The Bakgatla and Boer wars
Source : Kutlwano
Author : Idah Basimane
Location : GABORONE
Event : Historical Feature
The Bakgatla and Boer wars
Article: Idah Basimane
Photos: Basetsana Baganaletso
The relics of the war between Bakgatla and the Afrikaners (known also as the Boers) remain as fascinating facts and findings.
Some of these discoveries explain the naming and origins of communities or rivers and how they emerged to gain their distinctiveness.
Some of these sightings are the relics of the wars that took place in The Anglo- Boer war of the olden days.
Nowadays, there are misunderstandings as to which group of Bakgatla came first and which group fought the Anglo Boer, but history tells that Makuntwane were the majority and it is likely that they are the ones who came first.
Kutlwano investigations have found out that when the war started across Madikwe River, the village of Mochudi was as big as Mabalane then, but today Mochudi has over 45 000 people.
The current tribe keeps these places not as tourist destinations only but also for culture and historic purposes.
One of the stories is that of a cruel Boer man who crossed from Transvaal to the Madikwe River during Paul Kruger’s regime around 1899.
Information from Bakgatla tribesmen is that this man had a rifle and he found a woman with a child and without any sympathy maliciously killed the woman and shot the child too.
The statue of this incident is found in Sikwane village, about 50 kilometres (km) away from Gaborone and the village is also known as Derdepoort, meaning the third gate or opening in Afrikaans.
Derdepoort, (Sikwane) is best known as the place where a notorious skirmish took place during the Anglo -Boer war. This name according to history seems to have been given by the commandos of Hendrick Portgieter after the battle of Silikaatskop of 1837, which was fought by the Boers and The Ndebele of Mzilikazi.
Another incident noted is where the Boers burned down the Bakgatla villages and the Commandos of Bakgatla were defeated, leaving 150 men dead.
The villages burnt down were reconstructed in 1902. However History reveals that the Boers overpowered the commandos and then Chief Linchwe of Bakgatla sent an army led by Ramona to assist Mankuntwane in the war against the Boers.
They fought the Boers until they defeated them at Kaieyespoort and the Bakgatla took guns, cattle and the ox-wagon as spoils of the victory.
This is the ox-wagon that is displayed at Phuthadikobo National Museum in Mochudi and this war resulted in conflicts of boundaries between villages.
Another story is that of the son of Ntereke (Piet Molefi) who was by then headman of Makuntwane, who sent his younger brother Paul to look after the remains of the ancient mines at Dinokaneng.
It is said that he also sent his Uncle Sampai to take other remains at Mapaputle next to Dinokana, where some Makuntwane still reside today.
During the Anglo Boer war in 1899, Makuntwane made their own weapons and bullets from a stone called letlapa la tshipi (stone turned into metal).
The man who spearheaded and facilitated in the mining of the stone, cutting, polishing and shaping of the weapons was called Mr Glass Segogwane, who originated from the other group of Bakgatla–ba–Kgafela in Magong village near Moruleng in South Africa and the mine where that stone was obtained is still visible to date.
