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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The rise to power of the Monnakgotla family of the Bakubung 1830-1896
Author:Dugmore, H.ISNI
Year:1986
Periodical:Africa Perspective
Volume:1
Issue:3-4
Pages:93-116
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:Tswana
traditional rulers
Abstract:The Monnakgotla family have ruled over a major section of the Bakubung, a small Tswana grouping living in the Western Transvaal, for over 150 years. This article traces the rise of the original Monnakgotla patriarch from his capture by the Bakubung to his becoming their leader. It further explores how Monnakgotla and his son, Ratheo, retained the leadership of a section of the Bakubung despite their lack of royal ancestors. The paper suggests that the creation and maintenance of chiefly legitimacy in Tswana society was a process shaped more by the ability of individuals to attract and mobilize followers than by any abstract set of genealogical 'rules'. Through manipulating non-Tswana 'outsiders', including the Ndebele, the Boers, English and German missionaries and the courts of the South African Republic, the Monnakgotla family established a legitimacy in office which has endured to this day. Notes, ref.
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