Mmankgodi royals resolve presumed chieftaincy dispute
Pini Bothoko | Thursday August 3, 2017 12:35
This follows the recent appointment of the deceased’s only son, Solofelang Thobega, 60, as the new Kgosi of Bahurutshe-ba-Mmankgodi village. It was rumoured that the residents were unhappy with the appointment of the deceased’s brother, States Letlole as the acting village Kgosi since Letlole’s death.
It has been alleged that States had refused to step down from the position to pave way for the deceased’s children, something that the villagers did not welcome. Mmegi learnt that States’ acting appointment divided the village with some garnering residents’ support to boycott the acting Kgosi’s kgotla meetings until he vacated the throne.
It is reported that the chieftaincy disputes might have been behind the delay in the appointment of the new village Kgosi. On Tuesday, the Mmegi team visited Mmankgodi following the royal unrest and found Solofelang, the rightful heir to the throne, in the office.
Solofelang told Mmegi that he received his appointment letter on July 1, 2017 for the position of the senior chief representative dismissing reports that disputes shrouded their Bogosi. “I am not aware of any disputes in our chieftaincy and as you can see my uncle (States), who has been acting in this position since my father’s death, has stepped down in peace and I was recently appointed,” Solofelang explained.
At first, both Solofelang and States feigned not to be aware of any Bogosi disputes, but later States conceded to the rumours of some villagers being unhappy with his appointment wanting to boycott his Kgotla meetings. “I do not like rumours. I once heard there were some villagers who were against my appointment and were busy calling for others to support boycotting of my Kgotla meetings.
Then, I instructed the police to follow them up to warn them to stop such behaviour. I pleaded with the police to demand for them say if they had something against me, or were unhappy with something, they should complain to me directly about it instead of spreading rumours behind my back,” States said.
States narrated the Bahurutshe chieftainship procedure, stating that when the Kgosi dies regardless of gender, one of the children will be chosen to succeed the late leader. “After the burial of my brother as it is the procedure and our culture as Bahurutshe, we held a meeting with his children to officially announce his death.
We suggested what should happen even addressing the position he held as the village Kgosi,” he said. He added: “Following our culture, the deceased’s children were given a chance to choose one amongst themselves to succeed their father and that is when we received the current Kgosi’s name.
There were no fights as some people claim”. States revealed that the royal family is therefore in the process of hosting a big ceremony to officially inaugurate Solofelang as the new Kgosi of Bahurutshe-ba-Mmankgodi.
He said that their village has existed since 1858 without royal disputes and they have appointed Dikgosi appropriately because of the procedure in place as to how they handle matters of Bogosi.