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Bahananwa from the present day Botswana 643 . While the Hananwa “dialect”
is spoken on the north-eastern vicinity of the Makgabeng mountain, the
Kone dialect is spoken by the Bakone communities mostly occupying the
southern and the western parts of the Makgabeng mountains.
The Kwena “dialect” was brought to the Makgabeng area by the Bakwena of
Moletji of the Moloto royal house during the era of the purchase of farms.
This “dialect” is different from the Hananwa (which is closer to the Tswana)
and is instead closer to the Southern Sotho of King Moshoeshoe’s people.
According to historical evidence, there is a link between the Bakwena and
the Southern Sothos 644 . The Tlokwa “dialect” was also exported to the
Makgabeng area during that scramble of farm purchases.
The Batlokwa who bought the farms of Uitkyk No. 3 and Norma B in the
Makgabeng area, came from Botlokwa in the Dwars River area. They
migrated to Makgabeng after breaking away from the Botlokwa polities of
Ramokgopha and Machaka. The Birwa “dialect” is closely related to the
Hananwa, and this indicates that the two groups once lived together, or at
least closer to each other. In the Makgabeng area, the Birwa “dialect” is
mostly spoken in the small village of Gemarke. In the village called
Mokumuru (Ritterhouse) the people who settled there during the farms
643 Interview, Robert Manaka, Inveraan village, 29 December 2004.
644 Krige, J.D., “Traditional Origins and Tribal Relations of the Sotho of the Northern Transvaal”.
Bantu Studies, Vol. IV, 11, 1937, pp.321 –357.
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