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

The literate, Christian new-comers also looked down upon the
communities they found in the Makgabeng area. They felt that those
communities at Makgabeng were backward and primitive due to their lack
of education and Christianity, as well as other western influences 482 . The
phrase “masele a Makgabeng” was commonly used by the new coming
farm purchasers to refer how “barbaric” they regarded the Makgabeng
inhabitants 483 . Those new-comers defined themselves differently from the
communities which they found in the Makgabeng area even if they co-
purchased farms with them. This is an example of multiple identity
formation in which the new-comers sometimes assumed a distinct
identity from the original Makgabeng inhabitants, while sometimes they
associated with them in matters related to the farms which they co-
purchased.
The multiple identity formation in the Makgabeng area also manifested
itself in that the new coming buyers did not relinquish the allegiance to
their old chiefs in order to acknowledge the new chiefs on whose sphere
of influence they had bought farms. For instance, the buyers at
Goedetrouw still regarded themselves as the subjects of Kgoši Moloto of
482 Interview, Samson Phukubje, Lehwaneng village, 17 September 2003.
483 Interview, Samson Phukubje, Lehwaneng village, 17 September 2003.
280