Robbed by colonialism, deprived by democracy

THE forgotten Kaditshwene, or Gaditshwene, is the birthplace of Bahurutshe, one of the many Batswana tribes found in the Lehurutshe/Marico region around the present-day Zeerust.

It is a special place because it was one of the greatest cities between the 1400s and 1800s, a southern African Iron Age settlement.

Bahurutshe had dual cities, Tswenyane and Kaditshwene. Their cities were destroyed and dispossessed by land thieves, and they abandoned their ancestral land in the 1820s due to unending conflicts meted out by those who were covetous of the beauty they saw there. Bahurutshe are peace-loving inhabitants who could not stand against aggression by settlers or, sometimes, by other African kingdoms/nations.

According to oral history, in 1820, Kaditshwene was big, and better than Cape Town. There were arguably more than 20 000 people. This is evidenced by extensive settlement remains that include house foundations, stone walls, and ash middens, as well as evidence of the metalworking industry.

Kaditshwene and Tswenyane were then occupied by the invaders who still own the spiritual land of Bahurutshe people.

Although Kaditshwene city has been declared a heritage site, it is just a tombstone next to a gravel road of Enselsberg, which is 25km south-east of Zeerust, North West. No one has access to the heritage site because more than four white farmers deny Bahurutshe people access to their heritage.

To compound matters, a white farmer, who has caged Tswenyane city, demands R300 for the people to access their sacred place where they talk to their ancestors. They cannot do so if they do not have money to access the “private property” of someone who illegally and immorally secured that important piece of land.

The Bahurutshe people were robbed of their land during colonialism, and they are robbed under democracy as justice has not been served. The only way to serve justice is to restore the land back to its rightful owners.

The land is not only a commodity to be used or abused to create wealth. it is also a sacred and spiritual asset. Unlike four white people, who claim to own more than 6 000 hectares of the land, the Bahurutshe (African people) do not believe that there should be an individual claiming ownership of land in Africa because the land belongs to those who are alive, the dead (ancestors) and the future (next generation).

As we are alive, we use the land to feed our bodies and soul. The dead are buried on the land and they live among us through their spirits, and we should preserve and take care of the land for the next generation. Therefore, it is laughable that only four people from outside Africa tell us that they own our land.

We are appealing for government intervention by means of convincing these people to leave our land because we are people with no dignity, identity or integrity when we have no access to our ancestral land. We want our land now, and we do not want to do so by means of war.

We are aware that significant pieces of our heritage have been stolen and piloted to European countries. Other pieces of such magnificent heritage are with the four families, while others are with notable South African universities. It is shocking that the Bahurutshe people have nothing to show while European descendants own our heritage and are making money out of our misery. They must be stopped.