel in
the Makgabeng area. Although at some times the missionaries were
tempted to be involved in political matters, as shown in the previous
289 M. Jackel, Gananoa, p. 17.
290 Ibid, p. 21.
291 Ibid, p. 27.
292 Ibid, p. 35.
168