Kanyane: The Other Name For Peleng

TUMELO SETSHOGO
Correspondent | Monday September 10, 2007 00:00

Lobatse hosted the first Radio Botswana, the railway line that connected Southern Rhodesia with South Africa passed and later connected the north of this country with the south passes through the town, Botswana's first meat industry and Africa's largest beef exporter, Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) is also located in Lobatse.

When you approach Lobatse from Gaborone, the first turn on your left directs you to Lobatse Clay Works (LCW), and there at the foot of the hill lies a village on the left side of the railway line east of Lobatse called Peleng. 

One may wonder why it came to be called Peleng. The 'Peleng' is derived from the animals called Dipela (meaning Rock Rabbits), which according to Puna Petros, a 67-year-old resident, 'there were a lot of Dipela (Rock Rabbits) in the hill'. He said that even Peleng river is named after these animals.

'In fact they are still there even as I am speaking to you now,' explains Petros pointing at the other side of the hill where the river flows. Another resident, Lejone Moreki, a traditional doctor, said before the name Peleng surfaced, it was called 'Kanyane', meaning a settlement of Kanye. 'This village was called Kanyane by the late Bathoen I and the name was not as powerful as Peleng,' said Moreki, adding that that was because it fell under the tribal territory of Bangwaketse. 'Golo mo gase lekeishane jaaka batho ba bolela ke motse (This is not a location, it is a village),' he elaborates.

Peleng chief Kgosi Pius Letsholo, who hails from Gabane village, concurred with Moreki on the name 'Kanyane'. He said according to his understanding and based on what he had been told by residents when he arrived in Peleng, the village was created by the railway line because was where the employees of Botswthat ana Railways were housed. 'As the people started settling in the village to look for employment, it expanded to where it is today with different communities living here,' said Letsholo. Peleng is home to various ethnic groups such as Barolong, Gamalete and Bohurutshe with Bangwaketse dominating the community. Letsholo said the coming of many different industries such as Botswana Meat Commission (BMC), Lobatse Transport (Lobtrans) and other industries saw more people settling in Peleng because there was still space available.

In the dark days of apartheid, Peleng gave refuge to prominent South African freedom fighters in the likes of former South African president Nelson Mandela, Mozambique president, the late Samora Machel, and the late African National Congress (ANC) leader Oliver Tambo. According to an article titled Lobatse - The Historic Town - Part 2 written by Sandy Grant, the push towards independence came not from only the country's leaders in the National Assembly but also from 'the wretched of the earth' on the other side of the railway, in Peleng. The township is no doubt developing very rapidly and people are getting employment in the supermarkets and bars in the town. 'This township is so developed today as compared to when I first arrived here 15 years ago. We are selling units (cell-phone) to people who come to buy in Score,' said Priscilla Motsemane, a hawker.