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system work, used various methods such as school programmes, the
media, and other forms, to aggressively promote, entrench and impose the
homeland identities. Incentives were created during the Lebowa era in
which traditional dance groups and choral music groups were lured into
composing songs which promoted the homeland identities. The fact that
even today there are still observable identities of people who still regard
themselves as the Bakone, the Bahananwa or the Batšhadibe, in the
Makgabeng area, illustrates that these forms of identities lasted more than
the coerced ones of homeland politics.
The tribal nature of political identities in the Makgabeng area lasted for
centuries until today, mainly because of the importance with which the
people attach to their tribal ways of life, including chieftaincy. This is
according to the theoretical argument that cultural, social and political
contexts are decisive when it comes to identity 608 . Even if the Makgabeng
communities had various forms of political leaderships at different periods –
some of them imposed – such as White authorities and homeland
governments, they still held their traditional chiefs with high esteem. Even if
the apartheid authorities extensively undermined the traditional chieftaincy,
people still express their great reverence to their chiefs even today. The
chiefs in the Makgabeng area who are mostly revered are those who were
involved in resistance against colonial invasions and such related struggles.
608 M. Castells, “Globalisation, Identity…”, p. 5.
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