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their homesteads 119 . In the Makgabeng area, the wood of moretšhe and
monganga are regarded as durable in homestead construction 120 . The
motšhikiri and kgolane grasses are commonly used to thatch huts in the
Makgabeng 121 .
After the arrival and political take over by the colonial settlers in the mid-19 th
century, the Makgabeng area – and other parts of the country - was
surveyed into farms which formed different communal villages. The survey,
fencing and sale of these farms will be fully discussed later in the chapter on
land. Each tiny village/farm carried a population which was constantly
expanding. Whereas the population was ever expanding, the fenced
borders of the farms did not expand. In other words, the descendants of the
original farm purchasers built their homes on the same farms continually,
even up until this day. Few of these descendants find places to live
elsewhere, like in urban areas. But the rest remain. This trend has an
impact on identities in the Makgabeng area because as the able-bodied
young men and women are attracted by urban greener pastures, the brain-
drain suffered by that rural area becomes enormous. As a result, the
Makgabeng area becomes characterised by the aged, unemployed as well
as the children who are still at school. With the abolition of apartheid laws
which some of them restricted the settlement of Blacks in urban centres, the
119 Interview, Samson Phukubje, Lehwaneng village, 17 September 2003.
120 Ibid.
121 Ibid.
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