‘ I will not return to Botswana until Kgatleng is an independent country’
Kgafela II dashes hopes for an early return
Bakgatla Sovereign, Kgosikgolo Kgafela Kgafela II has shattered any prospects that the presence of his wife, Mohumagadi Mma
Matshego and their two younger sons - Tebele and Sedibelo in Mochudi means he will be returning to Botswana anytime soon.
“I will not come there until we reclaim our land as an independent country,” Kgafela II told Botswana Guardian this past Saturday in S’fikile, South Africa during the Heritage Day celebrations, which Bakgatla Ba Kgafela group was celebrating at the Community Hall.
Kgafela does not give media interviews but in this rare ‘ meet and greet’ he clarified two points about graduating new regiments and reclaiming Kgatleng as an independent territory called Bakgatla Reserve.
“I am serious about this issue, that I will never set foot in Mochudi until we are an independent country. I have hope that all this task concerning the acquisition of our land will be completed in 2030, or before,” Kgafela said. He was accompanied by his trusted lieutenants – Kgosi Ramono, in charge of Bakgatla ba Kgafela in South Africa and Kgosi Bana Sekai responsible for Bakgatla ba Kgafela in Botswana as well as the Spokesperson of the Kgosikgolo
Kgafela II Foundation, Phalafala Maname. “So if any Mokgatla is hoping to see me in Botswana, let him live until 2030 or come and see me this side, but perhaps before 2030 we would have reclaimed our land, that is our target,” Kgosi Kgafela said.
In his address that day, Kgafela had reiterated the imperative need for Bakgatla to arrange themselves especially through regiments to protect themselves against the coming ‘ terrible season’ that is going to end political leaderships in Southern Africa as currently constituted.
It defies logic therefore how this arrangement can be sustained given Kgafela’s ten ( 10) year absence from his capital, and the lack of any new graduating regiments! But Kgafela is unfazed about this:
“There is no need for new regiments, the existing ones will do the work. The whole purpose of having mephato
( regiments) is that once they have graduated they must work. I meant it in this way, that the existing regiments must look after the nation and perform all other duties accordingly.”
As for graduating new regiments Kgafela said this won’t be done until “we have reclaimed our land ( Kgatleng Reserve) as an independent country only then will we graduate new regiments.”
In 2019 Kgafela explained to the Morafe the basis for his claim over Kgatleng as an independent Bakgatla Reserve. He pointed to the 1953 report by Lord Haley issued by the Queen of England in 1953 on the enquiry regarding tribal relations in Bech
uanaland. The report was motivated by Kgosi Linchwe I who had written a letter to the Queen of England in 1894 complaining about the conflicts between Bakgatla and Bakwena in Bechuanaland. The Queen of England answered Kgosi LInchwe I by instituting a Boundaries Commission headed by Captain Good Adams, who later became Lord Hamilton. Bakwena and Bakgatla made submissions and gave evidence at the Lord Hamilton’s Commission at the end of which Lord Hamilton demarcated and set out the boundaries which were approved by the Queen of England through Proclamation No. 9 of 1899. Kgafela insists that it was through this statute that Bakgatla ba Kgafela was legally given their land as a means to resolve their conflicts with Bakwena. Thereafter, another law known as the Tribal Territories Act of 1933 was enacted to confirm Proclamation No. 9 of 1899.
Therefore, Lord Haley’s report of 1953 confirms that the land of Bakgatla belongs to Morafe and Kgosi and no one else. “We have a Title Deed in the form of a Statute and a formal report from the Queen of England’s office,” Kgafela II explained at length in 2019. This past Saturday he did not dwell on the issue of land reclamation saying Bakgatla are now fully aware of it.
Instead, Kgafela predicted that the end of political leadership in its current form in Southern Africa is coming to an end, and will be replaced by a different leadership that he does not know.
However, he insisted that in Kgatleng the leadership will still be Bogosi ( Kingship), “But in all the land of South Africa, Botswana and Southern Africa, I don’t know what it will be”. Neither does he know what will remain after the wars that will bring an end to political rule in Gauteng ( Johannesburg).
Kgafela’s speech this year was laced with a good measure of foreboding, especially for South Africa, which he says faces an imminent revolt of ‘ apocalyptic proportions’ that will be brought about by the poor people of that country whose back have been broken by the yoke of poverty. Kgafela’s defiance notwithstanding, the apparent rift in his tribe, especially those based in Moruleng cannot be gainsaid. His sworn nemesis, Nyalala Pilane, presided over a parallel Bakgatla ba Kgafela Heritage Day celebration in Moruleng at which he paraded a host of supporters, among them President of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa ( CONTRALESA), Kgosi
Mokwena III of Ramapulane. Asked about this show of defiance, Kgosikgolo
Kgafela Foundation’s spokesperson Maname said that he was aware of the charade. “It saddens me to realise this, I am aware that there was a show of criminal clowns at Phe Batho museum,” he said.
Speaking about Nyalala in passing during his address, Kgafela had said that Bakgatla ba Kgafela in South Africa were well advanced in terms of arranging and preparing themselves for any eventuality but that the sticky point that needed to be brought to a close, was the ‘ chapter with Nyalala’, which he said was “delaying” progress.
Kgafela said it was now up to Bakgatla to ensure that this ‘ chapter with Nyalala’ is closed. Does this mean that Kgafela is abdicating his responsibility to collect, recover, reclaim and salvage all properties of Bakgatla, which he promised when he left Botswana ten ( 10) years ago? Not really. It is significant to recall that the Baloyi Commission has vindicated Kgafela’s claims against Nyalala Pilane, which led to the Premier of North West Province removing Nyalala from the tribal office and then delegating an Administrator to look after the Morafe’s assets. For his part, Kgafela, after the demise
Kgosi Rampho Pheto, has installed Kgosi Ramono Pilane as his Representative in Moruleng, this explains why he would now appeal to Morafe
or Bakgatla to bring the chapter with Nyalala to a close. Speaking to this publication, Kgosi Ramono expressed confidence that he shall prevail in all the cases that Nyalala has taken to court – one being leave to appeal his eviction from the tribal office, the others being Nyalala’s contention that he is the bona- fide Kgosikgolo of Bakgatla ba Kgafela which has been set down for 28th of October and the last being to review the Baloyi Commission.