https://www.facebook.com/100228831480305/

Tshwane Unofficial News, Pretoria (2025)

05/11/2025

1948 - 1994 Under Apartheid

•The Population Registration Act(1950) required every South African to be racially classified (African, coloured, Indian, white)
•The Bantu Authorities Act(1951) and Promotion of Bantu Self-government Act(1959) divided "Africans" into ethnic nations, including;
Batswana, Basotho, Bapedi, Venda, Tsonga, Xhosa, Zulu, Swati. Each was assigned a homeland, later called Bantustan such as:
•Bophuthatswana (for Batswana)
•Transkei/Ciskei (for Xhosa)
•KwaZulu (for Zulu)
•Lebowa (for Pedi)
•Venda (for Venda)
•QwaQwa (For Basotho)
•Kwandebele (for Ndebeles)

Communities that has multiple affiliations, who had ties with both Tswana, Pedi, and Sotho lineages were forced to pick one tribal label. This simplified and distorted their history. Families found themselves in different "nations" under the Bantustan system. One clan could have relatives classified as "Basotho" in QwaQwa and "Batswana" in Bophuthatswana even though they shared the same ancestry.

The state encouraged divisions by finding some homelands and leaders over others. They manipulated "Tribal" identities to prevent unified resistance (divide and rule).

Generations grew up believing that being "Tswana, Xhosa, Pedi, Zulu, etc was a fundamental, ancient identity rather than a colonial construct. This led to a redefinition of belonging, with long term impacts on Language politics, Marriage patterns, Local governance, sense of historical continuity.

Post 1994, South Africa recognised 11 official languages and affirmed cultural diversity, but the Bantustan logic still echoes:
•Traditional authorities remain partly based on apartheid boundaries.
•Cultural identities remain shaped by state-era classifications.

05/11/2025

Before colonial rule, African identities in what is now South Africa were fluid, relational, and to a certain extent situational. People identified primarily through clab(seboko/isiduko), chiefdom, kingship, or local allegiance. Boundaries between groups were porous, people intermarried, adopted languages, and sometimes moved between communities during trade, drought, or wars. For example: a person could be born among Barolong, marry into Batlhaping, and later live under a Bakgatlha chief without losing social legitimacy. People were not seen as members of rigid, singular "nations." In short; identity was lived, not labelled.

1700s - 1800s Colonial "Tribal Mapping" Begins.
European missionaries, traders, and colonial officials struggled to comprehend this complexity. They wanted fixed categories to simplify governance, taxation, and land control. So they began:
•Recording and labelling groups as "tribes" with clear names and territories.
•Using linguistic similarities (eg. Setswana, Sesotho, isiXhosa, etc) to define large ethnic families.
•Writing ethnographic reports that reaffirmed these categories into "scientific" truths.
These early writings by colonial anthropologists, missionaries, and explorers turned dynamic societies into static "tribes"
•The "Bechuana, "Basuto", Etc categories took shape through outsider observation and documentation, this was often based on who they met first or who had power at the time, not necessarily historical or cultural reality.

As colonial rule hardened, identity became a bureaucratic instrument. Under the British and Union government, early 1900s. The Native Affairs Department created official tribal registers. "Natives" had to declare tribal affiliation for labour passes, taxes, and land permissions. Some chiefs were recognised or appointed as tribal authorities. Sometimes legitimate traditional leaders were replaced by compliant or politically convenient ones.

04/11/2025

As colonial boundaries hardened, and "Native Administration" systems developed, the government began to classify Africans into tribes and nations for administrative control.

The Native Affairs Department used broad categories to make governance easier.
•Tswana: for those west of the Vaal (Barolong, Batlhaping, Bakwena, Bakgatlha, Bangwaketse, etc)
•Sotho: for the highland groups in the Free State.
•Pedi/Northern Sotho: for those in the Transvaal north.
These categories were simplifications imposed by outsiders for bureaucracy and political administration, not necessarily how the people themselves identified.

Apartheid planners amplified and codified these classifications into rigid "ethnic homelands." Under the Bantu Authorities Act (1951) and later the promotion of Bantu Self-government Act(1959), every indigenous African had to belong to an "official nation." For example:
•Batswana; assigned to Bophuthatswana
•Basotho; QwaQwa
•Bapedi; Lebowa
•Venda, Xhosa, Zulu, etc-each given their own homeland.

So, by the 1950s-1960s natives were all administratively merged into different categories officially recognised by the apartheid state

03/11/2025

Before European arrival in what is now South Africa (1600s-1700s), indigenous groups such as Barolong, Batlhaping, Bakgatla, Bafokeng, Bakwena, Bangwaketse and others saw themselves as independent polities(chiefdoms), each with its own lineage, history, totem, and dialect.

They shared related languages and cultural systems, but did not collectively identify as "Batswana". Their unity was more linguistic and cultural (they spoke mutually intelligible dialects of what we now call "Setswana". So originally, Tswana was not an ethnic identity but more of a linguistic descriptor.

When European explorers, missionaries, and administrators began documenting southern Africa in the 18th-19th centuries, they were confronted with a complex mosaic of African societies. The British and Boers observers began using umbrella terms for convenience like "Bechuana" to describe people living west of the Vaal river who spoke dialects of one linguistic family.

The London Missionary School referred to all groups collectively as "Bechuana tribes". Colonial administrators followed suit, especially in Bechuanaland (modern Botswana) and the Cape colony northern frontier.

Thus by the mid 1800s, European had already started lumping distinct groups under single ethnonym: Tswana/Bechuana"

25/07/2025

Potchefstroom, founded in 1838, holds the title of the first town established by the Voortrekkers in the interior of South Africa. It's establishment is closely tied to the power dynamics of the time, specifically the presence and influence of uMzilikazi kaMashobane, the king of Matabele kingdom who had control over the region before the Boers arrived.

Before the arrival of the Boers, uMzilikazi had established powerful settlements in the interior, his people controlled vast stretches of land, including the area around the upper Vaal and Limpopo Rivers. As the Voortrekkers were escaping the British, migrating into the inland, they entered lands claimed and defended by uMzilikazi. Several Boer scouting parties were attacked by Mzilikazi's forces. The Boers thought the land was unoccupied or justly claimable by negotiation or force. Mzilikazi, however, considered himself the ruler over the land and refused to allow settlers to take over the lands under his control.

The Voortrekkers formed alliances with other indigenous groups opposing Mzilikazi, and launched military campaigns against Mzilikazi. After several defeats particularly Vegkop 1836, and Mosega 1837, Mzilikazi was forced to retreat northwards with his followers, eventually crossing the Limpopo River into what is now Matabeleland in Zimbabwe where he founded a Matabele Kingdom.

The Voortrekkers could only settle in the Potchefstroom area after Mzilikazi's defeat.

18/07/2025

The origins of the name "Ndebele" as it came to be associated with the Northern Ndebele (Zimbabwe) is a fascinating story associated with conquest and historical confusion.

Originally, the true AmaNdebele were the descendants of Musi and Mhlanga, ancestors of Southern Ndebele people found today in Mpumalanga and parts of Gauteng. Their society split into two main houses -- Manala and Ndzundza, whose descendants engaged in a long standing power struggle over succession to the chieftainship.

During this internal conflict, the descendants of Ndzundza, also known as the Magodongo, settled near what is now Stofberg, while the Sibindi, the descendants of Manala, established themselves in a different area.

It was during this period of division that Mzilikazi kaMashobane launched his military campaigns northwards. As he advanced, he encountered and defeated both factions separately, first the Magodongo and then the Sibindi. He captured their leaders and soldiers, incorporating them into his growing army and society.

As Mzilikazi's forces, now reinforced with these captured Ndebele warriors, moved through various territories, local people who saw then approach would identify them as "Matebele" based on the presence of familiar Ndebele soldiers in Mzilikazi's rank. Overtime, Mzilikazi's multi ethnic nation came to be labelled Matabele, even though they were not originally Ndebeles.

The name stuck, but within the praises (izibongo) of the Northern Ndebele people, those under Mzilikazi and later Lobengula--there is no reference to "Matabele". This underscores the fact that the name was an external label, not one they chose for themselves.

18/07/2025

Batlhaping, a Setswana speaking group, were renowned for their advanced iron working and trade skills. By the time the European traders began to arrive in the interior of what is now South Africa. They were known for;
•Locally produced, high quality iron tools and weapons.
•Double edged knives and spears.
•Knife handles crafted from bone, ivory, and polished stones
•Blades that were well balanced with smoother and more elegant finish.
These items were not only functional but held aesthetic and symbolic value in Batlhaping society.

When the Trekboers and other traders began venturing into the north from the Cape Colony, they encountered Batlhaping near Kuruman region. According to early missionary records and oral traditions, a significant moment occured when Boer traders tried to barter metal knives and tools with Batlhaping. However, Batlhaping dismissed the Boer mass produced knives as inferior, noting that they were only sharp on one side, unlike their own. Their own knives were double edged, sharper and more beautifully crafted. This incident challenged European assumptions of African "primitiveness" and instead revealed sophisticated indigenous societies with advanced metallurgy and its own standards of craftsmanship and trade.

Batlhaping had mastered iron smelting centuries earlier. They used local iron ore, charcoal furnaces with sophisticated bellows system. Archaeological evidence supports:
•Complex furnaces used accross Setswana speaking regions
•The trade of iron ore products, including tools and weapons, accross southern Africa.
•Iron goods being central to regional trade networks that predate European trade.

15/07/2025

Before his breakaway from uMlilwane kaSenzangakhona, Mzilikazi kaMashobane was born into the Khumalo clan(oMntungwa lineage). His people lived near the Phongolo river. At the time of Mzilikazi's birth, the Khumalo clan was under the dominion of Zwide kaLanga, Zwide was also Mzilikazi's maternal grandfather, making Mzilikazi both a subject and a relative of the Ndwandwe ruler.

Mzilikazi's father, uMashobane kaZikode resided in this area alongside other Khumalos, in this region shared with other powerful figures such as Soshangane, Nxaba, and Zwangendaba, who would later become prominent leaders in their own right.

Later on, tensions were arising in the region. A major power struggle unfolded between Dingiswayo, the Mthethwa paramount chief and a mentor or uMlilwane kaSenzangakhona and Zwide. Eventually, Zwide killed Dingiswayo. Following this, he turned on his own son-in-law, Mashobane(Mzilikazi's father), having him executed as well. Fearing for his life in the wake of his father's death, uMzilikazi fled from Zwide's homestead and sought refuge with uMlilwane who had established himself on the other side of uMfolozi river. uMzilikazi provided uMlilwane with valuable intelligence about Zwide's strategies and the Ndwandwe territory, uMzilikazi quickly became a trusted ally and friend to uMlilwane.

The two developed a strong bond-both were brilliant, ambitious, and close in age with uMlilwane being only about 3 years older. Despite their friendship, uMzilikazi found it difficult to accept uMlilwane as his superior or king, given their closeness in age and status. Overtime, this led to growing friction. Sensing this, uMlilwane tried to keep uMzilikazi loyal by sending him on an important mission to recover cattle from a neighbouring Basotho king. He sent him with support in a form of some elderly men. Mzilikazi successfully completed the raid and seized the cattle--but refused to hand them over to uMlilwane.

15/07/2025

The term Mfecane/Difaqane as a historical definition of a particular event appears to have entered historical writing in the late 19th century and early 20th centuries, but it was popularized as a framework by European colonial historians and missionaries.

Notable contributors to spreading the term:
•George McCall Theal (19th-century Cape historian) used early sources that referred to wars in the 1800s.
•E.A Walker and C.M Doke in the early 20th century helped formalize "Mfecane" in academic literature

In 1988 Julian Cobbing, a revisionist historian famously challenged the whole concept, calling it "a colonial myth". He argued that "Mfecane" was not a wave of Zulu-led terror accross southern Africa -- it was an ideological construct invented by apartheid era historians to;
1. Blame Africans for their own distruction
2. Justify European conquest
3. Hide the role of slave traders, colonial expansion, and white settler violence, especially from Delagoa Bay (Mozambique) and the Cape Colony.

He suggested that European demand for slaves and ivory had more to do with the regional disruption than Zulu or African aggression. This led to a major reassessment of the Mfecane/Difaqane narrative in African studies.

Today, historians use the term cautiously, acknowledging the complexity of events and the external and internal forces at play. There are ongoing debates with historians agreeing and some points and disagreeing of others.

14/07/2025

While moving through southern Botswana, Mzilikazi encountered some resistance which led to negotiations being delayed from some local Setswana speaking communities (possibly Bangwaketse, the dominant group in Kanye). Frustrated by negotiations and slow compliance, he is said to have repeatedly declared "Ngizoshaya Kanye" meaning "I will strike once" in isiZulu. Locals, unfamiliar with his language but picking up on the repetition of words that had "Kanye". Overtime, the place allegedly took on the name "Kanye"

Kanye is today the administrative center of Bangwaketse in Botswana. Historically, Kanye was already a settlement of Bangwaketse before Mzilikazi passed through, although the name may have evolved or been solidified during that encounter.

10/07/2025

The hostile encounter between Sekonyela and Mzilikazi kaMashobane. These confrontations were complex, strategic and shaped the political geography of the eastern Free State and southern Highveld.

Thaba Bosiu was a natural fortress used by both Moshoeshoe I, and Mamthatisi during different periods. Mzilikazi's forces raided the surrounding areas, where Sekonyela's Batlokwa and Moshoeshoe's people both had Settlements and allies. Mzilikazi's raids disrupted These groups in the Caledon and Vaal river regions. Sekonyela's warriors occasionally resisted successfully but often had to withdraw and regroup due to Mzilikazi's larger, more mobile regiments. At times Sekonyela and Moshoeshoe cooperated informally to resist Mzilikazi's incursions.

After Sekonyela relocated from Thaba Bosiu, he fortified the mountainous region of Witsieshoek, rich in natural defense's and grazing lands. Here, he held off Mzilikazi's attacks more effectively, leveraging the rugged terrain, local alliances and his militarized social structure inherited from Manthatisi's era.

Sekonyela's forces formed part of a broader coalition, including Moshoeshoe and some Boer commandos, to pressure Mzilikazi from the south. At the same time, Boer commandos, attacked Mzilikazi from the west. These combined pressures forced Mzilikazi to retreat north of the Vaal river, eventually settling in Matabeleland by 1840.

10/07/2025

Tlokwa Settlements, historically associated with BaTlokwa, part of the wider iron age and stone-walled settlements that characterized much of the Highveld region of southern Africa between the 12th and 19th centuries. They were significant, though not as extensively studied like Kweneng, Kaditshwene, or Molokwane.

BaTlokwa were part of a larger Setswana speaking peoples who settled accross modern-day South Africa, Botswana, and Lesotho. The name "Tlokwe" is sometimes also associated with Potchefstroom which was named Tlokwe in recognition of the earlier indigenous South African communities who lived there. In some cases, Tlokwe may refer to groups under Kgosi Sekonyela (Eastern BaTlokwa) that lived along the Vaal and Mooi Rivers.

Tlokwa Settlements were located in the North West Province of South Africa, especially around Potchefstroom, Ventersdorp and parts of the Free and Gauteng. These areas fall within the Highveld grasslands, a region suited for mixed agriculture and cattle herding.

Tlokwa Settlements were large, dispersed agro-pastoral homesteads, with stone walls. Unlike Kweneng, which shows evidence of a dense urban-like centre, Tlokwa Settlements appear to have been less centralised, a cluster of organised homesteads. Tlokwa Settlements like other Tswana polities, rotated fields and used terracing on slopes, sometimes supported by stone walls. They engaged in regional trade with neighbouring groups and indirectly with Indian ocean trade networks via Mapungubwe and later Delagoa Bay. Archeological finds in the region include glass beads, metal slag, pottery and grindstones.

Some Tlokwe settlements used circular stone walls to enclose livestock and separate family compounds. Walls were built using dry-stone technique, with outer and inner circles sometimes incorporating terracing and kraals.

Tshwane Unofficial News

05/11/2025

05/11/2025

04/11/2025

03/11/2025

25/07/2025

18/07/2025

18/07/2025

15/07/2025

15/07/2025

14/07/2025

10/07/2025

10/07/2025

Address

Website

Alerts

Shortcuts

Share