Kgafela loses SA chieftainship case
Lerato Maleke | Friday August 22, 2014 12:16
The ruling effectively means his uncle, Nyalala Pilane, continues as chief of Bakgatla in Moruleng, while Kgafela is temporarily marooned as the Botswana government derecognised him in 2012.
Traditionally, however, he remains the paramount chief of Bakgatla in Mochudi where he is massively supported.
Before of hundreds of Bakgatla who had travelled from Mochudi, Judge Mashango Monica Leeuw reserved judgement early in July in a case where Kgafela had filed three cases against his uncle, Nyalala Pilane and several other defendents.
Kgafela subsequently withdrew two of the cases and offered to pay costs, while pushing ahead with his principal suit in which he wished to be declared paramount chief on both sides of the border.
Kgafela and Pilane, by all accounts, enjoyed a cordial relationship which led in 2012 to the chief’s relocation to Moruleng in South Africa with his uncle’s assistance, as he claimed persecution by the Botswana government.
While both sides agree that an understanding existed at the time that Kgafela would take over from Pilane, a bitter row erupted between uncle and nephew barely four months after Kgafela’s relocation.
Pilane accused Kgafela of tarnishing his image and calling him a thief, while Kgafela questioned his uncle’s management of the tribe’s funds.
Bakgatla ba Kgafela in Moruleng are concession holders in the rich platinum belt, which annually yields millions of Pula in royalties to the tribe.
While Leeuw had given Kgafela a glimmer of hope in his case by stating that she would not consider his charges in Botswana, she outrightly dismissed his case with costs last Friday.
Leeuw said for relief Kgafela and Bakgatla should have approached the Provincial Committee of the Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims, a body established by the South African legislature.
“I am of the view that the applicants should approach the Commission in order to have the issues raised in these applications investigated,” she said.
“The applicants were at all times aware or ought to have been aware, of the provision of the national and provincial acts.”
Leuww added: “When the premier established the Committee to investigate the adverse claims to the chieftainship, the applicants sought an interdict restraining the premier and the Commission from exercising their duties in terms of the national and provincial acts.
“This application was unwarranted and should be viewed as an abuse of the court processes.”
According to South African law, as cited by Leeuw, the Commission has the authority to investigate and make recommendations when there is doubt as to kingship, principal traditional leadership or headmanship.
Leeuw’s judgment reveals a myriad of legal suits, counter-suits and urgent applications revolving around Kgafela and Pilane and also roping in other prominent Bakgatla and their institutions.
The North West Premier and the MEC responsible for Traditional Affairs in the North West were also dragged into the legal morass, with affidavits flying between both sides.
At one point, North West premier, Supra Mahumapelo arranged a meeting between all the combatants and secured the dropping of two of the three cases Kgafela had brought against Pilane and others.
Mahumapelo held the meeting barely a month into his term after taking over from Thandi Modise.