Langeberg Rebellion heroes to be honoured

AS PART of the 2018 Freedom Day celebrations, the Northern Cape government will be unveiling a monument to honour the heroes of the Langeberg Rebellion, which took place 121 years ago.

The Northern Cape Department of Sport, Arts and Culture spokesperson, Conrad Fortune, said yesterday that the monument, which will honour Dikgosi Galeshewe and Luka Jantjie of the Batlhaping, as well as Kgosi Toto of the Batlharo, would be unveiled by Premier Sylvia Lucas.

The event will be held at the Kuruman Information Centre in the John Taolo Gaetsewe District.

Lucas will be accompanied by the MEC for Sport, Arts and Culture, Bongiwe Mbinqo-Gigaba, members of the Northern Cape executive council and the mayors from the John Taolo Gaetsewe district and local municipalities.

The Langeberg War was a war of resistance waged by the Batlhaping and Batlharo against the British settlers in the Griqualand West area, and resulted in thousands of members of the two Tswana communities being scattered across various parts of the country, after they were disposed of their land at the Langeberg Hills outside Olifantshoek.

According to Kgosi Jantjie, the battle started when Kgosi Galeshewe was chased off his land by the British in the Phokwane area. He and his men fled to the Langeberg area to join Kgosi Luka Jantjie and Kgosi Toto in a series of revolts against British land annexations that lasted almost eight months between December 1896 and August 1897.

Research indicates that thousands of Batlhaping and Batlharo men, women and children were displaced while some were taken to Western Cape farms as indentured labourers.

This was after the brutal killing and beheading of Kgosi Luka Jantjie and the imprisonment of Kgosi Galeshewe and Toto as well as their followers.