Thari Pilane wants Bakgatla throne

MONKAGEDI GAOTLHOBOGWE
Staff Writer | Friday November 5, 2010 00:00

A faction of the royal house in South Africa blames Mochudi for confusing their lineage.  The Mochudi kgosikgolo appoints a representative in Moruleng.

A lot is at stake here.  Bakgatla ba Kgafela in Moruleng are no ordinary tribe.  Thanks to the innovativeness of the youthful Kgosi Nyalala, whose passion for mineral exploration resulted in the region emerging as one of the richest in South Africa, because of the discovery of platinum, Moruleng is worth fighting for.  It is stinking with enormous wealth, all in the hands of Nyalala.

The ruler of Bakgatla there oversees the wealth in minerals, and Kgafela's rivals are unhappy that the Botswana kgosi is also partaking in this wealth.

On Wednesday a man calling himself secretary for the royal house in Moruleng, Thari Pilane, drove to Gaborone in the company of his lieutenants to pour scorn on Kgafela's kingship in Moruleng using the local media.

'I'm here to announce that it is a lie that Kgafela's territory extends to Bakgatla in Moruleng,' said Pilane who drove all the way from Rustenburg where he works, just to 'put the record straight' as Kgafela spent the first week of his 14 day remand in prison.

Pilane says the rival royal house in Moruleng, which sees itself as the rightful heirs to the Bakgafela throne, intends to launch an investigation into the channelling of resources to Botswana in an effort to assist Kgafela and his Bakgatla in Mochudi.

Pilane says they suspect that money is being channelled to the Botswana kgosi, especially as both tribes collaborate on various cultural activities.  'We are going to investigate this, with or without the assistance of our South African government,' Pilane said.

In South African soil the battle had been long and brutal.  Kgosi Nyalala, appointed by Linchwe II in 1996, was dragged to a regional magistrate court on Mogwase, Moruleng, charged with over 100 counts of fraud.

Pilane says eventually Nyalala was charged with 43 counts and found guilty, only to win after appealing the case.According to Pilane, Linchwe II further messed up the Moruleng bogosi when he made Nyalala his representative there.  Pilane claims that Nyalala is only the last born in his family.  'He is the seventh son, and the 11th born, if one is to count his sisters, yet the Botswana kgosi made him the ruler!'

Pilane says it is now a matter of time before the Kgafelas in Mochudi and the Nyalalas in Moruleng kiss the throne goodbye.

He claims that a commission by President Zuma into paramount chiefs and kingships, known as the Nhlapo commission, resolved that there is no paramount chief or king in the North West province, where Moruleng is located.

This, according to Pilane, has given Kgafela II's rivals hope that things will eventually be straightened out in the Moruleng royal house.

In fact, Pilane says just in August Bakgatla, along with other South African tribes, started submitting their claims to the bogosi, something he hopes will eventually help the South African government resolve what he says is the long standing issue of Bakgatla ba Kgafela bogosi and their lineage.

The calculated shaming of Kgafela by his enemies comes as the youthful kgosikgolo  languishes in a prison cell with his deputy, Bana Sekai and 11 other members of his regiments facing charges of flogging people without trial.

Bakgatla ba Kgafela's division in Moruleng is not a new thing.  However, it started way back in 1996 during the days of Kgosi Linchwe II, as some Bakgatla royals in that country began challenging Lincwe II's authority in Moruleng as well as the legitimacy of his appointee, Kgosi Nyalala Pilane, who continues to rule today.  Although Kgosi Linchwe II would later be endorsed by the people of Moruleng yet again as their kgosikgolo, their enemies never gave up and as soon as he passed away, the new ruler of Bakgatla ba Kgafela, Kgafela II, found himself having to fight the war that his father had won few years ago.

Kgafela's recent troubles in Botswana acted as fodder yet again for his rivals.

Never before had his enemies in Moruleng dared to cross the border and discuss their disgust with Mochudi authorities in the local media.

Thari Pilane says he is confident that before long the issue of the paramount chief of Bakgatla in Moruleng will be resolved leading to Kgafela II losing his authority in South Africa as well as the re-aligning of Bakgatla ba Moruleng's bogosi, which he claims belongs to his lineage of Bakgatla ba Kgafela ba Tshomankane.  It may be triggered by recent events in Mochudi, but the attempt by Kgafela's rivals to wrestle him can be traced as far back to the 1870's when Bakgatla ba Kgafela were led by their undisputed leader into Botswana.  They were fleeing from the Afrikaner leader, Paul Kruger, who is believed to have flogged the Bakgatla leader, Kgamanyane for disobedience.  From that time Bakgatla in Mochudi and Bakgatla in Moruleng have never ceased to be one thing, with the Moruleng people looking up to the Mochudi leadership as their true kings.

Pilane and his cohorts, however, assert that Mochudi leaders should have no business with the Moruleng people.  Thari says he and his people are of the view that since Kgamanyane and his people fled South Africa a long time ago, they should leave the South African Bakgatla to rule themselves.

However, Bakgatla in Moruleng have on numerous occasions resisted the idea of having their own paramount chief or king.  They first endorsed Linchwe II in the early '90's after that country gained independence under Nelson Mandela as the first post-apartheid President of South Africa.

Pilane and his cohorts however, are of the view that the kingship of Bakgatla ba Kgafela in Moruleng should now be allowed to move to the remaining royal house of Tshomankane Pilane.

Pilane says for many years now, the Mochudi leaders have succeeded in deleting Moruleng royal names from the royal tree.  'We are against the wiping off of some royal families, which nevertheless continue to exist'.