Mmegi

Bodungwane settlers fight for their ancestral land

Bodungwane residents are battling the Kgatleng Land Board and others at High Court over what they describe as an unlawful eviction,. PIC MORERI SEJAKGOMO
Bodungwane residents are battling the Kgatleng Land Board and others at High Court over what they describe as an unlawful eviction,. PIC MORERI SEJAKGOMO

BODUNGWANE: Nestled between Dikgonnye, Kgomodiatshaba and Artesia, the quiet settlement of Bodungwane is gripped by uncertainty. For the nearly 300 residents spread across 41 homesteads, the fear is that the only home they have ever known could soon be taken away.

As 168 residents from here are battling the Kgatleng Land Board and others at High Court over what they describe as an unlawful eviction, the community has broken its silence, appealing to government, traditional leaders and the public to protect what they say is their ancestral home.

When Mmegi visited the settlement recently, residents walked the team through what they say is evidence of a community that has existed for generations. Amongst the sites shown to Mmegi were old family graves that residents explained belong to their ancestors who settled in the area more than a century ago. Some of the graves are marked only by stones while others have simple cement headstones, standing quietly amongst the thorn bushes that surround the settlement. However one stands out. It has a tombsrone and underneath rests former Artesia Councillor, Thonana Kegapilwe.

Editor's Comment
Violence doesn't solve anything!

Our weekly edition carries painful articles of people being murdered. Whilst some are classified as Gender Based Violence (GBV), there are still a large percentage of murder cases, which often happen at drinking spots, after people are heavily intoxicated. We have in the past carried articles where an individual was murdered because they refused to give someone a cigarette, and sadly this is where we are at now!In this very edition, there is an...

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