Royal family fights for ward in Goo-Tau

ONALENNA MODIKWA
Staff Writer | Thursday August 9, 2012 00:00

 

The families are headed by Kgosi Maele Maele and Pompe Maele and the root of their conflict is their supremacy in  Monneng ward, the principal ward in the village.

Indications are that Goo-Tau village traditional leader Kgosi Maele wants to name his son headman of Monneng ward to succeed his uncles who were regents following the death of his father, Oitsile Maele many years ago.

However, the opponents (Pompe) are completely against these intentions because they feel sidelined and also want to be recognised as legitimate uncles with the privilege to advise the Kgosi, as is permitted according to tradition.

Now, the battle for the title of headman of Monneng ward seems to have reached boiling point. Recently, one of the protagonists wrote to his opponent to inform him that he would do things his own way and does not need anybody's blessings. Kgosi Maele confirmed in an interview that the problem started when he wanted to make his son to the leader of Monneng ward. He says that when he ascended to the main village Kgotla after his father died, he asked one of his uncles to act on his behalf until his (the uncle's) death.  Another uncle was subsequently appointed to succeed the deceased uncle.

Kgosi Maele revealed that his ascent to the throne some 24 years ago was met with a lot of resistance because some people in the village were opposed to such a transition. The tug-of-war ended in a stalemate which resulted in a resolve that elections should be held to decide who should take over the throne.

The same people who once opposed Kgosi Maele are now aginst his son. 'They want their own son to ascend to that position in spite of the fact that the son's father who passed away was just a regent.  This family is opposed to my son succeeding me. We have had several consultative meetings between the two families to try and find the way forward, but we have not been able to come to any resolve,' said Kgosi Maele. He continued: 'Patson Pompe Maele, the son of Pompe Maele wrote me a letter informing me that he is appointing Tselakgopo Soulo as headman for Monneng ward. I told him that I am the legitimate kgosana (headman) in Monneng, therefore I have the right to designate the rightful heir,' he added.

Kgosi Maele noted that when the families realized that they had reached another dead-end in the matter, they resolved to approach neutral royal family members in a closed-door meeting that would include headmen (dikgosana) from other wards. Unfortunately, the Pompe Maele family refused to meet with the dikgosana and one Baakile Mmusi, a nephew to both families. Kgosi Maele said it came to a point where they had exhausted all attempts to reach an amicable settlement to the issue. One unsuccessful attempt was the roping in of Ratholo headman, Molefe Mangadi.

After Kgosi Mangadi had also washed his hands of the issue, it was time to face the community (morafe).  He said morafe then appointed a three-man delegation, Baakile Mmusi, Serengwa Malete and Tshotlego Kebafodile, to meet the two families in a private meeting to iron out the differences: 'The meeting ended in a stalemate and the delegation gave feedback to morafe, but morafe still swore allegiance to our (Maele Maele's) legitimacy,' he said.

Kgosi Maele said in the meantime plans to place his son, including the appointment of preparatory committees, are at an advanced stage. He said morafe have advised the two families to meet and work together to prepare for the succession of his son and have been given the beginning of September as a deadline.

For his part, Patson Pompe Maele who was not keen to comment when approached, although he said he believed that the issue is not for public consumption and that it was premature for some people concerned to have taken the matter to the morafe.  'Re dumela gore Kgosi Maele o ka bo utlwisitse morafe fa ba re re ye go buisana, (we still believe that Kgosi Maele could have heeded morafe's call that we both go and find a solution to the issue in private),' he said.

He said when they were growing up, they witnessed how well the late Kgosi Oitsile Maele worked  with Pompe Maele (his father and uncle to Oitsile Maele). After Oitsile Maele's death, Pompe Maele remained headman of record in Monneng ward and he was succeeded by another uncle who also died later.  'We hoped that the relationship our fathers maintained could still apply to us today, only to find that boora Maele Maele are now saying bogosi ke jwa bone ba le nosi (the chieftainship is theirs only),' he said.

 'We (Pompe Maeles) are not a stubborn family and we are not crying for any portion of the chieftaincy we simply wanted to assist them as bo-rangwanaabone go ba thusa morafe. We are not even aware whether we are included in those committees and we are fine with it even if we are excluded.'  'We cannot argue with anybody,' he said, adding that there was never an argument during the late Oitsile Maele's reign.

Patson chose to reserve his comment on whether he had a problem with the fact that the Maele Maeles are the legitimate heirs of Monneng ward.  He said they were sidelined during the said Kgotla meeting as only those who supported Maele Maele were guided to the podium to comment.  'It is very unfair that we are not recognised as uncles but we cannot follow him to plead for recognition. If he has taken the decision we cannot block him,' he said.