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

the wild hard fruits which are known as “makgwaa”, in the local language.
Again, here also, there is no grammatical explanation in which the word
“makgwaa”, can actually transform into “Makgabeng”.
According to Ephesia Mokobane, the name Makgabeng is derived from
“makgaba”, which in the local language refers to the sorghum plants which
have not yet produced stalks 7 . These young, fresh, green plants are called
“makgaba”, and according to Ephesia, when outside people visited the area
during the early rainy seasons, they saw the “makgaba”, and they then
referred to the area as Makgabeng 8 . On grammatical grounds alone, this
explanation is logical, because if you add the location suffix “-eng” to
“makgaba”, you end up with the place adverb, “makgabeng”. However, it is
very difficult to conclude this matter on grammatical reasons alone, given
the various interpretations available.
Some of the interpretations given are simplistic as most of them have no
explanations. In his 1993 MA thesis, Tlou John Makhura only stated that
Makgabeng means “boiling place” 9 . Nkadi Ngwepe only said that
Makgabeng means “dikgaa” (cliffs) which are shining 10 . Mautla Ramoroka
7 Interview, 26 July 2002.
8 Ibid.
9 T. J. Makhura, The Bagananwa Polity in the North-Western Transvaal and the South African, c.
1836 – 1896, p. 26.
10 Interview, 26 July 2002.
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